Web Development

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

25 Creative Free InDesign Templates

Every designer could use a little help. So make the process much easier with a helpful InDesign template.

From creative magazines to beautiful book designs, find the right Adobe InDesign template for your project. Check out this list of amazing free InDesign templates.

25 Premium Templates for Adobe InDesign

There are some incredible resources to fire up your creativity over on Envato Market. This first list includes many affordable options, from fantastic brochures to professional presentations.

Clean InDesign Magazine Design Template

This beautiful, sophisticated template has 32 different pages to choose from and customize. Easily customize the contents to meet your project's needs.

InDesign Brochure, Flyer, Business Card Set

Looking for a cohesive set of materials for your brand? Look no further—this set contains everything you need to get started, and it's easily editable in Adobe InDesign.

InDesign Magazine Template

This elegant magazine template comes in both A4 and US Letter sizes. Just download, insert your content, and you have a print-ready project in a snap.

InDesign Stationery Set & Invoice Template

Looking for a full stationery set? You get nine different pieces in this collection, as well as a help file to get you started. It's also editable in other Adobe software, for your convenience.

Photography Portofolio Template

Ready to show off your photographs? This InDesign portfolio template is perfect for showing off your creative work. Choose from 24 different pages to showcase your work.

Love astrology? Follow the moon and all its wonders with this special edition magazine template. This template includes 40 uniquely designed pages that are compatible with Adobe InDesign CS4 and above. Edit full-page spreads in less time.

InDesign Magazine Templates

Make bold choices with your cover designs! This InDesign template features a flirty pink color scheme with handwritten script fonts and so much more. Get high-resolution files in one convenient download.

InDesign Magazine Templates

Helvetica has become the standard across the industry. Now you can pay homage to this font family with this brilliant InDesign magazine template. This template also features two cover alternatives. So emphasize your favorite content with each cover design.

InDesign Brochure Templates

Need some culinary inspiration? Check out this delicious-looking brochure template. This design uses free fonts and images to create a beautiful cover and interior pages. Choose the content you like for a new culinary experience.

InDesign Brochure Templates

Embark on your next business journey with this clever InDesign brochure. This brilliant design features a modern, professional aesthetic, with plenty of room for your logo and company details. Get print-ready files along with master pages you can easily edit.

InDesign Book Templates

Pass down your favorite recipes to fans or loved ones. This InDesign book template is perfect for food lovers. It's available in US Letter size along with 24 unique layouts you can customize. Just add your recipes, ingredients, and images to get started.

InDesign Brochure Templates

Many business owners love to design with the color blue. Check out this next smart choice from designer Addaxx. It comes with 16 pages in a solid square brochure design. Edit your text easily with the free fonts and fully editable layers.

InDesign Newsletter Templates

Inspire the next fashion revolution with this awesome newsletter template. This InDesign template is clean and simple to use. The cover features an elegant, minimal theme with previews of what readers can look forward to. Try it out with Adobe InDesign CS4 and up.

Free InDesign Resume Template

Land the career of your dreams with an epic resume. This InDesign resume template is editable with some of your favorite design programs. Update it easily with Photoshop or even Microsoft Word! Three complete templates and a help file are also included!

Wedding Album InDesign Template

Celebrate your special day with a wedding InDesign template. Great for wedding DIY-ers, this InDesign template includes a stunning, minimalist style with fully editable layers. Insert your best pictures from your wedding to save your memories.

InDesign Catalog Template

Set the top trends in style. This next InDesign template is chic and flawless. It contains everything you need to get started with a fashion magazine or catalog right away. Enjoy a clean, modern layout that you can easily interchange with your favorite images.

InDesign Magazine Templates

Showcase your wildlife photography with beautiful images. This InDesign template comes in both A4 and US Letter sizes. Get 32 custom pages that can be used for articles, ads, or promotional purposes.

InDesign Portfolio Template

Create a brilliant impression with a smart portfolio. This InDesign template is easily editable with versions CS4 and above. It's perfect for professional creatives and gives you access to 24 unique layouts. Add your choice of color or black and white photography to make it stand out.

InDesign Brochure Templates

Corporations and small businesses both benefit from well-designed brochures. This next design features four color variations, including blue, yellow, orange, and red. Grab it for just $6!

InDesign Poster Template

Kick off the summer parties with an epic flyer. This InDesign poster template comes with additional standard formats. You'll get two design versions along with a helpful guide to assist you with editing. Check it out!

InDesign Ebook Template

Ready to launch your new ebook? Check out this sleek and professional 24-page layout. This InDesign template features a six-column grid along with editable text and paragraph styles. Use the one-click feature to quickly change any color to match your brand.

InDesign Newsletter Template

This next newsletter might do just the trick. It has a traditional newspaper vibe with bold, yellow accents you can quickly customize. Get six pages in A4 size, along with additional perks like automatic page numbering and more. Add it to your collection!

InDesign Catalog Templates

What's in this season's catalog? This InDesign template is a smart choice for fashion lovers and business owners. It includes 30 custom pages and even automatic page numbering. Set up your catalog fast with this fully editable template.

InDesign Report Template

Report your annual facts and figures with our next InDesign template. Featuring a clean, modern design, this template adds a pop of color to the center with yellow. Edit the titles, colors and elements fast using InDesign CS4 and up.

InDesign Calendar Templates

Add a clever calendar to your business. This InDesign template is another great resource at just $9. You can add your own photography and change the colors to fit your style. How will you use this template?

25 Free Creative InDesign Templates

1. Photography Magazine Template: Great for photographers, this editable magazine is clean and minimal. Enjoy a stylish design you can use with portrait, nature, and wildlife photography.

2. Zine Template for InDesign: Bold colors and gradients make this brilliant design come to life. Check out this free InDesign template that's printable and easy to edit.

3. Free InDesign Template - Trifold Brochure: Create a summer brochure that is ideal for warmer climates and beach businesses. Enjoy high-resolution files and free fonts!

4. Free InDesign Magazine Template: This next template comes from designer Yusuf Caglar. It has gorgeous full-page spreads with plenty of room for new articles and editorials.

5. Free Simple InDesign Resume Template: Try a unique, creative resume for your interviews. This elegant design comes from designer Steven Han.

6. Free Pets Brochure InDesign Template: Sweet and adorable, this pets brochure will make anyone smile. Share your favorite products, tips, and advice with this InDesign template.

7. Free Tri-Fold Brochure: Starting a bike shop? Grab this epic tri-fold brochure from designer Moonshine Brew Template.

8. Free Calendar 2019 InDesign Template: Finish out the year with a stunning 2019 calendar. Update this to fit the upcoming year with new photos and text.

9. Free Minimalist Resume Template in InDesign: Need a fresh and clean design for your resume? Grab this awesome freebie from Steven Han.

10. Free InDesign Brochure Template: Only minimal InDesign knowledge is needed for this template. Enjoy a cool tech-inspired brochure for any creative project.

11. Free Tri-fold Brochure Indesign Template: This free business brochure will set you up with a great standard layout and color scheme. Change it easily with Adobe InDesign.

12. Free InDesign Flyer Template: Don't forget to grab this professional flyer from designer Paternotte Nathan. It's suitable for corporate events and is fully customizable!

13. Free Multipurpose InDesign Brochure Template: Multipurpose templates bring you endless designs with one resource. Grab this awesome freebie from Ali Aslam.

14. Free Personal InDesign Resume Template: Here's another amazing free resume from Steven Han. Use this free professional resource to land you that job!

15. Free InDesign Flyer Template: Whether you need a quick flyer for a festival or editorial, this template will set you up with a family-oriented design we know you'll love.

16. Free InDesign Book Template: Thinking of writing the next great novel or text resource? Start today with this design from Gyan.

17. Free Elegant InDesign Resume Template: Present your resume with a creative style. This next design comes from the talented Julian Ma.

18. Multipurpose InDesign Brochure Template: Here's another fantastic freebie from Ali Aslam. Get a multipurpose brochure with a sophisticated corporate feel.

19. Free InDesign Magazine Template: Stun your audience with this elegant layout. Enjoy this next beautiful freebie from designer Gyan.

20. Typographic Poster Template: Make the most out of your lettering with a fun typographic poster. This cool template comes with versatile options for all your events.

21. Food Magazine Cover Template: Land the perfect cover with this magazine food template. Get 13 unique pages with modern layouts.

22. Graphic Business Card Template: Make designer cards with this next InDesign template. This download comes with two color options and helpful tips!

23. School Brochure Template: Need a free template for school? Update this simple brochure to include your school's activities, from sports to academic events.

24. Free InDesign Resume Template: Create a spectacular resume with this free design. This resource comes from Steven Han and contains all the main design elements you'll need to highlight your work experience.

25. Paperback Book Cover Template: Design your ideal paperback cover with this sweet and elegant book template. This InDesign resource includes bleed lines, print-ready files, and so much more to make your book dreams come true.

Find More InDesign Templates

Make your business more efficient with Adobe InDesign templates. Make sure to bookmark your favorites and tell us the one you like in the comments below.

Love these resources? Find more InDesign templates at these links:

15 Best Web Hosting WordPress Themes (With WHMCS Integration) for 2020

WordPress themes provide you with an efficient way to streamline the design and appearance of your website. There are thousands of themes out there to choose from and many with specific integrations such as WHM Complete Solution (WHMCS). So how do you know which theme is the best for you?

Wait, What is WHMCS?

WHMCS stands for Web Host Manager Complete Solution. It’s a client management, billing, and support solution, originally started as a company in the UK, but then later acquired by cPanel.

Plugins like WHMCS Bridge allow WHMCS to be integrated with WordPress, so any WHMCS compatible theme is ideal for any hosting business website.

While it’s a simple integration for WordPress developers, Envato gives you access to WordPress web hosting templates that make the whole process even easier for you.

Not only do WordPress WHMCS templates save you time with your website, but we want to save you time when trying to choose one that works for you. Here are fifteen of the best hosting templates to fit your needs if you’re using WHMCS.

Best Web Hosting WordPress Themes on Envato Elements (With Unlimited Use)

Envato Elements is a great resource for free WordPress web hosting templates. For a low fee per month, you’ll have access to unlimited downloads of WordPress themes perfect for your website.

Elements gives power, and time, back to you in design and brand identity of your site. Explore more than 2,000,000 themes, templates, photos, videos, etc. all within one subscription. As a WordPress user, you’ll have access to nearly 2,000 themes and plugins alone.

If you’re wondering why you should get an Envato Elements subscription and not just find a free web hosting template online, know that each of Envato’s templates are extremely robust and professionally designed. Because of this, finding the perfect template with WHMCS is made easy with Envato. And the benefits don’t stop there! With unlimited downloads and access to all their resources, you can take your site a step above the rest.

The Best Web Hosting WordPress Themes on ThemeForest (Buy One at a Time)

For your web hosting theme needs, we also have you covered through our ThemeForest marketplace, where you can purchase single licenses for WordPress themes. Here are some of our favorites that are trending for 2020.

Also be sure to check out Themeforest’s WordPress hosting recommendations, where you can get 70% off managed WordPress hosting by SiteGround!

1. Hostiko WordPress WHMCS Hosting Theme

This theme is currently the largest pre-built hosting template package offered on Envato’s marketplaces. It is built based on WPBakery Page Builder for WordPress and Revolution Slider.

This Hostiko theme offers a WHMCS-bridge integrated solution for your WordPress site, which creates a seamless user experience for the customers of your web hosting company.

2. ArkaHost - WHMCS WordPress Theme

As the 2016 and 2017 best-selling WordPress hosting theme within Envato, the ArkaHost theme offers incredible support for your web hosting site. This responsive theme is clean, minimalist, professional, and easy to customize.

Completely compatible with WHMCS, this theme comes with a pages builder, slideshows, and color variations.

3. Bluerack - Modern Hosting WordPress Theme with WHMCS

This modern and unique responsive web hosting theme can be fully customized. The new version is compatible with the latest WHMCS update, which allows you to import all html layouts, pricing tables, etc. This theme is best suited for individuals or startup companies.

4. Alaska - WHMCS & Hosting WordPress Theme

Alaska’s WHMCS-integrated WordPress theme is an elegant and fully responsive option. With nearly 40 shortcodes, it gives you the ability to create any kind of webpage you’d like.

This theme offers 12 WHMCS integration pages ready for you to use and take your site to the next level.

5. Hosting WordPress theme with WHMCS - MegaHost

Specifically designed for web hosting companies, this MegaHost theme is created with the WHMCS-bridge plugin. It is integrated with the page builder “Elementor” to provide novice users with the ability to create design and customization options.

With built-out WHMCS pages, this theme can help you create a beautiful website very efficiently.

6. InHost | WHMCS Integration WordPress Theme

This sophisticated and clean design is suitable for all types of web hosting sites. This InHost theme includes six responsive home page layout options with WHMCS integration, along with everything a modern company website needs.

Better yet: this theme comes with free plugins included in the package for Visual Composer, Mega menu, and more.

7. NRGHost - Flat Web Hosting WordPress Theme + WHMCS

NRGHost provides a WHMCS-integrated theme with three home page designs and a WHMCS template. This fully customizable theme is a great solution for any web hosting company, and offers premium customer support and video tutorials to all users.

8. Racks | WordPress Hosting + WHMCS Theme

This high-performance theme from Racks is clean and modern. Compatible with the WHMCS-Bridge plugin, this theme includes Master Slider, Ultimate Addons, and Visual Composer all for free within the package.

9. hibreed - WordPress & WHMCS Hosting Theme

For any web hosting service website, this theme is a great solution. You’ll be able to customize it through the drag and drop page builder and more than 33 shortcodes. The simple install and free WHMCS template make this one a perfect fit.

10. Spark - Responsive WHMCS Hosting WordPress Theme

Here is another easy install with this theme from Spark, made with the Bootstrap framework. This theme is WHMCS-integrated with Search Domain, Add to Cart, Checkout, etc. With Visual Composer, you can customize this theme with simple drag and drop tools to adapt to your brand.

11. HostWHMCS | Responsive Hosting and WHMCS WordPress Theme

This responsive hosting and WHMCS theme is suited to technology and software businesses along with web hosting companies. The theme has all you need as a web hosting company included in their templates. With different server configurations and hosting packages, this HostWHMCS theme is a winner.

12. EcoHosting | Responsive Hosting and WHMCS WordPress Theme

EcoHosting provides a great option for web hosting companies with this theme. Fully responsive and compatible with the WHMCS-Bridge plugin, it is customizable and retina-ready. They also provide a support forum and video tutorials for any assistance you might need.

13. Valence - Website Hosting Company WordPress Theme + WHMCS

This mobile-friendly theme made it to our list with its easy customizations and one-click demo install. The Valence theme gets you up and running in no time with the included WHMCS template.

14. VirtuSky | Responsive Web Hosting and WHMCS WordPress Theme

This VirtuSky theme is built based on WPBakery Page Builder, which makes for simple customization. It includes all you’ll need for your web hosting services and is fully compatible with the WHMCS-bridge plugin.

Another one with a support forum, you’ll find all the answers you’ll need when building your site.

15. Multi Host | WHMCS Hosting WordPress Theme

This WHMCS hosting theme from Multi Host provides custom templates you’ll require for your web hosting services. With RTL compatibility, WPML plugin integration, a powerful page builder, and tons of short-codes, you won’t miss anything when you use this theme.

More Incredible Web Hosting Resources on Envato Tuts+

We’ve shown you some of our stand-out WHMCS-integrated themes to take your web hosting services website further, but did you know that we have even more resources for you? On Envato Tuts+, you’ll find how-to tutorials, courses, guides and ebooks.

Whether it’s web hosting, presentations, web design, audio and video, etc, you’ll find everything you need right here!

Find Your Perfect WHMCS Theme Today

If you’ve got a website you need to transform into a powerful tool for your web hosting services, start with one of these hosting themes from Themeforest.

Using a theme will save you time and frustration during the building process, and your customers will thank you. We’re always adding and growing our resources, so you’ll always be able to find the resources you need to succeed.

Website Hosting Experience Simplified With Cloudways' Managed Platform

When setting up an online business, you might have a long checklist with many action items. On that list is an action item: Pick a hosting provider.

Many first-time online business owners overlook the significance of the decision and opt for the most cost-efficient solution. Once the business starts to run into hurdles and roadblocks, they check out a lot of areas without realizing that the core issue could lie in their choice of hosting solution.

How a Hosting Solution Affects Your Online Business

In March 2019, Facebook suffered an outage that lasted almost 14 hours. The cost: $90M and a 2% drop in the share value.

But more than that, Facebook lost the trust of the millions of users who use their services as an integral component of their businesses. While the reasons behind the outage were not disclosed, Facebook confirmed that it was not a DDoS attack.

Now while your business might not be as big as Facebook, it shares a basic challenge that all online businesses face: the performance of the hosting provider.

How can you measure the performance of your current hosting provider?

While you can set up and collect a lot of data and then analyze it on several industry-standard metrics, I would recommend the following four critical areas where you can judge the performance of your hosting provider, regardless of your technical skills or knowledge.

1. Downtime

A business's website is the primary location where visitors go to get information about the products and services. Matters become critical when there is an essential business component such as an online store or a blog attached to the website.

If this setup goes down, in practical terms, this means a temporary shutdown of your business. All the visitors who cannot access your website within the outage window will not come back and will go to your competitors. This loss of brand reputation and revenue adds up, and you will notice it the next time you check out the business performance numbers.

The business model is an important factor in the impact of downtime. If you are an ecommerce store with no physical presence, your revenue numbers would get a much more severe hit than a store with a hybrid presence. Thus, for online-only business models, choosing the right hosting solution becomes more than just another item on the list—it's an essential decision that could make or break the business.

2. Slow Loading Pages

With always-available internet access and so much content to consume comes the problem of decreasing attention spans, which have fallen to just eight seconds on average! This poses a particularly serious challenge for online businesses because visitors have a lot of options.

Slow-loading websites fail to convert visitors because they leave before the website is able to display the call to action. Slow-loading websites get a justified bad rap because of the bad user experience and the user perception of wasted time.

3. Security

Information is the most important commodity right now, and online businesses are a rich source of all sorts of information such as email and credit card details. As such, online businesses are frequent targets of cyberattacks.

While application-level security is the domain of the business, the hosting provider is an important stakeholder in the security of the business. Server-level protection is the first line of defense that filters out malicious traffic and protects the hosted websites from data breaches.

Security is not all about setting up tools and processes. It is a combination of a security-first mindset that integrates the security processes into the hosting solution. Once that is in place, the hosting provider can take advantage of industry tools.

4. Server Maintenance

Running an online business requires a lot of time and effort. You have to take care of marketing, vendor relations, and a long list of tasks that maintain and grow your business.

Even if you possess the right technical skills, chances are that you do not have time to manage the server and the related components of your hosting solution. As such, you do not wish to work with a hosting provider that makes you do their work.

Beyond these four critical areas, when it comes to hosting for online businesses, a hosting provider should offer features and options that add value to the business processes and be able to keep pace with the company's growth.

How Cloudways Solves Your Hosting Woes

Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting provider that offers peace of mind and flexibility so that you can continue to focus on your business processes. The idea is to provide a secure and scalable solution that fits the current and future requirements of the business without compromising the quality of services.

Rather than offering a single solution targeted toward a niche market, Cloudways is a managed solution that serves a wide range of use cases in almost all industries. So whether you are a solopreneur with an ecommerce store, a developer with a mission-critical workload, or an agency with small to mid-level clients (each with different requirements), Cloudways has a solution that takes all the server management hassles out of the equation.

Here’s how:

24/7/365 Support

When it comes to hosting solutions, the quality and availability of the support make all the difference. Cloudways offers best-in-class support through several channels such as email, support tickets, and live chat.

Some clients prefer a closer relationship that demands a more involved role for support engineers because they lack the necessary technical skills, or do not want their focus to move away from their business processes. In such cases, Cloudways offers two support add-ons that ensure service-level agreements (SLAs) with shorter turnaround time and private support channels via Slack and phone.

Five Cloud Providers

Cloudways understands that when it comes to choosing a cloud hosting provider, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Businesses have different performance and budget constraints that demand a choice of cloud providers.

That’s why Cloudways offers five cloud providers:

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Google Compute Engine (GCE)
DigitalOcean
Linode
Vultr

Users can launch a server on any of the five cloud providers through the Cloudways Platform and benefit from unmatched performance, thanks to a custom stack that offers a powerful combination of servers, caches, and related Cloudways services.

Once the server has been launched, users can deploy as many apps as the server specifications (CPU, RAM, storage, and bandwidth) allow. In any case, the server specifications can be scaled up right from the platform.

Support for Popular Apps

Once you've decided on a cloud provider, the next decision is the choice of the application. Cloudways supports all PHP applications, from popular ones (such as WordPress and Magento) to emerging CMSs (such as Craft CMS and October CMS). Popular applications are available in the initial server and application process. However, if your application of choice isn’t on the list, simply launch a custom PHP application and then use the integrated Composer and support for Git to install your application.

Simplified Server Management

Instead of a (terrifying) command line, Cloudways offers an intuitive browser-based front-end panel from which users can take care of everything from launching additional servers and applications to adding SSL certificates for their applications.

Managed Security

For Cloudways, security is not an add-on. Rather, it is built right into the foundation of the platform, with firewalls that filter out malicious traffic before it gets a chance to hit users’ applications. Similarly, all Cloudways Platform accounts are protected by two-factor authentication (TFA) by default. Similarly, users get immediate notifications about unrecognized login attempts to their accounts.

Installing free (powered by Let’s Encrypt) or paid SSL certificates is a breeze, and the request can even be signed right from the platform.

To further strengthen the security of your managed servers, Cloudways Platform has a robust IP Whitelisting feature, where users can allow (or block) specific IP addresses to access their server. This prevents unauthorized access and allows users to work from anywhere by whitelisting their IP addresses.

Managed Application and Server Backups

Backups are a great way of recovering from disaster and making sure that the business websites are up and running with minimum downtime.

Cloudways Platform manages the backup processes and offers both automated and on-demand backups. This allows users to either let the platform take care of the backup or back up an entire server or individual applications whenever they wish.

The backup archives can be stored at an off-site location or locally on the same server. The price of the backup is very nominal and can be seen in the real-time billing section.

Set Up Your Website Within Minutes

When users think of cloud hosting, they imagine a blank command line and a complicated procedure that requires them to install the operating system, the core application, and their website. If something goes wrong during the process, they generally have to start from the last checkpoint.

Since Cloudways takes care of all the server setup and management requirements, users only have to wait as long as 15 minutes to use their preferred application on the cloud server of their choice.

Here’s the Entire Process

Sign up for a Cloudways account. To welcome you to the platform, here’s an offer that will give you a head start. Use the promo code “TUTSCW” and get 20% off for the next three invoices.

Now that you have a Cloudways account, log in and you will see the server launch screen. From here, you can launch a managed server and the application of your choice.

WordPress is perhaps the most common tool developers and agencies work with. I will demonstrate how users can have a functional WordPress website in under 15 minutes.

On the next screen, select the details of the server and the application. This single form collects all the information Cloudways Platform requires for launching your server.

As you can see, you need to pick the WordPress flavor (out of four options: WordPress with Breeze, WordPress with WooCommerce, WordPress Multisite, and Clean WordPress), and then name your server and application. Next, pick a cloud provider and use the slider to pick your preferred combination of server resources.

The selection of the location where your server will be located is important because the closer it is to your target audience, the better the UX you can deliver from your websites.

At the bottom, you can see the per hour and monthly cost of operating the server. Click LAUNCH NOW to initiate server and application setup.

Yes, you read that right!

It takes just seven seconds to set up your managed cloud server and the WordPress application (the currently supported version is 5.3).

Access Your WordPress Website

To access your WordPress website, move the toggle to APPLICATIONS. You will see your WordPress application. Click it to enter the Application Management area.

In the Application Management area, you can see the ACCESS DETAILS, where you can get both the application URL and the URL to access the WordPress admin panel. Click the arrow icon in the APPLICATION URL to launch the application. In the ADMIN PANEL section, you can launch the admin panel and get the admin credentials to log in to the application’s back end.

Application Management area in Cloudways

Your fully functional cloud server and WordPress application are now ready for your business processes.

More Power to Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs)

Now that the website is up and running, you can further optimize it to make sure it remains up and running and can accommodate a wide range of business processes and options. While you should definitely check out the Cloudways Features page to understand all the benefits of the platform, here are several key benefits that small and medium businesses could use to their immediate benefit.

Create a Staging Environment

Changes to websites are an ongoing process, and many businesses try to integrate new tools and components to keep up with improvements in technology. The problem with these “upgrades” is that they can potentially break your site, and that is not good for business.

With Cloudways, you can test any website changes in a separate staging environment, where you can experiment without worrying about the live website. The best part is that once you are satisfied with the changes, all the changes can be pushed to the live servers in a single click.

Install an SSL Certificate

SSL certificates have become the yardstick by which Google and other stakeholders measure the security of websites. In fact, Google now practically demands that business websites have an SSL certificate, and non-SSL-protected websites are ranked much lower in search engine results.

Now, a number of vendors offer SSL certificates, often at varying prices. This could be a blocker for SMBs who cannot afford the high price of custom SSL certificates.

Cloudways simplifies the process of installing SSL certificates for your business websites. In addition to supporting major third-party SSL certificates, you can deploy a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate that encrypts all communication between the clients and the server.

Enable CloudwaysCDN

Digital businesses usually serve a global audience, posing a serious challenge to business websites. Since visitors are coming from all over, how can the website ensure a consistent experience for all visitors?

The answer is a Content Delivery Network, or CDN for short. This is a globally distributed network of nodes (servers) that cache a copy of the website. When a user requests a page of the website, the request is served from the closest node rather than the original host. This reduces the page load time (an important component of the user experience) and the load on the server.

Realizing the importance of a CDN solution for business websites, Cloudways offers a native solution, CloudwaysCDN, which is fully compatible with all the applications hosted on the platform. The setup and integration are simple, and the cost of using CloudwaysCDN is low enough to be within the budget of even really small businesses.

Managed Backup and Restore

Regularly backing up application data is a highly recommended practice that every SMB should follow. Even if there is nothing wrong with the website, regular backups should be part of the standard operating procedures of business websites.

Cloudways understands that this could be a chore that gets overlooked in the rush of everyday business. That’s why the platform offers automated (and on-demand) backup options for both applications and servers. Again, the cost of the backups is very low and transparent (you can check it in the real-time billing section).

Performance Monitoring

Like regular backups, keeping a close eye on how the server and the applications (yes, you can host multiple applications on your Cloudways managed server) are performing is a highly recommended practice.

However, this doesn’t require you to dive deep into highly complicated utilities or a separate platform. Cloudways offers a native Monitoring feature, where you can easily check out the most essential metrics that determine application and server performance. By viewing simple and customizable graphs, you can get an instant and pretty accurate idea of what’s going on and what you need to fix in order to get the most out of your business websites.

Expert Support

Even with managed platforms such as Cloudways, you might run into a roadblock or a situation that could hinder your business operations. This is where the quality and availability of support makes all the difference.

Cloudways delivers support through a team of expert engineers who have in-depth knowledge of managed cloud hosting and how applications interact with servers. Users can contact Cloudways support 24/7/365 through support tickets and Live Chat.

Now, not all SMB owners have the time or technical know-how for proactive problem resolution. For these users, Cloudways offers two Support Add-ons that allow for a closer partnership with Cloudways support in the form of shorter turnaround times and additional support via private Slack channels and phone.

Conclusion

That does it for our quick tour of the main features of managed cloud hosting with Cloudways.

If you are a small or mid-sized business and want to grow your revenues and brand reach without worrying about the performance of your websites, Cloudways offers a great platform that effectively works as an in-house sysadmin for your business.

Visit the Cloudways website to learn more, and don't forget to use the promo code “TUTSCW” to get 20% off for the next three invoices.