All about web hosting - How IONOS helps companies on their way to online success

From taking the first steps on the internet to scaling up with them as they grow, IONOS is the web hosting and cloud partner for small and medium-sized busi­ness­es. In an interview with web hosting portal Website Planet, Patrick Schaudel, Head of Online Ap­pli­ca­tions SME at IONOS provides detailed insights into the com­pre­hen­sive IONOS product world.

At IONOS we are a reliable partner for small busi­ness­es, free­lancers and consumers as well as en­ter­prise customers with demanding IT re­quire­ments. To this end, we want to take away the pain of choosing the right solution for their online business and help them be suc­cess­ful. As one of the world’s largest hosting, cloud in­fra­struc­ture and cloud service providers, we offer a full range of hosting and business services. These range from classic email and domain hosting, to web hosting, DIY and e-commerce systems; on to online marketing tools and full-fledged server and IaaS solutions.

We offer WordPress Hosting with a "Managed" option to our customers. Meaning, WordPress core, theme, plugin or PHP version updates are carried out by IONOS and our customers. Web pro­fes­sion­als and agencies, primarily, can save on main­te­nance and are able to con­cen­trate on creating great web projects for their clients. Customers who want to take over the full admin role are also able to manage their WordPress plans them­selves and do the in­stal­la­tion and updates manually. No matter which option they choose, we provide high-per­for­mance hosting on a fiber-optic cable as well as optimized PHP and NGINX settings. In addition, we only use fast SSD storage. This ensures up to 50% faster website response time compared to con­ven­tion­al storage systems and, last but not least, with an optimized memory setup and railgun tech­nol­o­gy we are able to serve up to 500 website visits per minute with our standard plans. 

For customers with higher demands we offer the WordPress Pro line, which provides the fastest possible setup on state- of-the-art dedicated cloud in­fra­struc­ture. These products are designed for WordPress de­vel­op­ers, designers and agencies with the highest per­for­mance demands. Our cloud in­fra­struc­ture is specif­i­cal­ly optimized for dynamic WordPress content — the in­te­grat­ed Speed Kit ac­cel­er­ates projects by up to 300% and offers automatic image op­ti­miza­tion and so­phis­ti­cat­ed caching tech­nol­o­gy. In addition, the WordPress Toolkit offers an optional manual or automatic backup function with up to 2 TB of online storage. A dedicated support team of WordPress experts is available to answer any questions.

Yes, we offer the most popular CMS web ap­pli­ca­tions at IONOS, including TYPO3, Joomla!, Drupal and PrestaShop. To use these hosting ap­pli­ca­tions, customers simply need to download them from our web hosting interface. All of the above CMS web apps are free, up to date and set up as turn-key solutions, so users can get started right away. 

MyWebsite Now is developed just for users who want to get online with their business as fast and easy as possible. We’ve rec­og­nized that our customers — es­pe­cial­ly those with micro and small busi­ness­es — suffer from the lack of time to devote to their online presences. At the same time, they have needs and expect the latest designs and intuitive usability. 

So we started de­vel­op­ing MyWebsite Now in­ter­nal­ly, and now are proud to offer one of the easiest and most intuitive website builders on the market. Creating a great-looking website fast, but that is in­di­vid­u­al­ly adapted to our customers’ ex­pec­ta­tions was always at the forefront of de­vel­op­ment. The tool allows you to playfully adapt layout, design and content to your own ideas using in­de­struc­tible section templates which guarantee a pro­fes­sion­al result. So far, customer feedback shows that we hit a sweet spot.  

More precisely, the solution is based on ready-made building blocks and in­tel­li­gent, com­bin­able page sections that can be cus­tomized with styles and colors in no time. These pre­de­fined sections can be used to quickly create a website with a perfect design. All elements such as fonts, photos, shapes and color schemes can be easily per­son­al­ized according to taste. In addition, the site is prac­ti­cal­ly in­de­struc­tible because all structure and design changes are seam­less­ly in­te­grat­ed and always lead to a pro­fes­sion­al result. The finished website is also au­to­mat­i­cal­ly optimized for all screen types, including smart­phones, tablets, and desktops — es­sen­tial­ly, users get one website that’s optimized for all devices. All MyWebsite Now packages also include every­thing needed to launch a suc­cess­ful website: a free domain secured by an SSL cer­tifi­cate, and a matching pro­fes­sion­al email address. And last but more important than ever for global business — MyWebsite Now’s consent-man­age­ment solution ensures that the website is fully compliant with the European Union’s new data pro­tec­tion law (GDPR). 

“Pro” is a pretty broad range. MyWebsite Creator is the best tool for people who need full flex­i­bil­i­ty in layout, design and func­tion­al­i­ty. While MyWebsite Now focuses on fast and easy page creation with an in­de­struc­tibly great design, MyWebsite Creator allows advanced control in all di­men­sions. This means that users can choose a pre­de­fined template, and also design their in­di­vid­ual website pixels precisely to match their ideas. With access to the CSS and HTML code, they get full control and can also integrate web services, apps and widgets from third-party providers, as well as define automated site in­ter­ac­tions like pop-ups and overlays. This is where MyWebsite Creator shows its full strength and is still much easier to use than a fully pro­fes­sion­al CMS like WordPress, for example. We also take care of all the ap­pli­ca­tion man­age­ment, hosting and security. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, we provide  an in­te­grat­ed cookie and consent solution which enables users to run a GDPR-compliant website.

Our MyWebsite Design Service is the right choice. Dedicated IONOS con­cep­tu­al and web designers, copy­writ­ers, and search engine experts build a cus­tomized website utilizing MyWebsite Creator, entirely according to the cus­tomer's ideas. 

This full-service offering ac­com­pa­nies users from the first briefing to the final handover of the finished website. For con­tin­u­ous de­vel­op­ment and op­ti­miza­tion, the main­te­nance service that’s included takes care of both small and large edits, from updating contact data and pro­mo­tions to replacing outdated imagery. This total peace-of-mind service is perfect for those who want to dedicate all their time to their pro­fes­sion or want to rely on a partner who takes complete care of their online presence.

In order to increase website vis­i­bil­i­ty, the > Check your Website Ranking on Google.ca | IONOS" rel="noreferrer">online marketing solution rank­ing­Coach supports website users with cus­tomized video tutorials for most CMS systems and easy to use step-by-step task lists. The tool helps to select the right keywords and explains in­di­vid­ual work steps, gives helpful tips for im­prove­ment and search engine op­ti­miza­tion. The tool is, therefore, es­pe­cial­ly practical for SEO newcomers because it gives detailed ex­pla­na­tions of what has to be done on the website to optimize the search ranking. The in­te­grat­ed com­pre­hen­sive analysis helps keep an eye on the direct com­pe­ti­tion through the eval­u­a­tion of search engine rankings on a daily basis. These analysis functions help the user to con­tin­u­ous­ly optimize the find­abil­i­ty of their website on search engines and to check the progress and success of the op­ti­miza­tions.

Another highly valuable feature of rank­ing­Coach is the in­te­grat­ed Google Ads engine. By using all available business data in com­bi­na­tion with in­tel­li­gent keyword selection, rank­ing­Coach is able to au­to­mat­i­cal­ly generate relevant Google ad­ver­tise­ments. There are no skills needed to use it. You can easily define the monthly budget you would like to spend for ad­ver­tis­ing on Google and the tool takes over the rest. With trans­par­ent and detailed reporting you can con­tin­u­ous­ly monitor the ef­fec­tive­ness of the ads and adapt the budget to your own re­quire­ments. And the best part — due to the fact that this is a pay-per click solution — you only pay if somebody clicks on the cor­re­spond­ing ad and you’ll never exceed your pre­de­fined limit.

rank­ing­Coach au­to­mat­i­cal­ly adapts to the user’s content man­age­ment system and works with all familiar website systems such as WordPress, Joomla! and the IONOS MyWebsite range of website builders.

We have a dedicated email marketing tool for creating and main­tain­ing mailing lists. Customers can build their newslet­ter and send from 10,000 to 120,000 emails per month depending on the package they choose to customers in their mailing list. With our real-time campaign sta­tis­tics they can monitor their newslet­ter campaigns. They can also do A/B tests, create, import and manage contact lists, segment their re­cip­i­ents and create pro­fes­sion­al, mobile-optimized templates.

We have firmly es­tab­lished personal con­sult­ing as a brand value propo­si­tion to take our customer re­la­tion­ship to the next level and to in­di­vid­u­al­ize it even more. This enables us to provide our customers with the best service on the market. We are the first hosting provider to offer a personal con­sul­tant with a direct telephone line and email address, who is available at no extra charge for all questions con­cern­ing contracts, our products, and success on the net. The personal con­sul­tant knows the customer and their goals and offers extensive support that goes far beyond just trou­bleshoot­ing. This unique offer is com­ple­ment­ed by ex­pe­ri­enced support teams from IONOS, who are available around the clock, 365 days a year, and provide help and tips by phone, email or chat — no one else in the entire sector offers this!