Everything you need to know about choosing and buying a domain name

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Everything you need to know about choosing and buying a domain name

The internet is an ever-growing environment, with over 350 million registered domain names now in existence. Thousands of new domains are registered every day, with individuals and businesses alike increasingly turning to creating a website for themselves. If you’re new to making a blog or website, you might be finding the terminology tricky and the question of needing a domain name confusing. Here’s what you need to know when it comes to domains and how to buy a domain name for your website.

What is a Domain Name?

The domain name is typed as the URL for people to visit your blog or website directly from a browser address bar. This address is a unique identifier for your particular site. Upon entering it into the web browser, a request will be sent to the Domain Name System (DNS), a server network. These servers will search for the name servers that are associated with that domain name, forwarding the request to those servers. The associated servers are essentially computers that are managed by your hosting company, and as such, the host will forward the request to the computer that stores your website, known as a web server. From here, the web server will retrieve the web page and all associated information and then send the data back to the browser.

So in short, the domain name is your website’s address, with the web hosting being your website’s accommodation. In order to create a website, you’ll need both of these services, which you can buy together or from different companies. If you purchase them separately, the domain name settings need to be edited and the Name Server information, which specifies where user requests are to be sent, needs to be forwarded to the hosting company.

Different domain name types

Various extensions are possible, with .com or .co.uk being particularly popular. The likes of .net, .org, .info and so on are also options.

ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is responsible for creating domain name policies and granting permission to Domain Name Registrars to sell domain names. It’s the registrar that will sell the domain name and manage the likes of transfers and renewals. You, as the owner of a domain name, take responsibility for advising the registrar where to send the requests and for renewing your domain’s registration.

Considering the sheer volume of registered domains, choosing a name may mean that the ideas you had were already taken. As such, finding a domain name could involve a little additional thought to come up with something that works for you. Generally speaking, avoiding numbers and keeping the domain short and easy to spell are good guidelines to go by.

The ins and outs of domain name purchase

The next question is, how to buy a domain name? For either a website or blog, you can buy a domain name through different registrars online, from some of which you can also purchase hosting. Buying both services from the same company reduces the need for changing name server settings and results in a more convenient process for the website owner.

Once your domain is registered, you’ll have the ability to make subdomains yourself. A subdomain is a child domain under your main domain name, for example, blog.yourdomain.co.uk.

Should you change your mind and there be unforeseen circumstances that negate the need for your website, some registrars will allow the cancellation of the domain registration or for you to let it expire, although refunds are rarely given so it’s best to check the refund policy if you are concerned that this may apply. If the auto-renew feature isn’t turned on and you don’t manually renew, the name will expire after the registration period.

You can also choose to move your website over to a different domain name by pointing the domain name to your hosting server, allowing you to potentially keep both names pointing to your website. Keep in mind that search engines could deem this to be duplicate content, affecting your website’s search ranking.

It’s also possible to sell your domain name or to sign up with an additional Domain Privacy service to show proxy details rather than your personal information if you are concerned about your data privacy.

Buying a domain name is a pivotal step in setting up your website, and once you know the basics it becomes less complex and daunting than it may initially sound. Choosing a reliable provider for both your hosting and domain name services will take the hassle out of set-up, leaving you to work your creative flair, starting by deciding on your website’s domain name.

Hosting Ireland bags ‘Guaranteed Irish’ membership.

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Hosting Ireland bags ‘Guaranteed Irish’ membership.

At Hosting Ireland we’re delighted to announce we’ve been awarded ‘Guaranteed Irish’ membership. ‘Guaranteed Irish’ represents 300+ homegrown and international businesses operating in Ireland and is a national symbol of provenance and trust that is highly recognised by Irish consumers.

Will Harrison, Hosting Ireland Director, said, “We’re so proud to be ‘Guaranteed Irish’ – we’re an Irish business and we’re here to help Irish businesses. Having this powerful symbol represents our commitment to the Irish market and our dedication to supporting Irish jobs and providing online products and services to the Irish public. We want to continue to help the online market grow and help local businesses and individuals to achieve their ambitions online.”

Speaking on the announcement of Hosting Ireland’s new membership, Guaranteed Irish CEO, Brid O’Connell says: “We are delighted to welcome Hosting Ireland as a member of Guaranteed Irish. The Guaranteed Irish symbol helps consumers and businesses to identify products and services that are better choices for communities across Ireland. We only award the symbol to companies which provide quality jobs, support local communities and are committed to Irish provenance.”

We’re #AllBetterTogether.

Alongside Hosting Ireland, the IE Domain Registry (IEDR) are also members of ‘Guaranteed Irish’, and in partnership, we recently launched a radio campaign to promote .ie domain registrations.

For the duration of the campaign, individuals and start-ups can get a .ie domain name and a free website builder for a year for just €4.95. The campaign is featured on Newstalk and the GoLoud app and we hope it helps to raise the profile of the .ie domain extension as the domain of choice for Irish residents.

Buy your .ie now and get your business online in time for Christmas!

In partnership with guaranteed irish you can bag yourself a .ie domain name for just 4.95 and get a free website for a year when you do so.

.ie Domain Profile Report  2019

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.ie Domain Profile Report  2019

Ireland’s country domain .ie grows 40% in five years, fuelled by registration rule change, Brexit and social network limitations…

– Total .ie domain database at 273,156 at end of H1 2019, up more than 8% year-on-year; majority registered by businesses and self-employed entrepreneurs

– Demand for .ie brand drives 75% increase in number of .ie domains offered for private sale

– Growth in .ie registrations from Great Britain suggests ongoing ‘Brexit effect’ as companies move to secure online assets in Ireland

– “Significant growth” in .ie database driven in large part by removal of ‘claim to a name’ registration requirement, says IE Domain Registry CEO.

The total .ie domain database grew by 8.3% in H1 2019 compared to the same period last year, and by 39.7% compared to the same period five years ago, according to new figures published today in IE Domain Registry’s biannual .ie Domain Profile Report.

At the end of H1 2019, there was a total of 273,156 .ie domains, compared to 252,222 at the end of H1 2018 and 195,440 at the end of H1 2014.
There was a small year-on-year decrease in new .ie registrations (-5.9%), but this a direct result of the ‘post-liberalisation cooldown’ trend.

In March 2018, IE Domain Registry ‘liberalised’ .ie registration rules by making it easier and faster for people to register a .ie domain by removing the requirement for registrants to prove their claim to their desired .ie domain (evidence of a connection to Ireland is still required). This resulted in an unprecedented surge in new .ie registrations in the H1 2018 period; registrations have since returned to normal levels.

Business, UK and county registrations…

The .ie domain remains an extremely popular way for Irish businesses to demonstrate their authenticity and trustworthiness to local and international customers: 80.2% of the total .ie database is comprised of companies and self-employed entrepreneurs, up 4% year-on-year.
New .ie registrations by individuals grew by 26.4% year-on-year, which speaks to the growing trend of using websites to build a permanent,
personal space on the internet, free from many of the limitations of social networks. Further illustrating the value of the .ie domain, 240 domains were offered for private sale in H1 2019, up 75% from 137 in the same period last year. A .ie domain can be registered by an international party provided they can prove their connection to the island of Ireland. British-registered .ie domains make up 42% of the 24,009 domains registered abroad. While the post-liberalisation cooldown trend also affected new registrations from Great Britain, comparing H1 2019 registrations to H1 2017 registrations shows an 18.9% surge, indicating an ongoing ‘Brexit effect’.

Derry recorded the largest increase in new .ie registrations in H1 2019 (+30.3%), albeit from a low base, followed by Laois (+28.5%) and Roscommon (+15.6%). Leitrim recorded the largest decrease (-43.5%) in new .ie registrations.

IE Domain Registry insight…

Commenting on the Domain Profile Report, David Curtin, Chief Executive of IE Domain Registry, said:

“The total .ie database has grown significantly over the last five years, and particularly since March 2018 when IE Domain Registry removed the ‘claim to a name’ registration requirement. This change made it easier and faster for people with a connection to Ireland to secure their domain of choice.
.ie remains the digital gold standard for Irish businesses, entrepreneurs, communities, and individuals that want to build or enhance their online presence. For Irish businesses that sell online, .ie represents authenticity and trustworthiness, factors that are hugely important for e-commerce and consumers’ peace of mind. For individuals, a .ie domain has benefits over a social media presence, particularly in terms of control over content and reach, which many social networks restrict as they continue to change their algorithms.
Positive increases in domain resales indicate a growing global recognition of the intrinsic value of the .ie brand, while the long-term growth in .ie domain registrations from Great Britain suggests that more British businesses are securing their online assets in Ireland ahead of any potential Brexit-related migration.”

Other .ie facts…

– 39.3% of .ie websites had SSL (security) certificates at the end of H1 2019, a 58.5% increase year-on-year. Google now downgrades search results for websites without SSL certs.
– 39 .ie domain names have a fada, a 39% increase year-on-year.
– .ie domains for sale for over €50,000: sl.ie, baby.ie, sunhotels.ie, billionaire.ie, and blockchain.ie.
– Deleted or expired .ie domains available for purchase: 1922.ie, Sk8.ie, P45.ie, SlowCooker.ie, FiveMinutesofHeaven.ie, Flog.ie, and ShoppingIreland.ie.
– The five most visited .ie domains: Google.ie, Donedeal.ie, Daft.ie, Independent.ie and RTE.ie.
– The busiest day ever for new .ie registrations: 699 new .ie domains were registered on 21 March 2018, the day .ie liberalisation was implemented.

For full report visit ‘IE Domain Profile Report’

ENDS

IE Domain Registry Annual Report and Review 2018

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IE Domain Registry Annual Report and Review 2018

Liberalisation of .ie registration rules and strong marketing campaigns drive 8.3% increase in IE Domain Registry turnover.

IE Domain Registry turnover increased from €3.06 million in 2017 to €3.32 million in 2018.

– The company experienced a 60% increase in year-on-year net growth of the .ie domain registry
– In 2018, IE Domain Registry spent over €200k on customer services and digital advocacy for Ireland’s micro-businesses and SMEs
– 2018 was a year of policy development: Alternative Dispute Resolution Process developed and refined, liberalisation launched, GDPR implemented
– David Curtin, CEO: “Liberalisation of .ie domain registration rules has made it easier and faster for citizens and business owners to have an Irish online identity, connect with their communities and sell to local and international markets.”

IE Domain Registry, the company that administers and manages the .ie country domain, reported strong financial results today in its 2018 annual report.
Turnover increased by 8.3% from €3.06 million in 2017 to €3.32 million in 2018. Net growth in .ie domain registrations increased by 60%. IE Domain Registry recorded an operating profit of €147k (2017- €186k) and ended the year in a strong financial position with €3.9m in Members’ Funds. As a company limited by guarantee, it must rely on its own financial reserves as its only source of capital.
IE Domain Registry’s overall financial position remained solid in 2018, with an expansion of its role as a digital advocate for Ireland’s micro-businesses and SMEs.

Key achievements
.IE GROWTH
• IE Domain Registry saw exceptional growth in domain registrations in 2018, with 51,040 new domains registered, an increase of 29.1% YoY (2017- 39,523).
• The total .ie domain database recorded 259,815 active domains by the end of 2018, up 10% on the previous year.
• This buoyant performance was generated by marketing and promotional activity of the company’s accredited Registrar community, particularly around the time of the liberalisation of the registration rules.
• The company’s liberalisation policy, implemented in March 2018, makes it easier and faster for citizens and business owners to register a .ie domain. The change has facilitated a significant expansion of the .ie namespace.
• Following a year of preparatory work, IE Domain Registry implemented changes to ensure compliance with the new GDPR regulation in May 2018.

RESEARCH AND OUTREACH
• The company published a single edition of its flagship research, the SME Digital Health Index, which analyses and measures the digital health of Irish SMEs. This was the first year of the report in its new, annualised format, which surveyed 1,000 SMEs rather than 500 twice yearly as per previous reports.
• IE Domain Registry launched the ‘Digital Town’ initiative in 2018 to celebrate and highlight the knowledge, use and understanding of the internet among citizens, businesses and communities. Gorey, Co Wexford was selected as the 2018 Digital Town.
• As part of Digital Town, local and national business experts provided free advice and digital demonstrations to Gorey’s business owners, community groups and citizens on all matters digital, including general digital skills, e-commerce, website development and mobile video.
• 2018 also marked the eighth year of IE Domain Registry’s OPTIMISE programme. As part of the programme’s sector-based approach, the company partnered with the Design & Crafts Council (DCCoI), Retail Excellence and the Irish Hardware Association to develop the digital presence and e-commerce potential of 40 SMEs in the design and craft, hardware and retail pharmacy sectors.

FUTURE OUTLOOK
• The work of the IE Domain Registry’s Policy Advisory Committee will continue in 2019. The alternative dispute resolution policy, announced in May and launched in July this year, will provide an easier and more affordable service for citizens and small business owners who wish to contest ownership of an .ie domain.
• Internationally, IE Domain Registry continues to respond to developments impacting ccTLD registries, in particular EU regulations on the Digital Single Market and the recent expansion of the global namespace by 1,212 new gTLD competitors (with 27 million domains under management) by the end of 2018.

COMMENT
David Curtin, Chief Executive of IE Domain Registry, said:
“IE Domain Registry is in robust financial health. With ongoing emphasis in 2018 on strategic execution, the management team was particularly successful in achieving net growth of the .ie registry, continuous improvement in customer services, and a strengthening of the company’s role as a digital advocate for Ireland’s micro-businesses and SMEs, through its research, events and direct funding initiatives.
“2018 was an exceptional growth year for the company, with 51,040 new registrations, a 29.1% increase when compared to the same period in 2017. This growth has been powered by the liberalisation of .ie domain registration rules, a change implemented in March 2018. It’s now easier and faster for citizens and business owners to get an .ie domain, connect with their communities, and sell to local and international markets.
“Accredited Registrars are essential partners in promoting and marketing .ie. The exceptional growth in 2018 is due to their energy and commitment to grow and develop the .ie namespace as an online identity for Irish business, residents and citizens.
“Through research like the SME Digital Health Index, initiatives like Digital Town, and direct funding through the OPTIMISE programme, IE Domain Registry continued its work in 2018 to promote excellence in SMEs’ use of websites and e-commerce, and greater uptake of digital technology in general.
“Our Policy Advisory Committee is continuing its work this year. The alternative dispute resolution policy will provide an easier and more affordable online service for citizens and small business owners to contest .ie domain ownership through a ‘Fair Play and a Fair Hearing’ system. Other policy initiatives will be undertaken, with the objective of improving cybersecurity for the .ie namespace and developing this digital national resource.”
ENDS

Read the full IE Domain Registry 2018 annual report.

Read the full IE Domain Registry 2018 ‘Annual Report’

Great .IE and .COM Domain Name Offers for May & June ’19…

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Great .IE and .COM Domain Name Offers for May & June ’19…

Due to the success of our .ie domain pricing in April we’ve now extended the pricing for May and June, so you can still get that .ie domain you’ve always wanted for just €4.95 plus vat.

There’s even more good news as now we’re offering .com domain names also for €4.95 plus vat. So now you can get either a .ie domain or a .com domain and SAVE€€€!

Why not protect your valuable brand and get both, ensure no one else uses your unique trading name or brand. In fact you could even include Europe with a .EU domain name and get even more protection.

Just think, a .ie, .com and .eu domain all for just €11.85 plus vat! Beat that!

So go on, get your perfect ‘Domain Names!’

For more domain name offers visit ‘Offers.Domains’

*Subject to availability and Registrar registration rules.

WordPress and Litespeed – the Perfect Partnership!

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WordPress and Litespeed – the Perfect Partnership!

Faster WordPress performance with Hosting Ireland & LiteSpeed

Here at Hosting Ireland, we definitely understand our customers have a need for speed. That’s why we invest in the best hardware and software technology to make sure the websites we host can work as fast as possible.

Hosting Ireland provides LiteSpeed for free to our customers when they purchase one of our optimised WordPress hosting packages and we’ed like to tell you a little more about Litespeed and how it improves your WordPress installation.

Our WordPress packages are hosted on servers running the lightweight and efficient LiteSpeed webserver. Built by LiteSpeed themselves, the LSCache plugin for WordPress is tightly integrated with the web server which enables significant performance improvements by caching at the web server layer.

Optimised WordPress hosting is a great choice for your WordPress installation…

The great thing about WordPress hosting is that it allows you to get your website up and running very quickly, and you should be able to get a great looking site even with no prior experience, and definitely without needing to do any coding.
As you get more experience and delve a little deeper into the inner workings of WordPress, you can use your knowledge to extend and improve your site, it’s one of those things where your site can grow with you and your business.
If you’re just getting started with website technology, WordPress makes it easy to do all kinds of things. Even normally complex things like e-commerce can be simply achieved using WordPress plug-ins. This saves you time, money, and ultimately problems.

How LiteSpeed does its job…

LiteSpeed works by indexing and caching the content of your WordPress site and providing faster access to the most needed resource assets. By serving content locally, from your own server, you’ll get a huge reliability boost and because you’re using the LiteSpeed cache, it will most likely result in a speed increase as well.

What you need to put LiteSpeed to work for you…

Actually all you need is one of our WordPress hosting packages (Standard, Premium or Developer), and there’s absolutely no effort required on your part. When you setup your WordPress site Litespeed will be there ready to go. It’s a hassle-free and simple system that works tirelessly in the background keeping your site loading optimally.

LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress is unprecedented power for sites…

Every WordPress site that uses the LiteSpeed Cache plug-in to communicate with the LiteSpeed Web Server (LWS) will notice dramatic improvement in page loading times.
More than half a million sites are already using this technology to improve the performance of their web pages and the experience of their site visitors.

Automates tedious chores and keeps your site primed…

One of the best things about LiteSpeed for WordPress is that it has so much automation bundled into it. Tasks that you would normally need to spend a lot of time on can now be handled for you automatically, freeing you to do more important things with your time.
It can, for example, automatically minify all your HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other text based server assets. This can be turned on or off, according to your preferences, but this can squeeze out that last drop of performance to push your PageSpeed score from 99 to 100.
Another really interesting feature is that it can consolidate all your JavaScript and CSS files. This can provide an advantage by reducing the total number of individual HTTP requests made, and also helps avoid code duplication. It’s just a small boost, but it can make a big difference in the overall score of your site, potentially affecting your page rank in a positive way.
Even though you should do your best to optimise your images manually before uploading them to the server, LiteSpeed for WordPress will also automatically check your images and apply any necessary additional optimisation that may be possible to eke out.

Pushing the edge of the speed limit and beyond…

LiteSpeed is already helping make websites among the fastest on the Web, and it’s only going to be getting better as time goes by.
Right now, LiteSpeed uses a technology called HTTP/2 Push to predict what the browser needs and get things ready to serve up before the browser requests them. HTTP/3 will be taking this to the next level, and that’s going to be happening very soon.

Try any WordPress hosting package from as little as €3.95 plus vat per month, if you’re not entirely happy within the first 30 days we’ll give you your money back! That’s our promise…

For more information see our range of WordPress Hosting packages.

New .ie domain registrations jump almost 30% in 2018 following registration rule change…

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New .ie domain registrations jump almost 30% in 2018 following registration rule change…

Latest .ie Domain Profile Report reveals insights into make-up of .ie database, including growth of regional .ie registrations, the oldest .ie domains, and the most expensive

51,040 new .ie domains registered in 2018, up +29% on 2017; the total .ie database increased to 262,140, up +10%

Border, Midlands and West region counties, such as Roscommon and Laois, recorded significant growth in new .ie registrations, with Leitrim recording highest percentage growth overall (+65.5% YoY)

28% of all new .ie registrations in 2018 were by individuals, suggesting the growing popularity of .ie for personal branding purposes

New .ie registrations from Great Britain increased by +28% in 2018, possibly indicating a Brexit-related migration of business to Ireland

‘Ireland’, ‘design’ and ‘care’ are some of the most frequently used words in .ie domain names in the database

IE Domain Registry CEO: “The .ie brand remains distinct on the local and world stages… In an era where people’s trust in the online world is more important than ever, that reliability is crucial.”

51,040 new .ie domains were registered in 2018, up +29% on 2017, according to the latest .ie Domain Profile Report, published today by IE Domain Registry, the company that manages Ireland’s country domain, .ie.

The total .ie domain database recorded 262,140 active domains at the end of 2018, up +10% on the previous year. Net growth for 2018, which measures .ie additions and deletions, was up +60% on 2017.

IE Domain Registry attributes the large year-on-year growth to the registration rule change implemented in March last year. It is now easier and faster to register a .ie domain. Applicants only need to provide one document to prove identity and a connection to Ireland; this ensures the .ie namespace remains authentically Irish. Returning customers do not need to re-submit any documents and can avail of a new ‘FastPass’ system.

The .ie Domain Profile Report – key findings

Key Facts


81% of all .ie domains in the total database are owned by businesses or the self-employed, indicating a national understanding of the value of digital business and marketing.

In many Border, Midlands and West region counties, new .ie domain registration growth was higher than in Dublin. Leitrim recorded the highest overall YoY percentage growth in the country (+65.5%). Laois experienced growth of +43% and Roscommon +33%.

In 2018, 28% of all .ie domains were registered by individuals, up +120% on the previous year. This suggests a positive impact of the relaxation of .ie registration rules to allow nicknames and geographical names, along with the rising popularity of .ie for personal branding purposes.

There was a +59% increase in the number of .ie domain names registered by international users (3,439). Interestingly, the number of .ie domain names registered from Britain increased by +28%. This may suggest that some British-based companies are looking to Ireland in an era of Brexit uncertainty.

Dublin registered the lion’s share of new .ie domains in 2018 (20,353, or 43%), followed by Cork and Galway.

‘Ireland’, ‘design’ and ‘care’ are some of the most frequently used words in .ie domain names in the database.

Some of the earliest .ie pioneers have had their .ie domains for more than 20 years: they include tipperary-water.ie and esb.ie.

Some .ie domains command a high price: music.ie, baby.ie, creation.ie, files.ie, and internet.ie are all for sale for €50,000.

The number of .ie websites with SSL security certificates increased by +37.9% quarter-on-quarter (Q3 vs Q2 2018) after Google Chrome introduced a new feature that warns users about potentially unsafe sites.

Comment:

David Curtin, Chief Executive of IE Domain Registry, said:

“2018 was a record-breaking year for .ie, and much of that success is owed to the registration rule change. In short, the change has worked, and last year’s figures bear that out. We’ve made it easier and faster for people and organisations to register a .ie domain while still maintaining the most integral aspect of the brand—the need to prove a connection to the island of Ireland.
“Last year, we achieved net growth of 60 percent, powered by a surge of registrations at home and abroad. Businesses and the self-employed continue to use their .ie websites to reach out and sell to new customers, and now increasingly individuals are registering their own .ie domain to secure, develop and build their own personal brand.
“Importantly, much of .ie’s growth is happening outside of Dublin, including the Border, Midlands and West region. There, many counties actually achieved higher overall growth in .ie registrations than the capital. As many of these .ie domains are registered by businesses, this upwards trend is also a good indicator of regional economic growth.
“The .ie brand remains distinct on the local and world stages. It is a managed space that is identifiably, authentically Irish. In an era where people’s trust in the online world is more important than ever, that reliability is crucial.”

ENDS

*All data refers to period up to 31 December 2018.
For further information, download the full .ie Domain Profile Report 2018.

Put the power of Softaculous to work for you!

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Put the power of Softaculous to work for you!

Softaculous is a powerful web application software repository that comes free with your Hosting Ireland website control panel, if you choose the Linux hosting option. It gives you access to hundreds of different software titles you can install on your web server space, and the best part is there are no additional license fees to pay, and you can install as many or as few as you like, provided you have the disk space available for installation.

How to get started
Using the Softaculous repository is easy. Simply log in to your control panel and scroll down the page until you find the link for Softaculous. Then you simply click on it and the installer will open up the same tab.
Once you’re in there, the most popular apps are listed in the main part of the window, while on the left side you will find a tree-menu with all the titles conveniently sorted into categories.
As you can see from the screenshot, Softaculous can also warn you if you have obsolete apps installed or anything else requiring your attention.

While it may be tempting to just go ahead and start installing, it’s much better to spend a bit of time carefully planning which applications you should install, and go about the process methodically.
This is a good idea because without a plan you can find it difficult to remember which apps you have installed, why they’re installed, and where they’re installed. That will be important later if you need to upgrade or replace any of them.
Luckily, your Softaculous system is also very good at remembering your previous installations and provides a simple way to remove items that you want to uninstall. In some cases it can also smooth the process of upgrading, but how well this works varies between the different applications.

CMS packages
There are so many, it wouldn’t be practical to list them all. The most popular downloads are the big CMS systems, including:
• WordPress
• Joomla
• Drupal

There are also many less well-known titles that are nonetheless well worth investigating. Many of these lesser known titles are actually very good for specialist application. For example, real estate companies would possibly benefit from using Open Real Estate to quickly set up a manageable listing site for their company.

Also, it is worth considering that with a little bit of tweaking, some of these titles can be re-purposed and used for other things than what they were designed for. As an example, you could modify Open Real Estate for selling, cars, boats, or really anything that is highly suited to a listing style format with photographs and detailed descriptions.

Some of the other titles that you may want to consider include:
• PHP-Fusion – a powerful and light-weight CMS system which is well documented and widely supported.
• Moodle – specially designed for creating online education systems. If you want to provide a training course, or even a collection of training courses, Moodle makes it easy. There are plenty of books and tutorials available to help you get started.
• ModX – a CMS designed for experts, this CMS is much less restrictive than a typical CMS and therefore gives you a lot of freedom and power to develop sites any way you wish. The tradeoff for all this freedom is that you really need to know what you’re doing in order to use it well.
• Composr – one of the most beautiful and highly polished CMS applications you will ever see. A key feature is that it’s geared toward social networking, and also includes plenty of other features that you usually need to go searching for with other CMS packages.

Power an online business with a ready-to-go shopping cart
Selling online has historically been expensive to set up, but now there are so many free shopping cart systems that are available and relatively easy to use, anyone can start an online marketplace.

It’s recommended to choose shopping cart software that is compatible with PayPal, even if you don’t intend to use the PayPal service with your shopping cart. That’s because if a shopping cart works with PayPal, you know it is likely to be secure and stable.

The best for this is Magento, because it’s fully PayPal compatible, and there is a lot of support available to help you (it’s one of the longest standing and most popular e-Commerce systems available). You can also find a lot of books, plus free online tutorials to help you get going with Magento quickly.

Another very popular title in this category is Zen Cart. As the title implies, it’s an efficient system that keeps things simple.

Abante Cart is yet another title you could consider. This is a very modular system with a slightly complicated interface, but it is actually simple to set up and get going. To add PayPal payment processing to the system, for example, is a simple 7 step process that is quite self-explanatory.

Dress up your website with accessories
There are all kinds of tools you can add to your website that will give it some extra functionality. Of course, you should only add these to your site where it’s truly appropriate. A business that sells photocopiers has little use for an online audio player, for example.

Some of the different kinds of accessories you could add to your site include:
• User surveys – want to get feedback or just know people’s opinions about things? Your website can ask them for you. Applications include LimeSurvey, and LittlePoll.
• Add your own analytics. Most website owners are happy to use Google Analytics for their needs, and to be sure this has some excellent analytic tools to use. The possible disadvantage is that most blocking systems such as uMatrix block Google Analytics by default, and the amount of people using blockers is growing all the time. When you host your own analytics, every result is counted.
• Easily include RSS technology in your site. You can install any of the nine RSS applications available in Softaculous, making it easy to include RSS just the way you want to. The easiest to get started with is SimplePie, while the most popular is FreshRSS.
• Now that HTML5 makes it really easy to include video in your website, and of course you can also embed video players from the major online video sites like YouTube and Vimeo, there’s not a lot of call for dedicated video software. One exception is when you want to make your own online video library. The tools available for this are ClipBucket, VidiScript, and CumulusClips.
• If your business is involved in the music industry, as a content creator, producer, or distributor (or even just a retailer), you might want to show off your products with music playing abilities that go beyond what the built-in HTML5 tools can do. AmpJuke and kPlayList are the big names in this category.
• Picture galleries are one of the most desired features for any website, and are useful for everyone. They’re especially useful for photographers, artists, wedding studios, hotels, restaurants, etc. Softaculous currently has 12 of these applications to choose from. Simple to use and just plug in to your site.

Boost your business productivity with free software
Online software isn’t just for websites. You could actually meet nearly every business software need with free online tools (and others with free offline tools).

In the Softaculous repository, you will find many free tools that are designed for serious business use, even at the enterprise level.

These include full-featured ERP tools, project management software, customer support software, calendar systems, and more. You can even do your book keeping, invoice clients, provide job quotes, and provide your own help desk support service for helping your customers when they have problems with your products or services.

Enterprise Reporting & Planning
For a small business, a great solution is Dolibarr, which is a very powerful system that combines ERP with CRM. It is packed with features and lets you manage most areas of your business reporting and planning, plus customer relationship management. There’s actually a lot more it can do, and you can read the full list of features on Dolibarr’s Wiki page.

For bigger businesses, something like EPESI may be more suitable. It’s designed to help large teams have access to the most important business information, and you can control which teams have access to which information.

If you also need accounting features, FrontAccounting is a good choice. It’s a full featured accounting suite with ERP tools, and it can do everything.

When you need dedicated HRM software, Softaculous has OrangeHRM and IceHRM. You can use these to hire people, fire people, track attendance, track leave and time off, track employee performance, and manage your personnel information.

Customer Support
Provide top notch customer support services with any of the dozens of tools available for the purpose through Softaculous. With so many to choose from, you can just pick the one that seems most suitable for your particular type of business.

Some of the choices available include:
• Vision Helpdesk – this a huge system designed for businesses that need serious high volume multi-channel support services. It allows you to support customers in many different ways, including e-mail, web forms, FaceBook, Twitter, live chat, and by phone.
• HESK – is a simpler system that’s designed for “ticket based” help desk support service. Customers who have issues they need assistance with can create a support ticket, which your customer service representatives can then process and return a response. It’s best for medium-to-high volume service providers who can’t always be available to handle support requests instantly on a 24/7 basis.
• Help Center Live – as the name implies, is the opposite of HESK. It is intended for full time support in an “always live” environment.
• HeldDeskZ – when your business could use both traditional person to person support but could also benefit from a knowledge base allowing customers to try and find the answers on their own first, HelpDeskZ could be a very good choice.
• phpMyFAQ – this oddly named package is for the lowest tier of customer support, where you primarily allow your website to answer questions for you because you don’t have the resources to provide real-time support. That makes it best for start-up businesses that need to allocate time and personnel to other tasks than customer support. It helps you create genuine FAQ systems that can really help your customers get the information they need.
• Question2Answer – you can even let the community of users provide support to one another with this system. It’s going to be useful for websites of free software developers, such as those who produce Linux distros.

Manage Appointments
If you’re running a service based business like a clinic or beauty salon, then having some way to manage your appointments is essential. The aptly named EasyAppointments is a great tool for this. With a bit of adjustment, you can also reconfigure it for other things like managing tee-off times for a golf course, or even managing hotel bookings.

Make beautiful business forms
For both offline and online forms, Softaculous provides useful products such as PHP Form Generator. It literally does just what the name says it does. With no need for any coding at all, you can create great looking forms easily. Simply print the resulting forms to use them as offline paper forms.

For processing your web forms, you can use Form Tools, which provides all the back end services to easily manage submitted form data.

Softaculous has just about everything all in one place
There are just so many free tools included in Softaculous, it’s quite a big task trying to document them all. The best thing to do if you want to know more is dive into your Hosting Ireland website control panel and click the Softaculous link.

You can then browse through the full collection of titles and decide which ones are most suitable for your needs.

You can use all these tools to enhance your site or perform important business functions, and they’re all licensed to you for your business or personal use through your web hosting service with Hosting Ireland, so there’s no additional costs for installing and using them.

‘WordPress-Developer’ Hosting Is Here!

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‘WordPress-Developer’ Hosting Is Here!

Introducing ‘WordPress-Developer’ Hosting! Our WordPress hosting packages that we launched back in April’17 have been going down a storm and following requested from our customers we have now launched a ‘Developer’ package offering more resources to meet the needs of WordPress developers.

More and more people are choosing WordPress as their preferred options when it comes to building a site and no wonder as WordPress software now powers over 30% of the Internet and is still growing.

Our ‘WordPress-Developer’ packages boasts the same optimisation features as our Standard and Premium packages but with the ability to host 60 Websites and 60 Databases, plus backed up with 60GB of Disk Space and all for only €59.95 plus vat per month.

Why use optimised ‘WordPress-Developer’ hosting?

1. You get Dedicated Resources and Hardware specifically optimised for WordPress installations.
2. Auto Security Patching – We always recommend that you keep your WordPress installations up to date with latest updates, but sometimes the inevitable happens and it gets overlooked. So we have you covered with both our Standard, Premium and Developer packages, if you forget and a vulnerability is identified we’ll patch it and also send you an email notifying you and reminding you to update your site.
3. LiteSpeed Caching – You always want to get the maximum from your site and the best possible experience for your visitors. Now with both our Standard, Premium and Developer packages we include LiteSpeed caching ensure that you get fast page loading, site speed and in turn a better user experience.

For more information see our WordPress-Developer Hosting package details

Earlier Post – 4th September 2017…‘Enhanced ‘WordPress’ Hosting Packages are Here!’

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