For Maya Dwi Pratita, the founder of sustainable fashion brand Panarima, the challenge was clear: how to take a hyper-local, handmade product to a global audience without losing its soul.

She had the craft and growing customer interest. What she didn’t have was a home on the internet or the tools to scale production without outsourcing.

This is the story of how the Hostinger Microgrant helped her bridge the gap between nature and technology.

What is the Hostinger Microgrant initiative?

The Hostinger Microgrant initiative is a global program to help entrepreneurs build their own online platforms by removing financial and technical barriers.

In the Indonesian edition of the program, selected winners receive IDR 20,000,000 in funding, along with a suite of Hostinger tools and services to get started.

The goal is simple: help entrepreneurs rely less on restrictive third-party marketplaces and take ownership of their online presence.

Who is Panarima?

Panarima is more than a fashion label. It’s a social enterprise. Based in Boyolali, Central Java, the brand specializes in eco printing.

This technique uses real leaves and flowers to create natural patterns on fabrics such as cotton, silk, and rayon.

Every piece reflects Indonesia’s botanical richness, using natural dyes and locally sourced materials.

The name itself points to the brand’s philosophy.

“Panarima is taken from the Javanese language, meaning gratitude – in hope to give direct gratitude towards everyone and everything that’s involved in our process of creation,” Maya explains.

This philosophy shapes how Maya works with local home tailors in Boyolali. By collaborating directly with them, she shares the economic benefits of the brand’s growth with her community.

What challenges did Panarima face?

Before the microgrant, Panarima faced real limits when it came to scaling.

The brand was active on Instagram, but Maya struggled to tell the whole story behind each piece.

“I mostly face [challenges] online because I struggle with our online presence – on how to tell our story,” she says.

Without a website, Panarima depended heavily on social media algorithms for visibility. There was no central place to explain the brand’s values or the intricate eco printing process to potential customers.

Production created another bottleneck. Maya needed specific equipment but didn’t have the budget to invest in it.

“We want to cut the production budget that we usually use because we don’t have this specific machine,” she explained at the time.

As a result, even small details, such as buttonhole-making, had to be outsourced. That added extra time and cost to every garment.

How did the Hostinger Microgrant help?

The grant funded the creation of Panarima’s official website using Hostinger’s tools. This gave Maya a dedicated online home and reduced reliance on third-party platforms.

Q: How is the transition to your own website going?

Maya: “The transition is nearly complete (around 80%). Our website is live, and we’re continuing to migrate our international customers there. Hostinger has been very user-friendly and accessible, especially for someone without a technical background like myself.”

Part of the grant was also used to improve Panarima’s workshop. Maya invested in equipment that made daily production easier and more efficient.

Panarima purchased a new cutting table, snap button tools, and a Janome sewing machine.

Q: What improvements have you made in your business thanks to the grant?

Maya: “The Janome machine allows us to create button embroideries in-house – before this, I had to spend extra time and money just to make buttonholes elsewhere. These upgrades truly help us work more productively and independently.”

What is the social and economic impact?

The grant also strengthened the people behind Panarima, from Maya herself to the local home tailors she works with.

Q: Have you seen changes in the type or volume of orders you’re able to take on? And has that affected how you work with your home tailors?

Maya: “Yes, the improved production capacity has helped us secure more corporate work. We completed two corporate orders with Makadaya Impact Store in Ubud, Bali. Our local home-tailors are still working with us regularly, especially when fulfilling larger corporate orders.”

What are the results and future plans?

By bringing production in-house, Panarima has sped up its workflow and reduced costs.

Q: Can you estimate how much time or cost the new equipment has saved you?

Maya: “Over the past six months, these tools have helped us shorten production time by 3–4 days per corporate order and save approximately Rp300,000 to Rp500,000 per order. This efficiency also allows us to take on more customized and local-market projects, as we no longer need to travel as much for outsourced production.”

On the digital side, the results are just as encouraging.

Panarima has been featured by Telobag as an “Eco Hero,” collaborated with Nasho, and attracted new customers through Instagram. The website is also nearly ready to serve global buyers directly.

Why is a website important for sustainable brands?

Sustainable fashion relies on storytelling. Customers want to understand the “who, why, and how” behind the price tag – something social media captions often can’t fully convey.

Q: How has the website contributed to your business growth or visibility?

Maya: “The website has helped me tremendously in sharing the story, vision, and mission behind Panarima. Another thing I truly love is the creative freedom it gives – we can customize the layout, fonts, images, and color palette to perfectly reflect our brand identity. It feels like having our own digital studio, one that truly represents Panarima’s personality and values.”

By having its own platform, Panarima can build trust with international buyers and establish credibility in a way social media profiles alone can’t.

Lessons from Panarima’s digital transformation

Traditional craftsmanship can thrive in the modern era with the right tools in place.

With Panarima, Maya built a business that is efficient, independent, and rooted in community. She did this by combining a deep respect for nature with practical digital tools.

Owning your online presence is often the first step toward independence.

Ready to tell your story? You can create a website today and start building a digital home for your brand.

The post Hostinger Microgrants: Scaling sustainable fashion with Panarima appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

“More than boards, more than a store, we’re a movement pushing for accessible skateboarding for everyone.” That’s the slogan Ángel, Luis, and Mario use to describe Suburbios, a skateboarding shop created for the communities on the outskirts of Mexico City.

They started online and grew quickly enough to open their first physical store. But growth brought a new challenge: finding the right balance between the speed of digital sales and the experience of an in-store community.

Discover how Hostinger helped Suburbios Skate roll with style, security, and support.

How it all started

Suburbios Skate began in 2020 when three skaters from Mexico City felt the need to translate their love of skateboarding into a community value. While established skate shops served wealthy neighborhoods in the city, the communities on the outskirts had limited access to quality skateboarding gear. Suburbios would fill that gap, offering boards, trucks, wheels, and apparel to kids in the suburbs of the Valley of Mexico.

Their goal wasn’t to compete with big names already dominating the Mexican market. They wanted to build something rooted in the community.

“Initially, we started offering our products to friends and acquaintances. From there, we expanded to bazaars, and after the pandemic, we decided to take it to online markets,” says Mario.

Mario brought 15 years of ecommerce experience from major brands like Adidas and Swatch, which shaped their approach. Rather than relying only on third-party marketplaces, he led the team to build their own online store – a space they could fully control.

They began learning fast, from customer demand to the tools they needed to keep up. Like many early-stage businesses, they started with what was accessible at the time, but as Suburbios grew and needed more flexibility, they moved to a second hosting option and later realized they would need something even more reliable to scale.

Although the project grew quickly in the first months, the uncertainty of a limited budget – all too common for early-stage ventures – along with the departure of one of the original partners, created a challenging moment for Suburbios.

“We went through a difficult phase: the budget was tight, and we had to ask ourselves whether we should keep going or pause. As the partner who handled design and visuals left the project, we had to reorganize everything. Digital sales helped cover part of the gap and gave us some room to breathe. With that foundation, we redefined our roles and moved forward,” Mario shares.

Growing demand, bigger challenges

By September 2021, Suburbios Skate was operating both a physical shop and their online store. In addition, they complemented direct sales with profiles on popular platforms such as Mercado Libre, Rappi, and, more recently, TikTok Shop.

But their hosting provider couldn’t keep up. Their initial website setup quickly reached its limits. They’d migrated to a second provider hoping for better performance and reliability, but problems persisted: slow load times, limited support hours, and a lack of capacity to handle their order volume.

“The lack of support limited us to the office hours of our previous host, on top of the resource capacity issues. There came a point, in November last year, right before the start of Buen Fin (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday season), when the website went down for approximately 18 to 24 consecutive hours, with intermittent problems in the days leading up to it,” Mario explains.

This outage naturally led to significant frustration within Suburbios.

After more than two years of hard work, losing access to one of the most important sales periods of the year was disheartening. Their brand was at risk and they experienced losses of between 18,000 and 27,000 MXN (1,000 to 1,500 USD). This forced them to make radical decisions.

“Fortunately, thanks to my experience, I was able to react quickly. I identified that we needed a more robust host, so I explored new options and started the migration process to get back online as soon as possible,” Mario says.

Hostinger as their hosting choice

After the November outage, Suburbios needed to act fast. Mario researched options and Hostinger stood out by offering exactly the kind of stability, control, and support they’d been missing. 

The migration took less than 48 hours. Hostinger’s technical team helped transfer their entire WooCommerce database – customers, orders, and products – without any data loss. The difference was immediate. Within the first week, their site’s loading speed returned to normal, and they processed orders without interruptions.”

“With our previous host, uptime dropped to nearly 90% during critical periods,” Mario says. “With Hostinger, we’re seeing close to 99.9% uptime. That stability has been crucial – we’ve grown sales by 121% in 2025.”

For Mario, two words sum up the experience with Hostinger: security and support.

“The hosting performance and response have been perfect. I haven’t had to escalate any technical issues since moving to Hostinger. It’s been pretty good,” he says of his Cloud Startup plan.

Their WordPress + WooCommerce site offers over a thousand products and includes an interactive skateboard builder powered by the WooCommerce Composite Products Pro plugin. 

Customers get to select each component – deck, trucks, wheels, grip tape – and see the price calculated in real time. The system tracks inventory for each individual part and updates stock automatically when orders come through.

The main goal of the configurator was to simplify custom orders and prevent inventory issues, helping reduce errors and make online sales easier to scale. For skaters, it makes building a skateboard simpler and more intuitive, even for first-time buyers.

Finally, they highlight the good support for managing the point-of-sale plugin, which synchronizes the physical store’s inventory with the website. This integration is critical: without their online store, Suburbios estimates they’d lose about 50% of their sales. 

Pride and community

Despite the online success the pandemic brought to their business, Luis points to the opening of their first physical store as a defining moment for Suburbios.

“It might seem strange, right? We started in the context of the pandemic, and today we know that it helped online sales a lot, the whole ecommerce business. It was a turning point. But customers kept asking if we had a physical location, a store, or a place where they could see more things,” says Luis.

The decision to open a physical store came from practical necessity as much as customer demand.

“We took a risk for two reasons. The first and main reason is that we were working from home. Then came a point where we had to dedicate more time to packaging and shipping. We saw this as a secondary task, but it became predominant and we realized we could no longer do it from home.”

He continues, “So we decided to kill two birds with one stone: we opened a physical store and operated our online sales from there. What surprised us was that physical sales in the store exceeded our online sales,” concludes Luis.

Being a driving force for talent is another source of pride for Suburbios Skate. They have collaborated with creative artists to produce series on their boards, as well as contests for participants to express their ideas on a board and then choose the most creative to create custom designs together.

As a skateboarding shop, skaters are an essential part of their team. They currently have four active skaters representing the brand’s values and spirit.

Last but not least, the store introduced a “skateboarding school” with a free lesson included with every skateboard purchased, a way to motivate their customers to keep practicing the sport.

Suburbios also prides itself on business growth and long-term success.

Over nearly three years of operation, Suburbios Skate has generated close to 3 million MXN in total accumulated revenue (approximately 165,000 USD).

In 2025 alone, their online store has generated 285,280 MXN (approximately 16,000 USD), representing a +121% year-over-year increase in online sales compared to 2024.

Today, sales are distributed across both channels, with the physical store accounting for roughly 60% of total revenue and the online store contributing the remaining 40%. This mix reflects the interactive nature of the product while reinforcing the importance of maintaining a balanced, omnichannel operation.

What’s next for Suburbios?

Brand expansion is the goal for Suburbios Skate. Although its products are already distributed through some national channels, continued growth remains its vision for the future.

Recently, Ángel, Luis, and Mario opened their second store in Mexico City – they now have one in Azcapotzalco and the other in Parque Lira.

“We want both stores to be stable and sustainable on their own. The trick, of course, is to keep adding products so that people keep coming in and buying,” says Luis.

In the medium term, Suburbios Skate aims to have both its physical and digital sales channels at the same level and with solid results. They also hope to become a national reference in the B2B market for their products.

For now, the team is focused on what got them here: making skateboarding accessible to communities that have been overlooked. From the suburbs of Mexico City to a growing network of stores and partners, Suburbios has proven that serving an underserved market isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s good business.

The post How Suburbios Skate built a scalable brand for Mexico’s skate community appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

Faced with customer service issues at his previous hosting providers, Jake, a brand designer, began searching for a new web host. Hostinger’s live chat function was one of the main reasons he recently migrated his websites to Hostinger. 

Jake works in website branding and is constantly in and out of backends and CMSs. Based in Ontario, Canada, he runs his portfolio website from home but also manages several other websites for his friends. He primarily uses WordPress.

When looking for a hosting provider, Jake prioritizes website bandwidth and a user-friendly interface. That said, he stresses that customer service is just as important.

The Challenge

As Jake was getting more and more projects, he decided that he needed a proper home for his portfolio that he could share with his potential clients. 

When faced with issues, Jake experienced a lack of assistance from his web hosting providers. This kept him from focusing on building his portfolio and working with his clients. Jake became tired of slow and inconvenient customer support, so he started looking for a replacement hosting service.

However, he was worried about migrating his websites once again as he hadn’t had the best experience with previous providers. 

The Action

Hostinger’s migration specialists quickly provided Jake with detailed information on how to perform website migration and the options available to him. Thanks to our automated migration, the process went smoothly and stress-free: Jake could resume his work on our servers after only four hours. 

Even when Jake encountered an issue regarding domain verification, he received immediate assistance. His new email inbox wasn’t syncing with the old one – with the help of a Hostinger specialist, Jake manually migrated his inbox. Thanks to the support, he lost none of his old emails during the process.

John, a Migration Team specialist who supported Jake, commented: “Hostinger’s migration request form is easy to understand and prevents any potential delays. Plus, WordPress migrations are mostly automated to save time. Thanks to that, Jake could continue his work immediately after migration”.

The Conclusion

Since he joined Hostinger, Jake has been satisfied with the experience.

He’s received professional and convenient assistance and tips on optimizing his WordPress website’s performance. 

We want all our customers using Hostinger’s services to experience the same level of satisfaction. Jake’s portfolio of websites is running smoothly, and he feels supported by our team of Customer Success specialists. Jake has never had to wait for assistance for more than four minutes when using the Hostinger live chat service.

With the migration process behind him, Jake can focus on more creative endeavors. Therefore, he feels secure knowing that if he needs assistance, he can ask for it. And he will receive it promptly.

The post How Jake’s Migration to Agency Hosting Made Multi-Site Management Easy appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

Did you know Japanese seaweed (AKA wakame) is one of nature’s most powerful health ingredients? Darcy Recio, Founder of Wakame Girl, harnessed these powers to create tasty wakame salad recipes sold by the jar. Available in Original or Spicy flavors, these jars, packed with goodness and passion, were once delivered in person, by Darcy, on her bike. Today, there are too many orders for her to keep the business moving by bike so she sells her popular products at local markets and through her website powered by Hostinger.

We caught up with Darcy to chat about how the brand was born, her ambitions for the future, and what makes this her most successful business venture yet. We also discover how Hostinger’s products and features, including Hosting for WordPress, are some of the key ingredients in Wakame Girl’s recipe for online success. 

How did Wakame Girl come to life?

When I moved out of my parents’ house, I saw this little store that sold wakame, the main ingredient of my salads. I knew I loved it because it’s in Japanese restaurants but it looked a little bit different in its packaging. So, I researched it and I thought, ‘Okay, maybe I can try cooking it’. The first time I tried, it didn’t taste good at all because I didn’t know what I was doing but then I asked my mom, who’s an amazing cook, for advice and I went from there.

At the time it wasn’t really a business idea but I thought, ‘What if I could make this into something?’. The first idea I had was Wakame Girl—not the most creative but I think it speaks to the local markets because it’s very clear and simple. Some people don’t know what wakame is, so I just thought, ‘Okay, let’s make a website’. I’ve made a website before, albeit very very bare, so, let’s just do it. I work in marketing full-time, so I started using what I know and learning a bit about the basics of HTML.

Now, I mostly use wakamegirl.com for sales and marketing. Specifically, I’m using the site to empower an experience with buyers who prefer less contact. I use it to enable credit and debit card payments for those who want more security, and it helps me build a place where I can direct all traffic looking for more info on me and my business—sort of like a portfolio but for wakame. 

Why did you decide Wakame Girl needed a website?

I thought having a domain would give Wakame Girl more credibility than others might not have. Startups here in the Philippines don’t really have websites and I thought maybe that could make me stand out and give me more leverage because, at the end of the day, it’s also a skill. There are other platforms I could sell on, like Lazada and Shopee, but right now, I don’t want to spread myself too thin—I just want to focus on social media and my website. That way, I can see everything much easier in terms of process. 

A lot of local businesses here don’t have websites. Nobody wants to invest because they don’t believe in the power of a website enough to allocate their funds to it. However, I believe my website brings Wakame Girl more credibility and personality. I’m just barely scratching the surface of my vision for it but already I can showcase an overview of how it all started for me. I can also show return and new buyers that all orders are handled with love and care, food safety and nutrition are respected, and of course, showcase my product. 

I’m very proud of my products and sharing them with other wakame-lovers makes me so incredibly happy and grateful. It makes all the product testing, creativity with ads, and even biking to deliver products all worth it. Having a website also allows me to connect with people who also love wakame as a snack or side dish for their poke bowls, grilled food, etc.

Did you build your website yourself?

Yes, I created my website myself. I started with some templates, but then I started making it my own. I didn’t think I’d get sales through the website, to be honest, because when I think about how myself and other people shop here in the Philippines, it’s usually the Amazon equivalent—Lazada and Shopee. I just thought it would be a place where I could document things that are not on my social media.

However, I realized that the website was a place where I could customize the journey of the people visiting. I could create landing pages for specific products. I could give people more insight into the business. When it’s just on my social media, it’s just post after post. The website provides a different kind of engagement. Social media is where we engage more and then the website is more about people who want to learn more. Out of all the business ventures I’ve tried, this is the one that actually has sales, even through the website, so it’s just amazing. 

What do you think makes Wakame Girl uniquely successful?

I think it took off because it’s very niche; not a lot of people know what wakame is, so there’s a curiosity there. People are like, ‘What is that? It looks like pickles, but they’re not cucumbers’. So, there’s interest around it and I was able to tap into that. Plus, I’m the only business in the Philippines selling this product cooked, which has led to more momentum and motivation. 

So, how did you find Hostinger?

I saw Hostinger on Reddit and on Google. I’m not too unfamiliar with it because I had clients before who had other hosts but I started going down a rabbit hole reading about Hostinger. It seemed like it might be the best option for my needs. So far, I’m happy with it and it’s pretty intuitive. Because I was setting it up on my own, I wanted something that would give me a walk-through without having to talk to anyone. I’m a big introvert, so seeing all the resources already out there on how to do things on the Hostinger platform helped me a lot.

How would you describe your experience with Hostinger?

Setting up my site was genuinely a breeze with Hostinger. I’ve always been somewhat techy but never had any formal training in IT or web development. Hostinger’s different guides helped me understand and want to learn more about the nuances of building a site. How to set up email with a domain, setting up https and DNS, and understanding plugins—I was able to set up all these backend things at the start because of the Hostinger Academy videos, written tutorials, guides, etc.

As for design, I’m not very good with color, and I never knew what padding was before—the small UI/UX nuances were all a mystery to me. I’ve made a website before that failed but with Hostinger’s pricing plan, it was great that I could easily just add a new one when I got the business idea and had proof of concept. To this day, I’m still learning a lot and Hostinger was and still is a huge help to my business throughout the journey.

What does the future hold for Wakame Girl?

There’s so much I want to do with Wakame Girl and I have a lot of vision for my website.  I’m talking custom buyer journeys through landing pages connected to ads, testimonials in real time, a comprehensive nutritional guide for wakame flavors, and much more. I see Wakame Girl going nationwide because right now, there’s not really any other competitor. In fact, last time I checked, I’m the only brand in my country that sells wakame.

I want to scale it and come up with a system for the fulfillment and production of the product. My dream is to be able to quit my 9-to-5 job and work 24/7 on my business. I have new flavors in mind but you have to do the research with each product and have people taste it before you release a new type of flavor. Then, if it really takes off, I could venture into different side dishes. So yeah, I have a lot of vision for the future of my business and I wouldn’t be able to achieve it without my website.

Visit wakamegirl.com to learn more about Darcy’s story and her delicious salads. Visit our Hosting for WordPress page to explore how our tools can help you get your own taste of online success.

The post Wakame Girl: The taste of seaweed-selling success appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

Richard loves reading, technology, and simplicity. 

Richard does not love complexity, eBooks, or servers that stumble. 

So, when he set out to make reading online a more enjoyable, simple experience, Richard wanted a powerful, reliable hosting solution. He did not want to get stuck with something complicated and overwhelming. 

When he found VPS hosting with Hostinger, he found exactly what he was looking for; the most straightforward way to start and scale projects online. And with it he founded Bookwise.io; a place to read more, beautifully.

“I’ve spent most of my career in communication technology. I love how technology has opened up communication. But I don’t think this has happened with reading. Instead, I think most eBooks provide a really poor reading experience.”

“I’ve always loved books, and I read a lot. Mostly I read on digital devices. We all do. But we don’t read books. Short-form reading has moved online, but long-form reading hasn’t.”

“Over 80% of news and editorial is read on screens now. But only a little over 10% of books are read on screens. On top of that — surely related to that — book reading as a whole is declining. We live online, but books are not fun online, so we don’t read books online.” 

Bringing eBooks into the 21st century 

As he watched his children scrolling on their phones, it dawned on Richard that part of the problem with eBooks was the inability of the reader to easily navigate around them, perhaps skipping ahead, or marking sections as ones to revisit.

“I like making things. I’ve programmed stuff, written stuff, filmed stuff, and photographed stuff. I’ve invented digital systems that have been used in every part of the world. So, I started to think about how you could present a book better and add a bit more intelligence to it.”

“My kids, like a lot of kids, went through a phase of being addicted to social media. They were consuming lots of 10-second bursts of content and it made me consider how eBooks might be better configured to appeal to a generation used to bite-sized content.”

“The standard technology behind eBooks relies on creaky old HTML from the 1990s that’s never been upgraded, so you can’t navigate around them as easily as you can navigate a film.”

“I had this idea inspired by the beautiful simplicity of a Jack Kerouac typewriter scroll but with a bit more intelligence to it. Rather than one long scroll, I thought a good reading experience required the ability to mark places and navigate around it easily. Basically, I thought we needed something as simple as a book, but with all the best features of digital technology.”

Powerful software. Simple to program.

Armed with an idea, Richard set to work finding the tools he needed to bring it to life.

“I’ve worked on a few CPS-based projects, and I started looking at a few hosting companies that might help me realize my dream. Very quickly, I noticed Hostinger was different.”

“Partly, it was a price thing, but the important thing for me was how simple it was. I can program, but programming can be complicated and I didn’t want any more layers of complexity than are necessary.”

“I worried that creating something as ambitious as Bookwise while managing servers and things like that would be riddled with complexity, but – unlike others I looked at – Hostinger’s interface is really clear, and the instructions are simple and easy to understand. It’s not lots and lots of information – it is just the information you need, when you need it.” 

Beautiful books. Beautifully done

The result is bookwise.io, which he hopes will encourage all of us to read more books and once again consume long-form content.

“Taking the time to read someone else’s thoughts in something like a book builds our attention spans and trains us to think for ourselves. I figured helping people to read more might actually change the world for the better.” 

Changing the world is a lofty ambition, so first Richard wanted to change his world; he wanted to foster in his children the same love of reading he enjoys. With a beaming smile, Richard thinks he’s achieved just that.

“I use Bookwise every day, and I know my friends use it. But, the big thing for me was by using Bookwise, my kids – and their friends – started discovering the joy of books too.”

Writing the next chapter of publishing

The next step for Richard is to use Hostinger’s power, scalability, and simplicity to expand Bookwise from a platform purely for reading into an innovative book reading and publication platform.

“Right now, eBooks are unloved. While physical books are having a design renaissance, eBooks are a publisher’s afterthought. Partly that’s because turning a book into an eBook is complicated. It’s a real palaver, with lots of ancient, technical systems and software, which basically spits out a PDF.”

“I realized it could be much simpler than that, so I created dotBook, which is basically a coding language for books that doesn’t require coding. With dotBook, an author can literally just type and tag elements with a very simple markup – and produce a completely formatted book, simplifying the whole publishing process.“

“I can grow Bookwise in this way because I have full control of the hosting service, and the server is always available, it just never stumbles. Plus, whenever I need more resources, upgrading to a higher-tier VPS hosting plan takes just a few clicks.”

“Everything I want to do is possible, and it’s easy.”

The post Bookwise: A love of books, technology, and simplicity appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

Be-Mag is a rollerblading magazine founded in 1996 – one of the longest-running media companies in its niche. What started as a humble email newsletter evolved into a printed magazine and, eventually, a website.

Like many media companies, Be-Mag has faced challenging times with the ever-changing shifts in media consumption. But it has proven that Be-Mag is more than just a platform – it’s a manifestation of the community itself.

Join us as we sit down with Kevin Little, editor-in-chief, and Jonathan Labez, visual director, both passionate skaters since the mid-90s. They’ll share their journey with Be-Mag, from early fans to leading the charge and finding a reliable online home with Hostinger. Let’s slide right in!

From fans to front runners

Both Kevin and Jonathan have worked with Be-Mag before joining the in-house team. Kevin owns an inline skating wheels company and organizes inline skating contests, while Jonathan was doing photography of his fellow skaters.

“I still feel incredibly fortunate and blessed to be involved in Be-Mag, because we’re able to share so many people’s stories and their contributions to our community worldwide,” Kevin says.

“Be-Mag helped give me confidence in ways that I didn’t know I had when I was younger. If we can do that for someone else, make them feel like they’re part of something bigger and have a community that supports them – that’s what we’re trying to communicate through the website,” he asserts.

Guarding the legacy

When Kevin and Jonathan joined as staff in 2017, there was real concern that the magazine might meet its end.

During the pandemic, the then-owner’s intention to sell the magazine put them in a precarious position, forcing them to fight for Be-Mag’s survival. Decades of invaluable content, from printed magazines to digital archives, were at stake.

Jonathan drew a parallel to MTV News, the entire website and archives of which were deleted. More than two decades of music history have vanished into thin air.

“Being featured on Be-Mag means a lot to many skaters. If it’s gone, it will be a huge loss for the community,” explains Jonathan.

Here’s where Kevin and Jonathan felt a profound responsibility to protect this invaluable resource. Taking on the mantle of ownership was a monumental task.

“It’s great, but it also comes with its own anxiety and responsibility to make sure you’re doing it correctly,” Kevin admits. Jonathan found it surreal, going from a young fan purchasing Be-Mag in a magazine store to owning the publication.

“But well, just like anything in life, you’re kind of thrust into the driver’s seat, and you’re either gonna drive or just sit there,” says Kevin, determined to preserve Be-Mag’s legacy and ensure its continued success.

The hack

Shortly after Jonathan and Kevin joined Be-Mag, the website was hacked.

“We were losing a lot of traffic, and people are assuming that it’s no longer there at all,” Kevin reminisces.

Turns out the weak link in the attack was Be-Mag’s old message board, a pre-social media tool for connecting with fellow community members. The board was kept as a legacy since it helped develop Be-Mag’s community worldwide, and it was still connected to the website.

On top of that, the previous magazine staff never updated the WordPress software or backed up Be-Mag’s site.

Despite losing some content, the team managed to retrieve the majority of the content. This incident emphasized the need for robust security measures and data preservation practices. Not only from their side as webmasters but also from the host’s side – they need an online home that can provide peace of mind.

Therefore, Jonathan and Kevin figured they would need a reliable hosting provider first. Be-Mag has more than 90 gigabytes of data, so the host would need the ability to handle such complex website migrations.

The switch to Hostinger

After the hack, Jonathan took over the technical aspects of the Be-Mag website. He began to search for a hosting solution that could handle the complexity and ensure minimal downtime. With careful evaluation, he and Kevin chose Hostinger.

“We were trying to figure out what we can do realistically within our budget and abilities. We want a host that will not leave us stuck in the same kind of peril again,” says Kevin.

Initially, they planned to go with the Managed WordPress hosting plan, since they thought what they needed the most was a solid WordPress-optimized platform. But their friend suggested that their behemoth-sized data and traffic better suited the Cloud hosting plan, which is what they’ve settled with.

Like the managed WordPress plan, the Cloud plan has automatic WordPress updates and a malware scanner. These features can help prevent security incidents and let Jonathan and Kevin focus on tasks other than maintaining their site, such as revamping Be-Mag’s content.

One of the standout features of Hostinger that impressed them was its exceptional customer support. “Hostinger’s been so quick to respond to our messages,” Jonathan notes, “It’s nice to have support day and night”.

Kevin adds, “The support’s been the top bar for us.” He also appreciates Hostinger’s user-friendly interface and how the customer success team explains the solution in an easy-to-understand way, using layperson’s terms.

In terms of technical capabilities, Hostinger’s WordPress-friendly platform and robust infrastructure proved to be invaluable. Jonathan mentions, “It’s been rock solid. It’s also nice that there are data centers in many places, including Arizona, which is just a state over from Kevin and me. It’s fast and reliable.”

The top-notch service has made the transition seamless. As Kevin puts it, “It’s been smooth sailing. We have had nothing but great experiences thus far. When it’s smooth sailing, you don’t realize how good you have it.”

Gliding smoothly with WordPress on Hostinger

Be-Mag’s website has been built on WordPress since before Kevin and Jonathan took over the helm, but the hack gave them a fresh start. This setback allowed them to reimagine their website’s design and functionality. With the help of WordPress, they were able to create a more refined and visually appealing platform that accurately reflected their brand.

Kevin notes that one of WordPress’ key advantages is its flexibility. “Once I started playing around with the formats, I realized the versatility within the settings. I’m like, “I didn’t know I could do that!”

This adaptability has enabled them to experiment with different layouts and styles for various article types, while maintaining a cohesive overall design that is still related to its print publications.

Moreover, WordPress has empowered Be-Mag to maintain a high level of editorial quality while also meeting tight deadlines.

Kevin states, “We want it to be up and out as quickly as possible while also maintaining the quality of being an established magazine and making it look right.” This is a testament to how WordPress’s user-friendly interface and powerful tools have streamlined their workflow, allowing them to create and publish content efficiently.

The post Be-Mag: Reinventing the wheel, one spin at a time appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

Handling many websites on different platforms was a headache for Arthur Bourgeois – he needed one easy and reliable place to host his clients’ sites. Discover the full story of how migrating to Hostinger simplified project management for Arthur and his team at Pixel Digital.

Background

Arthur Bourgeois is the owner of Pixel Digital, a thriving web agency located just outside of Lyon, France. 

Website development makes up 90% of Pixel Digital’s business. The agency builds around 100 websites annually for businesses in many sectors, including sports, fashion, retail, and real estate.

The Challenges

Running an agency business like Pixel Digital isn’t always smooth sailing. Arthur’s clientele often have hosting plans from different providers, complicating the management process.

To make matters worse, some of those hosting providers have poor user experience (UX) design, making it difficult to navigate their platforms and services.

“Some of our clients purchased hosting plans from one of the leading hosting providers in France. However, the web host is super complicated to work with, and their proposed solutions are not simple at all.”

Once, what appeared to be a simple task of installing an SSL certificate turned unexpectedly complex, even for seasoned developers like Arthur. 

“I tried to install an SSL certificate with a hosting provider most of my clients used, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Even though I am a web developer, I spent maybe two hours doing it.”

Arthur soon realized that managing multiple hosting providers, especially those with complex user interfaces, could hinder the growth of Pixel Digital.

So, he began his quest to find a hosting provider with an easy-to-use control panel and a smooth migration process. One that allows him to manage different projects seamlessly in one place.

Discovering the Solutions With Hostinger

Arthur’s discovery of Hostinger started when he stumbled upon us on YouTube.

Intrigued by Hostinger’s competitive pricing, Arthur decided to purchase a cloud hosting plan. He was immediately impressed by our straightforward user experience and overall performance.

Because of this positive experience, it wasn’t long before Arthur moved his clients’ websites to Hostinger. The process was quick and hassle-free, thanks to our automatic migration tool.

“All I had to do was enter my clients’ WordPress login credentials, submit a migration request, and their sites would connect with Hostinger almost instantly. It’s that simple.” 

While using Hostinger’s control panel, Arthur also appreciates how easy it is to manage files and create backups.

“Before, I had to connect to an FTP client to check my clients’ website files and databases. With Hostinger, I can access them directly from the control panel and create file backups in just one click. These features are included for free in my cloud hosting plan, so I don’t have to pay extra.”

Security is another concern for Arthur, especially with the increasing number of malicious bots and AI-driven DDoS attacks looming on the horizon.  

To deal with incoming threats, Hostinger implements robust DDoS protection, which eliminates unwanted traffic before reaching the hosting infrastructure. This gives Arthur the peace of mind that his website and client projects are safe from all kinds of cyber attacks.

All in all, using Hostinger for website management is a game-changer for Arthur. Time-consuming processes that used to eat up hours, he can now accomplish in a fraction of the time.

“Switching to Hostinger’s panel was magical. I know exactly where to find stuff, and performing tasks only takes a few clicks,” Arthur explained. “I have a lot of clients moving to Hostinger because I told them it’s much easier for me to manage their sites.”

This gives Arthur plenty of room to focus on what matters most – expanding his client base and growing his agency.

Looking Forward

Arthur currently hosts 150 websites with Hostinger, and will continue to recommend our services to his clients.

Thanks to the simplicity and automation Hostinger brings to the table, Arthur can allocate more time to scale his operations. 

Next, Arthur plans to hire more people and open new office branches in France and Switzerland. Even though the web agency industry is filled with fierce competition, the future looks promising for Pixel Digital.

The post Hostinger’s Intuitive Panel Makes Managing 150 Websites Easy for Pixel Digital appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

Brandemic is an India-based branding agency. Launched just three years ago, the company has completed over 300 projects and won numerous awards. 

Pranay Jain, Brandemic’s co-founder and Head of Web, claims that the agency stands out because of its design-centered approach to branding. They call it ‘design-thinking,’ and this ethos is at the core of the business.

Brandemic opted for Hostinger as its go-to hosting provider for its focus on user-friendliness and accessibility. Pranay says Hostinger’s design-driven solutions complement the agency’s creative vision when crafting engaging online experiences.

Keep reading to learn more about Brandemic’s initial go-to-market strategy, the brand’s value-rich approach, and why more than 150 of its client websites are now hosted on Hostinger.

Making a Dent in a Budding Industry

Brandemic traces its origins back to 2020 when four friends from college saw an opportunity to combine forces and launch their own business. 

“During the pandemic, we didn’t have anything else to do. I was doing my digital marketing course while the others were also engaged similarly. So we met at a café and just started it, with ‘pandemic’ as the inspiration for the agency’s name,” Pranay reveals.  

With their college dorm as the makeshift headquarters, Brandemic confidently ventured into India’s burgeoning branding industry. The first item on the agenda – conducting a study of the market to see how the team could position the brand. 

“Other companies tend to just jump to conclusions. You cannot build anything without doing a lot of research first. If you have to do research and build something, you should definitely put more time and effort into the former,” Pranay says.

They used the knowledge gained through competitor analysis to present Brandemic as an agency that does things differently and goes above and beyond. 

Limitless Thinking as a Brand Ethos

Design is at the heart of the agency, but for Brandemic, accessibility is equally important. Good visuals are a given, but a design is only successful when its primary directive is to serve the user and help them accomplish their goals. 

When starting a new project, the Brandemic team begins by delving deep. They identify any potential problems and offer full disclosure of their findings to their clients. 

Transparency is indicative of Brandemic’s reputation as a bold agency. Brave in both communication and decision-making, the team launched Think Limitless, an eco-conscious streetwear brand, less than a year ago to explore new avenues.

“Since Brandemic is a service business, we wanted to do something with physical products. ‘Think Limitless’ is a sustainability-focused clothing brand where we’re coming up with the items ourselves. Oversized T-shirts, hoodies – different categories of clothing to make a difference in the fashion industry,” Pranay explains.

Hostinger: A Likeminded Web Host

To maintain its commitment to design and usability, Brandemic needed a web host it could relate to on a deeper level. The agency’s requirements were tough: the hosting provider had to be accessible, have great support, and offer solutions built on outstanding user-centric designs. 

In essence, Brandemic was looking for a service that shared its values. With Customer Obsession as one of its key principles, Hostinger fit the bill right off the bat. 

“I had used many other providers previously. There always were issues – either with the interface or customer support. I found out about Hostinger through an ad, and it’s been great since the first experience. I’ve now hosted over 150 websites on Hostinger and joined the affiliate program,” Pranay says. 

Since the team has expanded, Pranay delegates most of Brandemic’s website management tasks to other team members. With Hostinger, he doesn’t need to worry whether they’ll be successful – it’s a given. 

“I like how everything is made with the user in mind. Hostinger’s design is really good, and its backend is very easy to use. When I ask any of my team members to do something, they can just navigate the systems and accomplish whatever they set out to do.”

Brandemic’s platform of choice is WordPress, with Elementor and WP Rocket as essential site-building ingredients. The result – expertly designed websites and pages that load super fast. 

“What happens is you can write content and generate images with AI. This is what Elementor is great at. And WordPress – it’s open source, so it’s very cost-effective. Then you just purchase a plan from Hostinger, and you can build a WordPress website for around twenty dollars a year. Hostinger is what we recommend to everyone,” Pranay smiles. 

Unorthodox and Celebrated

Soon after starting out, Brandemic became the most talked about branding agency in the area. 

“We did all the big brands here and also won a few awards for UI, UX, and branding. Whatever the services we provide today, we have won awards for them. That was the main reason we got a lot of recognition from people,” Pranay elaborates.

With online articles detailing the agency’s success, Brandemic experienced a surge of organic expansion. The agency has grown from four co-founders to a multidisciplinary team of 25 professionals in just three short years. 

Brandemic doesn’t intend to slow down any time soon, either. In addition to further developing the Think Limitless brand, the agency aims to stick to the principles that made it successful.

“We remain dedicated to constant self-improvement, prioritizing client happiness, embracing creativity, nurturing our team’s growth, and fulfilling our social responsibilities to make a positive impact,” Pranay summarizes.
Manage your own entrepreneurial venture with Hostinger! Try Hostinger’s Cloud Hosting optimized for online professionals and agencies.  

The post Brandemic: Design-Driven and User-Centric Solutions appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

Mike Rodden is a software product manager from Boston with a hobby: he is the creative force behind Softwine.ai, an AI-powered blog about wine. 

Softwine.ai combines two topics that may initially appear mutually exclusive – winemaking and technology. So when Mike writes about wine, it’s always through a modern lens, focused on the technological frontier of the industry.  

As Mike had built a few websites before, he was looking for a simpler platform for his blog. Hostinger’s AI site builder was the ideal solution – its Plug’n’Play nature let Mike get his vision off the ground in no time.

In Vino Veritas

Wine had always been a passion of Mike’s, but he became even more interested in it after learning about the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) program. It took two years to finish, and in September this year, Mike celebrated achieving his WSET certification. 

Mike started Softwine.ai as a way to bridge the gap between his hobby and profession. The blog allows him to share knowledge, opinions, and news in two contrasting areas – wine and technology – with aims to spark cross-conversation in both arenas.

“The wine industry can be a  bit traditional – they don’t always adapt to technology super well,” Mike reveals. “But there are some wineries that are really embracing it. They’re doing some cool stuff, like using data analytics to predict exactly when they have to use additives that may have otherwise been overused out of caution.”

That’s the kind of subject matter you can expect on Softwine.ai. The blog covers topics like AI technology’s role in integrated pest management (IPM), using weather data to manage vineyards, whether computers can replace sommeliers, and so on. 

Writing a blog has also become an effective way to stimulate Mike’s creativity, which would otherwise remain untapped.  Since his day job doesn’t provide him with many opportunities to put pen to paper, the blog is a great way to fill the gap. 

“The majority of my day-to-day is more product marketing than actual engineering. Content writing was something I hadn’t practiced in a long time, so it’s been a fun way to both practice a professional skill while simultaneously having a creative outlet,” he adds.

AI – The Best Collaborator

Mike is the only person behind the blog, with AI having a big enough impact to be featured as a contributor on Softwine.ai’s Team page. 

For instance, AI is the blog’s graphic designer – it comes up with imaginative illustrations and helps Softwine.ai establish a unique and authentic look. Mike also uses AI-generative technology for article outlines and content creation. As a result, Mike can be more efficient with the limited amount of time he can dedicate to the blog – keeping a close eye on output as part of the editing process. 

“These AI models are coming up with ideas I never would have thought of. It could be an emerging trend or technology I’d never heard of in the wine industry, but then you look it up, and there are so many fresh topics I wouldn’t have been aware of otherwise,” Mike smiles.

“It does take a good amount of work to make a decent post. But the ability to quickly come up with an outline to just throw your ideas in an order that makes sense – that’s where generative AI definitely saves a ton of time.” 

The Hostinger AI Website Builder Experience

Mike also used the powers of AI to get the site off the ground. He came across the Hostinger Website Builder when searching online for an accessible platform that wouldn’t be too complex to use. 

“I’d used other builders and content management systems before to build a couple of websites, and it wasn’t super impressive. I was looking for something a little bit more out of the box,” Mike reveals.

Having used Hostinger Website Builder’s AI functionality right off the bat, Mike was impressed with how simple it was to customize the layout of the site and make adjustments on the go.

“I really like how easy it is to adjust any grid lines and spacing. Everything I do seems to be one or two clicks away at the most, which is great,” Mike says.

And since site management is so effortless, Mike can dedicate his time to what matters most – creating standout content for his blog. He doesn’t need to worry about website performance, either – his AI-powered blog is lightweight and loads fast.

Days of Wine and Roses

Since the blog is still relatively new, Mike expects its traffic to grow organically in the coming months. He doesn’t rely on paid advertisements to spread awareness; instead, he’s implementing SEO strategies to help Softwine.ai climb the search ranks and bring more visitors.

Mike isn’t planning to monetize the blog because he wants it to remain a passion project and eventually turn it into a medium for learning. Most important of all is the blog’s natural ability to spark conversation. 

“Wine and technology don’t always have as much overlap as they should I want to get both camps interested in one another. For that, I like to pick out topics that will make people think and inspire debate. This is especially important when it comes to wine, where people can be a little stubborn in adapting to new ideas,” Mike says. 

That’s the reason why Mike doesn’t shy away from controversial subjects – it’s all about giving people food (or drink) for thought.

Get your passion project off the ground in minutes with Hostinger Website Builder, just like Mike did. Start building now!

The post Softwine.ai: Taking Your Passion Online With AI appeared first on Hostinger Blog.