Building an infinite Plex Media Server using Amazon Cloud Drive

Step 1  –  Get an Adequate VPS

Quick Click Hosting offer 3 options which are good for a Plex server. You can purchase here. Prices start from $3.49 for 30Gb SSD/256Mb RAM to $11.99 for 100Gb SSD/1Gb RAM. Use the promo code FDA57SNF1C during checkout when buying Business VPS SSD to receive a free upgrade to 2Gb RAM after purchase.

Step 2 — Installing Plex

To begin with, you are likely to need to SSH to your VPS. I work on Macs so that I use Terminal because of this. To do this you just type:

ssh root@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Replace the X’s with your own VPS IP address.

If it asks if to allow connections and save the machine, type yes. You will then have to put in your password to the root user on your own server, We will email this to you personally when you purchase your VPS.

Now we are in, we will need to download and set up Plex.

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Convert More Visitors Into Prospects With Standout Client Testimonials

Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain new customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that trying to generate new customers can be extremely difficult. Just trying to remain in business takes up a lot of your time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.

In today’s web-based and social-driven economy, ignoring what consumers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

Ignoring what your clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

You are also doing your business a great disservice if you don’t promote the positive things your clients say about your products, services, client support, etc. User reviews, testimonials and case studies are effective ways of marketing your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.

In this article, you will learn all you need to know to achieve better results online with knockout customer testimonials.

User Reviews

Legendary businessman and showman Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum once stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”

P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Using social proof as content is a powerful and effective way of getting your business promoted. Testimonials quoted directly from satisfied users are far more persuasive for drawing new clients, customers or users than anything you say about your own products or services.

There is clearly an untapped source opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … reviews from their clients!

Reviews and customer testimonials are fantastic for building credibility for your services or products.

Studies conducted by many marketing research companies all seem to point to the same inevitable conclusion: testimonials and user reviews help to eliminate doubts potential customers may have about buying products, help users select products and help increase the number of sales.

Here are just some of the findings available to support this:

• According to a study by eVoc Insights, a company that researches and measures user experience, “In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a web site if it has ratings and reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, user reviews play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
• Web site visitors who interact with both user reviews and customer questions and answers are 105% more likely to purchase while visiting, and spend 11% more than visitors who don’t interact with UGC. (Bazaarvoice, Conversation Index, Q2 2011).
• Customer reviews are significantly more trusted (nearly 12 times more) than descriptions that come from manufacturers, according to a survey of US internet users by online video review site EXPO. (eMarketer, February 2010).

(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)

Adding Consumer Testimonials And Reviews And Online Reputation Management

Adding positive reviews to your site from customers who are thrilled with your services is important for helping you grow your business online and creating a solid online reputation.

Customer testimonials and reviews, however, can work both ways and affect your business both negatively or positively.

People may not be saying bad things about your business directly to you, but they could be posting disparaging remarks on Facebook or a discussion thread about an unpleasant experience they’ve just had with your business and this could be costing you business.

This is where “online reputation management” becomes a vitally important aspect of your online success.

Misconceptions about engaging in online reputation management practices, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need to worry about it) may be be causing damage to your business without you even realizing it.

See this article to learn more about a plugin for WordPress users that can help you avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your products through effective user review management: How To Easily Manage Your Online Reputation In WordPress With Power Online Reviews Plugin

Creating Effective Customer Testimonials – Useful Tips

Testimonials, user reviews and case studies are effective when it comes to helping you market your products and services online and should be added to your content marketing. When you include your own user responses in your content, you:

• Show other users exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
• Help visitors identify their objections and address these.
• Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and facilitate moving them closer to a decision to purchase.

Below are some tips on creating testimonials:

• Avoid over-editing: You should try to use your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in. This helps keep your testimonials “real”.
• Use photos: It’s a proven fact that using images of people’s faces will draw the attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews will help increase visitor engagement with your content.
• Tell a story: Stories are so much more powerful and memorable than just providing statistical facts. Being able to present a customer’s “horror story” and how your solution “came to the rescue” will make a far longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than using generalized statements about how “excellent” the customer service was and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
• Keep it in context: Add testimonials in your site copy where it makes the most sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help sell your point. Think about the impact you will have in your visitor’s mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are truly ecstatic about your support when offering guarantees or providing content designed to help your readers overcome their objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “As a direct result of using your XYZ services, we were able to grow our profits by an additional $38,664 during the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ software has helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, like how much your solution helped to increase their sales or reduce their costs by in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours of work you have helped them save, how many new leads or new clients they were able to generate in a recent financial period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
• Avoid using the same customer testimonial throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out or have very few clients, try to avoid displaying the same testimonial everywhere on your web pages. Depending on the nature of your business, you could try to obtain more customer testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special discount for clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you decide to use it.
• Appeal to your target audience: As every infomercial featuring a celebrity endorsement, subject expert or “busy mom” knows, if you know who your target audience is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects aspire to become can be an extremely powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials targeted to your best audience demographic.
• Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get great feedback on your Facebook wall praising your products or services, ask them permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
• Only use real testimonials. Your prospects need to see that the testimonials published on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your credibility with “made up” testimonials.

How To Get Client Testimonials

Ask For Testimonials

If you have just completed a service for someone, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.

Here are some tips for soliciting testimonials:

• Make it a part of your business processes to contact clients after 90 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after performing a service.
• Include a text box for testimonials in all your client satisfaction surveys.
• Pull out your phone next time you visit a client or “hand over” a completed job and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a short video testimonial/feedback interview. When recording the video, describe to your viewers what you have done for your client and try to capture the client’s positive reactions and responses.
• Make it easy for them. When clients send you positive written feedback that contains snippets of useful “testimonial” material interspersed with the rest of their message, grab the best sections (only use what they have written – never put words into their mouth), and use these to create a testimonial, then contact your client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have already prepared something to save them time and let them know they are completely free to modify what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Post A Link To Their Site Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial

Offer to post a link to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.

Add Testimonial Requests To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages

If you have a list of subscribers, include requests for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced auto responder broadcast. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your clients have had a chance to assess the results of using your products or services. Use words like “I need your help” in the subject of your message and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking subscribers for honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to solicit testimonials from other members for your profile. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (and offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Section On Your Site

Create a “Testimonials” page and place a “more testimonials …” link to your main testimonials section whenever you plan to add new testimonials in your site.

Useful Tip: You can measure how useful testimonials are by how long visitors stay on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. A great tool for monitoring what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.

We have written an article about a heatmap analytics software you can add to your site to monitor visitor behavior here: Predicting User Behavior On Your WordPress Site Using Analytics Software – HeatMapTracker Review

Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add forms to your pages inviting users to submit feedback and testimonials.

Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you then refer users to your “Testimonials” page.

Here are some great testimonial plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add customer testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed them into your pages and posts using a shortcode. The plugin also lets you publish a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which you can use for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also can be upgraded to a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.

Visit this site to download this plugin: Easy Testimonials

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your posts and pages. You can insert testimonials using a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.

Testimonials Widget makes plenty of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and plugin support.

Go here to download the plugin: Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This is a premium plugin that provides plenty of great features right out of the box, including:

• Responsive design that resizes to display correctly on any device or browser.
• Options to display your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, grid layout, list layout, etc. by adding a shortcode
• Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colors, font types and more.

Go here to download and use this plugin: Testimonials Plugin

In Conclusion …

Client testimonials and user reviews are great sources of content that help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for testimonials, reviews and feedback from your clients, and publish positive content about your business on your website or blog.

Additional Info

For additional sources of information and resources about creating effective testimonials read the articles below:

• Ecommerce Consumer Reviews: Why You Need Them And How To Use Them
• How To Create Captivating Customer Testimonials
• 5 Tips For Knockout Testimonials
• Make Customer Testimonials Meaningful
• Your 5-Minute Guide To Writing an Amazing LinkedIn Recommendation
• How To Get Great LinkedIn Recommendations

We also recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Disclaimer: We are not associated with WordPress or any of the WP products written about on this site. We may derive a financial benefit from sales of products advertised, reviewed or linked to from this site. The product details used in this review have been sourced from the plugin’s own website

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VPS Hosting 101 – A Beginner’s Guide to Virtual Private Servers

Ask most site owners concerning hosting and they will gladly explain what shared, cloud and dedicated hosting is. Nevertheless, in regards to virtual private servers, plenty of them are not 100% sure exactly what VPS are what they are best suited to. Some do not even know there’s a VPS hosting choice. Therefore, to place everyone clearly from the film, this report will provide you a complete introduction to VPS.

What’s a VPS distinct to shared and dedicated hosting?
Shared hosting is somewhat like communal dwelling; basically, you rent a part of this host and share the sources: CPU (chips), memory and disc space, bandwidth, etc., with all the other users. This works nicely for many smaller sites as the speed, bandwidth, storage and reliability that you need usually function with no problem. However, for companies with larger requirements, the tools available can be overly restricted.

There are some possible problems with shared hosting: should a number of the other sites sharing the host hog tools it can affect your website’s performance and should they render themselves vulnerable to ailments or hacks, this can compromise your security.

If shared hosting could be likened to plenty of individuals sharing a huge home, VPS is the equivalent of dividing the huge house into numerous smaller apartments. Each VPS is another computing environment, isolated from others, using its own dedicated tools. Being a distinct entity with its own operating system ensures your information will not be compromised by additional clients’ vulnerabilities. In addition, it means that you can run any custom programs.

You have all of the disk space and computing tools at your disposal and control over which operating system and hardware that you would like to use, but this will make it the most expensive selection and is most suitable for companies that have bigger storage and processing requirements.

What are the advantages of VPS hosting?
Basically, VPS hosting provides site owners the chance to get lots of the characteristics of a dedicated server but at a cost that’s much closer the expense of shared hosting. That is just a few pennies over our high replicas, shared hosting option but considerably less than our cheapest dedicated host at $69.99mph. (* Costs at the time of book)

VPS also provides you the choice for fully managed hosting, complete administrative access, remote server access, and also the capacity to run custom applications programs. Additionally, you have considerably greater CPU bandwidth, RAM and storage at your disposal compared to shared hosting.

With improvements in virtualization and cloud computing systems, it appears increasingly probable that shared hosting has become yesterday’s entry level alternative. For new businesses starting up now, going straight for VPS is the far better choice. For site owners Which Are still using shared hosting, then you will find signs you should Search for this can tell you whether It May be time to update to VPS, these are:

A slow working site — a sign that you are hitting your shared hosting source limitations.
Your site has begun to have much increased traffic has significant peaks which it struggles to deal with.
Your organization needs to run customized programs so as to run its business.
Things to look for when Selecting a VPS hosting package
Not many VPS hosting is exactly the exact same and a few hosts provide far superior solutions and value for more than many others. Below is a listing of items you should look out for:

Entirely managed hosting
Many companies which use shared hosting do not possess the in-house technical experience to control a server and when that applies to you, you should start looking for a server that offers a fully managed service which preserves hardware, installs and upgrades your working system, and tracks your own server to get issues in order that it continues to function at optimal levels.

When you’ve got a problem on Friday night that you do not wish to wait till Monday morning until it’s possible to talk to a hosting provider, because of this, it’s absolutely essential your VPS host provides complete 24/7 support, such as technical assistance. A fantastic host should have different channels by which you are able to communicate: telephone, email, live chat, etc..

You should also verify that your service can give guidance on safety and program functionality.

Availability
You want a host that could guarantee your site will be online and will not be hampered by reliability difficulties.

Underpinning your whole operations is the hardware that your VPS is hosted on. If you would like a VPS that provides enterprise-class functionality, you will need to make certain your web server is investing in newer technologies such as super-fast SSD pushes and, the most recent Intel Xeon chips, high-speed DDR4 memory along with high performance RAID controllers.

Cost
Whilst cost is important when picking a VPS hosting packaging, it shouldn’t be the deciding factor. It is a lot more important to take into account the value for money which you buy for the bundle you select. Because of this, it’s ideal to compare various services available carefully and to be certain you get all you need not only for today but or your future demands.

Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide will have given you a much clearer comprehension of virtual servers. You should now understand:

Exactly what a VPS is and how one is made
the gaps between shared hosting, VPS and dedicated hosting
the Advantages of VPS hosting
why and when You Should Think about shifting to VPS
exactly what to look for when Selecting a VPS hosting bundle
If you’re contemplating shifting to VPS, have a look at our exceptionally economical, fully handled VPS packages. Our VPS provide blisteringly quick, enterprise-class SSD storage, high-speed DDR4 memory along with the newest Intel Xeon processors — all backed up with our highly recognized 24/7 technical assistance.

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The advantages of Virtual Private Servers (VPS) versus shared and dedicated

For quite a long time the sole platform option in hosting has been between cheap shared servers or even high-cost dedicated servers.

This is accomplished through clever virtualisation software that produces and manages a variety of ‘virtual servers’ inside the shared hardware.
Every ‘virtual machine’ looks to the client’s applications, databases etc as if it actually was a dedicated host, with a preset memory dimensions, disk size and bandwidth. It allows the consumer to completely configure the environment for their particular application and safety requirements.

The virtualisation software protects that ‘virtual machine’ in the activities of other ‘ servers’ which are working on the identical physical hardware. Therefore, if another client’s program go ‘rogue’ due to a coding error or be swamped with online transactions, another ‘virtual servers’ would continue as normal. A significant crash within a ‘virtual machine’ will not impact others.

The virtualisation software which produces VPS potential has become quite advanced indeed and lately we have seen the entrance of Microsoft into the marketplace with their Hyper-V merchandise. This is powerful proof that the virtualisation strategy is quickly becoming mainstream, not only for hosting firms like individuals, but also for big IT users seeking to enhance the efficacy of the hardware utilisation.

The largest disadvantage of using a shared atmosphere for your sites or software is the effects of on your own system’s performance and reliability from the ones which you discuss with.

All you will need is among those other user’s software to crash badly along with the entire shared server would cease and require re-booting. Likewise another user’s site becoming popular would slow down the system to your software as they would have a disproportionate quantity of the shared system tools.

Beneath the VPS strategy these problems just disappear. It is as straightforward as that.

The virtualisation program protects every ‘virtual server’ in other people and isolates the vital resources which were configured.

It’s this isolation and protection that justifies the usage of Personal in the VPS name.

This demanded that the hosting provider to buy and configure new hardware for every client. This in turn meant that a significant capital investment upfront from the hoster and the accelerated ingestion of the data center space, electricity, community connections and so forth. As a result of this the fee to get dedicated servers was set high.

The VPS theory alters the hoster’s cost version substantially. Now, the hoster could offer a near-dedicated grade of service with shared hardware, which lowers the consumption of the information center racking, network and power connections. This price reduction is passed on the customer via reduced prices.

Another cost-related problem that utilizing VPS technology varies substantially simply comes into play following quite a few years of usage … hardware reset. This would lessen the possibility of failure in addition to allowing the client to benefit from developments on chips speeds and so forth.

The thought of refreshing the hardware following a period of constant still is true to get a VPS, however, the huge distinction is who pays. To get a dedicated server, the complete price of the replacement hardware has been borne by the consumer through the fee amounts, occasionally including a brand new installation fee also. Whereas at the VPS version, the cost is distributed over quite a few consumers, thus the prices can stay low during multi-year contracts when hardware refresh is contained.

Conclusion

Virtualisation has been quickly embraced by hosting companies in addition to big IT utilizing organisations. As a way it creates strong financial in addition to technical awareness and even reduces carbon footprints.

However, for many business computing demands virtualisation provides significant durability and functionality enhancements over using shared servers without no technical advantages.

If you want to chat through your hosting requirements and determine if it’s the VPS solution is of advantage, simply give us a call.

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Changing Web Hosting Service Providers

There are lots of reasons why individuals or companies wish to change to a new web hosting company. It could be as easy as insufficient storage space or bandwidth, or it might be on account of its customer service, or lack thereof.

Shifting to a new web hosting company may seem like an intimidating undertaking, but it does not need to be that complicated – there are just a couple of things to keep in mind.

Maintain your hosting account with your Current host open
It’s recommend that you maintain your existing hosting account active till you have completed the transition steps (ie. New account installation, file transfer, email creation and installation, DNS modification and propagation). This will ensure that your site and domain email accounts will be operating through the transition.

Choose a suitable new web hosting provider
Considerations include:

A) Form of OS (Windows vs. Linux) – it is dependent on the technologies your site needs. As an instance, if your website requires ASP, MSSQL, MSACCESS or alternative Microsoft-specific technologies, then you will have to find a Windows-platform web hosting program.

Create a backup copy of your Current website: download old account files
Ideally, files must be downloaded at exactly the same tree structure in which you would like to upload it afterwards. Also look for any file or chmod permissions you might to set on any folder or file. This is a rather easy task and can easily be accomplished by FTP.

But some free web hosting providers do not provide FTP access. This is especially true if you’re currently using a free Flash/drag-and-drop website development service (ie.

If this is true, you aren’t going to be able to download your existing files and will need to re-create your new files. You need to check to find out whether your new hosting provider offers a completely free site creator.

To avoid running into the exact same problem later on, make sure that your new web hosting provider provides FTP access.

Installation brand new (same) email addresses
To ensure that emails are appropriately received, it’s crucial to keep the identical email addresses, such as email aliases and forwarders.

DNS changes and propagation
Once you have uploaded your files into the new web hosting server and re-created your email accounts, you can go ahead and make the necessary domain name server (DNS) varies.

DNS is generally obtained once you have signed up with the brand new web hosting provider. You’ll have to replace your existing DNS settings using the new one – this is typically done through your domain management panel (your domain ).

The new DNS will take anywhere between 24-48 hours to spread, therefore the old hosting company is liable for email and website in the meantime.

Cancel your previous account.
Once your new account has been activated and your site and email services in your new hosting provider are up and running, you can move to have your previous account cancelled.

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