Who knew learning about the web hosting world could be so much fun? Well fun might not be the right word - how about in”fun”mational? No that just sounds corny.. oh well, hey you know what? The Web Hosting Show is on the air.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 128!
Running Time: 12 minutes | File Size: 5.24 MB

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode of the Web Hosting Show.

• Domain Name Keyword Tools!
• Dedicated Web Hosting for Web 2.0!
• Best Ways to Get Videos Read for the Web?
• Optimize Your Web Site Images and Flash!
• What is a Reseller Web Hosting Account?

You are now exiting the normal world with boring everyday problems and entering a world of web hosting fun, education, frustration and well - there are a lot of emotions and maybe even more problems in the hosting world than there is in your everyday life. That is why this show is created and why you, my friend have tuned in.

When you get that first web hosting plan setup, and you get ready to get that web site of your dreams up and running, some people reach a brick wall. Why? Well you have the space and the tools, but you are not sure how to go about customizing things to personalize your web site a ‘bit more.

That is where many of the Web’s generators come into play. Here are three of my favorites for three different occasions.

Need a Favicon? If your searching for how to create a favicon or you want to find a cool one to use, look no further than favicon.cc. This web site not only lets you create your own pixel by pixel. It also allows you to upload and convert a photo too. If that wasn’t enough you can browse through some of the previously create ones to get inspiration or get one to use.

Need a Background? When it comes to backgrounds, with the Web 2.0 revolution, stripes seem to be a good way to go. I mean, you want to be hip and cool - don’t you? If your looking for a “Grade A” stripe generator give StripeGenerator.com a shot. Here you can setup colors, width, gradients and more. Here too you can browse through previously created background as well. When your done, download it and it is yours to upload and use.

Need a Logo? If you have been following the trends, there seems to be a certain way to do your logos these days. Now no matter if you want to trail the Web 2.0 leaders or you want to make fun of them - Creatr.cc has you covered. Point your browser at that URL and click on the “Creatr” link. Here you can make your own logo without the need to open up your favorite graphics editor.

DivShare might be slowly becoming the best option out there for free file hosting. I know, with the slew of choices out there - nobody should be in a hurry to be named king.

With some of their most recent upgrades and changes though it is hard to find somebody else that matches up.

Even Tech Crunch is starting to stand up and take notice of them. This is what they had to say after DivShare’s recent additions and changes.

Honestly it is really hard to find out your way in the jungle. But if you are a heavy user or are only interested in hosting and controlling sharing options you might want to consider a one-Stop shop like DivShare that has been here a for few months. They are starting to release today a series of innovations that will make the service more unique and attractive.

You can upload photos, images, documents, movies, music and more. Each thing has it’s own special player too - which is a nice addition. The web site is a little slow right now - probably because of the mention on Tech Crunch.

With the DivShare Direct service you can also now have customized, embeddable players for video, audio and sideshows. So if your looking for branding options, there they are. The lowest upgrade option you have is for 5 GB of space and 50 GB of traffic for just $4.95 a month.

All in all I would say DivShare is setting the bar a little higher for the other free file hosts to get up to. So then the question is - is DivShare really the web host, redefined?

I got an e-mail from a Web Hosting Show listener last week who wanted to know if I had any points or tips for web hosts as far as their web site content and layout goes? Looking out there at the market today from web host to web host a lot of the web sites are starting to look the same.

To keep things simple, I thought I’d break this up into two topics. There are the things that web hosts need to do and then you have the things I’d like to see web hosts do as far as their web site layouts go.

Layout Tips Web Hosts Must Do

• Comparison Between Web Hosting Plans
• A History of Your Company and Details About Your Server Locations
• Reviews of Your Web Hosting from Your Clients

Layout Tips Web Hosts Could Do

• Better Support Pages (Maybe Use a CMS like Joomla or WordPress)
• Notifications (via RSS) of Recent Changes, Downtime or Upgrades
• Easy Way to Access Support from the Front Page

All in all hopefully once a web host is done with their web site they can say it stands out from the rest and doesn’t look like “just another template”. Web hosts, if your looking for something different you can do - just try mixing things up a little ‘bit. Look at the competition and don’t do what they are doing. Individuality is an important key to running a web hosting business because without that your just another generic choice to the consumer.

There are a thousands different podcasts out there, why should you listen to this one? Well on today’s show we’ll deliver what the web hosts want, and what the hosting clients need. The Web Hosting Show is on the air.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 127!
Running Time: 12 minutes | File Size: 5.28 MB

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode of the Web Hosting Show.

• Moving Day for One of My Projects!
• Gmail Increases Space for Free and Paid Accounts!
• What Does Your Web Host’s Web Site Need?
• Is DivShare the Free Hosting King of Kings?
• Online Generators for All Your Design Needs!

I’m back from the web hosting support trenches to give you my weekly report on all things web hosting and web development related. Join me in the mess hall and we’ll do the web hosting two step one more time.

I would argue with the fact that the best things in life are free - but free things are pretty good, got to give them that. If your low on cash or your not ready if you want to start paying for web hosting yet I have two great ways you can get your foot in the door without any cost at all to you.

Freewebs.com - Free Web Site Hosting

Freewebs.com if probably my top choice for people looking for free web hosting. It is what Angelfire and Geocities were many years ago. They actually also offer much more than these previous titans ever did. You get 40MB of disk space with their free option and 500Mb of bandwidth. That might not be enough to launch the next great Web 2.0 application but it is big enough to do a web site for your friends and family to enjoy.

One thing I was really surprised to see was that they allow you to point a domain name at your account too. So your not stuck with the freeweb.com/myname domain path. If you want to upgrade instead of moving to a traditional web host there are options to do that too.

Sign up for Freewebs.com!

WordPress.com - Free Blog Hosting

Now what are you to do if you need a place to write about your current passion? There are a million and one different blogging services out there, but the most impressive of the bunch is WordPress.com. You get stats, pretty themes, and almost everything you’d get when installing WordPress on a standard hosting account.

Upgrades (if your ready to move past the free service) works on credits. Each credit costs $1 and then the services you wish to upgrade cost a certain number of credits. For example, the 1GB space upgrade is 20 credits for a year. You can also put your own domain on the blog too.

Sign up for WordPress.com!

So lets go back to that whole “the best things in life are free” saying. If I were to rewrite that old phrase now, it might be worth saying, “The best free things are the ones you can upgrade later on if and when needed”. For some reason though I don’t think that would look as great on a coffee cup.

Running a web site, on any topic under the sun, does not have to put you in the red and eat up all of your money. There are several alternative paths you can take when it comes to paying for your web hosting account.

Reseller Hosting

With a reseller web hosting account, you can earn a little extra income on the side reselling a web host’s services to your friends, family and clients. With the money made, you can turn around and pay your own hosting bills so you can get out of the red and back into the green.

Affiliate Account

Many web hosts out there today offer affiliate accounts where you place a link on your web site, a person clicks through it and buys hosting from them, and you get credit for the sale. Might not be the easiest way of making money but with the high payouts some web hosts give you might only need to sell to one or two a month. Read more »