Page 2 | January | 2007 | Web Hosting Show

Archive | January, 2007

Hosting Hoopla – Web Blogs, News, and Resources

Jan/11 in All Posts, Online Tools, Web Hosting Tutorials

Now those of you who have been following this podcast or me for very long knows that I had launched Hosting Hoopla a few months ago as a news reader. Well that idea has come and gone and is no longer. So what was I do to with a great hosting related domain name?

Well I decided to simplify things a ‘bit and give the hosting industry a new resource to have.

I guess you could call this Hosting Hoopla 2. The domain name is staying the same though. Just point your browser at HostingHoopla.com and you will have a better idea of what I am talking about.

This time around I wanted to create what you could call a “mega” list of Web hosting related resources. I have hosting news, forums, blogs and more all listed there. Also, as you can see from the layout I am accepting any and all links from anybody just by clicking on the huge icon you see at the top.

So this is my call out to all of you. Give me your links, give me your resources. This Web site will not work on just my own bookmarks alone. I need for you to give me the links you need to have handy so everybody can get something out of using the Web site.

You see my idea here is that you can have one Web site bookmarked (or saved to your favorites) and get the entire Web hosting industry at your finger tips. I have become tired of having too many links and not having an easy way of going through them. Now both myself and all of you have a quick and easy way to access what you want, what you need and what you love.

I am open to feedback though, as always – so if you have any to share about HostingHoopla.com please send it my way to mitch@mitchkeeler.com. Let me know what you want here and I will do my best to deliver.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 91!

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Using Social Bookmarks for Free Press

Jan/10 in All Posts, Web Hosting Tutorials, Web Hosting Tutorials

Looking around the different Web hosting forums, blogs and news Web sites I have a feeling that a lot of the Web hosting world is ignoring a lot of the newer trends that are making a difference in this whole Web 2.0 era we are in.

Too many of the Web hosting standards and staples want to stay with the old way of doing things. Some hosting resources though are seeing the payoff when you use the new social Web to your advantage.

I am seeing several Web hosting Web sites using del.icio.us and other social bookmarking Web sites to gain a little more popularity for them self. You see the icons on the bottom of the posts and this builds in a lot of interactivity with the visitor. It gives them a way to save it for later or let others know about this great thing they found.

You can see a good example of this if you visit the Lunarpages blog, Lunartics. Scroll down to the bottom of any post and you will see what I mean.

A lot of Web hosts out there have big fan followings as well. Via their message boards or blog they could “rally the troops” and get loads of folks to digg them, bookmark them and share them via all these different methods. Here are a list of resources that you should check out and make sure you are listed on – one way or another.

Have more resources? Leave a comment and share them with the rest of us.

The important thing to remember is don’t feel bad if you are not making headroom just yet. No mater if you have two or two hundred people socially interacting with your links, it is good to have them there. When people search or do some random browsing, you will be there.

In a business that is driven by getting people’s attention – you can think of this as free advertising.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 91!

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How to Handle Annoying Forum Members

Jan/09 in All Posts, Web Hosting Tutorials, Web Hosting Tutorials

I want to help you with handling the folks you thought were uncontrollable via your user forums. Now some might say that this doesn’t have much to do with the Web hosting world or the Web hosting industry in general. I beg to differ though! Just about every popular Web host I know has a set of user forums, so knowing how to handle the jerks and trolls is a necessity.

Now I know you know these guys because they are on just about every forum out there. They are not just a decoration on regular message boards, oh no. Web hosting forums have to deal with the folks as well. They cause trouble. They want fights. They create spam. They are a pain the rear. Most people would say, “Why not block them and kick them off?”. Well you could do that – but here are my full list of suggestions on how to handle these folks.

Ditch the Forum Trouble Makers

Yes, it is true you could just block these guys once they start making trouble. This is probably the easiest way of dealing with these people. Unless they just really want to bug you, they will go away after that. Some of them though will try to find ways around your blocks and keep on coming. Also, you have to worry about getting bad feedback on external sources via this guy on other places on the Internet.

Web hosts reputations are very important to them so this might be something to take into consideration.

Give the Trouble Makers Something To Do

Feel like these folks have way too much time on their hands? Well, it could be they are just looking for attention. What is one of the things you could do about or for them? Give them the attention they want. If they continue on and on about a topic – ask them to write you up a few articles on the topic.

Give them something to do and make them feel like they are helping the community. Sometimes this can cure the trouble makers because now they feel like they belong.

Kill Them With Kindness

The worst thing you can do with trouble makers is giving them a reason to come back and argue with you more. A lot of these jerks just post something crazy to get a reaction out of people. After he gets that negative attention, he feeds off it and needs more. One more way of handling your forum trouble makers would be to be extremely nice to them.

Tell them thanks for sharing their opinions. Tell them that you appreciate their point of view. Some folks will have no idea how to handle this. They will either turn around and become a positive member of the forums or they will leave. Both results would be welcomed over the previous results you were getting.

So as you can see there is more than one way to skin a cat and there is more than one way to deal with these jerks that make their homes on all forums you find out there. If one has made his or her way to your Web hosting forums, you now have at least a little help on how to deal with them.

The key thing to remember is that most of these people are just craving attention – so it is up to you on how you deal with feeding their needs.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 91!

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Hoopla Returns and Forum Jerks – Episode 91

Jan/08 in All Posts, Web Hosting Podcasts

We all hate those annoying guys that sit in the back of the class and make visiting your Web host’s forums no fun at all. Well I have some tips and advice for anybody out there to get rid of these pesky posters once and for all.

Also, have you invested any time in using social bookmarking Web sites for free press? You should – and I’ll get you started right here on episode 91 of the Web Hosting Show.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 91!
Running Time: 17 minutes | File Size: 7.58 MB

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Here are just a few topics that we discussed on this week’s episode of the Web Hosting Show.

Hosting Hoopla is Back as a Link Directory
How to Deal with Annoying Forum Members
HostingForum.ca Gets My Pick of the Week
Social Bookmarking Can Lead to Lots of Free Press
GoDaddy Wants to Sponsor This Podcast? My Controversial Answer!

You my friend have selected to listen to the number one Web hosting podcast in all of the land, the Web Hosting Show. Each and every week I try to cover some help and “how to” for both the Web hosts and the Web hosting clients that care to tune in.

If you want to know how to make the Web hosting industry work for you instead of against you – be sure to tune in right here each and every week.

Link of the Week: Mitch’s Picks for 2006′s Hosting Industry Impact Players!

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Web Hosting Unleashed

Jan/05 in All Posts, Online Tools, Web Hosting Tutorials

I always love finding new Web hosting resources, and it always surprises me that I keep finding ones that I have not run across before.

When you look at as many hosting links and articles as I do – you think you have run into just about every Web site out there on the subject. I have found a new one to add to the list though, and it is called Web Hosting Unleashed.

Just from the first glance of the layout and copy I can already tell this is a Web site I would like to have a reason to come back to every single day. It is very pleasing to the eye and it looks like they try their best to cover just about everything that they can.

They have all the top hosts listed, they have news, they have guides and they have a lot of good quality content.

To check them out for yourself so you can see what all the fuss it about, you can point your favorite browser towards WebHostingUnleashed.com. When you do, make sure that you let them know that the Web Hosting Show sent you there.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 90!

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Are There Too Many Web Hosts?

Jan/04 in All Posts, Commentary, Web Hosting Tutorials

Since starting this Online radio show on and about the Web hosting world almost two years ago, one of the biggest complaints I get is that there are too many Web hosts out there to choose from.

Everybody wants to know who is the best, or if the company they are looking at is any good at all. Well, I have covered how to shop for Web hosting before in the past.

The question I want to answer is, are there too many Web hosts out there?

No.

How could I say that? There are hundreds of Web hosts out there from every walk of life. There are quality Web hosts, there are not so good Web hosts. There are Web hosts that started up last week and there are Web hosts that have been going the past ten years.

Couldn’t we cut the fat in a few places at least, if the consumer had it their way?

No.

The reason I say no is because of competition. There are few areas of business that have as much competition as the Web hosting industry. A few years back there might have only been a few, but thanks to reseller accounts and collocation there are thousands to choose from. The reason that competition is good for all of us is because it drives the prices of the hosting accounts down. Starting up a Web site does not cost and arm and a leg.

You could get away spending less that $50 to get yourself setup with a year’s worth of hosting if you did your shopping right.

The more competition there is, the more services you get as well. Everybody is trying to undercut the next guy’s prices and overcut his services. You get more bandwidth, more disk space and more scripts than ever before these days. Getting more of anything can not be a bad thing at all.

If for some unknown reason, the number of Web hosts out there dropped, then our prices would go up and there wouldn’t be as many new Web sites coming up from nothing on the Web. It would hurt not only the Web hosting business, but the Internet economy in a whole.

I have said before that the Web hosting world is the backbone of the Internet, and if we fall the rest of the Web will come tumbling down as well.

So the next time you want to complain about having too many choices and too many companies going after your dollar, just think how life might be without so much selection and then thank your lucky stars that you have what you have.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 90!

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GoDaddy Does Photo Hosting

Jan/03 in All Posts, Hosting News, Web Hosting Tutorials

Too little, too late is the best review I have found of GoDaddy’s new photo hosting service they launched while the Web Hosting Show was taking a ‘bit of a holiday vacation. Not exactly the impact they wanted to make, but much like GoDaddy’s other services – I have a feeling they just wanted to do it so they could say they offer it.

They are calling the new service Photo Filer, a photo manager that enables users to share photos on the Web. Here is a good description of the service that I found via The WHIR:

Online Photo Filer helps users store and display their images on a specialized Web site, at their own domain name. By registering a personalized Web address, users can give their friends and family an easy address to view their photos. Viewers can order prints in various sizes directly from the application.

There is no doubt this is a good move for GoDaddy. Why? It is because it gives them one more reason you need to buy a domain name from them. Looking at it from the business perspective, it is very key for GoDaddy to keep growing. The bread and butter of GoDaddy is domain names, and if they keep inventing new reasons for you to get your domains from them, they keep the cash rolling in.

Now on the negative side of things, I have to say this has done before and for free at some places. Flickr is a good example of this type of service done right. Do I have to pay to use Flickr’s services? No. Do I? Yes. Flickr won me over with the free services they provide so much I had no problem paying a yearly subscription to get the premium content. Flickr still wins mind share because it is out there free to the public and it gets paid because they offer even more perks that people wish to take advantage of.

If GoDaddy wants Photo Filer to be a success they are going to have to copy a business model that looks much more like Flickr’s does. Don’t just wave premium services over somebody’s head and tell them to snatch it if they can. Give them a taste, give them a reason to come back and then give them a reason to want to pay you – instead of forcing them to pay you.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 90!

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Should You Pay for SEO?

Jan/02 in All Posts, Web Hosting Tutorials, Web Hosting Tutorials

I got an E-mail from Pat last week, and I have to say that Pat had a question that I get from a lot of listeners here lately – so I am going to give me thoughts on the matter. Here is what Pat had to say.

Mitch, love the show but I have a question. I have a Web hosting company, UnidoxHosting.com, and I have bought a few seo programs but still my Web site isn’t in the top hundred for the Google keyword “hosting”. Is AdWords the only resort I have left? Thanks!

So the question really is, should you pay to get your search engine optimization done? No matter if it is a program or a person, a lot of these things are nothing but false promises. Now don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of SEO folks that really know what they are doing – but I would say around eighty percent of them are snake oil salesmen.

So what is a Webmaster to do? Learn how to optimize your Web site on your own. There are dozens of good resources out there on learning more about search engine optimization. One of the “good guys” in SEO and a good place to learn more about it would be SEOmoz.org. You could also just do a search on Google for “SEO Help” or “SEO Tutorial” and you will find a lot of good content to learn from as well.

My quick tips on better search engine optimization would be:

Write Better “Keyword Rich” Headlines
Have Good Keyword Filled and Relative Content
Get Links Back from Other Web sites Like Yours

Is Google AdWords a good alternative as well? I would say yes, but I have never had much experience with using it so I could not tell you how well it works. I would trust it though (if you have the cash) over some of the other rank building strategies that stay on the darker side of the Web.

So as you can see already there is no “one stop spot” or quick and easy fix to get to the top of any search engine. It will take some tweaking, some learning and some time.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Episode 90!

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SEO Magic and Hosting Competition – Episode 90

Jan/01 in All Posts, Web Hosting Podcasts

Is there any special voodoo magic you must do before your Web page ranks at the top of Google?

Well I will give you a few quick tips, a few thoughts on the matter and my own ideas on how you should and could get to the top. Do you think there are too many Web hosts? Should we start getting rid of the small guys to make room for big business? All that and oh so much more on this week’s episode of the Web Hosting Show.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 90!
Running Time: 17 minutes | File Size: 7.64 MB

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here are just a few topics that we discussed on this week’s episode of the Web Hosting Show.

GoDaddy’s Photo Filer – Hit or Miss?
Search Engine Optimization – Snake Oil or Real Deal?
Are There Too Many Web Hosting Companies?
Web Hosting Has Been Unleashed

If you were looking for the best Web hosting podcast of 2007, you have downloaded the right file. Now I am not going to bother bringing up that it is the only hosting podcast produced in 2007 because well, that is just a small detail you need not worry yourself over.

Link of the Week: Get a Free Layout from Kooshin!
Link of the Week 2: Go Digg the Web Hosting Show!

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