Weycrest Hostgator Speed Test

Quick and dirty test comparing the speed of UK Weycrest Shared Web Host and US based Hostgator.

The faster the server and page load, the less time visitor has to wait for a page to load in their web browser.

There are additional factors which can vary response times, for example database query (if you have a dynamic site) php script execution time and process, peak time etc.

Ping results show my Weycrest server is fast with ping times from my Entanet broadband connections less than 28ms

Pinging www.weycrest-coupon.com [85.13.195.119] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 85.13.195.119: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=55
Reply from 85.13.195.119: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=55
Reply from 85.13.195.119: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=55
Reply from 85.13.195.119: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=55

This also illustrates how important it can be to host in the UK if your target audience is mainly based in the UK. Let ping a US based web hosts

Pinging hostgator.com [67.18.54.2] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 67.18.54.2: bytes=32 time=137ms TTL=47
Reply from 67.18.54.2: bytes=32 time=138ms TTL=47
Reply from 67.18.54.2: bytes=32 time=138ms TTL=47
Reply from 67.18.54.2: bytes=32 time=138ms TTL=47

So there you have it. Your Weycrest UK website would be almost 5X faster than if it were were hosted in the US.

Lets try another host. How about 1&1?

Pinging 1and1.com [217.160.232.1] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 217.160.232.1: bytes=32 time=136ms TTL=46
Reply from 217.160.232.1: bytes=32 time=135ms TTL=46
Reply from 217.160.232.1: bytes=32 time=135ms TTL=46
Reply from 217.160.232.1: bytes=32 time=137ms TTL=46

So Weycrest (in my quick test) come out better against 1&1. But wait a minute where exactly is 1and1.co.uk hosted?

Tracing route to 1and1.co.uk [212.227.126.68]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1>

5 27 ms 27 ms 28 ms te4-3.telehouse-east.core.enta.net [87.127.236.8
1]
6 28 ms 28 ms 26 ms linx.gw-backbone-a.lon.schlund.net [195.66.224.9
8]
7 42 ms 43 ms 42 ms te-1-3.bb-c.bap.rhr.de.oneandone.net [212.227.12
0.49]
8 44 ms 45 ms 45 ms te-1-1.gw-dists-a.bs.ka.oneandone.net [212.227.1
16.208]
9 45 ms 47 ms 46 ms 1and1.co.uk [212.227.126.68]

Seems to route out to Germany. Thats another thing to watch. You might think you are getting UK based hosting, but in fact you end up your site hosted in Germany.

Also you stand a better chance of ranking well on Google.co.uk with a UK based IP address. This might give your site the edge if your competitors chose a slower overseas based hosts.

Host Multiple Domains to Maximize your Search Engine Rankings

Its well known that shorter domains are better for "humans" (hence the demand for very short two and three letter domain names) however search engines tend to favour longer domain names.

What do you do? Advertise your shorter domains but submit your longer domain name websites to the search engines. Many hosting services will allow you to host multiple domains to point to the same Web site. Multiple Domain or Multi Website Hosting is more commonly known as Reseller Hosting, but this just means you have the ability to create your own hosting accounts and packages.

However if your are going to have portfolio's of multiple domains why not take full advantage of the other factors favoured by Google and other search engines? You have probably noticed that search engines tend to favour the index or home page of any website over the inside or sub pages.

So why not have ten (longer) domains optimized for your chosen keywords, all pointing at their own hosted homepages optimized for those keywords? Suddenly you have increased by ten times the chance to rank well for all your keywords.

You might think the cost of hosting 10 unique websites would be prohibitive? Well not any more. Weycrest Web Hosting offer a reseller hosting package allowing you host up to ten unique websites for less than £100 a year. There is also a choice of cPanel/WHM and Plesk Control Panels.

Use Keywords in your Domain Name

Using keywords in your Domain Name doesn’t directly help improve your search engine rankings on that search term. Search engines actually concentrate more on what is in the body and content of your pages, not the Domain Name.

However, choosing a domain name is important as it can dictate how people link back to your site. When Google ranks sites, one of the things it looks at is how many inbound links are pointing back to your page. You will get a better rank if the links are high quality and related to what your site is about. When Google and other search engine rank a site, they look into many factors. One of the most important is the number of (quality) inbound links.

You achieve a better rank if the links are high quality and related to the content of your site. So when someone decides to link to your site, the easiest thing is to copy the URL of your web site and use that as the "Anchor Text "for the link. If the name means nothing, you may not get any clicks - or PageRank help - from the link. So let us say you had setup a really good "web design self help group" site and your chosen domain was bcwwwsh.com. If you were surfing the web and ran across that link, would you be more likely to click on it? What does it mean? Needless to say, this could be a very poor choice of domain name.

Not using a keyword in the domain name could make life much harder. When you ask for a link back, you have to specifically ask site owners to put in the descriptive anchor text like "self help web design group"; some will, but most simply won't bother. So choosing the right Domain Name can still help in the long run. If you can get a domain which has a good keyword phrase as part of the name, it will be more plain sailing to get more inbound links that are considered by Google to be related.

However I suggest avoiding too overlong or "spammy" sounding domain like "get-out-of-credit-card-debt-for-free.com." Its still important to keep the domain short and snappy (to avoid typo mistakes). Also keep it memorable.

Click Here to your Domain Names

Cheaper Alternative to 123-Reg Hosting

Some people are concerned when transferring domain names, or changing hosts. In reality the process can be very simple. For instance lets say you have registered your domain with 123-Reg but want to host with Weycrest. All you need to do is carry out a "partial transfer" from 123-REG to WEYCREST. With this method administrative control (billing etc) for your domain name will remain with 123-REG but only the nameservers are updated. Your domain management remains with 123-Reg, you but your domain name will point to your hosting plan with Weycrest. Please note any nameserver changes are not immediate, due to the distributed way that DNS operates (all the ISP nameserver cache's in the world have to update) so you still need to allow 12-24 hours for propagation to take place. Click here for a 123-Reg Hosting Comparison

Cheap Web Host Goes Carbon Neutral

Weycrest.Com relocated their business operation in an eco friendly business centre in East London, next to the River Thames, opposite the "famous" O2 Arena. The buildings are constructed entirely from recycled shipping containers! Their carbon offset contribution, in the form of data centre fee's are helping towards the purchasing of a 45 hectare extension to the Buenaventura Reserve in the foothills of the Andes in south-western Ecuador. This area was once covered by low-altitude cloud forest with exceptional biodiversity including many species found nowhere else in the world but the tree cover has now been reduced to scattered patches in pasture. The carbon offsetting is achieved by the reforesting of the land through a combination of natural regeneration by removing grazing pressure and by re-planting a range of native species