Cheap Web Hosting When Cheaper is Better

Cheap Web Hosting When Cheaper is Better

by: Bob Frazer

Anyone who has ever shopped for web hosting knows that you can spend anywhere from nothing up to several hundred dollars to host your web site. So what’s the difference? Well often times if you’re talking about typical shared web hosting in the $6 to $20 range – nothing. That’s right – nothing! Nothing that is, except good old fashioned marketing and hype!

We compared standard features on 5 well known shared hosting accounts to see exactly what you get for your money – and the results may surprise you. What we really care about in our test is probably what you would care about as a small business owner looking for hosting for a basic site: adequate disk space, ample email accounts, and reasonable bandwidth. We looked over all the other bells and whistles – but weren’t really willing to pay loads extra for them. We were also looking for a short term contract (monthly or quarterly) – not a year or two commitment.

Upscale

Verio’s Bronze Plan http://hosting.verio.com/index.php/unixwin_bronze.html

Monthly Price (including set up fees) $24.95 per month + free setup

Basic Specs – 250 MB of diskspace, 7.5 GB of bandwidth, and 20 email accounts

Extra’s – Web design software, free domain pointing, Urchin web stats, free chat software

Our take – If this were 1998 I might consider paying $24.95 for a package like this…oh wait, it’s 2004.

Mid Tier

Interland’s b100 Account http://www.interland.com/shared/bluehalo/?package=b100

Monthly Price (including set up fees) $12.95 per month + free setup

Basic Specs – 250 MB of diskspace, 10 GB of bandwidth, and 30 email accounts

Extra’s – WebTrends web stats, access to log files, firewall protection

Our take – This is one of the biggest brands in hosting and their prices have been reduced of late. Still pretty expensive compared to aggressive lower priced competitors.

SuperbHosting’s U Power Service http://www.superbhosting.net/upower.php

Monthly Price (including set up fees) $12.50 per month + free setup

Basic Specs – 1000 MB of diskspace, 50 GB of bandwidth, and 250 email accounts

Extra’s – Free domain, 30day money back guarantee, daily data backups, free search engine submission, no content restrictions

Our take – Another well known hosting service that seems to offer considerably more value in the midtier than other companies.

Cheap Hosting

IPowerWeb http://www.ipowerweb.com/products/webhosting/index.html

Monthly Price (including set up fees) $9.95 per month + $30 setup

Basic Specs – 800 MB of diskspace, 40 GB of bandwidth, and 400 email accounts

Extra’s – $50 Google AdWords credit, money back guarantee, SSL included, unlimited email forwarding

Our take – Often thought of as the low priced hosting leader. Their plans really shine when signing up for an annual account where the price drops to $7.95 per month.

HostSave Standard Hosting http://www.hostsave.com/hosting/plan_features.htm

Monthly Price (including set up fees) $8.95 per month + free setup

Basic Specs – 1000 MB of diskspace, 100 GB of bandwidth, and 500 email accounts

Extra’s – Free MySQL database, catchall email address, PERL v5, log file access

Our take – This looks like the best deal for our basic needs. They have a big brand name and all the features we need plus the MySQL database thrown in.

Conclusions

You can pay a lot for basic shared web hosting – you can also get it on the cheap. While certain specialty features might justify paying a premium, our analysis suggests that you can probably get the same specs – maybe even better specs – without paying more money. So for our hard earned bucks, cheaper is definitely better!

About The Author

Bob Frazer

Author: Cheap Hosting Directory .com

Date: 5/2/2004

Email: [email protected]

CheapHostingDirectory.Com is a resource for webmasters and consumers looking to find a web hosting company or a quality expiring domain names with traffic. CHD is part of the TechPad Agency network of web hosting related sites, visit www.thetechpad.com for more information.

This article was posted on May 02, 2004

by Bob Frazer

Microsoft CRM Sales Automation – overview for Cons

Microsoft CRM Sales Automation – overview for Consultant

by: Andrew Karasev

Microsoft CRM – Client Relationship Management application, promoted by Microsoft subdivision Microsoft Business Solutions, is in the beginning of its market share gaining, however, surprisingly enough – even with its basic functionality (which is natural for first versions of the software product) Microsoft CRM is welcomed by clients in many servicing industries. Why so many clients are choosing Microsoft CRM and even replacing such systems as Siebel with this basic solution. Probably the secret of this success lays in several simple facts:

Basic functionality

Open Microsoft Customization technology

Believe that Microsoft will stay successful for a long time

Cost factor

We are describing Microsoft CRM Version 1.2. Lets work out these suggestions.

Basic Functionality. This means that it is very simple to sell it – you nee only several features to demo to the prospect and the rest could be tuned and customized by enduser (which is of course not true to the 100%, but to some extent – it is correct statement). Its Sales Automation module is almost abstract and everyone with basic sales skills can understand it on the fly.

Open Microsoft Customization technology. There are so many Microsoft network specialists, database administrators, VB.Net programmers – this makes your customization easily doable and you don’t have a risk of dependence on one unique programmer or technology

Believe that Microsoft will stay successful for a long time. Well – this is probably just the projection of the past to the future, every business has business strategy and philosophy and these two are subject to transformation and deformation. But, we’ve heard these arguments of successful business longevity and we believe that this is important factor

Cost factor. Microsoft CRM deploys existing technologies and servers, such as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Windows 2003 server and so – you do not have to purchase these pieces second time. You purchase just a middle ground, which is based on these platforms. In such situation, Microsoft is willing to go down with the license pricing. To some extent of course.

You can always have us help you, give us a call: 16309615918 or 18665280577, [email protected]

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is consultant and CTO in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) – Microsoft Business Solutions partner, serving clients in Illinois, California, New York, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, Virginia, Washington, UK, Canada, Australia. He is Microsoft Great Plains certified master, Great Plains Dexterity, Microsoft CRM SDK C#.Net, Crystal Repots developer. You can reach Andrew: [email protected].

This article was posted on January 06

by Andrew Karasev

Turn Your Website into a Pot of Gold

Turn Your Website into a Pot of Gold

by: Rachel Lower

Out of 500 million web pages, is yours among the very few that visitors will remember? Businesses are catching on as far as hiring professionals to design their websites. A professional looking website does give visitors an immediate, positive impression.

However, no matter how well designed, a basic website does not leave a lasting impression. Visitors won’t forever recall your spiffy กLocationก page or กAbout Usก section. They won’t even remember how polished your fiery red logo looks.

There is one important key to leaving an impression on website visitors and potential customers. One way to go from กgood websiteก to กawesome website, dude!ก It will inspire a visitor to bookmark your site, link to you, or refer friends to your URL. The key is to provide a rich and useful website.

The basic website is like a skeleton. People know what it is, a web site (a skeleton), but if all the people you know sat around in nothing more than their bones, would you be able to pick out any one individual? If you want a thriving website, put some flesh on its bones. Be recognizable by developing a web site face for customers to remember.

There are various features you can add to enrich your business site:

Q&A with an email or form for question submissions

Informative FAQกs

A quality links page or directory with personalized descriptions

A blog (Write your own informative articles to feature on your website)

Writing articles that are featured on other sites, but linked to from a page at your site

Including quality article reprints from other writers

How toกs and DIY resources

Offering your own monthly syndicated article to related and popular contentdriven websites

Managing an email list highly tailored to your customer base

If applicable, including files about your products, product maintenance, troubleshooting, etc.

Providing useful print outs and checklists

Reviewing and testing products your customers use in relation to your field of work

Thorough portfolios of work, perhaps with a positive account/summary from each job included

Standing out as a leader in your industry by providing a resource, such as a mailing list, for others in your line of work

Providing clips of interviews or television shows youกve appeared in as an expert in your field

Anything that shows you know your business, that brands you as an expert, is gold for your business website and to potential customers.

It is prudent to choose just one or a handful of features. Overloading your website will only result in its neglect due to overwhelming demands on your time.

Over time youกll see your online referrals increase, as well as the kudos you get for having a great web site. Youกll also have a major edge on any competitive companies who only have the basic cookie cutter info. on their sites.

Establish yourself, your experience and credentials, your expertise and willingness to share information, and youกll be in the lead before a potential customer even receives any quotes.

About The Author

Copyright 2005 Rachel Lower is a freelance writer and web designer from Toronto. Visit her websites at http://www.hardwoodflooringsites.com and http://www.RachelLauer.com. (please use live links)

This article was posted on September 14

by Rachel Lower

How To Mind Map Your Business

How To Mind Map Your Business

by: Michael Southon

If you’re doing business on the Web, sooner or later youกll probably begin to feel like a juggler trying to keep ten balls flying through the air at the same time. There are just too many elements in your business plan to keep them all going at once.

The solution?

For many people the solution would be to make a list of all the key elements in their business plan. But lists are linear and the Mind doesn’t think in a linear fashion. The Mind thinks in terms of associations, hierarchy, image, color, form, and pattern. So to organize your ideas and generate new ideas, a Map is much more effective than a list. In fact, at the back of your Mind, you probably already have a vaguelydefined map of your online business. A Mind Map is simply a way of putting that structure down on paper.

Mind Mapping, also known as กRadiant Thinkingก, is a technique that was developed in the 1970กs by Tony Buzan. A Mind Map consists of a central word or concept, with 5 to 10 main ideas radiating out from that central concept.

Hereกs an example of a Mind Map for an Internet Business.

At the center of a blank page are the words กMy Internet Business Planก, circled. Radiating out from those central words are seven key ideas, or Basic Organizing Ideas (BOIs): Search Engine Listings, Ezine Ads, Newsletter, Link Exchange, Writing Ezine Articles, Website, Affiliate Programs. Each of these BOIs is connected to the central circle by outwardpointing arrows, like the branches of a tree. You can see an illustration of this Mind Map at:

http://www.freezineweb.com/mindmap.html

Each Basic Ordering Idea sprouts a further set of ideas, also connected by outwardpointing arrows, like twigs at the end of a branch. For example, the Basic Organizing Idea กEzine Adsก gives rise to four more ideas: กPaid Ads, กAd Swapsก, กFree Adsก, and กAd Trackingก. กAd Swapsก in turn gives rise to two more ideas, กNewsletterก and กWebsiteก and so on. Each Basic Organizing Idea can become the center of another Mind Map.

In one sense, a Mind Map is simply a map of what you know about a given topic, in this case your online business. And so itกs a very effective way of taking an กinventoryก of what you know about a particular subject at a given moment in time.

But a Mind Map also causes your brain to make associations. Because each Basic Ordering Idea can become the center of another Mind Map, a Mind Map is capable of producing endless associations. In fact, if you use a Mind Map, whether you’re writing an Ezine Article, writing an eBook, designing an entire website, or writing a sales letter, itกs virtually impossible to get กWriterกs Blockก; the very structure of a Mind Map keeps giving rise to new associations.

Another key benefit of a Mind Map is that it helps you organize information hierarchically, in a way that is not possible with lists. The treelike structure of a Mind Map is a hierarchy and in the process of arranging your information along the กbranchesก and ‘twigsก of a Mind Map, youกll get a much better grasp of the information you’re dealing with.

So, to sum up, here are the basic techniques for drawing a Mind Map:

Place a central idea or concept in the middle of a blank page, and circle it.

Jot down 5 to 10 Basic Ordering Ideas, radiating out from the central concept.

Connect each Basic Ordering Idea to the central concept with outwardpointing arrows.

As an aid to creating your Basic Ordering Ideas, ask yourself: กIf the central concept of my Mind Map were a book, what would be the chapter headings?ก

Each Basic Ordering Idea can become the center of another Mind Map.

You can find more information about Mind Maps at the following websites:

http://www.peterussell.com/mindmap1.html

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~caveman/Creative/Mindmap/Radiant.html

http://www.sharedvisions.com/explore/literature/mindmap.htm

http://www.tsd.jcu.edu.au/netshare/learn/mindmap/howto.html

(c) 2001 by Michael Southon

About The Author

Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3 years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this simple technique to get massive free publicity and dramatically increase traffic and sales. Click here to find out more: http://www.ezinewriter.com

This article was posted on August 30, 2002

by Michael Southon

LayOut Tips

LayOut Tips

by: Carla Ballatan

Effective Layouting for Newsletters

If you’re thinking that plotting a plan for something as simple as a newsletter is very elementary then you’re dead wrong. It takes more than just your basic ABC’s to create a truly effective newsletter that can stir a response from your target readers.

The making of an effective newsletter takes careful planning. Writing, designing and printing a piece would take time and effort since these can’t be done in an instant. But your effort may all be put to waste if you do not have an appealing layout. Mind you, some readers are very particular with the layout presentation in order to get them interested in browsing on.

Newsletters may be judged by content design and layout. No matter how good your content may be, if your layout is not appealing enough for the reader, they might not look on another moment. Everyone is not born with the talent of creative, high quality layouts that are pleasing to the eye. But there are several important and basic things to know in order to improve your newsletter layout.

Keep it simple but eyecatching. Use basic but noticeable graphics. PC Software and hardware may be utilized to achieve a desired effect that will not border into hopeless complicated graphics. You can create and derive graphics from a variety of programs like Illustrator, Photoshop and others. You can get some stock illustrations from Dynamic Graphics and subscribe to two monthly services: Electronic Clipper and Designer’s Club. Regarding stock photos you can get very good ones from Photodisc and Digital Stock. For better assistance in your newsletter layouts, Pagemaker may be used, while for small, fancy design projects, use QuarkXpress.

Have visually appealing texts. Whenever possible, break articles up by using subheads or by separating selfcontained portions of articles into sidebars. But do not succumb to the temptation nowadays of screening back clipart behind the text. You may fancy that the users would get interested by this complex artistic display. But, this style would make for uncomfortable reading. And don’t think this adds to the visual value of your newsletter…More often than not, it adds to the readers’ disgust.

Use efficient sizes for your newsletter. 8.5ขx11ข or letter page and 11ขx17ข or ‘tabloid’ are the sizes that are most efficient to print and mail. The letter page (8.5ขx11ข) is better for newsletters with long articles and very few graphics. A ‘tabloid’ (11ขx17ข) is preferable for newsletters that contain varied article lengths and lots of nice graphics.

Newsletters should have at least four pages to give the readers something to open up and dig into. Keep in mind that a fourpage tabloid newsletter needs the same amount of copy and graphics as an eightpage, lettersized newsletter.

Have reader friendly column width or combination of widths for your newsletter. Try the twobigonelittle column format for this. Make two big columns roughly 23/4ข wide and a thin one roughly 11/2ข wide. Use the thin column for side heads, poking artwork into, pull quotes, or info boxes. This format would leave some white space along the edges of your newsletter – a real help for readers especially if you’re into black ink printing only.

It is also worth mentioning that like in all other things we encounter, it is more preferable to stick to an easy and uncomplicated way of designing newsletters. The K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple St*pid) principle relates to more things that you are aware of. So now that you know the basics on newsletter design, get down to business and start your newsletter makeover.

About The Author

Lala B. is a 26 yearold Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a nongovernment organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four years.

Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom – to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns imagined and observed, to bear witness.

For additional information and comments about the article you may log on to http://www.printingquotesonline.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 07

by Carla Ballatan

Book Review: The Nondesigner’s Design Book, Secon

Book Review: The Nondesigner’s Design Book, Second Edition

by: Grannyกs Mettle

One of the books I strongly recommend for nondesigners like me is Robin Williamsก กNonDesignerกs Design Bookก. It is a must for dummies who want to have a career on graphic designing even without the formal education. The book is a good primer for novices and amateurs to help them produce layouts that can catch attention.

The Book provides a practical introduction to the basic principles of design, which makes it more appropriate for those who need to put together a media material such as a presentation, a newsletter or a flyer, but doesn’t have the degree or even the background in design.

Written in a pamphletsized, 200page book, the author explores designs for the printed page.

Robin Williams has put into this book the basic principles of good design and typography. It explains stepbystep the concepts and methods to help aspiring graphic artists to begin producing more sophisticated, professional and attentiongrabbing pages right away.

The book is written in a relaxed manner full of humor and free of graphics jargon usually found in other books. To help readers produce great materials instantly, Williams has infused her book with exercises, quizzes, illustrations, and dozens of examples to make learning a snap.

She gamely discussed the concept of layout around four (4) basic design principles, namely: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. Each of these has its own chapter with several examples that can be done even in the comforts of your home.

The typography section, on the other hand, explains the principles of Concord, Conflict, and Contrast. The three (3) principles have been based by Williams on typefaces by style, weight, shape, and spacing.

Totally clueless on graphic design, I wanted to have knowledge, even if the most basic, on the good and bad of designing. This book definitely provided me with the basic technical ability to do so. Suggestions on creating onepage designs for simple newsletters, brochures, or business cards have been an eyeopener for me. Also, it has given me helpful and useful insights on the world of layout.

Mind you, the book does not make you an instant expert and professional designer who is capable of producing sophisticated works of art. For this, you really need to have a formal degree to achieve this.

However, if your goal is to be able to have the ability to produce easy and decent media pieces, this book can help you on that department. Maybe someday I can venture into the graphics design business.

Provide yourself the time to read the book and do the exercises. It will definitely help you improve your designs. I know mine did.

About The Author

Grannyกs Mettle is a 30something, professional web content writer. She has created various web content on a diverse range of topics, which includes digital printing topics, medical news, as well as legal issues. Her articles are composed of reviews, suggestions, tips and more for the printing and designing industry.

Her thoughts on writing: กWriting gives me pleasure… pleasure and excitement that you have created something to share with others. And with the wide world of the Internet, it gives me great satisfaction that my articles reach more people in the quickest time you could imagine.ก

On her spare time, she loves to stay at home, reading books on just about any topic she fancies, cooking a great meal, and taking care of her husband and kids.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 11

by Grannyกs Mettle

Build a Strong Foundation for Creating Your First

Build a Strong Foundation for Creating Your First Online Identity – Notes for Beginners

by: Arun Tibrewal

If you are looking for creating your online presence you should follow some of the basic requirements so that your new website will have a strong foundation. Today internet is a growing media which can provide you maximum results, which no other media can do for you. If you think on right direction and take your action step by step, it is almost certain that your site will have a strong online presence and reach to the maximum of you potential clients.

Remember empires never built in day, but it takes years of dedicated hard work, devotion, patience and to work constantly towards creating it successfully. If you are a slow mover but consistent towards your work, there is no reason your efforts will fail. Small efforts which you repeat day in and day out results 100% success in due time course. It is always advisable to get some basic knowledge before you begin your journey to a great on line success. Here are some general points which explain in brief on the basic requirements of creating your first online identity.

Choose a descriptive and short domain name. It is essential to choose a good domain name. Don’t go for any sub domain or free domain, but always have your own, as people will be remembering you with your name only. It should be a TLD i.e. yourbusinessname.com, .org, .biz and so on.

Select a quality host, which can provide you consistent uptime and have flexibility to upgrade or extend required features for running your site effectively. In general if you like to have a greater visibility of your website you should hire services from a experienced hosting company even if there cost is high.

Make your site plan first. Just open your notepad and write down what is your site all about, what it sells, how it sells, to whom it will sell, and other things. Create different sections of your site theme and note it point by point. It is always advisable in beginning; you should start with the basic functionality and upgrade it later on. This will give you an instant kick start and you can always enhance its functionality with fewer efforts.

Write a unique copy. If you can write good contents, you can make a strong presence in World Wide Web and well ahead with your competitors. Make a killer copy of your contents; it should be unique and relevant to your site theme. It is a word that sells into the market, if you feel you can hire an agency that are specialized in writing contents on given basic parameters. There are several of them available on net which you need to do some research before hiring one i.e. carefully analyzing there credentials.

Build a website which loads fast and navigated easily. Means your visitors should find easily what they are looking for. Don’t make your site just for search engines but create one for your visitors so that they can brows your site without any hassles. Your design should be an eye catcher with less images and better content visibility. Hire a designer who knows about the website usability analysis, visibility, website utility and present your main theme visible within the design. In nut shell your website will be carrying your brand value and should be presented in a professional manner in front of your visitors.

Optimize your site. Do the basic optimization of your site for different search engines. Initially you need not to hire any SEO or apply any killer techniques, but do it yourself few things so that search engines can find your site easily i.e. writing a good title, description of the site, adding proper met tags a submit to the different directories and search engines. Once they crawl your site and index it properly, you can keep on adding relevant contents on pages. You need a lot of patience to get visible in search engines if you follow the ethical ways, as it provide you a longer stay and better visibility on web.

Market your site. A Business is all about what is it and how it is marketed. A well marketed site may virtually force a visitor to become interested and make them confident enough to buy the services from you. The basics of marketing is of your own knowledge and some preset parameters i.e. What you sell, How you sell, Where you sell, Who are your targeted potential clients, how much domain knowledge you have, What is the actual strength of your product and so on. Create effective sale letters, know your targeted customers, draw a plan and quickly start implementing that. A well drawn regular marketing plan combined with selective advertisement campaign, implemented steadily on right time can provide greater results on World Wide Web enable you to reach your goal successfully.

Promote your site. Promoting your site is a vital technique which can not be done in one day or overnight. To get desired results you need to work hard constantly so that you will be able to capitalize the maximum exposures on world wide and establish your solid online presence. You can publish a press release, write articles, manually add your site to different directories on section which is most relevant for your site theme, and distribute ezines, banner advertisements, and many more possible ways to promote it regularly on internet.

These are the basic and fundamental need to build an strong foundation for your online presence. Remember a tallest building on earth has the strongest foundation too that support its structure to stay longer on earth. Follow the ethical ways and simple rules and take a step towards building an foundation of your online empire.

About The Author

Arun Tibrewal is an online marketing promotions specialist since 1998 and owner of www.iwayhost.net and its network sites. Iwayhost is dedicated to provide top class hosting services with there straight forward plans. Permission is granted to reprint this article as long as the resource box should keep intact with the following links.

http://www.iwayhost.net (Straight Forward Host)

http://www.onlydevelopers.com (Open community for developers)

http://www.siplnet.com (Customized billing solutions)

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 08

by Arun Tibrewal