Archives

Beginner’s Guide to DNS and Nameservers

Performance
If you’ve ever worked with a domain name, web hosting account, or website, chances are that you’ve had to work with DNS and nameservers. Simply put, DNS and nameservers are systems that connect your domain name to your website and email. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at both these concepts and help you better understand them so as to avoid common pitfalls and mistakes.
If you’re trying to change your WHC website’s nameservers, consult our article on how to change my domain’s nameservers. If you’re looking to learn more about how DNS works, read on!
dns

What is DNS?

DNS stands for Domain Name System. It’s the system that translates an easy to remember domain name like example.com to a machine-readable IP (Internet Protocol) address like 93.184.216.34.
Mapping IP to domain
Any device that connects to the Internet, including the servers that run your web hosting, have unique IP addresses (your current Internet connection has one too!). By “mapping” a domain name to a specific IP address with the help of DNS and nameservers, you’re helping visitors access your online content, which includes your website and email. Sounds simple, right? Well, it can get tricky, fast! DNS is actually one of the most misunderstood parts of how websites and domains work, and can lead to problems or errors with your website and email if used incorrectly.
domain-name

What is a Domain Name, anyhow?

Domain names like google.com and whc.ca are online addresses, used to access websites for business, news sources and whatever other treasures (or oddities!) the Internet holds. Technically, a domain name is a string of characters that can be translated into an electronic address (called an Internet Protocol, or IP, address) by computer systems connected to the Internet, thanks to -- you guessed it -- DNS. Available domain names can be registered for a modest yearly fee through a domain name registration provider (called a registrar) such as Web Hosting Canada, and can be renewed indefinitely. The registrar will ensure your domain is correctly registered with the organization (called the registry) that manages the Top Level Domain (or TLD) you chose to use. Examples of popular TLDs include .CA (managed by CIRA), .COM (managed by Verisign) and .QUEBEC (managed by Registre Point Québec).
Registrant, Registrar and Registry schema
Since each registry sets and manages its own pricing, the cost of the domain registration can vary depending on the TLD you choose and generally ranges between $10-$30 per year, with some niche TLDs costing substantially more. .LUXURY domains, for example, cost a whopping 699$ for the first year of registration!
Need help finding your perfect domain name? Check out our Canadian Guide to Finding your Perfect Domain Name.
Nameservers

What are Nameservers?

Nameservers are the address books of the Internet and a critical part of what makes DNS work. Just like your personal address book may contain the address and phone number of your friends Mike, Sue, and James, nameservers will contain website and email routing information for domain names like mikespizza.ca, sueshop.com, and jamesco.net Unlike the address book you may have at home, nameservers are fully electronic and are generally managed by service providers such as WHC, Google, or Amazon. Each nameserver can contain information for multiple domains (sometimes even millions of them). In order to function properly, each domain name must define its authoritative nameservers (these are the nameservers that are actively being used according to the registry). These nameservers will answer the question: who should I ask to find out where my website or email is hosted? With Web Hosting Canada, your domain’s nameservers are set when you first register your domain name, and you can change your nameservers at any time from your Client Area.
Your domain should use a minimum of 2 nameservers to avoid potential problems, and may support upwards of 8 nameservers. The number of nameservers you use is generally unimportant, so long as you have at least 2.
For example, new domain names registered with WHC will usually set the following authoritative nameservers by default: ns1.whc.ca ns2.whc.ca ns3.whc.ca The set of information each nameserver holds for a specific domain name is called a DNS zone, and a zone may contain multiple resource records, including one to identify where your website is hosted and another for where your email is hosted.
DNS Zone

What are DNS Zones and Resource Records?

A DNS zone is a set of DNS information about a specific domain name. Going back to our address book example, you can think of a zone as all the information you have recorded for your friend Mike. For example, you’ll have his home address, his mobile phone, and his email address. Each distinct piece of information, such as his mobile phone, can be considered a resource record. Online, DNS zones and resource records help answer questions such as:
  • Where is this domain’s website hosted?
  • Which email server (or provider) handles this domain’s incoming emails?
DNS Zone and DNS Record
There are a number of different types of DNS resource records, but we’re going to focus on two of the most commonly used records:
  • A Record: this is the main and most important resource record in your domain’s DNS zone. The “A” stands for address and this record will contain the IP address of the device hosting your main website. Example of an A Record: example.com 194.142.23.128
  • MX records are mail exchange records and will contain a hostname. They define which mail servers handle incoming emails to your domain. If you want to be able to receive email from an address using your domain name, you’ll need to have properly configured MX records. Example of an MX Record: example.com mx.yourdomain.ca
There are dozens of other DNS resource record types available, including CNAME and TXT records, which are sometimes used with hosting accounts to establish domain ownership, or to enhance email security, but we’ll save those geeky technical details for a later article.

How can I change my domain’s DNS Resource Records?

You may occasionally need to change your domain’s DNS resource records. Common reasons for changing DNS records include pointing your website to a specialized service provider (like a website builder or third party e-commerce platform) or switching your email service provider (to Microsoft 365 or G Suite, for example). How you can execute this change will depend on how your domain and DNS are set up. In most cases, you’ll connect to your domain name or hosting provider’s client portal, look for a zone or DNS editor, and then fill out the new resource record information as instructed by your new service provider. If your domain is registered with Web Hosting Canada, consult How to change DNS Records with the Zone Editor for step-by-step instructions.
Careful! Incorrectly manipulating your domain’s DNS records could cause your website and email to stop working.
DNS propagation

What is DNS Propagation?

DNS propagation is the process through which changes to DNS records or nameservers take effect on all networks around the world. It usually involves a delay that can vary from a few seconds to a few hours, depending on where you are in the world and how your Internet-enabled device is configured. In short, when changing a DNS record, don’t expect instant results all over the world. The process often takes several hours to propagate everywhere and in some cases can take over 24 hours, because of how some DNS services memorize (or cache) DNS records.
DNS propagation schema
The propagation process can be accelerated by reducing a setting on your DNS records called the Time to Live (or TTL), at least a day in advance of making your changes. This setting provides a suggestion for how long other secondary DNS services should save old entries, so reducing it increases your chances of applying the changes faster. Unfortunately, not all DNS services interpret TTL values the same way, so specific results can’t be guaranteed. TTL is defined in seconds, so common values are 3600 (1 hour), 86400 (1 day), or 60 (1 minute). Setting this value to 60 at least one day before your DNS change can help reduce DNS propagation delays. Setting it back to 3600 or 86400 once your change has finished propagating is also recommended, in order to reduce the number of requests handled by your authoritative DNS service.
Steps

DNS Resolution Steps

Now that you understand the basic components of DNS, let’s see how a DNS request gets handled from the moment you type in a website address in your browser’s address bar to the moment its content is displayed on your screen. We'll work with "example.ca" as the domain name:
  1. Is the website "example.ca" available in your browser’s cache (memory)? If so, instantly display it; otherwise proceed to next step
  2. Is the website’s DNS information available in your computer or router’s cache (memory)? If so, use it to obtain the website’s IP and proceed to the last step
  3. The DNS resolution process begins:
    DNS resolution steps
    1. Query your primary DNS resolver (its location is defined on your device’s operating system) for the the domain’s IP address (found within its DNS A Record). The DNS resolver service is often provided by your Internet Service Provider (Bell, Telus, Vidéotron, etc)
    2. Is the domain’s IP already cached (memorized) inside your primary DNS resolver? If so, return the website’s IP and proceed to the last step.
    3. Query the Internet’s root servers to obtain the TLD name server responsible for .CA TLD
    4. Query one of .CA TLD’s nameservers to obtain this specific domain’s nameserver
    5. Query one of the domain’s nameservers to obtain the specific domain’s IP address
    6. We finally have the IP address of the website we’re trying to reach! The DNS part of this process has completed successfully. The DNS information may now be cached (memorized) in multiple locations, including your browser, operating system, router, ISP’s resolvers, and other recursive nameservers, for a duration equal to or shorter than the record’s TTL.
  4. Connect to the IP address of the web server, and obtain the website content, then display it on the screen. The website content may also now be cached (memorized) by your browser for faster load times in the future.
Problem solving

Common DNS Problems & Solutions

Here are some common DNS-related issues:

Changes to my DNS still haven’t taken effect over 24 hours later

This may occur for several reasons:
  1. You made the change on a nameserver that isn’t authoritative
    This means you’ve made these changes in the wrong place. You’ll need to find out what your authoritative nameservers are, usually by inspecting the results of a whois or dig query, then make your DNS changes in the correct place.
  2. You made an error in your DNS record
    Double-check the exact value/syntax you used in your DNS record, using tools like intoDNS or DNS validator. A small error such as an extra period or space can cause problems. You may also have indicated the wrong IP address in your A Record.
  3. You’re seeing a stale (cached) version of your page
    Try clearing your browser’s cache and flushing your operating system’s DNS cache.

My domain is no longer working or responding to DNS requests

This could mean that:
  • You have set the wrong nameservers for your domain name
    Double-check which nameservers you should be using with your domain name and hosting provider, and update your nameservers to the ones recommended by your provider. Contact their support team if you are unsure.
  • Your domain name is expired or disabled
    Inspect its whois output and consider renewing your domain ASAP. If it’s suspended, contact your domain name provider to find out why. Oftentimes, a domain name can get temporarily disabled if changes were made to its administrative email contacts that were not validated within 2 weeks.
  • Your DNS service might be offline, unreachable, or otherwise malfunctioning
    Verify the status of your DNS service using tools such as intoDNS or DNS validator, and contact your DNS service provider for assistance if you see errors.
Picto WHC

Discover Web Hosting Canada’s DNS

Web Hosting Canada provides reliable, secure, and high-performing DNS service along with 24/7 expert support with all its hosting services. Basic DNS provides redundant DNS service from multiple Canadian locations, and includes a DNS zone editor to help you easily change your DNS settings, as often as necessary, with low TTL support. It’s included with all of WHC’s hosting and domain name services. Premium DNS improves the basic offering by distributing the DNS service to multiple locations around the world through Anycast technology, effectively improving its performance and routing, in addition to other security enhancements. It’s included with the Pro and Enterprise hosting plans, and can be ordered as a standalone service.
Tools

Useful Tools & Final Thoughts

To help better troubleshoot and explore DNS issues, we’ve compiled some of our favorite DNS tools below: Hopefully this article has taught you, or clarified, a few things about DNS. As a rule of thumb, avoid making DNS changes that you are unsure of, and consider checking with your website/email administrator or hosting provider before any major changes. DNS remains a relatively complex (and oftentimes confusing) topic that can take considerable time to master. The Internet is full of excellent resources describing the inner workings of DNS in various levels of detail. That being said, unless you’re working in IT, we’ll understand if you decide you know enough about DNS as-is. After all, that’s why you trust experts with this stuff!

We’re moving to a new office!

WHC News & Events
As our team continues to grow, we’re moving to a bigger office by August 1! Here’s our new office address: 7250 Clark Street, #301 Montreal, Quebec H2R 2Y3 Located just minutes away from Jean Talon market, Jarry park and Little Italy, in a dynamic part of Montreal’s tech hub, this new space help empower our team (as well as the small business & tech communities) located in and around Montreal. If you’re used to paying by cheque, please make sure to send your correspondence to our new address starting July 27. Better yet, consider reducing your carbon footprint by going paper-free and switching to payments by credit card or Interac e-transfer. With the ongoing disruptions caused by COVID-19, our offices (both old and new) will continue to be closed for visits for the foreseeable future and most of our team continues to work remotely. In fact, we’ve recently adopted a remote work policy that enables our team to work from home, all across Canada, for as long as they need. Nonetheless, the new office is being designed with social distancing and sanitation in mind so as to allow staff and visitors to interact and work safely. With nearly 5000 square feet of available space, we’re not just creating an environment for our team to thrive, but also setting up a space for techies and entrepreneurs to gather and exchange ideas that help push Canadian small businesses forward. We expect the work in our new space to be fully completed by October 2020 and we’ll be sure to post updates, pictures, and videos as we have them!

How to Start Selling Online

Small Business Success
If you have a business, a product or an idea and you’re thinking about selling online, now is a great time to get started. ECommerce is growing faster than ever, with more and more people ordering online rather than in store, especially with social distancing rules in effect. After all, it’s hard to beat the convenience of finding the service or product you like online from the comfort of your home, buying it at any time of the day or night, then having it delivered at your door within days! In this article, we’ll explore the important aspects of eCommerce and help you make smart decisions when it comes to launching and growing your online store.

First off: Do I need an online store?

If you’re serious about selling anything online, from services to physical goods to digital products, then the answer is an unequivocal yes. Some important advantages of selling online include:
  • Increasing your reach: sell to shoppers all over the province, country, or world!
  • Being open 24/7: shoppers can potentially buy at any time of the day or night
  • Improving analytics: everything a shopper does online can be measured more quickly and accurately, including how often they shop with you, how long they stay on your website, and how much their average order is
  • Staying open during a pandemic: online shopping is 100% compatible with social distancing
While it is possible to sell directly to niche markets on specialized platforms (Etsy or Ebay, for example), using your own online store will open up a world of possibilities. Some advantages of having your own online store rather than using a third-party selling platform include:
  • Controlling the entire shopping experience, from colors, to content, to categories, to order forms - you’re in control and can make things as simple or intricate as you want
  • Seamless integration: your online shop should extend your online presence naturally, so that you can clearly expose your brand, projects and mission alongside your products
  • Lowering or eliminating vendor fees: third party platforms will generally charge a commission for each sale, in addition to the payment processor’s cut - this charge can be bypassed with an online store

Start Selling Online: Important Considerations

Here are important things to consider as you prepare your business for eCommerce.
What to sell

Decide what to sell online

This may be a simple or a difficult decision, depending on whether you already have a physical storefront or whether you’re starting from scratch. To help you decide, you’ll want to answer some basic questions:
  • Will you sell physical products, digital ones, or both?
  • How many products or services do you plan on selling online?
  • Which products or services will you prioritize to showcase online?
Selling online is quite different from selling in person! You will likely be competing for the same shoppers with thousands of other merchants, so understanding what’s most in demand and how you are different is important. You can begin the hard (but important!) work of researching online trends by performing adequate keyword research, explained thoroughly in our Beginner's Guide to SEO: Keyword Research article.
Register domain name

Reserve your Domain Name(s)

Once you know what you’re selling, search for and register a great domain name (assuming you don’t already have one), which you’ll use for your online store. A domain name is your online address, so your choice will be very important, potentially for years to come. To help you make the best choice, read our Canadian Guide to Finding Your Perfect Domain Name.
eCommerce platform

Choose an eCommerce platform for your Online Store

The platform (also called app or software) you choose to build your online store with will have a big impact on how you sell online. You’ll likely use it daily to add or tweak products, to manage your sales, to view your reports and to update your website. Your eCommerce platform will also determine how your store looks and how it’s displayed on screens of all sizes (including mobile devices), so it’s important that you like how it works, that you’re comfortable using it and that you appreciate its aesthetics. While there are hundreds of available eCommerce platforms, we’ve narrowed down the selection to our 5 favorite apps. Feel free to explore one or more of these platforms before settling on the one you’ll be using.
WordPress

WordPress and WooCommerce (Recommended)

WordPress with WooCommerce is the most popular platform for online stores because it’s flexible, open-source and reasonably easy to use. With WordPress, the number of themes and plugins available to customize your site is practically endless, as is the online community you can join and benefit from.
WordPress with Woocommerce is the recommended choice for Canadian small businesses and entrepreneurs that need flexible solutions, and is available with WHC’s Managed WordPress Hosting.
Weebly

Weebly Business (Recommended)

Weebly Business is a simple-to-use eCommerce solution that will help you get up and running in hours, rather than weeks (or months!). It includes a variety of visual themes and a simple drag-and-drop editor so you can design and update your content yourself, without the help of a developer or webmaster. While Weebly is not ideal for multilingual stores, it does make up for its lack of flexibility with a simple, integrated approach that allows you to focus on selling your products, rather than understanding the platform itself. It also includes free support from the WHC team! Learn more about the differences between Weebly and WordPress.
Weebly is WHC’s recommended choice for businesses which are looking for a quick and easy start, and which do not need additional features such as a multilingual storefront.
Magento

Magento

Magento Open Source is a powerful and robust eCommerce-specific option, which is ideal for bigger stores that may be tedious to build or manage in WordPress. Magento also comes with some stronger eCommerce functionality such as upsells and cross-sells. While more robust and extensible, Magento is also more complex and as such may require one or more developers to leverage its full potential.
Magento is available as a 1-click installation with all of WHC’s web hosting plans.
OpenCart

OpenCart

OpenCart is a great open-source option with built-in support for multilingual stores. It also includes analytics and functionality that enables you to manage multiple stores from a single admin panel. While this could be accomplished with WordPress using a multisite or custom plugins, OpenCart was built specifically for eCommerce and definitely has some advantages worth considering if you have a lot of products to sell and want to group them into different stores.
OpenCart is available as a 1-click installation with all of WHC’s web hosting plans.
Prestashop

PrestaShop

Much like OpenCart, PrestaShop, is a powerful open-source eCommerce solution. Initially built by a team of developers based in France, it was intended to be a robust multilingual shopping platform and offered great core features in French. Today, Prestashop is available in several languages and there are hundreds of plugins available, both paid and free, to extend your base features.
PrestaShop is available as a 1-click installation with all of WHC’s web hosting plans.
Web host

Choose a Web Host

Now it’s time to choose a web hosting provider for your store. Your choice of provider may impact your website’s availability, speed, security as well as the help and guidance you get as you build out your store. Making a smart choice is essential to the success of your new venture! To help you make the best choice, read our Canadian Guide to Choosing the Best Hosting Provider.
Payment processor

Choose a Payment Processor

Any eCommerce store hinges on its ability to accept payments from its target audience. A payment processing company will enable your online store, usually through the use of a plugin, to accept payments with major credit cards. Paypal is the most popular payment processor in the world, but other providers such as Stripe and Square have made significant strides recently and are used both in-store and online. Important factors when choosing a payment processor include compatibility with your eCommerce platform, monthly and per-transaction rates, supported payment methods (some won’t support American Express or debit cards), fraud protection, and customer service. Make sure to do some research ahead of time so you know which payment processor is best for you.
Shipping method

Determine a Shipping Method

If you’re selling digital products, this will be as simple as sending an expiring link or giving access to a membership area or downloads page. For physical products, how will you send your products to shoppers? Canada Post, Purolator, UPS, Fedex, DHL, or “pick up in store” are all popular options with Canadian businesses and shoppers. For larger operations, you may also want to find a way of integrating orders so that the process is as automated as possible. This may include using a fulfillment company to manage third-party logistics for you (known as 3PL). Shipbob and Mantoria are two options for fulfilment companies that offer services to Canadian entrepreneurs. Shipbob may be the easier option for some stores, but Mantoria features a bilingual website that may be a plus for French/bilingual businesses.
Add product

Add your Products and Services

This involves taking appealing and informative photos of your products and writing effective descriptions to feature on your site. Be sure to use multiple images from different angles and distances for each product, showing the entire product as well as close-ups of pertinent details. When writing your product description, remember to include things like dimensions and not be overly salesy. Always clearly explain what the product does or how it’s intended to be used and make sure to highlight any added benefits that may be useful to your clients.
Improve website

Maintain, Improve & Test your website

Not all websites are built the same; some require a lot more care and maintenance than others in order to keep them relevant, updated and secure. This might involve performing version upgrades to your WordPress store, adding new features through plugins, adding new products and services, updating product descriptions based on trends, and announcing new promotions. Obviously, not everyone will have the time or expertise required to manage these aspects of a website, which is why WHC provides services like managed WordPress hosting and the Weebly website builder. These services alleviate some or all of the technical burden of updating your platform, leaving you more time to focus on building and running your business. That being said, as your online store grows, you may want to employ the services of online marketers, web developers/designers, copywriters, and/or photographers. Leverage their skills (or perfect yours) to build the best shopping experience for your clients! As you make changes, continuously test your site on different screen sizes and devices, including desktop and laptop computers as well as Android phones, iPhones and tablets. There are tools you can use to simulate different devices, but no simulator is infallible.
Promote

Promote Your Website

Now that your awesome new online store is ready, you just have to sit back and watch the sales stream in, right? Well… not quite. A new store that isn’t promoted will end up gathering dust and will be quickly forgotten. This is where online marketing comes in, and also where you should invest most of your time and effort. It’s important to promote your website through at least a couple of different channels, with the two most cost-effective ones being organic search and social media. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a practice that can help you increase your reach on popular search engines like Google, and we’ve written an extensive Beginner’s Guide to SEO to help you get started. Growing on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook takes time and effort, but it is necessary both for the traffic it creates and the signals your sharing sends to search engines.
Earn money

Can I really make money from an Online Store?

Yes! In fact, eCommerce can be very profitable when used properly. Here are just a few reasons why:
  • It’s more cost-effective to set up and scale an online store than a brick-and-mortar store
  • A small staff can run a larger online operation more efficiently than a brick-and-mortar one
  • It’s often easier to find and attract the right kinds of customers online (especially once you’ve mastered SEO)
Although they do take time and money to set up, it’s quite possible for eCommerce websites to generate revenue even while you sleep or are on vacation. Smaller stores can often be staffed by a couple of customer service agents through live chat systems. That said, don’t make the mistake of thinking that eCommerce translates into free or easy money! Instead of competing against other stores in your neighbourhood or city, you may now be competing with hundreds of other international businesses worldwide. Understanding your niche and your appeal with clients becomes critical to your business’ online success.
Future of ecommerce

The Future of eCommerce

The recent Coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the growth of eCommerce enormously. The number of online stores has skyrocketed over the past few months, and the number of online shoppers as well. With Canadians spending almost $40 billion online in 2019, this number is expected to balloon in 2020. Not only are more shoppers flocking online, but as the eCommerce platforms mature, the online shopping experience is also improved. It’s getting easier, safer and often more convenient to shop online than at your local mall. Now is the right time to get in on the action! Ready to get started on your eCommerce adventure? Explore WHC’s Managed WordPress and Weebly Business plans, and launch your new project today!

Web Hosting just got better with PHP 7.4

Performance
PHP 7.4 is now available on all of WHC’s web hosting, reseller hosting, cloud and dedicated servers, and Managed WordPress hosting plans. It delivers superior performance, adds new features, and deprecates some older features. You can enable PHP 7.4 from your control panel today, or read on to learn more!

What is PHP?

PHP is a powerful and flexible programming language specifically engineered for creating dynamic websites. It’s used with popular apps such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Magento. PHP is an integral part of the most popular hosting stack (known as a LAMP stack, which stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). PHP is also used by popular social media sites such as Facebook and Pinterest.

What’s new with PHP 7.4?

Extended Support

PHP 7.4 was released by the PHP team at the end of 2019, and has been added to WHC’s systems in May 2020. The PHP team will be providing security updates to this new version until 28 Nov 2022. WHC supports PHP 7.4 with compatible services through both cPanel’s native implementation as well as through the CloudLinux PHP handler,.

Improved Performance

If you’re using WordPress or other PHP-powered web apps, you may notice a slight boost in overall site performance after updating to PHP 7.4 from earlier versions. Although the performance improvement isn’t as big as the one observed between version 7.2 and 7.3, every bit counts! Those with their own Cloud or Dedicated servers may be able to leverage the new opcache preloading features to further improve the performance of their high-traffic web applications.

New & Deprecated Features

For developers, PHP 7.4 add a few new features worth exploring, such as
  • Typed properties
  • Arrow Functions
  • Unpacking inside Arrays
PHP 7.4 also depracates a few features and removes a couple of extensions. Consult the official PHP 7.4.0 Release Announcement for a full list of features and deprecations.

Should I switch to PHP 7.4?

Yes, but carefully — and there’s no reason to rush into it. Updating to a newer version of PHP can present potential incompatibilities with some websites, but it’s necessary in the long run in order to stay secure and potentially improve performance. While some websites still run on versions of PHP as old as 5.2, using anything other than the latest supported version (7.2 at the time of this article’s publication) is not recommended for production websites. Before switching and in order to minimize disruptions, it’s recommended to update any plugins, themes, and applications used on your websites. An outdated theme or plugin may encounter problems with the latest version of PHP, and could potentially cause problems on your site.

How can I start using PHP 7.4 on my website?

You can switch PHP versions from your control panel, with just a few clicks. If you discover a problem on your website following the switch, you can just as easily switch back to a prior version, in real-time.

What’s Next For PHP?

PHP 8 is on the horizon, scheduled for release in December 2020. As a major version update it will feature more significant changes and upgrades than the recent minor releases. If your website uses PHP, check back in early 2021 for all the latest features.

In Solidarity & Support with Black Lives Matter

WHC News & Events
The time to be a silent witness to this issue has long passed. On June 10, 11 & 12, 2020, WHC supported the Black Lives Matter movement by making our homepage colorless. While we acknowledge the infinitely small impact one such gesture can make, we also understand the power of a movement and the importance of speaking out. WHC homepage in black and white What can small businesses in Canada do? We can help build awareness. Then we can take a stand against discrimation and advocate for equal opportunity clearly and often. So here goes. Web Hosting Canada is proud to be an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, sexual orientation, gender, religion, abilities or creed. We recognize that saying it through a policy or tagline is not enough and therefore we do it in practice as well. Our workforce is diverse, and so is our leadership team. WHC stands behind all efforts to encourage diversity at work, and stop discrimination in all its forms. I am proud to work for and to lead an organization that takes this message to heart. I am also hopeful that the time is ripe for positive change. Let’s be part of it. Online resources: