We at HostNOC do our best to bring you top professionals and influencers from the world of web development, SEO and other related fields. Today, we have a special guest all the way from Malaysia, Jerry Low.

Jerry is a renowned Web Hosting reviewer whose reviews on Web Hosting Secret Revealed have helped thousands of people in making informed decisions when it comes to selecting the best web hosting platforms. Apart from being a tech reviewer, he is also the founder of WebRevenue Inc. He’s also reviewed HostNOC and for that, we’re very thankful for taking out his precious time and helping us improve our services.

Without further ado, let’s dive into his interesting interview.

Question No. 1: Creating a website is tough, especially when the latest tech upgrades are rolling out too quickly. So tell us about your SEO experience with the newly created business. What are the major projects you’re working on?

Answer: Thank you for having me today. I am Jerry Low – founder of WebRevenue Inc.

I have been doing affiliate marketing and SEO for full time since 2006. Via SEO and other marketing channels, I have built a number of popular websites in the past – including Web Hosting Secret Revealed (WHSR), which pulls in more than 300,000 visitors every month.

My team and I just launched hostscore last month (September 2019) – it’s a new, data-driven way to evaluate and choose a web host. Our system at HostScore monitors the reliability and performance of web hosts on an ongoing basis. It then combines this information with other critical factors to form a unique scoring model for rating service providers.

Question No. 2: What do you think about using a dedicated server while running an eCommerce website, how useful it can be?

Answer: I have limited experience with dedicated servers. However, I strongly believe managed dedicated hosting, like services offered at HostNOC, is one of the right options when you need maximum security and lots of customization.

Question No. 3: In your recent experience, you mentioned that you also worked as a Social Media strategist, how much do you think paid ads have helped business with their eCommerce stores, and what do you think works best with an eCommerce website WordPress, Magento or Shopify?

Answer: Facebook Remarketing and Quora Ads work best for us. I would love to test out Reddit Advertising but haven’t find time for it.

Personally, I think social media marketing can work for all sorts of websites – not just eCommerce. However, the challenge in this is finding the right platforms to focus on and keeping up with changes in user behavior. You’ll need to understand your targeted audience well. Which social networks they are most active on? What triggers them emotionally to share on social media networks? What draws them to click on an ad on social media platforms? And when is the best time to reach them?

Once your ad is up and running, it’s important to monitor your ROI closely and run A/B tests regularly to improve your ads.

Question No. 4: Jerry, as you know web hosting may have an affect on SEO in various aspects, what are the benefits of having a fast web host?

Answer: Server response time carries significant weight in our HostScore calculation because page speed plays a more important role than a search ranking factor. You could be losing thousands of potential revenue when your web page loads slowly.

Studies have proved that a 20% drop in conversions was experienced for every second of delay in mobile page load time. According to Skill.co studies, 47% of customers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less. Web pages that load in 2.4 seconds enjoy conversion rate of 1.9%; while pages with 5.7 seconds load time possess only a 0.6% conversion rate.

To ensure that your website loads quickly…

1. Make use of Google updated PageSpeed report and tools like LightHouse to measure page speed and make website improvements.
2. Choose a web host that loads quickly consistently. Server performance, as part of website performance, contributes to the overall page load time. It is highly dependent upon the quality of the equipment and infrastructure that the web hosting company you choose has.

Question No. 5: We know Google considers “Web Security” as one of the ranking factors. What do you think about the usage of SSL on a website, and how negatively or positively it impacts your website?

Answer: 100% Positive impact, with no doubt.

HTTPS is officially a ranking signal since 2014. Non-HTTPS will be marked as insecure – which greatly affect your users’ experience and (likely) further damage your rankings on Google.

Question No. 6: Which fellow bloggers and mentors you would like to suggest to our readers to read in order to get information about web development, web hosting and other things that can help boost a website’s visibility on SERPS?

Answer: I owe my SEO and web development knowledge to so many great people on the Internet. But if I had to pick just three today –

• Cyrus Shepard https://twitter.com/CyrusShepard
• Ross Hudgen https://twitter.com/RossHudgens
• Marie Haynes https://twitter.com/Marie_Haynes

I highly recommend reading their tweets and resources they have shared.

Question No. 7: As an experienced SEO, what do you think are the key factors a person should consider while choosing Web Hosting for their business?

Answer: In the never-ending quest for the perfect web host, most people will tend to prioritize one thing over another. This is natural since all of us have different means and areas of focus. That said, however, server performance and security are two critical factors that you cannot ignore when choosing a web host.

Performance, of all things, is the most significant trait of any good web hosting service provider. It is what affects the speed and reliability of your website. Remember that your website isn’t an island and many things are required for it to associate well with other entities on the Internet.

As we mentioned earlier, your website speed affects your search ranking. It could also directly affect visitor satisfaction, which is one of the core components for your website traffic (and hence, success).

Hosting security is a necessity to ensure your site and your user safety. Look out for SSL availability, backup and restore, and built-in malware scanning and recovery when you are choosing a host.

Question No. 8: Workplace is like a second home, would you like to share some snaps of where you work, as well as how do you manage work-life balance?

Answer: This is me at my work desk in the picture. I spend about 6 – 10 hours every day sitting in front of the computer. I enjoy Muay Thai, basketball, and gardening in my free time. Also, I love spending time with my two boys – they are my #1 motivation to work hard.

Question No. 9: Jerry, as you know, Hostnoc arranged this beautiful meeting between you and the readers, HostNoc is a web host which helps people with their need of web hosting, domain and cloud servers. We would like you to add some of your wisdom bits to tell our users how important it is to have a digital presence in today’s world.

Answer: The life of a website owner can be difficult at times – You need to be able to handle planning, setup, content, marketing, and basically everything else. Because of this, it is always helpful to have all basic website needs, such as web hosting, server management, backup management, and server security, covered under a one-stop provider like HostNoc.

Having these features handled by a web host removes ‘to-do’ items off your list. The less time you spend on technical details, the more you get to spend on expanding your core business and monetization.

It was a great honor to be featured on HostNOC. I hope readers will find my answers helpful.