Kerry Linux Business Server
Imagine what you could do if you had your own server on the internet
Every business needs a domain name and a website. And many small businesses use shared hosting for their website because it is inexpensive and convenient. But it's often slow, inflexible and sometimes insecure if you try to extend your site due to your growing requirements.
At this point businesses realize that they are in need of a better solution.
Today, it's affordable to have your own business server, either as a VPS (virtual private server) or as your own (rented) hardware in a data center. Control and independence are the main factors in favor of managed business software solutions on your own server. Using your own server will also improve the security of your applications.
But as you know there is only one simple problem to be solved: Small businesses often do not have the personal resources nor skills or time to operate their own servers themselves.
Unfortunately, many small business owners come to the obvious conclusion: My own server is not a realistic option for me.
Let me tell you why this is not the case.
Small business' websites are fast
Let me start with a simple example. To find out how fast small business websites really are, I conducted a (not-representative) test. The results were not what I had expected, because due to conventional wisdom it would appear, that small business websites cannot be as fast and responsive as the likes of Google and Microsoft, because of their limited resources for web hosting.
The exact opposite is true, small businesses using virtual private servers are well ahead of the big players. If you wish to join in, all you have to do is to set up your website on a fast VPS (or let a professional do that for you). Apart from your monthly fees for the server which are close to 15 € per month, you will only have to pay for the initial setup of your website on the server and for occasional maintenance to benefit from improved performance.
Countless options to improve your website
What makes your website attractive? Excellent content, of course. Great offers for your professional services, sure. But also your invitation to actually use your website.It is essential that you have the necessary tools in place that your visitors can book your service, order your products, find out if you are available when they need you or request help using a confidential, direct channel to you. They need a way to receive up-to-date, relevant information and to sign up to your special offers.
In other words, you need to make your website usable, and that requires full control over your server. It can hardly be done with shared hosting, because different software components must be integrated to form a consistent image. You may have to use all the power of your web server software and that requires full control.
Going the extra mile
As a business owner you use email to contact your customers with a need to share confidential information. You'll wish to make sure that information is kept secret. You owe it to your clients to be reliable. Not a good idea to use Gmail or any third-party mail host for this. But with your own server you can make sure that certain information is sent encrypted to you. Your mail always originates from the same physical computer, regardless where you are and you can control access to your mailserver to prevent unauthorized access effectively. All under your control.
Again, you may need the help of a professional to get this going, but after a setup the system will perform its duty without much further intervention. Setting up secure servers need not be expensive.
Put your eggs in your own basket
Having your own server on the internet puts you into the position to create a secure area to store documents online, because you can connect to your server via a secure tunnel that makes your server accessible to your local computers only. With a backup strategy that automatically saves your online container on a different machine encrypted, sharing information becomes more reliable and secure.
