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!

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!

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!

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:

1. Write Better “Keyword Rich” Headlines
2. Have Good Keyword Filled and Relative Content
3. 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!

Want to help me out with a social experiment?

Go add yourself as a reader (or in their terms, “member”) of The Web Hosting Show via MyBlogLog. I have been seeing this pop up on all my favorite Web sites, so I thought I would jump in on the fun and see who comes up as a reader here.

If nobody interacts, it will probably be gone soon - but if I see a lot of members coming up then I might have to keep it around. I’d like to see who reads The Web Hosting Show and see what other Web sites you find interesting.

Also feel free to add me as a friend as well.

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

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!