Best cPanel Web Hosting in Canada

Before Jumping into the different hosts, though, a definition is certainly in order. A cPanel is an all-in-one hub that offers a surprising amount of power, without overwhelming newbies.

Its interface is reminiscent of a clean, icon-based layout for controlling your site, making it an entirely intuitive experience. Most people often confuse cPanel for a simple shortening for “control panel”.

Why cPanel? The Fundamentals of cPanel

While this is true, cPanel is an actual product. Its ease of use sets it apart from the best control panel for web hosting. Simply put, cPanel is the best way to manage your site under the hood.

It operates on Linux, meaning most servers can run it, offers an abundance of power, wraps the entire suite up in an easy-to-use interface and if you need some extra help we made a cPanel beginner guide for you.

If you haven't yet checked out our main reviews of the best web hosting services for Canadians, please do before reading this guide.

Thexyz - The One You Want

Thexyz is an exceptional beast, a hidden gem in the web hosting market - and one we were lucky to discover years ago. It has an unmatched commitment to innovation making it the crème de la crème cPanel hosting provider for small businesses.

In fact, many business owners argue it's the best option out there for cPanel hosting services. Granted it is a bit more expensive than some of the other cPanel hosting providers, but it’s worth every single penny.

The concept of using the Internet to disseminate information can sometimes bring with it an immense number of risks.

With Thexyz, you can rest assured that you'll have great security whenever you're navigating through your site.

Every host probably raves about being extremely fast and that's fine if true. But let’s shoot straight - unless you think that they are anything more than sneaky salesmen, some claims are not worth the paper they're written on.

In fact, most claims are just that: claims. Well, Thexyz realizes that you don't need any holdups in growing your subscription list so they ensure that you enjoy remarkable speeds (and uptime) around the clock.

If Thexyz wasn't half as good with customer support, they probably wouldn't have received multiple customer support awards over the years. From being exceptionally fast at troubleshooting technical issues to helping resolve the issue promptly, pretty much everything is fine-tuned to ensure smooth running.

Other than just being prompt, however, their support staff are also super friendly too. So, you'll always feel like you're chatting with a friend. The only difference is that this friend actually cares about you optimizing your site's capabilities just as much as you do.

A good cPanel host has very little downtime. Reliability often gets overlooked but it can cause your business major issues.

I am not saying that you’re completely off the hook in as far as downtime goes, but Thexyz ensures that you get advanced notice on those times that your site does experience downtime.

2. JustHost

JustHost is yet another great cPanel hosting provider. If you're not a big fun of Thexyz, JustHost is another solid choice. It features a more honest look at cPanel, niggling around very little with the envisioned design.

The design collates a ton of information in a small space without being too overwhelming which is quite a feat. In spite of the slightly clunky process, JustHost review shows us that they have an excellent implementation of cPanel.

And the best part: it performs well in Canada. In fact, I'd say it performs remarkably well, considering it costs less than JustHost, meaning you will be paying a lower price for essentially all the same features and benefits you'll get with JustHost.

And, to ensure that you never have to worry about whether your site displays correctly, A2 Hosting has ensured that your site comes hosted on ultra-reliable servers.

HostGator

I get it. You are probably wondering what ’gators have to do with cPanel hosting. I wish I had an answer...

But while we're here, let's see what HostGator could possibly have to offer when it comes to cPanel hosting. For starters, it's the host choice for thousands of online businesses and blogs.

Making it undoubtedly the next best option. We particularly like this host because it provides excellent uptime reliability and all for a considerably low price.

It’s also easily scalable and has an extremely reliable support team that's always willing to help when you are experiencing problems.

HostGator has invested massive resources in making cPanel even better. It features a unique, proprietary design on cPanel using the interface we know and love, and revamping it. It is certainly one of the best in this league taking an already super-duper design and upscaling it.

The cPanel interface is pretty much similar to any other cPanel. It has sections stacked upon each other featuring great icons strategically placed for various options.

What's cool about HostGator though, is that they feature a search bar above the cPanel and another search bar on the top side of the whole page, where you can search HostGator's knowledge base if you can't find what you're looking for. It is a small tweak, yes, but one that makes HostGator's cPanel more user-friendly than other cPanel hosts.

Another element we like a lot about HG's cPanel is that they link to MOJO marketplace, featuring a section set on the left-side options allowing you to navigate to the marketplace without necessarily opening another tab.

This feature allows you to browse products such as themes and plugins within your cPanel.

WP Engine

We will reiterate that finding a great cPanel hosting provider is the key to optimizing your site’s capabilities.

Well, WP Engine is yet another amazing host to help you achieve all your site’s goals. If you're looking for a more cost-effective and affordable host, WP Engine is definitely not that cheap, but it is the market leader when it comes to cPanel hosting.

Plus, it is the fastest hosting company in Canada,bar none. WP Engine also has real-time threat detection which actively blocks any threats just in case your site gets hacked if it ever gets hacked.

So while it’s not the cheapest in town, the price tag is warranted considering all you’ll get. Plus, it also boasts remarkable speeds and all-time uptime unless, of course, the company has communicated otherwise.

HostPapa

If you're looking for a cost-effective cPanel host, HostPapa is one of the best options available.

It's a bit offshoot compared to some of the other hosts we've mentioned but it's not terrible either. It ensures that there is absolutely no downtime when it matters most.

This host also provides expert support in case anything goes wrong or in case there's a scheduled downtime to help make things run smoothly.

In addition, it provides domain privacy protection to ensure that your information is kept safe and sound.

Driond

Based in Barrie, Canada, Driond has been providing cPanel hosting services for about a decade now.

With so much experience, you can rest assured that you are essentially getting reliable service from a host that is practically good at their game.

This host provides 24/7 expert customer support to ensure that you're covered at all times and has data centers in the US, Canada, Finland, and the UK which means faster loading speeds.

Plus, it’s also remarkably cheap.

If you don’t want to lose face with your customers because of downtime, then uptime reliability should definitely be in the cards when you’re choosing a cPanel hosting provider.

Next, you'll need to consider support. Support is ideal here because while you may have contracted the best host in town, you can't really control the eventualities of problems cropping up every now and then. However, if the cPanel host provider has a great support team, you are assured that you'll get assistance whenever you need it.

It pretty clear that cPanel hosts cost a pretty penny. And if you're on a budget, you might not be willing to pay as much as most of the providers demand. As such, you'll look for the cheapest option around.

However, while you might save a buck or two, you also might have to contend with network issues and vulnerability to breaches and spam. As they say, you get what you pay for. To ensure that you get quality service and still stay within your means we included some not-so-very-expensive hosts as well. That way, it will still be a win-win situation for you.

Read More

How to Use WordPress Form Email Notifications

Customizing Your Email Message Using HTML

To format your message, click the “carrots” icon to change the rich text editor into an HTML editor.  Doing so will give you the ability to create headers, add lists, apply tables, and much much more. For more information check out our article, on Customizing your Gravity Forms Email.

Exporting WordPress Form Submissions

Send submissions by enabling the Attach CSV toggle switch.  Doing so will attach the latest submitted entry in a CSV format.

Add Multiple Email Actions

By default, each Gravity Forms template includes an Admin Email action.  You are not limited to this one action though.  You can add as many email actions to your WordPress form as needed.  To add additional actions click the plus sign on the bottom-right and select Email.

Doing so will add additional email actions to your form that can then be customized to your heart’s content.

When used in combination with the Conditional Logic add-on, you can create actions that will trigger when certain conditions are met.

Add Uploaded Files to Your Email

To attach file uploads to your email action, add the File Uploads field to your form ( must have the File Uploads add-on ) then, Publish and refresh.  Open the email action and look under the Advanced drop-down and you should now see an option to toggle your file upload on or off.

 

Attach Submissions as PDFs Instead of CSVs

The PDF Form Submissions add-on comes with a feature that gives you the option to attach submissions as PDFs.  Once the add-on is installed and activated head over to your email action, open the Advanced dropdown, and toggle on the Attach PDF button. For more information check out our article, on Exporting your PDF with WordPress.

Create Conditional Emails

Once the Conditional Logic add-on is installed and activated it triggers conditional settings to appear for all email actions. These settings allow you to build queries that are then applied once the selected condition has been met. 

Sending Ebooks

One way of sending an ebook can be done through the attachments field for your email action.  To add an attachment from your WordPress media library open the Advanced dropdown and click on the Attachment icon.  Doing so will add the attachment to your email notification.

HTML Format is the Preferred Format

Most modern email clients use and prefer HTML messages over Plain Text that is why our default format is set to HTML. 

Resend Your Email Action

Our WordPress form builder now comes with the ability to resend emails. To try this out, go to Gravity Forms > Submissions > select a form > select an entry > open the Bulk Actions dropdown and pick Trigger Email Action.

All email actions associated with that entry will appear. Open the Select the Email Action dropdown and choose the email action you wish to resend followed by clicking the blue Resend Email button.

This is a great tool if you need to resend an email or troubleshoot a submission issue.

Every Email Action Needs 3 Things

At the bare minimum every email action should include the following;  a valid email address in the To field, text in the Subject line ( avoid all caps ), and text in the email message. Without these, your email is sure to fail.

Gmail Does Not Honor the Reply-To

When Gmail is not honoring the Reply-To field consider adding the From Address ( Email action > Advanced ) instead. If you are using your forms for business, then it will be worth 

If From Address is Blank

By default, if the From Address is left blank it will use the WordPress Admin email.  If you are seeing your administrator’s email address in the FROM field of your emails, this is why. To resolve, include an entry in the From Address field.  If the issue persists after doing so edit the Administers Email.

Deliverability Problems?

The From Address, BCC, and CC settings can cause deliverability problems. Only use them if you are already familiar with what you’re doing, and already know how to avoid these issues

Send All Submission Data Even HTML Fields

To include submission data for all fields including HTML replace the {fields_table} merge tag  with the {all_fields_table} merge tag in your email message field.

Email Errors

When you see, “Your email action [action name] has an invalid value for the [setting name] setting. Please check this setting and try again. when the WordPress Form is Submitted” error.  Re-Check the address you have entered into these fields, oftentimes, the email address entered does not exist.

Believe it or Not PHP Versions Make a Difference When it Comes to Email.

To make sure you are running the most up-to-date version go to Gravity Forms > Get Help and look for PHP Version. If you are running anything below version 7.4.1, contact your hosting provider about upgrading your version of PHP.

Are Your WordPress Form Emails failing?

If your form emails are failing, consider using an SMTP plugin.  SMTP plugins pass the email data off to the plugin instead of your host.

Hosts are Responsible for Email

90% of problems stem from the web host actually sending the email. If you have set up your email action correctly and enabled an SMTP plugin and your emails are still not getting through, contact your hosting provider for further guidance as Gravity Forms does not send an email, hosts do.

Email Troubleshooting Plugins

My favorite free email troubleshooting plugins are Email Log and WP Mail Logging. Both plugins assist you with debugging email-related problems.  If you rather not have to worry about troubleshooting  WPForms takes over the responsibility of sending all outgoing mail from the WordPress website.  If you are having issues with the Gravity Forms email, installing WPForms is all you need to do.

Read More

Guide to a Successful cPanel Migration

 Performing a cPanel server migration may seem intimidating. If you have Linux-based Web hosting, chances are you are using the popular tool to manage your hosting services. Perhaps you are moving to a new server and need to configure cPanel to reflect the new changes.

The following covers the basics on how to perform a cPanel migration, tools you will need as you go along, and some helpful tips and advice. The cPanel’s graphical user interface (GUI) allows users to easily perform most administrative tasks like adding and removing FTP accounts, file/folder and email account management—among others—without using the command line. Fortunately, migrating cPanel accounts is also mostly a point-and-click affair. It is a bit involved, though, so be sure to have technical assistance in case of a need for urgent help.

Web Hosting Preparation

You will need the FTP information for your new cPanel Web hosting account, as well as an FTP client application for uploading and downloading files. Many free options exist such as FileZilla and CyberDuck. It’s also advisable to ensure that your original Web host’s version of cPanel matches that of the new hosting provider. This can be confirmed by logging into cPanel and checking “cPanel version” under “Stats” in the left-hand column. If both versions are the same, you’ll be less likely to encounter problems.

 

Backup and Download of Existing Site

After logging into cPanel, navigate to a section called “Backup.” Under “Partial Backups,” you will see two options: “Download a Home Directory Backup” and “Download a MySQL Database Backup.” Click the “Download” button under “Download a Home Directory Backup” and save the file somewhere on your local computer.

Backup and Download of Existing MySQL Databases

Under “Download a MySQL Database Backup” you will see a list of current MySQL databases installed on the server. Clicking on each link will download the backup file for that particular database instance. As in the previous step, the downloaded files will be used in restoring the website to the new server.

It’s worth noting that both files may be quite large and are compressed for easier manipulation and faster uploading and downloading. These files must remain in their compressed format. Upon downloading, some utilities such as WinZip may prompt you to unzip or decompress the files. Do not select this option, as the destination Web host requires the files to be in their downloaded format. Simply download and save the files as they are.

Uploading Site and MySQL Databases to New Web Host

After logging into cPanel on the old site, navigate to the “Backup” section. You will see options to “Restore a Home Directory Backup” and “Restore a MySQL Database.” Under “Restore a Home Directory Backup,” select “Browse” to navigate to the location of the website backup file. Clicking “Upload” will copy your old site’s file to the new server, keeping intact all folders and file locations.

The last step is to restore any MySQL databases associated with your website. Under “Restore a MySQL Database,” select the “Browse” button and navigate to the location where the website’s MySQL database backup was saved. Clicking “Upload” will restore the database—you will need to do this for each MySQL database that was saved (and needs to be restored on the new server).

In short, cPanel to cPanel migration is mostly painless with the provided migration tools. For cPanel to Plesk migrations, similar tools such as the Parallels Plesk Migration and Transfer Manager tool can also aid in easy, error-free migrations of your website.

Read More

3 pieces of social media marketing advice for Web Hosting sites

The majority of business owners see social media as nothing more than another channel to broadcast advertisements. The power of social however lies in the two-way communication and the ease in connecting with real people, your customers.

In this post we’re gonna dive deeper than your standard “how to post” and discuss three social media marketing tips that web hosting providers need to get a hold off to really use social media to increase exposure and drive up sales.

If content is king, context is god

Every day we are exposed to hundreds of pieces of content through social media, resulting in content becoming a commodity. In order to stay above the noise, you need to ensure you are sharing valuable content with your social media communities — but doing it in a smart way.

The first way is to do a breakdown of your community which you can do via the insights in Facebook and a service like twtrland for your Twitter community.

Once you have some idea of the demographics of your community and who you are attracting it gets much easier to cater to this community and speed up its growth.

When it comes to content always look for an opportunity to connect with your audience on a personal level. Make sure you are communicating in a context that your audience can relate to. Oakley do a great job of this in the example below where they understand that their customers are into action sports like the X Games so they publish timely content around that subject.

The right content in the right context is gold!

Use social reviews to automate word of mouth marketing

It’s no secret that in today’s social world many of us turn to friends and family to get recommendations on what to buy, where to buy it, and how much to spend. In fact a recent report mentioned that 90% of people believe brand recommendations by friends.

With more online content being created than ever before and an ever-increasing amount of noise online, it’s getting harder to get your message heard. Recommendation marketing has never been more important than now.

One service that helps you leverage recommendation marketing is Yotpo Social Reviews. Yotpo is a free plug and plays social reviews solution for eCommerce sites. Yotpo helps store owners generate tons of product reviews and allows them to automatically share this user-generated content with their Facebook and Twitter communities. Yotpo is a totally automated service so after the initial set up you can sit back and the reviews, traffic, and additional sales will come rolling in.

Below is an example of the highly optimized mail after purchase emails that Yotpo sends to each customer after a specific number of days after making a purchase. These emails convert between 6-8% of customers to reviewers.

You need to be getting on Instagram and Pinterest

We are visual creatures. Almost 50% of our brains are dedicated to processing what we see so it’s not surprising that images play a huge part in increasing sales. With most online retailers selling tangible products, it is a no brainer that imagery to play a bigger part in our social media marketing.

Most web hosts are already on Facebook and Twitter but many haven’t caught onto Pinterest and Instagram. Pinterest has already grown into the top traffic source for many retailers and both networks are growing at rapid rates which means lots of new customers! If you have a female audience you’ll find Pinterest could be huge while Instagram is strong for teens and young adults.

Get ahead of the curve and start exploring other social networks to find new customers!

Conclusion

Social media is changing at a rapid rate but that doesn’t mean ecommerce businesses can’t adapt and take advantage of the changing landscape. Remember to always remember that engaging in real relationships with customers is the key to social media marketing and being proactive with trying new tactics can bear lots of fruit. Go forth and conquer!

Read More

Benefits and tactics to using the .ART domain to build a memorable website

As the world becomes more digital, so too does the art world pursuing artistic projects have allowed it to be smoother for artists, designers, and people to create online identities for themselves. This then introduces the challenge of ensuring your art will stand out among the amount of registered domains on the web.

A secret to standing out from the rest, stems in giving attention to the small details. One of these details, often overlooked, but offers unique branding potential, is the .ART domain.

Benefits and strategy of a .ART domain name

Establish your niche with a domain that already mentions what you do. A unique and relevant, artistic domain name can easily show to users what you are all about as an artist.

For example, it then makes it easy for visitors to guess what your website may be about when someone sees a domain such as www.firstname.art or www.firstname.com. Because many .com domain names are already registered, it may be hard to find one that is suitable and available. .ART still has a lot of availability, this means you can likely find yourname.art is available and not need to enter extra characters to the domain name, such as younameart.com.

Shorter is also better 

.ART is also 3 characters long, just like a .COM. There are benefits to keeping it short. Think about how many times you will need to enter your email address, as a username to login to websites when filling out online forms, and so forth. By entering fewer characters each time, you will take yourself valuable milliseconds that can soon add up to minutes, hours, and even days added to your life.

An example here would be the domain dis.art, which would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars as .com. With greater availability on the .ART extension, you can find shorter domains at a much more reasonable price.

Allow people to recall your name

By using a  .ART domain with your artist name, you can better improve your name ranking and help people better identify your website and name.

For example, one of the leading banks, Bank of America uses www.bankofamerica.com as its commercial website and www.bankofamerica.art for its artistic initiatives website.

Create domains for individual products

Perhaps you have a new arty product or service that you are looking to sell online. You can use a domain name to give the art its own unique web identity and minimize the probability of it getting left behind in the endless sea of domain names.

Let’s assume that you are a graphic t-shirt company that goes by the name of FastTees. You are now venturing into artist submissions bearing your most popular graphic prints. To promote the new range of artists, you can use a domain name such as www.fasttees.art

Make .ART targeted marketing campaigns

Any campaign with its own .ART domain name often comes across as more legitimate, it also makes it easier for you to redirect people to it from other websites. An example here would be to include your name or first name in your domain name such as www.iphone.art

Protect your trademark

Some brands are simply registering .ART to redirect to an existing website. Here are some .ART domains that currently redirect to well-known internet brands.

• facebook.art
• bankofamerica.art
• hugoboss.art
• swatch.art
• iphone.art
• amazon.art
• tate.art
• pixar.art
• instagram.art

Improve branding on social media

Facebook and Reddit contain plenty of links that come across as anonymous and can also pose a threat. These are usually strange links with random combos of letters, numbers, and characters such as t.co/my723e3.

Now let’s say that you are a cat clothing brand called Peerfect and you’re coming out with a new line of cat t-shirts. You are promoting this line on your social media sites and forwarding people to the page on your website that showcases the cat tees.

Consider these two links:

⦁ bit.ly/a23fgh
⦁ peerfect.art/tees

Which of the links have a higher likelihood to be clicked on?

Using the new .ART domain extensions to create memorable links can truly boost your brand and help you make the most of your artistic activities. Dynadot currently has a special promo for .ART domain at just $3. Our affiliate link will take you to page and include your domain discount.

Read More

SSH Telnet

SSH, or Secure Shell, is a network protocol which is used to connect to a server and perform different tasks via a command line. The protocol is preferred by many knowledgeable users, due to the fact that the information transmitted over it is encrypted, so it cannot be intercepted on the way by a 3rd party. SSH access may be employed for lots of things with regards to the type of web hosting account. With a shared hosting account, for example, SSH is one of several ways to import/export a database or to upload a file in case the hosting server allows it. In case you have a virtual or a dedicated server, SSH can be used for pretty much everything – you may install software or restart particular services including the web server or the database server that run on the machine. SSH is used primarily with UNIX-like Platforms, but there are clients that permit you to use the protocol if your computer system is working with a different OS as well. The connection is created on TCP port 22 by default and the remote web server always listens for incoming connections on that port even though lots of providers change it for security reasons.

Read More

Start accepting custom online payments through PayPal with WPForms

As the world moves closer towards an online world, the need to get setup and accepting payments online is becoming increasingly more important.

With so many businesses offering many different products and services, with variations and types there is usually not a one size fits all solution when it comes to accepting payments online.

The payment form on your website is the most important part of a website for a business. What Annie Leonard referred to as the “golden arrow” on the now famous “Story of Stuff” video.

This needs to be as easy as possible for people to complete payment. They have already found your website, decided to purchase and now are about to complete payment. The last thing you want now as website owner, is to have the user have a problem filling out the form or decide that is too time consuming to complete. Resulting in lost revenue.

PayPal is great choice for many reasons, one being that most people and businesses already have a PayPal account. The other is that is easy to use, people like it because they don’t need to fill out their payment information each time they complete a purchase. It is also trusted by millions of merchants and buyers around the world.

More recently, PayPal has made improvements to its API that allow for seamless integrations into existing applications like WPForms. Getting WPForms for your WordPress site is great way to quickly to start accepting payments online with all the customization’s required for any business.

Conditional logic is your key to customizing payments

By enabling conditional logic to your form entries, you can build custom features such as giving users the option if they would like to pay with PayPal or credit card. You could also offer them the option to subscribe with PayPal or make a one time payment.

Passing users over to PayPal to complete the transaction also means that PayPal will take care of the security side of an online payment. This minimizes the risk for the website owner and helps the buyer rest assured that the online payment is secure.

Read More