UGH! Media’s Small Business Blog

Need to speed up your website? Try a CDN!

What is a Content Delivery Network?

Content Delivery Network(s): What They Are + Why Websites Need Them
If you’re not familiar with CDNs and how they can help a website, then keep on reading!

CDN’s: What They Are and How They Help Websites

Isn’t it great when you visit a website, and it loads surprisingly fast? Do you know how some sites do that? Pssst: they’re probably using a Content Delivery Network (CDN)!

We all know that having a fast website is essential for providing good user experience, but guess what else? SEO! Yep, it’s a signal for one of the many ranking factors on search engines!

So if you want to know how CDN’s work, what they offer, and where to start, that’s what this post is all about!

Let’s get to it!

What is a Content Delivery Network?

A CDN is a network of servers located in different parts of the world which store temporary copies of a website (images, files, and scripts) with cache memory.

Let me explain further.

When … Read More “What is a Content Delivery Network?”

Why we love self-hosted small business websites. (and you should, too!)

Self-Hosted Website Vs. Free Hosting: Which is better?

Why We Love Self Hosted Websites vs. (Free) Hosting
Do you have a web host?

What sort of website hosting plan does your small business have?

Hosted or self-hosting website?

Do you know the difference between the two??

If not, here are a few questions to ask yourself first. (It’ll make sense in a moment.)

  • Do you have a hosted website (that’s free), but feel limited on what you can do?
  • Have you considered a self-hosted website vs. a hosted site? Not sure of the difference?
  • Confused as to why you should consider having a self-hosted vs. hosted plan in the first place?

If you said yes to any of the above questions, keep on reading!

When you realize self hosted websites are easy to use
It’s true! They’re also way more customizable!

We’ve talked a bit about web hosting for beginners in 2017, but didn’t delve into the difference between hosted and self-hosted plans. So, to build on that, I wrote this post to help you better determine the best route … Read More “Self-Hosted Website Vs. Free Hosting: Which is better?”

Buying followers and backlinks = worst idea ever

Why Buying Followers and Backlinks Hurts a Website

Avoid Buying Backlinks or Followers and Do This Instead
Trying to buy “high quality” backlinks or followers is a bad idea if you’re trying to rank in search engine results!

Why you should NOT buy backlinks and followers

If you’re reading this, then you probably know a little about website ranking and backlinks, but not entirely sure how they can help one another.

You’ve also probably discovered that taking shortcuts on the above items are a bad idea. To add, the same goes for buying followers on social media!

Speaking of shortcuts (and social media), have you ever come across an ad that markets “a possible solution for a lack of social media followers?” Other examples: “Buy 1000 followers for $5!”, “Buy 1000 Backlinks for $5!”, etc.

If so, lets hope that you didn’t go for it.

If you did, then hopefully you’ve learned a lesson and are now looking for a solution.

Anyway, if you’ve already been down … Read More “Why Buying Followers and Backlinks Hurts a Website”

7 Tools to Help Streamline Social Media Marketing

7 Social Media Marketing Tools to the Rescue!

7 Tools/Apps to Get Your Social Media Marketing Back on Track
Which of the below tools have you used?

Issues That Can Get Fixed with Social Media Marketing Tools

Think back to the first time you implemented social media marketing for your business. Which social media management tools did you use?

How did you do it? Did you know what exactly to do?

*sound of crickets chirping*

You probably had no clue, right?

On the other hand, if you’re new to social media marketing or if you’ve done it before but need to refresh your skills, then keep on reading!

We’ve researched, polled and cross-referenced some of the most common social media marketing issues that many small businesses face and posted them below. All you have to do is click on whichever issue(s) you’re having, and it’ll bring you to social media marketing tools that can help!

Onward!

Common Social Media Marketing Issues

Click on a problem below, and it’ll bring you to … Read More “7 Social Media Marketing Tools to the Rescue!”

Tips on how to boost website speed

How to Improve Website Speed (5 Tips)

5 Tips Towards a Faster Website
Assuming that a website is “fast enough” = one-way ticket to crappy rankings!

How to Make Websites Load Faster

Nowadays, website speed is everything and knowing how to speed up a slow site is worth the struggle.

Think about it. When was the last time you visited a site, and it loaded super slow? What did you do?

Did you know? Page speed is a Google ranking factor!
Do you know how many ranking factors Google uses?

You went to a different website, of course!

If you’ve put a lot of time and effort into creating, researching, drafting and perfecting your website analysis, don’t let it be slow! You want visitors to explore your site and make it easy to navigate, right? Well, website speed plays a huge role!

However, improving website speed can be frustrating because there are a lot of moving pieces. On top of that, when you don’t know what else to do to fix it, it can get downright … Read More “How to Improve Website Speed (5 Tips)”

Different SEO Categories

Search Engine Optimization: SEO Categories Guide

Different Types of Search Engine Optimization
Do you know the different types of SEO and how to utilize them?

Search Engine Optimization: Simplified Guide to SEO Categories

SEO or Search Engine Optimization can drive business owners nuts! It’s sort of on the technical side and the rules surrounding it continuously change. However, with all the changes it undergoes, it brings up something rather concerning: SEO gets frequently misinterpreted. Plus, it continually gets turned into something that seems way too complicated.

Time for Change

First, a quick vent! It’s time to stop over complicating SEO by creating new categories/names when a new change happens! Don’t you agree? Things should be updated and maintained vs. creating something new altogether! Build on what we have!

Next, its time to think about if we need all of these categories? Do we? (Answer = Possibly and no.)

(This is where it becomes complicated and scares the hell out of people to the point where … Read More “Search Engine Optimization: SEO Categories Guide”