Hosting, servers, VPSes, CDNs, oh my.

The tech side of AM can be fearsomely complicated.

So here’s some simplicity. 16 quick tips that should get you 90% of the way to where your AM server setup needs to be.

1) DON’T run a server if you can help it. If you’re using tracking that’s hosted by your tracking provider, 99% of the time you’ll be fine with Amazon S3 and a CDN. And that’s much simpler.

2) DO invest as much as you need to. One day’s lost data will cost you as much as a pretty powerful server will cost in a month. Pay for the spec you NEED.

3) DON’T try to cheap out with shared hosting. It’s just not suitable for AM. Period. VPS or dedicated server minimum.

4) DON’T try and learn system administration if you don’t want to. You don’t need to be a massive tech-head to succeed at AM. Hire someone or use a managed server and learn more important skills.

5) DO hire a sysadmin to optimise your server setup. It can make a colossal difference to your bottom line.

6) DON’T run bloody WordPress on your server. Or anything else you don’t absolutely need. Unnecessary stuff on your server – particularly commonly-hacked stuff – is a massive security hole.

7) DO use a CDN if your server isn’t close to your target demo. Distance from server to user matters a lot 90% of the time. And a good Content Delivery Network (CDN) can serve your stuff fast ...

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