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We’ve all been there, you look at the screen, look at the window, look at the screen, look at the window, next thing your day dreaming about flinging your malfunctioning your laptop or PC out the window in a desperate attempt to make yourself feel better. Well apparently you’re not alone; according to recent studies destruction is the most popular method of choice when an upgrade is wanted.

“Shockingly, over a quarter of the office workers surveyed feel that the quickest and most efficient method of replacing outdated technology, such as laptops and mobile phones, is to deliberately destroy or irreparably damage them,” reveals the study which surveyed 600 IT managers and 3,000 employees in the UK, France, and Germany.

Luckily for you, if you’re looking to avoid throwing your computer out the window in response to your unreliable web hosting, we can help you. With Layer 7 you can get Load Balanced hosting so if one of your webserver fails your website wont. (And your computer will be safe for another day!)

Search engine juggernaut, Google, which owns YouTube has now gone and bought Irish company Green Parrot Pictures in a bid to improve the quality of video uploaded to YouTube.

The search engine said that Green Parrot’s technology would help boost the look of videos posted on its site while using bandwidth more efficiently.

Google’s director, Jeremey Doig said: “What if there was a technology that could improve the quality of such videos- sharpening the image, reducing visual noise and rendering a higher quality, steadier video- all while your video is simply being uploaded to the site?”

We think this is great news. No more listening to music videos with someone’s out-of-tune voice destroying a perfectly good band in the back ground. Nope, this annoyance will be muffled.

Green Parrot Pictures is a small ambitious company discovered in Ireland that can do just that, improve YouTube.

Disaster recovery and backup is crucial to save businesses time and money. Without it things could go from bad to worse.

For example, a series of explosions struck Fukushima, a nuclear plant, after systems failed because of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami in north east Japan.

People in surrounding areas have been evacuated from a 12-mile radius from the plant. Furthermore people 19 miles away have been told to stay indoors after high levels of radiation were reported in the vicinity.

Although experts are arguing that things are somewhat under control, about 150 people from populations around the site are receiving monitoring for radiation levels.

The Japanese are taking all vital measure to tackle the problems at the power plant. And according to Professor Malcolm Sperrin, from the Royal Berkshire Hospital: “This is absolutely not a Chernobyl event; we’re looking at very low levels of radiation.”

A disaster recovery service can provide your company with a disaster recovery and business continuity plan which can be deployed rapidly and reliably if a disaster should ever befall. Having a disaster recovery solution can fully protect your company from loss of customers and loss of business.

Benefits of Having a Disaster Recovery Plan

Having a disaster recovery plan tailored to fit your individual business has several advantages, they include:

• Preventing financial loss and loss of credibility
• Prevents loss of customers and goodwill
• Services and production can continue to run to schedule
• Prevent the loss of important information

When it comes to business it’s important to have a backup plan and disaster recovery service in place. Don’t get caught short.

Japan hit by the largest earthquake measuring 8.9, causing severe damage

In the early hours this morning (UK) a tremendous earthquake hit Japan, measuring 8.9-magnitude. The quake sparked several fires in areas that included the capital Tokyo. Several people were reported dead. Stretching 250 miles (400km) from the capital and with a depth of 20 miles, powerful aftershocks were felt.

But the horror was still to come…the earthquake which has been the largest in many years to hit Japan, triggered a tsunami with waves over 10 metres high.

Japan’s NHK television aired the massive surge of debris-filled water sweeping away buildings and cars, far inland. Furthermore it captured motorists being chased by the waves in a desperate last attempt to escape.

According to BBC news report issued this morning: “Bullet train services to northern Japan were halted, rapid transit in Tokyo was suspended and some nuclear power plants automatically shut down.”

Meanwhile, the “Prime Minister Naoto Kan said there had been no radiation leaks.”

What do you think about the massive tsunamis that we have been having in the past few years?

Disaster Recovery for Business

Having a disaster recovery plan is essential, in case natural disaster like this should ever strike. Do you have a backup plan for your business?

Disaster recovery or backup of important information is crucial for business continuity and keeping all aspects of a business functioning in the midst of disruptive events. Without these correct procedures, millions can be lost in damages.

There are various security companies and ways you can save important information. It only takes a few simply steps to keep your business safe and secure. You cannot afford not to have a backup plan in place.

A report issued last night revealed Governments are worried that hackers could take down planes and control traffic, to extents that the public is unaware.

Cybercrime is a criminal offense that has been created or made possible by computer technology. In February 2000, hackers launched a malware which distributed denial of service (DDS) on several prominent sites. These site included eBay, Yahoo and Amazon.com. The year earlier “the Melissa Virus” caused $80 million in damages to computers worldwide. Hacker, David Smith was caught and pleaded guilty to state and federal charges associated with his creation of the Melissa virus.

Since then we have been plagued with Stuxnet, and various other malware threatening to take down organisations. Governments have expressed great concern over the advancements in cybercrime movements. Hackers are so advanced these days that they could hack into systems and control traffic, set cars on fire through the Satnav systems, and even bring down planes. It is a major security concern.

Some organisations have started making use of “biometrics” to make it more difficult to access their computers. Techniques can even include a “retina read” of the computer user’s eyes, voice recognition, and fingerprint identification, all of which makes it more difficult for the cybercriminal.

Many companies across the UK and the world are so worried about the threat of hackers, malware, attacks etc. that they are now employing consultants to test the security of their company networks.

These “Ethical Hackers” can be authorised to secretly hack into the company’s system and demonstrate what a criminal hacker or “Black Hat” might be able to get away with. This can include transferring money from different accounts, attacking from internally and external. From this information gathered the Ethical Hackers then write a report, that shows the technical flaws and vulnerabilities in the company. This can then be changed to ensure the organisation is safe and secure.

Research by the BBC asked a question and found that:

“Should there be more controls over access to the internet to prevent fraud, pornography and paedophilia?”

Here at Layer 7, we are dedicated to ensuring maximum security and protection on your website. We have an advanced webmail- anti-spam and antivirus system, with 24/7 support. Call us on: 0844 875 0007 to learn more. Or let us know what you think?

Climbing the ladder of SEO

Eliminate the single points of failure and get high-performance; highly-reliable, load-balanced web hosting for FREE. But you must hurry because this offer is for a limited time only!

At Layer 7 we have years of experience in the online industry. Whether you need SEO, PPC, link building, scripting, you name it, we got it.

Having a web hosting service should be your priority, primarily to distinguish yourselves as a full-service solution, rather than just adjuncts to internal data centre infrastructure.

But when it comes down to hosting a site, Layer 7 won’t just stop at the basics, we go further to make sure you have the trait of a good website.

What is a good website?

A good website should provide credible, original content in various forms. Content is king. You cannot afford not to have quality content these days, with the search engine clampdown on spam and poor, out-of-date web content on many sites. This can lower your search ranking and you can even be penalised by Google. You should also provide valuable, timely information to the user, not lots of irrelevant data.

Customise and target your website towards your audience. You can do this by being responsive, use graphics sparingly, break up your tables and optimise your HTML.

A good website should also be easy to read and user-friendly, searchable, well-organised and interactive.

You can enhance your web presence with a web hosting service, which will provide you with that advanced technology “gee-whiz” factor.

Gerald M. O’Connell, from a ‘New Pitch’ Internet World said: “A Web site is like a diner. It has a core arsenal of dishes that justify its existence, but it also must have a regularly changing specials menu that keeps its regular customers coming back for more. The assumption…is that a Web citizen…visits the site on a weekly, if not daily, basis.”

Layer 7 Web Hosting Service

If you don’t already have Layer 7 as your web hosting service provider, then you need to jump on the band wagon now! The World Wide Web is an interactive, dynamic and rapidly changing the way we communicate and this is exactly what your site should reflect. At Layer 7 we are well-organised, timely and our content is original, interactive and attractive, in a consistent format. You can’t go wrong when you choose us as your web host provider.

Watch the YouTube video below to learn more about the World Wide Web:

Eager fingers tap the keyboard, typing in a search engine URL code, “we’ll visit Google today” the voice mutters under their breath. Browsing down the various search pages that appear after typing in “Black Syrian Cat, in London” on Google, a list of various websites appear. Many don’t even relate. “What’s this, a car advertisement? Don’t need that,” the voice hisses.

Google’s algorithm determines which sites get shown in search results. The higher up with search engine optimisation (SEO) the more relevant, up-to-date and quality driven, the site is. This is good for Google and it’s good for the site.

However, incidences of rotten website have occasionally crept up these search results. Watchers of Google have been wondering if the algorithm which is supposed to measure both a site’s popularity and relevance by tallying links, keywords, and other factors is broken.

For instance, in November the New York Times’ David Segel reported ‘on a seller of designer eyeglasses whose marketing strategy was to rise in results—by getting the Web talking about how lousy its customer service was.’ Mr Segel also discovered that bogus links or irrelevant sites would stem in the search results.

Google responded to the complaints and has been targeting these irrelevant bogus sites. Stamping out the clutter and cleaning up its web.

“Scientific measurement shows our search quality [was already] the highest it’s ever been,” says Google Fellow Amit Singhal, one of the keepers of the algorithm.

Meanwhile, search engine Blekko recently gave many sites the death penalty, it its bid to clean up the web and rid the content of spam. Although Google will not be going that far, it won’t talk about its precise tactics.

We will see an end of spam sites wriggling their way to the top. Poor quality content or over-used keywords, out-of-date are just a few things Google will be keeping its eyes on.

However, all Google search changes are subject to further adjustment. But what do you think of these changes?

A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away (the USA, to be exact) a group of people were pioneering together with a vision- a vision where individuals, groups and companies from all over the world could view and exchange goods.

In 1973 a draft of the internet was produced. But it was not until 10-years later this unique form of technology began to take hold, shining through with its potential and offering a new form of communication that would change the world.

Oh the mighty internet, a whole new world of cyber space. Offering one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind and boldly taking us to where no man had gone before.

It was not long before online business saw the potential of this niche tool, where they could advertise and promote themselves.

However, the internet is made up of content and without this content we would have nothing to browse, read, picture, buy or sell. That’s why each day online businesses from around the world pump out heaps of data.

This is where Google Analytics comes in, to study the impact of a website and its pages on visitors. It’s a powerful tool, not to be underestimated. You can use web analytics to measure how many times your website page is clicked, viewed, browsed etc. There’s gold there.

Understanding the traffic patterns and data on Google Analytics will enable you to improve your website. How? Well you can see from this what brought the visitors to the site and the navigational path they took while on your site. Thus you can spot any potential problems and areas in your site that may need attention. This will save you time and money.

Hijacking you into Online Marketing Tools

“It’s business.” How many times have you heard those cold-hearted words? The face of business is often formal, stiff, upper-lipped and goby. You get the picture. It’s not a walk in the park, a sun-bathe on a beach, or a good old banter with friends. This is the stereotypical view of “business.”

Nowadays this image is changing. You better believe it. Social media marketing is a popular tool for business these days. It takes away the cold-front, stripping it bare, until you’re left with nothing but an informal two-way communication tool.

Social media has web-based platforms, applications and technology that enable the formal to meet the informal. It’s a great way for online business to promote market and hone on to their audience. The most popular social media sites include: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. How many of you use these sites, or have at least visited them?

According to a study by RJMetrics, “Facebook has more than 500 million active users, while Twitter [is peaking with] 75 million.” Not bad considering the micro blogging service began only in March 2006. Multiple communications is clearly the way forward, in our ever advancing technology driven world.

Ecommerce: What is it?

Ecommerce is an intelligent way for online business to follow up with website visitors who have abandoned a shopping cart. You can follow the process of customers, what they did, what they tried to purchase and when they abandoned the products. It sounds like being a stalker but it’s simply a way of monitoring a site to help improve it.

From the information you gather you can implement campaigns to bring the customers back, such as discounts, promotional incentives etc. Have you ever experienced this?

Watch the YouTube video below to learn more about the facts and benefits about the different social media sits over the World Wide Web.

Be popular with SEO

Link building is an integral part of any effective search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy. Link popularity contributes to search engine results pages and the rankings.

However the way your website ranks in Search Engine Results Pages will depend on several variables. It can be argued that the most important links are the external ones that point back to your page.

What does Google like?

According to the Official Google blog: “Google depends on the high-quality content created by wonderful websites around the world, and we do have a responsibility to encourage a healthy web ecosystem… Therefore, it is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.”

Links and Spam

The more links you have pointing to your website, the better. However too many links can be considered by Google as spam and can have a negative effect on your ranking. Poor content and hallow, or cheap blogs can also be classified as spam by search engines.

You got a friend in Layer 7 web hosting that you can count on

Grab a fantastic FREE fully web hosting service, for a limited time only! Having a load balancing web hosting service is essential for high-traffic websites to avoid overloading the connection resources over the internet. It is also a fantastic cost effective solution. You need a fully load balanced web host; after all, the last thing you want is to overload any one server or suffer slower response times.

You can achieve greater use of resources and decrease computing timed. If your business involves large amounts of data processing and transfers, then this is the perfect solution for you.

Benefits of Load Balanced Website hosting

• Uses multiple servers so no single point of failure can impact your website, and also boosts output and efficiency
• It is a failsafe solution, which will automatically bypass any failed server to a secondary server, to keep the service protected in the midst of disruption
• Ensures continuity, through the duplication of critical components of a system

Here at Layer 7 web hosting we can offer you the following great deal on a load balanced hosting service: