Podcast 18 - Web Hosting Plans, Lawyers and Web Hosts
On today’s show, we will be talking about how you can make Web hosting more sexy, the result of too many lawyers in the Web hosting world, the biggest Web hosting company out there today and so much more. More fun than eating a bucket of fried chicken on the forth of July, the Web Hosting Show, episode 18 is on the air.
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Length: 32 minutes
Hello and welcome to the Web Hosting Show, the voice of the Web hosting world. The Web Hosting Show is brought to you by the fine folks over at Web Hosting Chat. Web Hosting Chat is your number one place for Web hosting discussions and can be found at webhostingchat.com.
I hope you had a happy Fathers Day. I haven’t been too happy as of late though. The number one reason why I have been a little ticked this week is I noticed a Web site out there is stealing the Web Hosting Show’s content and trying to claim it as their own. Right now I am talking one on one with the folks behind the service that is running the Web site, so hopefully everything will be resolved soon enough.
Now the main reason why people steal other people’s content is to try to get more content to get themselves “better crawled” by the search engines. Wouldn’t you like to gain success by having to do no real work at all? Hell, I think anybody would like to take claim to that. The only problem is that you are stealing from the folks that worked hard to put the content out there in the first place. Now I could rant and rave about this for around thirty minutes or so, but that wouldn’t make me happy. You know what would really cheer me up? You want to know?
What would make me happy would be to deliver you some of those latest and greatest Web hosting headlines.
Web Hosting Headlines
The Web hosting news and headlines are brought to you by The Web Host Industry Review. The Web Host Industry Review is the place to go to get all the latest Web hosting news from around the globe.
Hosting Headline #1: Canadian Hosts Win Accolades
Canadian Web hosting providers Hostopia and Radiant Communications were recently named to PROFIT Magazine’s PROFIT 100 list of Canada’s fastest growing companies. Hostopia received the top spot in the rankings while Radiant was ranked number 27. The top 100 list was compiled on the basis of five-year revenue growth.
Hosting Headline #2: Go Daddy Gains on 1&1, Says Netcraft
Internet research and analysis firm Netcraft released its Web Hosting Provider Switching Analysis, identifying 1&1 Internet as the largest Web host, with more than 5 million Web-facing hostnames, while it shows Go Daddy gaining on the leader, with more than 4 million hostnames. The survey shows Yahoo! and EV1Servers each surpassing the 1 million hostname mark.
Hosting Headline #3: HostingSpot Gives Students Free Hosting
HostingSpot.net announced on Wednesday that it is giving away free Web hosting accounts to students.
Do you have some Web hosting news? Make sure you send it to mitch@mitchkeeler.com and I’ll try to get it on the next episode of The Web Hosting Show.
Web Hosting Tip of the Week
Every so often you just need a quick nugget of knowledge. The Web hosting tip of the week is brought to you by Mitchelaneous. Mitchelaneous is my own personal writing space where I go one on one with you everyday with some of my Web hosting articles, random postings and updates on my current projects.
Today’s tip is for anybody who is out there shopping for Web hosting right this minute. When you go out and look at some of the plans a Web hosting company has to offer you are usually given the huge table of services in alignment with Web hosting plans, then a whole heck of a lot of little green dots or check marks. The green marks usually represent the fact that you do or don’t get that option with your plan. Now most people look at this and say, “Wow, I’m sure getting a lot from my Web hosting company!” Truth be told, you should always compare Web hosting services between two or more companies before you let yourself get too impressed. A lot of what they want you to think is new, different or special services are just about standard with any Web hosting plan you buy these days. So don’t buy into the hype, by into the quality of the actual services at hand.
Do you have a Web hosting tip? Make sure you send it to mitch@mitchkeeler.com and I’ll try to get it on the next episode of The Web Hosting Show.
Web Hosting Thoughts, Views and Ideas
All of my Web hosting thoughts, views and ideas are sponsored by Data Center Talk. Data Center Talk is the best set of forums on the Earth about the world of Web hosting data centers.
Lets see, what is out there in the World of Web hosting this week?
Now I know most of you don’t listen to this show and expect to hear me rant and rave about my own personal stuff, but I figured since this was important enough to make a double post about on about Mitchelaneous and the Web Hosting Show’s Web site, it was important enough to mention it here.
What I am doing is pretty much reorganizing how I put my content out there. Nobody likes to be a one-trick guru, so I have decided to push all of my Web hosting coverage, from this very podcast to all my articles I will do from now on, onto the Web Hosting Show’s Web site. That means you will get even more goodness though the week from me about the wild and wacky world of Web hosting. Now as far as Mitchelaneous, my other Web site goes, I am going to be focusing more there on other interests of mine. It will return back to it’s original concept, which was to be a catch-all for all my other thoughts about the world of technology.
I’ve also introduced a link dump to the RSS feed for the Web Hosting Show. So now you will receive a daily list of Web sites I either didn’t have time to cover or I just thought they were relevant to bring up. So if you notice the changes in the RSS feed go for you! If your not subscribing to the RSS feed then what are you waiting for? Plug that bad boy up into your favorite news reader and get going!
There were a few more topics mentioned in some of the double post articles I made on both of my Web sites, so make sure you go back to WebHostingShow.com to check out the rest of what I had to say.
Who was able to make the most impact in the Web hosting world after HostingCon 2005? Sure there were a lot of booths with a lot of different things to offer. My hat goes off though to the folks at FastServers. They ran an entire casino theme during the event. See, I told you there is nothing boring or dull about the Web hosting world.
Web Hosts, Put Your Lawyers Away!
I will get straight to the point. Everybody in the Web hosting industry from clients to Web hosts themselves need to get one thing through their heads. Put your lawyers and legal teams away when it comes to conflict. I received an E-mail a few days ago from a guy who listens to the Web Hosting Show. He told me about a horror story that he had with his current Web hosting company. These sorts of things happen every single day.
Remember when you were in grade school and you’d see the bigger kids picking on the smaller ones? Picture yourself on a school ground in any city across America. The insults would be flying, and then one side or the other would bring up the one thing you were not suppose to say. The one thing that little kids feared most.
“I’m going to go tell the teacher!”
At that moment, everybody on the school grounds would freeze. “Did he really say that?” some would mumble. “Wow, he means business,” others would say. Now lets go back to your modern day dispute between a Web hosting company and a Web hosting client. What is the phrase that you hear now that has the same effect as, “I’m going to go tell the teacher”?
“I’m going to go tell my lawyer!”
That is the part of the conversation where things get a little too heated and people start threatening legal action to the other one. As your Mother used to say, “I don’t care who started it!”. It can be started on either side. So what are the after effects? Usually both sides calm down, come to a common ground and go their separate ways. I have no scientific facts in front of me, but I am willing to bet that nine times out of ten nothing of legal terms happens.
Now the two words “sexy” and “hosting” do not really mix too much. My first thought is a Web hosting support pin-up calendar, but I highly doubt that anybody would want to see that. If there ever is one, I am totally offering my services at Mr. October though. The real lesson to be learned here though is how can you make Web hosting more “sexy” to the average client out there. Could you do it by giving them more control?
Do you have a Web hosting topic of discussion you’d like to hear me cover on The Web Hosting Show? Then make sure you send it to mitch@mitchkeeler.com and I’ll try to get it on the next episode of The Web Hosting Show.
Web Site Design Help
All of The Web Hosting Show’s design help is sponsored by BrowseHosts. BrowseHosts is the most comprehensive Web hosting directory out there today.
The victim this week is Hostoly.com, a new Web hosting directory service.
The number one thing that caught my eye was the font that you are using. Please change it to something like tahoma or verdana or something a little easier on the eyes than Times New Roman. I really like the top paragraph on the front page where you tell folks who you are and what you do, but I’d like to see that expanded a little more. Tell people why you should be the only hosting directory that they ever visit. Work harder at selling yourself to the average visitor and make them feel like they have a good reason to come back.
The interface is very clean, I like that very much. If you want to get more hosting articles and content up on there, your going to have to do a better job at plugging the folks writing the content. Give them a link back and a paragraph about themselves. I’d also like to see you add an RSS feed to the Web site for when you get new folks added to the directory or new articles posted to the articles section.
Right now I don’t know of any other Web hosting directories out there that are really using RSS feeds the way they should be. Having an a simple list that is updated with the newest people on the Web page could draw a lot of people back to the Web site.
Want to let the folks at Hostoly.com know what you think about the design in question? Then just leave them a reply in the thread about the Web site in question over at the BrowseHosts.com Forums.
Do you need some help with your Web site design? Would you like me to just let you know what it is you could do to make your Web presence that much better? Make sure you send me an E-mail to mitch@mitchkeeler.com and I’ll try to get your questions answered and your Web site reviewed on the next episode of The Web Hosting Show.
Web Hosting Web Site of the Week
The Web hosting Web site of the week is brought to you by Banners World. Banners World is the number one place to visit to get all your Web site graphics, banners and designs done.
This week’s choice for best Web hosting Web site of the week is The Host Blog. Jarrod does a great job at writing up topical and interesting posts that are both packed full of information and fun to read as well. The only problem is he hasn’t been updating it as often as I’d like to see it update. Come on Jarrod, give the people what they want! If you want to check things out or bug Jarrod to get some more content out there every single week, go visit thehostblog.com.
Do you have a Web site that deserves to be the next Web hosting Web site of the week? Make sure you send it to mitch@mitchkeeler.com and I’ll try to get it on the next episode of The Web Hosting Show.
Final Web Hosting Thoughts
That is it for this week’s show! Make sure you send me your feedback, thoughts, suggestions and ideas to mitch@mitchkeeler.com or stop by The Web Hosting Show Fan Forums. Next week we will be doing more of the same! I am Mitch Keeler and you have been listening to The Web Hosting Show, the voice of the Web hosting world.
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