The 5 critical things you should look for when picking a web hosting company! by Mario Lerma
So how do you go about choosing a web host? Pull one out of a hat! Not really! Unless, of course, you're a magician and can pull out the right one! Hey, who knows maybe with a little practice! Just kidding!
Now for those of you who aren't Merlin the magician, the task is made even harder due to the fact there are so many website hosting companies. I mean, there're a bunch of them and they come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. It's pretty safe to say most people don't even know where to begin.
And just where do you begin? Well, faced with so many choices you need an efficient way to narrow down the field. The best way, I've found, is to start searching based on RECOMMENDATIONS and EXPERIENCE! So ask or look for recommendations from people you trust and find out what experiences they've had with the web site host.
Once you've built a small list, say 10-12, you're after quality not quantity, put them through the tests. Here're the 5 critical things you must look for!
1. World-Class Service. This is Numero Uno for a very good reason. Picture this scenario: It's 3 a.m. and you're in a bind. You've run into a technical problem! And it must be fixed pronto! Now answer these two questions: Do you know where your support is? How accessible are they?
Your answers are crucial because you need quick and easy ways of getting a hold of your customer service or technical support people anytime of the day or night. Even at 3 a.m.! This means your web hosting company must guarantee telephone and email support 24/7/365.
And not only round the clock support but your web hosting provider must be staffed by knowledgeable and helpful people. It's not going to do you any good at all to get incredible response time if they aren't able to fix the problem. In other words, they've got to know what they're doing!
Live chat service adds another way for you to get a hold of your support team. The more ways the better!
Stay away from web hosts who provide support only through email. You could be waiting days for a response. You can't afford to wait! You want prompt answers to your questions and technical problems fixed quickly! Your business and livelihood depend on it!
Even though email support is the preferred method for resolving technical problems you still want to be able to get on the telephone and chew on someone's ear if the situation calls for it.
When it comes to technical support, experience really matters! I mean with a capital "E." So find out if they have actual experienced systems administrators on board. They're the one's responsible for making sure all the different components of a computer system fit together and work properly. This is extremely important!
2. Hacker safe. Hackers are intruders who would like nothing more than to get their rotten hands on your information and do nasty things to it. So your web site hosting company must provide you with top-notch security. They should have all the important security issues covered, especially what hackers are up to, and God knows, they're always up to something.
So you know what this means, don't you? Yes, firewalls should be running all the time to protect your web site from hackers. A firewall is a security device, (it can be either software or hardware), basically acting like a barrier to secure your server from possible hacker attack. Make sure they have the latest software installed and top of the line computers, too.
OK, now what's the bottom line here? For your peace of mind, your web host better know how to protect their system! And your website from unauthorized access!
3. Click away! This is what your customers are doing when they get tired of waiting for your web page to download. They aren't going to wait forever. In fact, your customer is only one click away from going to your competitor's web site. So having quick loading web pages is extremely important!
Another key factor is your web host has to get consistently reliable connection times to ALL your customers. What I mean is your customer may have to wait 5 seconds to download a web page one time and then wait longer to download the same page another time. So what's the crux of the matter? Your customers won't wait so your website hosting company has to download fast!
In turn, fast download time is affected by how good the connection is your web host has to the Internet. So if your web hosting company has a poor connection to the Internet then you've got a major problem on your hands in getting consistent and reliable connection times.
Here's a simple formula for you to remember: Long download times = click aways! Click aways = lost customers! Lost customers = lost sales!
It impacts your bottom line! Your livelihood! You can't afford it!
4. Backbone, baby! No, I'm not talking about intestinal fortitude. I mean Internet backbone or fiber optic networks. Your web host should be "multi-homed" or connected to multiple backbone carriers.
Each connection or line coming into the data center from the backbone carrier must be separate. This way if one backbone carrier goes down your host will maintain connectivity to the Internet and your customers will still be able to access your web site. Most web hosts don't have this continuous service capability. Level of connectivity is one of the most important aspects to consider.
Being a "multi-homed" web host has its benefits because the router, a computer switching program, is able to monitor each link and identify the best one to use to get your data to its destination by the most efficient path possible. The bottom line: Fast web page download speed! Allright!
Be certain to look for a web host with at least a T1 connection going to the main backbone carriers. A T3 connection or faster is better yet. T1 and T3 are high capacity phone lines capable of transferring data at high speeds.
5. Stability. Make absolutely sure the web hosting company is stable and secure. The last thing you want to happen is for your web host to go belly up or go out of business. Cover yourself and ask some key questions. How long have they been in business? How many owners have they had? Is it making money and cash-flow positive from hosting-generated sales? In other words, is it financially sound?
To recap, rely on recommendations and experience. Put these recommendations through the tests and find a web host you feel comfortable with.
© 2007 Mario Lerma - Copyright Reserved.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Give Value, Get Traffic
Give Value, Get Traffic by Gihan Perera
There's been a lot of buzz on the Internet recently about how it's getting tougher and tougher to get a good position on Google. Many Internet marketers are complaining that Google keeps changing its rules, which damages their business.
The most recent big change is what's been called the "Google Slap", where thousands of Google advertisers woke one morning to find their advertising costs had increased 10 times or more! This caused a huge outcry in the Internet marketing community, and some marketers literally lost all their customers overnight.
--- But what does this mean for you? ---
Of course, I looked into this "Google Slap" thing in more detail, because it did affect a lot of people. But when I ignored the hysteria and looked at the facts, it seemed that Google was rewarding high-quality Web sites and penalising low-quality Web sites.
And isn't that a good thing? After all, when you're searching for something in Google, wouldn't you be happy to find a high-quality Web site with lots of relevant content, rather than a sales letter, an advertisement, or just a survey page?
I asked my friend and Google expert, Ed Keay-Smith (from AdwordsMarketing.com) about this, and he confirmed my thoughts.
--- This is good news for us! ---
Google is favouring valuable content over clever marketing. And that's good news if you're an information expert - that is, a professional speaker, trainer, consultant, coach or author. Why? Because you're in a strong position to deliver valuable content. For example, you can:
* Write articles for your Web site. * Publish a regular newsletter. * Post entries to a blog. * Submit articles to other people's newsletters. * Answer questions in Internet discussion groups. * Send a free e-book to your mailing list.
Now, this is exactly what other Web site owners are trying to do. But it's not easy for them because they don't make money from their expertise. Writing doesn't come easily to them.
You, on the other hand, have a huge advantage. You're used to expressing your ideas clearly. And even if you're not a good writer, you can use services like Elance to transcribe your spoken words and convert them into articles.
You can then publish this material in various places - your Web site, your blog, a special report, and so on. Other people spread your message for you because it contains valuable information, and you benefit by getting the extra visitors to your Web site.
--- So start writing those articles ... ---
Remember that Google is looking for high-content Web sites. So one very effective technique is to publish more articles on your Web site. In other words, don't just make your Web site a sales brochure. Make it an information-rich resource centre instead.
Here's how:
1. Use GoodKeywords.com to discover the most common words and phrases to use in your area of expertise. For example, if your expertise is in goal setting, is that a more common phrase than purpose, motivation, achievement or time management?
2. Write articles about those topics, using the most common words and phrases in the title.
3. Add these articles to your Web site.
This is not the only way to leverage your expertise to get traffic, but it's a simple way for experts. And Google will love you!
Find out more at http://gihanperera.com/write-now.html
There's been a lot of buzz on the Internet recently about how it's getting tougher and tougher to get a good position on Google. Many Internet marketers are complaining that Google keeps changing its rules, which damages their business.
The most recent big change is what's been called the "Google Slap", where thousands of Google advertisers woke one morning to find their advertising costs had increased 10 times or more! This caused a huge outcry in the Internet marketing community, and some marketers literally lost all their customers overnight.
--- But what does this mean for you? ---
Of course, I looked into this "Google Slap" thing in more detail, because it did affect a lot of people. But when I ignored the hysteria and looked at the facts, it seemed that Google was rewarding high-quality Web sites and penalising low-quality Web sites.
And isn't that a good thing? After all, when you're searching for something in Google, wouldn't you be happy to find a high-quality Web site with lots of relevant content, rather than a sales letter, an advertisement, or just a survey page?
I asked my friend and Google expert, Ed Keay-Smith (from AdwordsMarketing.com) about this, and he confirmed my thoughts.
--- This is good news for us! ---
Google is favouring valuable content over clever marketing. And that's good news if you're an information expert - that is, a professional speaker, trainer, consultant, coach or author. Why? Because you're in a strong position to deliver valuable content. For example, you can:
* Write articles for your Web site. * Publish a regular newsletter. * Post entries to a blog. * Submit articles to other people's newsletters. * Answer questions in Internet discussion groups. * Send a free e-book to your mailing list.
Now, this is exactly what other Web site owners are trying to do. But it's not easy for them because they don't make money from their expertise. Writing doesn't come easily to them.
You, on the other hand, have a huge advantage. You're used to expressing your ideas clearly. And even if you're not a good writer, you can use services like Elance to transcribe your spoken words and convert them into articles.
You can then publish this material in various places - your Web site, your blog, a special report, and so on. Other people spread your message for you because it contains valuable information, and you benefit by getting the extra visitors to your Web site.
--- So start writing those articles ... ---
Remember that Google is looking for high-content Web sites. So one very effective technique is to publish more articles on your Web site. In other words, don't just make your Web site a sales brochure. Make it an information-rich resource centre instead.
Here's how:
1. Use GoodKeywords.com to discover the most common words and phrases to use in your area of expertise. For example, if your expertise is in goal setting, is that a more common phrase than purpose, motivation, achievement or time management?
2. Write articles about those topics, using the most common words and phrases in the title.
3. Add these articles to your Web site.
This is not the only way to leverage your expertise to get traffic, but it's a simple way for experts. And Google will love you!
Find out more at http://gihanperera.com/write-now.html
Cara Mudah Mendapatkan Dollar
Yuk Cari Dollar dari Google Adsense ... Mudah dan GratisDapatkan Panduan dan Tools Yang Kami Sediakan Secara Gratis==============================================
Adakah dollar yang bisa dicari secara gratis dari internet? Ada!! Google Adsense adalah salah satu program yang menyediakannya. Anda mungkin sudah sering mendengar, bahkan mungkin juga sudah memiliki account di dalam program itu, dan bahkan juga sudah meraih penghasilan Dollar di sana. Tidak ada kata terlambat untuk memulainya sekarang juga bila anda belum mengikutinya dan ingin belajar serius tentang program ini. Jika beberapa syarat sudah kita penuhi, maka program Google Adsense bisa menjadikan kita D5 (Duduk Diam Dapat Duit Dollar). Sebab untuk menjalankannya tidak memerlukan keahlian khusus.Anda hanya butuk sedikit ketekunan dan konsistensi dan beberapa pengetahuan membuat website atau blog, baik yang gratisan maupun tidak. Sesudah itu, show must go on... saksikanlah dollar mengalir ke kantong anda. Sulitkah membuat website? Tidak!!! Jika anda sudah sampai pada halaman ini, buang semua kata sulit. Di website ini juga menyediakan panduan untuk membuat website gratisan yang bisa anda gunakan untuk mendulang dollar dari internet, khususnya dari program Google Adsense ini.Apakah itu Adsense ?Adsense adalah program penyedia iklan ( ad = advertisement ) dari Google.com yang benar-benar “make sense”, yaitu bisa memberikan hasil yang sangat tinggi (beberapa orang mendapat ribuan dollar perbulan dari Adsense). Anda akan dibayar jika ada pengunjung meng-klik iklan Google yang Anda pasang di website/blog Anda. Ingat, hanya dengan mengklik saja. Mereka tidak harus membeli produk apa-apa….mereka pun tidak membayar meski mengklik berapa banyak pun.Tentu tidak ada susahnya mengklik sesuatu. Pengunjung akan klik iklan google yang anda pasang karena dia menginginkan informasi lebih jauh…dia tidak dirugikan apa-apa, malah keinginannya mendapat informasi terpenuhi. Google akan membayar anda dari keuntungan Google pada layanan lain, yakni program Google lain misalnya layanan Google Adwords. Program itu merupakan servis di mana kita bisa memasang iklan di Google.com.
Anda sering search memakai Google ? Perhatikan juga bahwa disebelah kanan halaman hasil pencarian terdapat beberapa iklan yang berhubungan dengan pencarian Anda. Itulah iklan Adwords. Mereka yang beriklan di sana, membayar sejumlah uang kepada Google.Com, dan Google membaginya kepada para pemilik website atau blog yang bersedia menampilkan link-link iklan tertentu di websitenya.
Apakah ini Dapat Dipercaya ?
Google.com adalah search engine ternama. Seolah tak ada internet kalau tak ada Google.com. Sudah begitu terkenalnya nama kedua penyedia portal search engine tersebut, yang berarti mereka berkualitas, dapat diandalkan, terpercaya dan pasti mereka juga akan menjaga kualitas pelayanan mereka.Anda akan merasa sangat aman bekerja bersama Google. Tidak ada SCAM dan penipuan. Pendapatan Anda tidak akan hilang. So mengapa tidak memulainya sekarang, dan sedikit serius meluangkan waktu untuk mempelajari Google Adsense?
Adakah dollar yang bisa dicari secara gratis dari internet? Ada!! Google Adsense adalah salah satu program yang menyediakannya. Anda mungkin sudah sering mendengar, bahkan mungkin juga sudah memiliki account di dalam program itu, dan bahkan juga sudah meraih penghasilan Dollar di sana. Tidak ada kata terlambat untuk memulainya sekarang juga bila anda belum mengikutinya dan ingin belajar serius tentang program ini. Jika beberapa syarat sudah kita penuhi, maka program Google Adsense bisa menjadikan kita D5 (Duduk Diam Dapat Duit Dollar). Sebab untuk menjalankannya tidak memerlukan keahlian khusus.Anda hanya butuk sedikit ketekunan dan konsistensi dan beberapa pengetahuan membuat website atau blog, baik yang gratisan maupun tidak. Sesudah itu, show must go on... saksikanlah dollar mengalir ke kantong anda. Sulitkah membuat website? Tidak!!! Jika anda sudah sampai pada halaman ini, buang semua kata sulit. Di website ini juga menyediakan panduan untuk membuat website gratisan yang bisa anda gunakan untuk mendulang dollar dari internet, khususnya dari program Google Adsense ini.Apakah itu Adsense ?Adsense adalah program penyedia iklan ( ad = advertisement ) dari Google.com yang benar-benar “make sense”, yaitu bisa memberikan hasil yang sangat tinggi (beberapa orang mendapat ribuan dollar perbulan dari Adsense). Anda akan dibayar jika ada pengunjung meng-klik iklan Google yang Anda pasang di website/blog Anda. Ingat, hanya dengan mengklik saja. Mereka tidak harus membeli produk apa-apa….mereka pun tidak membayar meski mengklik berapa banyak pun.Tentu tidak ada susahnya mengklik sesuatu. Pengunjung akan klik iklan google yang anda pasang karena dia menginginkan informasi lebih jauh…dia tidak dirugikan apa-apa, malah keinginannya mendapat informasi terpenuhi. Google akan membayar anda dari keuntungan Google pada layanan lain, yakni program Google lain misalnya layanan Google Adwords. Program itu merupakan servis di mana kita bisa memasang iklan di Google.com.
Anda sering search memakai Google ? Perhatikan juga bahwa disebelah kanan halaman hasil pencarian terdapat beberapa iklan yang berhubungan dengan pencarian Anda. Itulah iklan Adwords. Mereka yang beriklan di sana, membayar sejumlah uang kepada Google.Com, dan Google membaginya kepada para pemilik website atau blog yang bersedia menampilkan link-link iklan tertentu di websitenya.
Apakah ini Dapat Dipercaya ?
Google.com adalah search engine ternama. Seolah tak ada internet kalau tak ada Google.com. Sudah begitu terkenalnya nama kedua penyedia portal search engine tersebut, yang berarti mereka berkualitas, dapat diandalkan, terpercaya dan pasti mereka juga akan menjaga kualitas pelayanan mereka.Anda akan merasa sangat aman bekerja bersama Google. Tidak ada SCAM dan penipuan. Pendapatan Anda tidak akan hilang. So mengapa tidak memulainya sekarang, dan sedikit serius meluangkan waktu untuk mempelajari Google Adsense?
Saturday, February 24, 2007
How to choose a web hosting service
When you need a web site for your business, personal use or even any other task there are several important factors you should take into consideration. Web hosting is not about large space or huge amounts of bandwidth. (It is mainly about the quality of the web hosting service extends to its customers. After designing a top quality website the next most important task is to find a top quality and reliable web hosting service provider in order to place your web site on the world wide web. Web hosting is a service that allows users to post web pages to the Internet. A Web host, or hosting service provider (HSP), is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for Web sites to be viewed on the Web. Following are some of the most important factors you must take in to consideration before you make your investment on a hosting service.
Having a clear understanding about your hosting requirements.
This is the number one rule that you should observe before purchasing web hosting for your site. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what exactly you need. These requirements differ from person to person and company to company and therefore it is vital to precisely determine your needs and wants. Failure to do so can end up with having the wrong web hosting plan with features, that you need for the proper function of your web site, missing and spending money unnecessarily for something that does not fit into your needs and wants. So you must have a clear understanding about your hosting requirements
The level of customer support being offered
This is another important factor that you should take into account when you are choosing a web host. Nowadays customer care plays a major role when it comes to any business; "Customer is the king". So you should go for a web hosting company which treats its customers extremely well with careful attention to customer's needs. goviphosting.com is a web hosting company which considers the customer satisfaction as it's key priority.
There are several more secondary features a customer should look for in a professional web hosting company as far as the customer support is concern,
-The level of sales support offered
-The level of technical support offered
-Responding time for a help ticket (ie.the average response time is within 60 minutes)
-A fast, friendly and dedicated customer support team who are well trained to treat customers with due attention and regard
Avoiding web hosting scams
There are web hosting service provider sites which offer huge to unlimited amounts of web space and bandwidth. Frankly, do not believe in inflated claims such as unlimited web space or unlimited bandwidth. Simply this is something impossible on commercial realities of the current web hosting marketplace. These providers are either overselling their web services endangering the servers and the proper function of your web site or making a false claim. Thus, you need to choose a web hosting service which offers realistic amounts of web space and bandwidth as web hosting is not only about the web space and bandwidth, but also about the quality of the service you are offered and the promptness with which your needs are taken care of.
Make sure your web host provides a feature rich service
There are plenty of web hosting providers out there who offers lesser features for higher prices while there are web hosts who provides maximum features for lesser price. Although the situation used to be like that, nowadays most of the web hosting companies out there offers everything you ever need to have a high tech web site. And here's a complete list of all the advance features that generally contains in a budget web hosting plan, So my advice to everyone is always look for the richness of hosting features of the web host your interested in. While at the same time who offers plenty of additional features.
Make sure your web hosting service is backed with "Price freeze or Price locked" Guarantee
This is very important as what this means is that your web hosting service provider may unethically increase it's hosting package prices periodically after you purchase web hosting from them. If this happens, you will be very frustrated and wanting to change your host. Changing hosting services means going through unnecessary technical hurdles in order to make a trouble free and smooth transfer. Therefore always make sure to look for a reliable web hosting company which does not trouble you with unwarranted and unethical periodic increases of hosting plan prices. Goviphosting.com is a 100% reliable hosting service who offers price freeze or prize lock guarantee.Article by - Dev Liyanage
Dev is a professional in the fields of web hosting. He's a director at one of the most reliable Linux web hosting companies on the net which provides a range of products and services such as personal web hosting and much much more.
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