Competition or Opportunity?

One of the most difficult obstacles faced by small businesses is competition. We would like to believe that we are the best at what we do or sell the best products and because of that; we push forward to present our products or services. We follow good business practices, advertise, join business groups, and try everything under the sun to let everyone know how good our products and services are. However, when we do not get the customers we often ask ourselves, what are we doing wrong? Most of the time we will blame it on the competition.

Have you ever consider taking advantage of the competition? All of us have something that we can offer that the competition does not offer; most often refer to that as “a niche”. In reality, a niche could be a combination of products and services not offered “as such” by the competition. In order to find out what it is you will have to study your competition, your own business, and the needs of your clients. More often than not, that study will reveal where your weaknesses are giving you an opportunity to improve those areas.

At SBNAI (Small Business Network Administrators International), we have learned to look at the competition as an opportunity to improve our business. Being a small organization gives us the advantage to adjust our business model quickly. Often we “partner” with the competition to provide a good combination of products and services to our clients. That partnership often results in a win-win situation to our clients and us.

Our company specializes in Web Design, Hosting, Mobile Apps Development, and Domain Registration. We consider other web designers as partners because we can provide them a solid hosting environment and domain registration services without the extra expense associated with hosting services. Other web design related services that we provide are graphics design, content development, and printing services. All of these extras are provided by our partners and makes us a stronger contender. These services along with our unmatched personalized customer service and low cost products puts us on top of the competition.

For more information visit us at https://sbnai.com or write to info@sbnai.com.

Transfer Domain Certificates

Domain transfer certificates now available from Small Business Network Administrators International

When we officially announced the release of the domain ownership certificates earlier this month, we mentioned that domain transfer certificates would soon become available too.

And, after two weeks of detailed tests, we are thrilled to announce that, starting today, you will receive such a certificate every time a domain name of yours has been successfully transferred.

What are the new domain transfer certificates all about?

The domain transfer certificates will look similar to the domain ownership certificates.

They will include the name of the respective domain owner, the name of the store from which the given transfer has been purchased, as well as a small notice – in case the newly transferred domain is not WHOIS-protected.

The certificates will clearly indicate that the domain transfer in question has been carried out successfully.

They will also inform the domain owner of the respective registration and expiration dates.

Why were the domain transfer certificates not available from the beginning?

The issuance of domain transfer certificates has proven to be quite challenging due to the nature of the domain transfer process itself.

We’ve had to rethink and rework parts of our system in order to more accurately reflect the different registry-specific particularities.

Our QA team has been working quite hard these past two weeks in order to eliminate all discovered issues and bugs.

However, we have identified potential problems with the following ccTLDs: .BE, .JP, .CN, .CH, .SE, .US. For this reason, support for them will be added later down the road.

Future plans for the domain ownership certificates

As we mentioned in our previous post, we are working on a complete redesign of the Hepsia Control Panel.

Plus, we intend to make the most current domain ownership certificates directly accessible from within the Control Panel itself. This way, you will be able to download them at any moment whatsoever.

For more information visit our store at https://sbnai.com

Free Domain Search

You can now perform a free domain search from within this blog. Please feel out the form below to perform your free domain search. At SBNAI we offer all domain at the best prices.

Professional Web Design

Small Businesses tend to rely on professional web designers to build their website. I believe that it is important to understand that adding content to a template does not constitute a professional web designer. In fact, in the web design profession a web designer is the one that comes up with the “graphical concept” and the web developer is the one that makes it happen. It is then important to ask the right questions to ensure that you are getting a true professional.

When it comes to website development there are several pieces that need to fall in place in order to create an effective website. For example, most web design services now offer very low cost web design. Now that statement in itself is reason enough to do your homework. Some web design agencies are now hiring overseas help in order to maintain a low overhead. While there is nothing wrong with outsourcing there might be when it comes to supporting a newly created site. Any experienced web developer will tell you that most sites need to be adjusted for content and functionality after they have been published. If your developer is from oversees, chances are that it is going to take longer for any adjustments to be made. Also, there will be no client/developer contact since the developer is not local.

When considering a creating or revamping a website ensure that you get a true professional web designer. The best web designer is the one that is local, understand your business, and can work with you on an affordable site. Do your homework before entering into a web design agreement. Every day a lot of so called Web Designers pop up all over, but when it comes down to it, these are just content fillers who cannot customize nor add functionality to your sites.

At Small Business Network Administrators International (SBNAI) not only do we understand your business, we’ll help you establish a solid presence in Word Wide Web. We’ll design an affordable site that will attract users from all over the world. At SBNAI we have Web Designers, Web Developers, and SEO professionals that understand the needs of small businesses and will guide you through the entire process.

We are also a full featured Web Hosting Organization, we use our own hosting services, and with 6 Data Centers across the world we guarantee the best possible hosting services. All of our hosting accounts include unlimited space, a minimum of 100 email accounts, nightly backup services, 24/7 support, free shared SSL Certificate and lots more. You can try our hosting services for 30 days at no cost and no credit card required. Visit us at https://sbnai.com for more information.

Small Business Network Administrators International

Riverside, California. USA

info@sbnai.com

https://sbnai.com | https://sbnai.net

Web Design

Web Design

Speaking in general terms, web design is a fairly simple process. Web Designer gets together with client and through a series of questions determines the client’s requirements for a good web design. The web designer then gets to work and produces a graphical interpretation of the website. This is called the web design. The development part is where a web designer of software developer generates code that adds functionality to the graphics created by the web designer.

At some point the web design in going to be completed and presented to the client for review and approval. Once approved the web design organization proceeds to publish the new website to the World Wide Web where it can be accessed by practically the entire world.

Publishing a website is more than just moving the files to a web server. In should also include addition of a sitemap, & robots.txt file. Once loaded onto the web server then the site should be registered with all major search engines and local business directories. Linking the site to social media will help provide some visibility to the website.

Showing up on a search result page is not guaranteed but chances of the being found are much greater when these steps are followed. Google recently changed their search algorithm in such a way that “user experience” will be looked at before keyword or Meta keywords. For a new site is nearly impossible to show up on the first page based on “user experience alone”. Therefore a lot of work needs to be done in order to ensure a spot on the first few pages of a search. That is where Small Business Network Administrators, your Riverside Web Designer, makes a difference. Even though no one can guarantee a spot on the first page of a google search, we will give you the tools that you need to ensure proper positioning.

For more information visit our site at https://sbnai.net or https://sbnai.com. Our professional web designers will be happy to spend time with you explaining the details of web searches and what you can do to increase your chances of a good web presence.


Free SSL Certificates

We've enabled free, Let's Encrypt-based SSL certificates in the Control Panel.

Introduced in 2016, Let's Encrypt represents a free open certificate authority (CA), which provides website owners with digital certificates for enabling HTTPS (SSL/TLS).
It was launched by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), a public-benefit organization sponsored by the Mozilla Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Cisco Systems, with the aim of making HTTPS encryption both affordable and user-friendly.
Their main goal is to create a more secure, privacy-driven web.
Let's Encrypt certificates are:

• free to use: each domain name owner can obtain a trusted certificate at absolutely no cost;
• automatic: the certificate setup and renewal procedures are fully automated; no human intervention is needed;
• simple to use: there are neither payments to make, nor validation emails to respond to;
• secure: Let's Encrypt serves as a platform for implementing the latest security practices;
• fully transparent: all issued certificates are publicly available for anyone to view;
• open: the issuance and renewal protocol is published as an open standard that can be adopted;
• 'self-regulated': Let's Encrypt is a joint community effort, beyond the control of any organization;

What are the differences between regular and Let's Encrypt SSLs?

Let's Encrypt offers you a free and automated way of obtaining SSL certificates for your sites, so you may ask yourself: "Why would I ever go with a regular SSL certificate?".
Just like regular SSL certificates, Let's Encrypt certificates offer basic SSL encryption, i.e. they give site visitors assurance that they are exchanging information with the domain that is visible in the address bar and that their personal data (login details, credit card information, etc.) cannot be eavesdropped.
Also, Let's Encrypt certificates are trusted by all major browsers.
If a site is using a Let's Encrypt SSL, you will see "https://" at the beginning of the URL in your browser's address bar, along with a green padlock.
So, what Let's Encrypt certificates offer is secure communication most site visitors will feel comfortable with.
However, as a business entity you may also need a certain security guarantee against online abuses and this is where commercial SSLs kick in.
Read further below to learn more about the differences between a Let's Encrypt certificate and a regular SSL:

• Warranty: Let's Encrypt certificates do not include a warranty against misuse or mis-issuance, whereas regular SSLs do. While this may not be a problem for smaller websites, for larger organizations most probably will.
• Wildcard Certificates: Let's Encrypt does not offer wildcard or multi-domain certificates, whereas traditional CAs usually do.
• Validity Period: Let's Encrypt certificates are only valid for 90 days and must be renewed before they expire. Most regular SSL certificates are valid for at least one year. HTTPS site owners can also choose a longer validity period (3, 5, etc. years). On our platform, Let's Encrypt certificates are renewed automatically, so you won't have to worry about that.
• Support: Let's Encrypt does not offer assistance with creating or installing SSL certificates. Only community help is available.This can be an issue for organizations that need to quickly equip their business sites with an SSL. However, this could be easily curbed with a quick re-generation and re-installation of the problematic Let's Encrypt SSL.

A Let's Encrypt certificate or a commercial SSL – the final verdict

Both Let's Encrypt and commercial SSLs will do the encryption job that is expected of them in order to protect your sites against interception and eavesdropping.
So, your choice will solely be determined by the type of site you manage, which in fact defines your security requirements.
If you own a non-commercial site, a blog or a photo gallery, or just need a quickly configurable, simple and free SSL certificate that you can obtain with minimum effort, then Let's Encrypt is the way to go.
If you run an e-store or an enterprise site, then you will need to invest in a paid, warranty-equipped SSL certificate issued by an established CA.
Due to Google's recently voiced intent to give HTTPS sites higher search rankings and the subsequent rise of authorized SSL resellers, the prices for commercial SSLs have been going down steadily.
Today, every e-commerce website owner can obtain an affordable commercial SSL certificate from a reputable authority.
We've already lowered the prices for both regular and wildcard certificates and are doing our best to make sure you get the best security insurance on the web.

For more information visit our site at http://sbnai.com or http://sbnai.net

Web Hosting Plans

When considering web hosting services there is a wealth of providers out there. The truth is that except for a handful of big players most of these service providers use the same vendors and data centers. However when it comes to pricing, features, and technical support there is a big difference between hosting providers. Therefore is very important to do your research before trusting your online business to any hosting provider. The following information should assist you with your search for a qualified provider.

Today and for the last few years a new band of service providers have surface offering “Free” hosting services. When considering a free hosting account is extremely important to understand what you are getting and what the real cost is. There is no such thing as a “free” hosting account. Many will advertise a free account but in reality they require you to agree to have ads running on your site. Consider your type of business and whether or not you want to advertise someone else’s products, services, or points of view as if they were your own. Other provider’s will require you contact information and your agreement to be contacted by them or their partner companies. When you start to consider some of these nuisances that you’ll understand why these so called “free accounts” are not really free.

In addition to the above issues you will also have to deal with limited storage, limited traffic, limited bandwidth, no email services, no backups, and no customer support. Acquiring any of these services from a third party then will cost you quite a bit more than if you were to pay for a premium hosting account.

The next and most popular of the hosting accounts is “shared hosting”. A shared hosting means that you share server and features with other web sites. The files are never mixed but the services might be slower if there are a lot of websites being shared in the same server. Luckily there are a few companies out there that use compression and SSD-equipped (non-moving parts) servers to provide fast and efficient hosting services. In addition these companies maintain a limit on the number of website that may be hosted under any given account.

Shared hosting accounts offer some of the same benefits that dedicated hosting offer except management of the physical server. For most small to medium organization a shared account with the right provider can prove to be a money saver and a great system to host your website. Because shared accounts are often hosted on cloud servers there is usually no resource limitations (e.g. unlimited space, bandwidth, traffic, etc.).

A “Dedicated Server” allows you to lease your own server in the provider’s data center. As such you get total control of your server without the high cost of physical support. However, the cost of a dedicated server account can be quite high and you will have a number of limitations. For example, your storage will be limited to the server’s physical configuration (usually under 500Gb) of storage, and traffic is limited to 10Tb per month. There are many befits to a dedicated server including faster delivery of content, ability to custom configure the server, and higher overall performance. However, the cost might be an issue for smaller organizations that are dependent on third parties for support.

There is also one more type of hosting account mostly offered by Web Designers. It is a type of shared hosting account that is managed by your web designer. The advantage of using that account is that the cost of the hosting is usually low. The biggest disadvantage is that you have no control what so ever of your features. For example, you will have limited to no access to your control panel. This is very important if your account includes email accounts, databases, as well as web design tools. Also, if you ever want to transfer your domain or even your hosting account you will be at the mercy of your web designer.

In summary, always do your research. Select a reputable company with strong technical support that can provide 24/7 assistance. It will be beneficial to keep your domain and your hosting account with the same vendor on an account that you have 100% access. Select the best feature package for the lowest possible cost without sacrificing quality. Remember the “big players” don’t necessarily offer the best deals, just big names.

Small Business Network Administrators have been offering web design, hosting services, and domain registration services for over a decade. Our customer support group is second to none. For more information on our services visit our site at http://sbnai.com or email us at info@sbnai.com.

About the Author

Al Ortiz is the chief information officer of Small Business Network Administrators International. Al has over 25 years of experience in the technology field and can provide answers to most of your web design or web hosting questions. Please send your comments or questions to info@sbnai.com.

Low Cost Hosting

We offer a ZFS–based shared web hosting system with SSD–equipped servers and a hack–proof firewall, since we want your websites to be successful online. Our compression method allows your websites to open quicker to the public. We provide efficient anti–virus software and browsable data backups, so you enjoy reliable data integrity for your web sites and emails at no additional charge.

Our starter package includes:
• Unlimited Disk Space
• Unlimited Traffic
• 1 Hosted Domain(s)
• Unlimited Subdomains
• Unlimited Parked Domains
• 100 E-mail Accounts
• 5 MySQL Databases
• Unlimited FTP Accounts
• 5 GB VPN Traffic
• 24/7/365 Support
• Full access to Control Panel

If interested you may try our services for 30 days at no charge (No credit card required). After the free trial the cost is just $4.95 per Month ($59.40 per year). For complete information on all of our packages please visit our site at http://sbnai.com

3- and 6-month billing cycles with great discounts on dedicated servers

Starting today, you can make use of 3- and 6-month billing cycles that will bring super discounts on the most powerful of all web hosting services on our platform.

If the 3-month billing cycle is selected, a pleasing 10% discount will be applied to the given server's monthly price right away. And if you select the 6-month billing period, the discount will be twice as big - 20% OFF the default monthly price.

To visualize the new billing periods and the corresponding discounts, we've added a brand new billing period selector to the Atom, AMD and Xeon configuration tables themselves.

From there, you will be able to switch between the different billing periods, to compare the prices and to choose the payment option that suits current budget.

LEARN MORE

New 30-Day Free Web Hosting Trial

We are happy to inform you about one of the most important updates ever made to our hosting program - the addition of a 30-day free trial option for all hosting accounts and semi-dedicated servers. The trial mode has been in effect for about a month already and the results are more than positive.

Over the years, we've received many requests from clients who wish to test the services out before supplying their credit card details. Now all shared and semi-dedicated hosting prospects have this option at hand. 

Over the past years, we've seen a dramatic rise in retention rates and now more than 90% of our web hosting customers are renewing their hosting packages for at least one year. The semi-dedicated server users have pushed this number even higher.

This gives us the confidence to believe that our customers will feel comfortable with the services offered during the 30-day trial period and motivated enough to choose us as their new hosting provider as soon as (and even before) it ends.

For more information visit our site at sbnai.com or sbnai.net

Al Ortiz

Small Business Network Administrators

Riverside, CA. USA

www.sbnai.com

Riverside Web Design

Web Design Process

Not all web design companies are the same, nor do they offer the same products and services. When it comes to web design in Riverside, Small Business Network Administrators stands above the rest for the multiple services that we offer and our outstanding customer care. There are several web designers in Riverside that offer beautiful websites but these same designs lack the components of a search engine optimized website. Most of these web designers will allegedly deliver a complete and beautiful design that never show up in search engines.

Web Design Package

Before choosing a web designer in Riverside ensure that you get a complete web design package. At a minimum your website design company should offer not just a beautiful design, but also a search engine optimized website. Please note that a “search engine optimized” is not the same as “search engine ready”. That means that your website designer should work with you to develop a good search engine optimization strategy that as a minimum includes development of “keywords”, “key phrases”, “optimized page titles”, “optimized descriptions”, and “graphics optimization” not just for the home page but for all pages in your website.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine website submission and directory registration should also be part of your design package. Sending a website to a whole bunch of useless search engines will end up listing your site in spam prone sites. Be selective as to which search engines and directories your website is sent. Your Riverside web designer should be able to assist you in the selection of search engines and directories.

Domain Registration

Domain registration should also be part of your design package. Most individuals tend to fly off to GoDarby to purchase their domain only to find out that they have been taken by one of the largest domain resellers in the World. Then they endure a painful process to transfer the domain back to a less expensive, user friendly environment. There is some science behind domain names and your web designer should take the time to understand your business and suggest a meaningful domain name. Selecting a domain name just because you like the sound of it does not necessarily makes it a winner. Remember that search engines will first look at your domain name as keyword, then “user experience”, then key phrases before returning a hit. So taking the time to carefully analyze your business and selecting an associative domain will go a long ways in helping with search engine results.

Web Hosting

Then comes the selection of a reputable hosting company. Most web designers will work with you in creating a beautiful website that functions just the way you want but then through you in a hosting account with GoDarby or WAX Hosting. What they don’t tell you is that these hosting companies will more often than not will push to sell you services that you do not need. Most web designers will not even help you to set up your domain account so you are left to fend for yourself for a service that you should have gotten from your Riverside web design company.

Web Management Training

Lastly but no less important is training. You have this beautiful website, great domain, and hosting company but you don’t know how to manage it. Leaving the door wide open for your designer to offer an additional service, for an additional fee that should have been included in the original package. Managing websites (especially Content Management Systems) is quite simple. Training can consist of a small series of videos that the end user can refer to as needed. There should not be a need to pay for a simple service like managing a website, unless the client WANTS to hire the services of a web designer to perform that task.

Small Business Network Administrators

All of these components do take time and effort, which translate into expenses. Understanding these steps will help you understand the cost behind website design. At Small Business Network Administrators we understand every one of these components and can work with small businesses and non-profits to build the best website for the business at the lowest possible price. We are able to offer low price but high quality web design packages because we have a low overhead and have our own web hosting company.

Call or write for a free web design quote. We will partner with you to ensure that you get the best deal for your money.

Small Business Network Administrators International

Riverside, California. USA

http://sbnai.net | http://sbnai.com

info@sbnai.net