When you walk into an all you can eat buffet, nobody expects you to eat all the food in the restaurant.  You might fill up your plate three or four times, but you can not eat everything in sight.  The same could be said for unlimited services you might see when it comes to web hosting.

What Does Unlimited Really Mean in Web Hosting?

While they say you have unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth – the average web site out there will never reach the real limits of the account.  If you are running a web site for your local football team, your not going to get a world wide audience, people digging your web site, and surges of other traffic sources at you fingertips.  You’ll serve your local niche.

Now over the long term, things could change.  For an example, your web site might not have many pages the first month or even the first year.  However, year after year you might notice your web site growing by leaps and bounds.  At that point, if you are with a shared web hosting company, you might outgrow your web hosting space – but even then it is unlikely.

The real thing you have to pay attention to, or at least be aware of is spikes in usage or usage of system resources – such as RAM or CPU power.  This often happens when you get a spike of traffic from a few sources, or your web site’s security is at risk.  For most people though, that is still as likely as lightening striking you down as you listen to this podcast.  It isn’t likely to happen.

So unlimited this, that or the other in web hosting is like the all you can eat buffet at your favorite restaurant.  You can eat and eat all you want, but the human body (and web sites too) can only eat so much at one time.

Inspiration for a web site’s content is often hard to find.  So when I find myself in trouble, I turn towards my own list of six different content writing ideas that should help inspire you to get that new page up and running.

I would suggest you bookmark this list of content ideas, and save them for a rainy non-creative day.

1. List – A list comes in handy in a number of different ways for a number of different reasons.  Give the the top 10 reasons why this is great.  Give me the top 4 reasons why you shouldn’t do that.  Lists are also easily scan-able, so web site visitors love to check them out.
2. Quote – A great man once said something or another, and you can use that to inspire you as to why what they said was right or wrong.  Often, a quote makes a great way to start a web page’s content section – because it often breaks the ice in an article or web page, giving your reader something to think about.
3. Interview – Do an interview with somebody about something relative to your web site.  I’ve done a number of different interviews on this very podcast, found only at webhostingshow.com.  It is always interesting to hear what somebody else thinks, so reach out to people around you that might be cool to interview on the topic your web site is about.
4. Story – Tell me a story about that one time, you did that one thing, and how it is relative to the web page we are on now.  Story telling is one of the oldest forms of communication we have, so sharing that on your web site is a great way to produce interesting content that people will be sure to read.
5. Tutorial or Definition – When in doubt, show somebody how to do something.  I would say 90% of the time, when people are searching online, they are looking for a tutorial on how to do this, that or the other.  Being the source for that tutorial goes back to the idea of supply and demand.  You want to be the source for the content relative to your topic, and have people come back to learn how to do this, that or the other.
6. Argument – Now you should not fight with your web site visitors.  Rather than fighting, I want you to give an argument why something is good or maybe why something is not so good.  Get creative and passionate about your side, and then give facts to backup your opinion.

So there you have my secret six ideas for content inspiration.  I hope you bookmark this list, save it for later – and when you run into your own web site content writer’s block, you pull it out to help inspire you.

Like This Article? Listen to it and more like it on podcast #202 of the Web Hosting Show!

The title tag might be a feature many people overlook, but it is just as important as having a nice looking web site layout.  Some might even say it is the most important thing, because it is often the first thing a web site visitors sees.  Today I’ll be telling you what the title tag is and what you can do to make yours better.

What is so Important About the Title Tag?

The title bar is important because it tells your readers what they can expect on that page.  If you are missing a title tag, often the Internet browsers out there just name the actual file name as the title.  If that happens, the title tag is not doing the job of telling the web site visitor what that page is about. Title tags are also used by search engines. The title tag is typically used as the first line of the search result.  Once again, this is another reason why it is important to use a title tag.

How do you Write a Better Title Tag?

Now that we have gone over the importance of a title tag, let me tell you how to write a better one.

Keep the title under 65 characters. This is mainly for search engine optimization reasons, so your last few words or your title don’t get replace with a “…” when showing up on the search engines, like Google.

Use keywords phrases specific to your web site. Now this one might seem overly obvious, but some people still forget it.  Use your most popular keywords that lead people into your site, or that best describe your site in the title tags.

Put your web site name at the end of the title tag. Now some people put the site name at the end, some people put it at the beginning and then some people leave it off, all together.  Unless your site name is keyword rich, like “Best Coupons for Hosting” – I would say bump it to the end of the title.  It helps to identify what page you are on.  Then you can put the web page title before it, such as:

How to Write a Better Title Tag – Web Hosting Show

There you have the page’s name first, and the web site’s name second.  Both are relevant when describing the web page in question so both should be mentioned in the title tag.

Re-use your title tag in your web site too. Your web site’s title should mirror your headline title on the web page you are editing.  This is easy to remember to do with blogs, however it might be overlooked with hand coded HTML web sites.

There you have it.  Those are my own personal tips to help you write a better web site title tag.  Have any other advice or tips to share?  Give me your feedback in the comments.

Like This Article? Listen to it and more like it on podcast #202 of the Web Hosting Show!

When it comes to web hosting for podcasts, a lot of this specialized hosting field has yet to be figured out.  Sure, you have your specialized plugins, content management systems made for podcasting, and a better understanding of it around the world.  When push comes to shove though, which is better, hosting everything from one place, or splitting your web hosting up between a shared host and a specialized audio hosting service?

That is just about the question Charley posed to me the other day:

In your opinion, is it preferable to have your blog and podcast mp3s hosted on the same server, or would it be better to keep the audio files with one host, and the web site files with another host?

For many years, I did this very podcast in a two host setup.

I was using Blogware as my blogging engine, then donated hosting space from a friend to host the audio files from.  Back then, there weren’t a lot of dedicated podcast hosting solutions, and the whole process was new to all of us, I think.  Of course now I host both the audio files and the web site files in the same place.  So being one who has done it both ways, let me tell you which method is best.

Let Your Wallet Have It’s Say

For the most part, you should do whatever set up is best for your wallet at the time.  You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars in the effort to look like a professional.  Go for the cheapest setup that works best for you.  So with that said the “all in one” hosting would be my choice out of the two.

Now, that is not to say that specialized podcast hosting, like they provide at libsyn, does not have its place.  You might find your web site host is giving you issues after a hundred episodes or so, due to the fact that your using up so much disk space and bandwidth for those files.  In that case it might be better off going with somebody who specializes in hosting your audio files for you.

So if you can get away with getting started on a shared hosting plan at any web host out there, I would do it – however if they give you fits, then moving to a specialized podcast host would be the next best route before moving into something like VPS or dedicated hosting.

Thanks to Charley for the excellent question – and be sure to check out his podcast – Cross Driven Radio.

Like This Article? Listen to it and more like it on podcast #201 of the Web Hosting Show!

However, many people might still be confused on how to get started with WordPress, so I thought it would be a good idea to go through the steps with you, to make you feel more at home with the process.

How to Install WordPress on Your Hosting Account

The first step would be to download and unzip the WordPress package to your computer.  I often like to put it on my desktop, as I use that as a workspace for all my various projects.

Setup the MySQL Details

Next, you will login to your web hosting control panel and create a MySQL database user, a MySQL database, and then assign that MySQL user to the MySQL database in question.  Various web hosts and various control panels will have different ways to get this done.  My advice would be to check with your web host, if you are unsure how to do so.

Now, open up that WordPress folder you saved earlier, and rename the file wp-config-sample.php to just wp-config.php.  Open the wp-config.php file, and fill in your database details (the database name, user name and the password assigned to the user).

Important: Never use a word processor like Microsoft Word for editing WordPress files! You need to user a simple text editor, such as Notepad.

Upload WordPress to the Hosting Server

After you have saved the wp-config.php file with all the settings it needs to use to connect, it is time to upload the WordPress files to their new home.

• If you want WordPress to show up under your main domain, be sure to upload all of the files into your public_html folder.
• If you want WordPress to show up under a folder (such as /blog/), be sure to upload all the files into a folder located in /public_html/blog/. I’m simply using “blog” as an example.  You could name the folder whatever you want to name it.

Last, but not least, run the WordPress install script by going to yourdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php, or if you installed it into it’s own folder, go to yourdomain.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php. Remember that “yourdomain.com” and “blog” are just examples here, be sure to change them to fit your own web site preferences.

Now simply follow the on-screen instructions and you are all set!  I hope this tutorial comes in handy the next time you install WordPress on your own web hosting space.

Like This Article? Listen to it and more like it on podcast #200 of the Web Hosting Show!

Is there a way to have decent statistics for how many times a podcast has been downloaded?  That is the question the guys at Watir Podcast had for me.  Since I to do a podcast for the masses, this is an issue that has bugged me for some time too.

The problem isn’t with having a script, plugin or service count the downloads because everything tries to do that.  The problem is that nothing counts all the downloads.  For example, if you push your podcast through FeedBurner, it will tell you how many people downloaded a podcast from the RSS feed, but no where else.  Same could be said for some podcasting plugins out there for WordPress and other publishing platforms, but in reverse.  They tell you how many people downloaded the podcast from the web site, but not those who got it by other means.

Server Side Statistics

So with all that confusion, the best you can do is find an estimate of downloads.  You need something to look at the server-side statistical data, so you can be sure nothing is missed.  The best way to get this done would be the statistics scripts that come with your web hosting account.  This is usually AWStats or Webalizer.  You could also download your log files, and then plug them into a desktop statistics analyzer.  The problem is  I haven’t found one I like that doesn’t cost one million dollars.

Podtrac Measurement Tools

The people at Podtrac have a free third-party measurement service you can use too.  The way it works is you rewrite the way your podcasts are linked so that the link gets pushed through their server-side counter first.  For all mp3 episodes, you would have to use the prefix:

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/

I never used it myself because I was always afraid of the negative effect it might have on other services like iTunes that scopes out my RSS feeds for data automatically.  Might be worth trying out again.

Thanks to the Watir Podcast for the question, be sure to check them out at Watirpodcast.com. If you have a web hosting or development question, give me your name, URL and question over on the submit a question page!

Like This Article? Listen to it and more like it on podcast #199 of the Web Hosting Show!

Find Files and Folders that Do Not Belong

Remember that old childhood game of figuring out, which one of these does not belong with the others?

Search through your web site files and folders to make sure that you don’t have anything that is strange or alien in there.  Look for files that are not apart of scripts you have installed, or that may have odd names.  Your web host will be able to tell you what files are safe to delete and which files are an important part of your web hosting account.

Try to view the source code of your web pages too, and look for anything that does not look familiar or is related to the problems you are having.  For example, many iframe injection attacks will attach the iframe code to the bottom of your web site files.

Make Sure Your Permissions are in Check

You should also check to make sure your file and folder permissions are in check.  Folders should be set no higher than 755, and files should be set to 644. You can check or change folder and file permissions through your web host’s file manager or through most modern FTP programs.

Now, for those of you who say this sounds like a lot of busy work, I have a special tip to share.  If you have a recent backup of your hosting account files, you can compare it with the files and folders on your hosting account to see which ones do not match up.  Also, depending on when your web site was infected, your web host may be able to restore your web site from and older back they have too.

Here is what I want you to do.  Make a list of scripts you have installed, and put them in two categories – the ones that you use on your web site and those you just installed to see what they look like.  You should remove any scripts that are not fundamental to your web site’s operation.

Choose, Update or Delete? - Keeping out of date scripts that you do not use on your web site is probably the number one way people can gain access to your hosting account.  Once you are sure the script you don’t use are gone, then you need to make sure you are using the latest version of and scripts you do use and that are a part of your web site.  Go to that script’s official web site to make sure you are running the latest version of the script.

Update Your Installed Script’s Plugins - Also, with some content management systems like Joomla, WordPress, or Drupal, you will want update any plugins you might have in place too.  Think of those as little installed scripts that can also be compromised.  The same thing could be said for any forum software, e-commerce script or more.  Many scripts out there use plugins to extend the original script, however each of these are security risks that you need to make sure you keep up to date and patched with the most recent version.

General rule of thumb time here, you shouldn’t keep any script installed on your web hosting account if you are not using it.  For scripts that are a part of your web site’s operation, be sure to keep the main script and the plugins that are apart of the script up to date.

Which Log-ins Should I Check and Change?

Here are some of the related log-ins you need to check and change, if you have found your web site has been infected by a virus, a trojan, or any other web site security issue there is out there.

Hosting Account Passwords – First, update your hosting account password, and the passwords for any e-mail accounts or FTP accounts you have created in your web hosting account.

Installed Scripts Passwords – You also need to make a list of every script you have installed and you are using on your hosting account.  Update your passwords for each of these scripts you are using.

Customer Service Passwords – The last series of passwords you need to change are those that have to do with your customer service level support with your web host.  If you use a different series of log-ins to get into your account settings with your web host, you may also need to update those log-ins too.

The important thing to remember is you want to lock out any way a person could gain access to your web site files and settings.  Think of this as going through your house and changing all the locks, after you have had a burglar break in.

How to Scan Your Personal Computers

You might think that time is of the essence, however it will do you no good if you rush to fix your web site, if you are the one infecting it.  You need to run a combination of a anti-malware and anti-virus on your computer to make sure you are not the source of your problem.  I would recommend scanning your PC like this:

• Scan Your PC with an Anti-Malware Program
• Scan Your PC with an Anti-Virus Program
• Scan Your PC with an Online Anti-Virus Program

You could use a number of different anti-malware programs however I wouldn’t recommend installing more than one anti-virus program.  You get your second opinion there with the online anti-virus service.

Here are some great free anti-malware and anti-virus solutions:

• AVG Free (free anti-virus scanner)
• Trend Micro Housecall (free online anti-virus scanner)
• Avast Home Edition (free anti-virus scanner)
• Panda ActiveScan (free online anti-virus scanner)
• Spybot Search and Destroy (free anti-malware scanner)
• AdAware Free (free anti-malware scanner)
• Microsoft Windows Defender (free anti-malware scanner)

There are others out there, this should help you get started finding the best combination of scanners for you though. Another important tip to mention is that you need to scan each computer that has had contact with that web site, either by visit or because you used it to work on your web site.

Just like you lock your door at night to prevent somebody breaking in and stealing all your stuff, you need to make sure your web site is kept as secure as possible so you do not have these problems in the future.

Tip #1 – Stop Linking to Other Sources

Now, you can’t stop linking to web site all together on your own domain, but you can cut down on the number of links you do.  Save them for when you absolutely need to.  Each time you link to  a different domain, your giving your visitors a way to exit your web page.

Also, search engines don’t like pages that have tons of useless links.  If you need to link to a source, first ask yourself if you have something on that topic yourself somewhere on your web site.  Link to yourself and keep that search engine spider on your own web site.  One single, good, authoritative link can do a lot more for you than a dozen crappy links, which can actually hurt you.

Tip #2 – Fresh Content, Delivered Daily!

Adding content to your web site can always help improve your rankings.  OF course, be sure to keep it useful and based around quality content, rather than just trying to get another page up about something.

Tip #3 – Controversy Creates Cash Links Back

Don’t be afraid to write about something controversial or targeting related content that will get a lot of eyeballs to check out your web site.  Start searching around for what people are looking for when browsing your type of web site and target your content based around that idea.  Create something that naturally attracts backlinks for your web page and gets people talking about your site.

Tip #4 – Put Your Page Title Before Your Web Site Title

When it comes to formatting your web site for the Web, be sure to pay attention to how you have written your web site titles, and what is listed up there.  For pages, you should put your page title before the web site title.  Such as:

How to Register a Domain Name | Web Hosting Show

There, I have identified what the page is about, and listed my web site name in the correct order.  Some people have even dropped listing the web site title too. Play around with your titles and see what gives you the best results.

Tip #5 – Pay Attention to Analytics

Be sure to check in on your web site statistics software daily, to watch for popularity trends, and see what pages are performing the best – and which might need some work done on them.  If you don’t have a good web page statistics package right now, I would highly recommend you look into using the Google Analytics service.  It is free to use, and much better than even some of the paid for analytics software suits out there.

Have another SEO tip that you think would be handy (along this these quick tips)? Leave a comment and share your own easy search engine optimization tutorials and suggestions.

So, What is an Independent Contractor?

In most cases, an independent contractor makes an agreement to do a specific piece of work, however retaining control of the means and methods for getting the job done.  The contractor is never legally recognized as an employee, and in turn has to pay a self-employment tax. So they are self-employed people who are hired to do a job, by a company.

What Else Are Independent Contractors Called?

I don’t really like the name “independent contractor”.  It makes me feel like I need to be wearing a bright yellow construction hat, for one. Sometimes you hear this position called something else.  Another term tossed around the web hosting circles is “remote”.  Many industries farm out their work to such contractors, because they might have hard time finding people to do the work where they are located.   Other terms you might hear tossed about would be self-employed or a freelance worker.

Pros and Cons of Being an Independent Contractor

Here are some of the good things and bad things about working as a contractor:

Pros in Independent Contracted Work

• You get to set your own rules, since you are not tied to an employer.
• You get to be your own boss, which many people feel good about labeling themselves with such a title.

Cons in Independent Contracted Work

• Taxes are complicated.  You’ll need to worry about other expenses not covered by an employer/employee relationship.
• You have to be able to work sometimes, without being told what to do.  Some people can’t get a task done, without being told they need to do it by following a series of steps.

As somebody who might want to get into this line of work, you might want to do a little more research on what is expected of you.  I have merely touched upon a few topics that independent contractors need to be aware of.  To web hosting clients who might feel a little funny about having people who are not technically “employees” helping them, don’t.  While independent contractors are not technically an employee of a company, they are still expected to do their best to give you the best service possible.

As a standard network protocol we all use to upload, download and change files over the Internet, FTP is something we all use, but many people still have questions about.  FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and usually works in a type of client-server relationship to allow you to easily upload documents to a server or download them.

The way we have interacted with FTP has changed over the years. FTP clients, the programs you use to interact with the server via FTP, were originally interactive command-line tools with a standardized command syntax, but graphical user interfaces have been developed for all modern desktop operating systems in use today.

Setting up a desktop FTP client might vary between programs, however most can be configured by giving the following information.

• Hostname: yourdomain.com or ftp.yourdomain.com
• Username: your account username
• Password: your account password

If you are logging in via a secondary FTP account you have created, be sure to use the full user name format user@yourdomain.com as the user name when you input your login information into the FTP client.  Some of my favorite FTP clients out there are:

• WS_FTP
• CuteFTP
• SmartFTP
• FileZilla

Now, you can use your Internet browser to access your hosting space via FTP, however I would advise against it.  The clients mentioned before and the number of other alternatives out there handle FTP in a much better way than any Internet browser out there.

So to make things as simple as possible, FTP is what allows you to easily transfer files to and from your hosting account very easily via a special program.

The dead body pose in Yoga is an easy one for relieving stress.  It is pretty simple too.  You want to lay flat on your back on your floor.  Next, turn your palms up. Let your arms and legs fall to a natural relaxed position. Stay in this position for about five to ten minutes.

The main benefit of this pose is both mental and physical relief.  You want to try to clear your mind, and stop thinking about what has got you in this position in the first place.  After words, you should feel a little better and should be ready to go again.

WordPress is probably one of, if not “the” most popular blogging script out there.  One of the things that makes it so great is the wide variety of plugins you can install to extend it’s usability.  So how do you install a WordPress plugin? Why, I am happy you asked.

First thing you need to do is to download the plugin, from the plugin’s official site, or from a directory like WordPress’s Plugin Directory site.  Once that has been done, you see it often comes in a .zip compressed folder.  You need to un-compress it using your favorite file unzipper – to it’s own folder.  Now you have the folder for the plugin setting on your desktop.  What is next?

Next, you will want to start up your favorite FTP program and upload the folder to this directory:

/wp-content/plugins/

Each plugin should have it’s own folder, so since your plugin you want to install is already in a folder just upload the entire folder to the folder named “plugins” within your wp-content folder.

Now, login to your WordPress administrator interface and click on the Plugins link in the left-side menu.  Scroll down the list till you see the plugin you just installed, and click the the link labeled “Activate” in the box for the plugin.

Simply follow the on screen instructions after that, and your new plugin should be up and running.  Often plugins have additional features you need or can setup and customize, so check the plugin’s documentation for that information.

Cloud Hosting is Still New – I hate to play the role of Captain Obvious, but cloud hosting is still a relatively new thing in the world of web hosting.  It is hard to get people to try something and in turn, it is hard to troubleshoot a problem because there is a chance, somebody has not run into it before.  That leads us into the next big issue with cloud web hosting, which is…

There are Not Enough Cloud Hosting Experts – When a web host adds “cloud hosting” to their line up of services, it is often setup by a third party, and then that third party is gone.  It is up to the web host to hire people who know how to troubleshoot cloud hosting issues, or to train the current staff – and that can sometimes be another cost web hosts are not going to want to flip the bill on.

The Cloud Hosting Idea is Still Confusing to Many – Web hosting in the general and traditional sense, still confuses a lot of people.  If it didn’t, you wouldn’t be listening to a podcast about it.  Now, pulling the proverbial tablecloth out from under these web hosting customers who have just started to understand what web hosting is all about, and saying, “Oh no, now we keep your data in the clouds” is really going to tick people off.  Until cloud hosting is easily explainable, I don’t think it has a chance of replacing your traditional hosting setup.

For more views about cloud hosting, check out:

• What is Cloud Hosting?
• Keep Your Head Out of the Cloud

So, not to say cloud hosting is a bad thing, it just has many more hurdles to jump over before it is a mainstream service that people really want to use.

Think of it as your chance to check your web site out as if you were across the country, or across the globe.  It lets you trick the server into thinking you are coming from another location, so you can see what somebody in a different location might see if they went to your web site.

Tom Troubleshoots via a Proxy

There are a number of different proxy web sites out there.  Here are a few examples:

• http://www.megaproxy.com/freesurf/
• http://www.proxify.com/

Now, why might somebody want to use a proxy site?  When it comes to web hosting, it is often used to see if a web site is really down or if you are having some sort of connection problem between yourself and the hosting server in question.  Let me explain further.Tom notices his web site isn’t coming up.  He goes to his favorite proxy site, and tries browsing from there, and it does come up.  This tells him that there is a problem between himself and the hosting server, but there is not a problem between other people and the hosting server.

Now, I would say this is as much of a troubleshooting solution as it is a troubleshooting tip. Oh boy, you know that you can’t see your web site but other people can.  That still isn’t fixing your problems, right?  Well, letting your web hosting support team know that you have tested it this way will save them time as they look into the problem for you.  It could be there is a problem with the connection down the line with your internet provider.  You might be blocked for some reason on the server side.  You might have accidently started to block yourself, even.

Web Hosting Questions for You

Before you go shopping for your first, next or any type of web hosting plan, you should be ready to answer these questions:

• What type of web site do you want to host?
• Are you going to need any special server side technology?
• Have you ever gotten in trouble for using too many “server resources” (usually RAM or CPU)

Web Hosting Questions for Your Future Web Host

As far as questions that you should ask, I would make sure that you at least ask them these questions.

• What is the price/time period ratio? (sometimes you can get a better deal if you sign up for a longer time)
• Do you have any example web sites or server speed tests?
• Can you handle my needs (be sure to give a full list of what you would want to install or need)
• How can I reach and how responsive is the support team?
• How long is your money back guarantee? (if they have one)

Now, your own list of questions might vary depending on what type of web site you want to host and how complex it will be.

These are just two popular examples of hosting from the clouds.

With cloud hosting you say goodbye to the old idea of renting a server or shared server space.  In its place, cloud hosting provides us with server clustering.  Instead of using the power of one server, you have access to the power of many; linked together through visualization.

An Example of Where Cloud Hosting is Needed

We have all seen the situations where a web site might be under stress because it has had a sudden burst of popularity.  With regular shared hosting we have today – once that web site reaches the limits of the single server it is on, it chokes.  Now with a cloud hosting setup, you would have access to a number of different servers so the web site under stress could still have access to as much bandwidth, RAM, CPU power or any other server side resource that it needed.

Cloud hosting provides computing power, on demand, when you need it.  If you no longer need so much power, you can easily release the resources back into the proverbial “cloud” so that they can be used by others.

Three Reasons Why Cloud Hosting is Good for You

The most important thing to remember is that hardware is no longer your main focus with cloud hosting.  You new main focus is your web site.  Cloud hosting is easy to scale to meet your demand.  Cloud hosting provides computing power when you need it.  Cloud hosting only requires you to pay for what you use.

Free Hosting – Two free web site elders that might someday share the same fate as Geocities are still around.  Both Angelfire and Tripod are still around.  Here are a few more to choose from:

• 50Megs.com – Offers users 50 MB of disk space to host their files.
• Bravenet.com – Also offers 50 MB of disk space and 1.5 GB of bandwidth.
• 110MB.com – You get 110 MB of disk space with them (who would have guessed?) and 10 GB of bandwidth for free.

Specialized Hosting – For those people wanting to host their own blog, you might look into wordpress.com and their free blog hosting service.  If you want to get started with a forum, check out freeforums.org.

Shared Hosting – For those people moving from Geocities to another location, it might also be time to look into shared hosting plans.  There are many low-cost web hosting plans out there to choose from, and they will give you much more disk space, bandwidth and resources to work with.

One more place to check out for free hosting suggestions would be TheFreeSite.com.  Hey have a lot of suggestions when it comes to free web site hosting.

Have a free favorite host you would like to plug?  Leave a comment!

BONUS! Here are a few other Geocities alternatives:

• Jimdo has a special deal for Geocities users!
• Lunarpages has a special coupon to use too!

If you find any more, let me know!

Be sure to catch the rest of our Geocities Tribute on Podcast 186 of the Web Hosting Show!

How Geocities Got Started

In late 1994, a small web hosting service was founded with the name Beverly Hills Internet.  Back then, users would select a virtual “city” where they wanted their web site to categorized under.  For example, you had Area 51 for science fiction web sites, or Baja for SUV and adventure travel web sites.

Changing the Name to Geocities

As they grew in size and popularity, they knew they had to change the name.  They were getting thousands of sign ups a day and getting over six million monthly page views.  So in December of 1995, they officially changed the name from Beverly Hills Internet to Geocities.

Geocities continued to grow, and by June of 1997 they were the fifth most popular web site on the Web.  Through 1997 and 1998 Geocities introduced advertising on hosting client’s pages to hopefully make the product more profitable.

The Watermark Heard Around the World

What will be remembered as a footnote in brand awareness and web hosting, in June of 1998 Geocities introduced a watermark on user web pages.  Users were upset, because they felt that the JavaScript powered logo interfered with their web site design.

Yahoo! Takes Over Geocities

The company went public in 1998, with a listing on the NASDAQ.  At the peak of the dot-com bubble, a deal was struck.  Yahoo purchased Geocities for $3.57 billion.  Many might say Yahoo!’s first move with this new project under their belt, might have been the worst.  In 1999, Yahoo! alienated many of the Geocities fan base by including in its terms of service that Yahoo owned all of the hosted content, including pictures and any other media uploaded.  Yahoo! did reverse the decision.

As far as innovation goes, Yahoo! didn’t do much with the Geocities brand after that point.  That leads us to April 2009, where Yahoo! announced Geocities would be closing later in 2009.

Be sure to catch the rest of our Geocities Tribute on Podcast 186 of the Web Hosting Show!

Web Hosting + Coupon = Win for Everybody!

This is a secret I have been sharing for a number of years, and now I want to let you know.  Search for them.  That’s right, any web host worth his disk space will have coupons and rebates out there on the Web.  All you have to do is search for the web hosting in question, plus the word “coupon” or “rebate”.

For example, let say I search for Random Fake Web Hosting Company #5 and coupon.  Via Google, I find a page that says I can get $50 off if I sign up with the coupon code “50OFF”.  Now, all I need to do is go to Random Fake Web Hosting Company #5’s web site and try the coupon out.  If it works, I just saved $50, if not – then I’ll go back out to the search results to find the next best deal.

Ok, so I am sure some of you might be a little disappointed with this tip, however you would be amazed by how overlooked it really is.

Bad Hosting Customer Stereotypes

The Baby – This is the customer that cries or throws a fit when he doesn’t get things his way.  Making the proverbial checks his rear end can’t cash and saying things, such as, “If you don’t fix this, I am going to the police to report you!”.

The Negotiator – This type of hosting customer thinks he can wheel and deal his way into or out of any situation.  Now while making some negotiations and compromises is a good thing, The Negotiator takes it a step too far.  Watch out for his stereotypical, “Well, I can upgrade but if I do I want you to cut the VPS price in half and give me a pony”.

The Know it All – Be very careful when it comes to arguing how to fix a problem when you come to support to fix your problem.  The Know it All thinks he knows more than the web host and likes to point it out in every occasion he can.

Be a Better Hosting Customer

Now with that said, I don’t want to color all hosting customers with the same broad brush.  There are many out there that are perfectly fine.  However, just keep these tips in mind next time you contact your hosting support team.

• Be Nice and Courteous – you’ll catch more flies with honey, than you will with vinegar.
• Show You Are Willing to Work – sometimes, a problem will be solved faster if you work with and not against support to get it fixed.

The customer is always right? Yes, but sometimes the customer can be more unwelcomed than a midget working in the men’s big & tall section of your local mall.  If you work as a team with your hosting support, and try to relate with them, and then do the whole “give and take” dance you will have a higher success rate when it comes to getting quality hosting support.

Starting the Shopping Process

Now in what could be considered your Brick and Mortar offline store, a customer picks up the item he wants, brings it to the cashier, and then hands them their credit card to pay for the items he wants.  In the online world, the customer visits a web site, picks out the item he wants and then goes through that web site’s checkout process.  During this process he inputs his personal information and credit card details.

Processing the Payment

Going back to the corner store, the store’s cashier will swipe the credit card through a point-of-sale terminal.  Then the point-of-sale terminal routes the information to the payment processor (usually via a dial up connection).  There they take the amount due for the item being purchased, and then send the transaction results to the point-of-sale terminal.  When shopping online, after you give them your credit card and personal information the online store will send your request to a payment gateway.  That payment gateway then routes the information to the processor, who in turn, takes the charge due.  The processor will then send the transaction result back to the payment gateway and the payment gateway passes the end result to the merchant.

Delivering the Goods

Once the corner store gets the payment that is due, the customer will sign the credit card receipt and get the item he paid for.  In the online world, the payment gateway will tell the online store the payment was either good or bad.  If the payment was good, then they will ship the item that was paid for.  Now, because the card is not present at the time of the transaction, the online store should take additional precautions to make sure there is no credit card fraud going on.  This can sometimes delay processing and shipment time of the order and item paid for.

As I said before, both buying goods from an offline corner store and buying goods from an online store share a lot of the same processes, they just take different steps to get to the end result.  Anyone dealing with online orders should be taking more precautions, due to the fact that you don’t have that face to face meeting – as you would in a corner store environment.

Domain parking usually refers to a domain name that has been pointed at a single web page, that may have a “coming soon” or “under construction” message on it.  It is a hold place for a domain name you might not be using right now, but you still don’t want to error out when somebody tries to visit it.

Many domain name registers offer this service, because it can be a way to monetize.  For an example, let’s say I have a really good domain name,  but don’t have the time to develop it right now.  I park the domain name with my domain name register, and they let me put a few ads up there to make money.

The domain name is likely to get a lot of type-in traffic, so for the time being, that domain name will be making me a little money with no effort until I have the time to develop a web site for it.

So, as you can see, domain name parking does have it’s practical uses.

How do you Sign Up and Use Google AdSense?

Signing up is a pretty easy process.  All you need to do is sign in with your Google login, and follow the on screen instructions.  Once that is done, you can create the ads you want to use, then grab the code for them to place them into your web site.  I have been using it for so long, I don’t see where this could be seen as a complicated process.  They make it all pretty easy.

You also have several different ways you can setup ads.

• AdSense for Content – your run-of-the-mill ads you are used to seeing.
• AdSense for Search – use Google to power your web site’s search and make money from it.
• AdSense for Feeds – Place relevant ads in your RSS feeds.
• AdSense for Domain Names – Park your un-used domains with Google.
• Video Units – add YouTube partners’ video content to your site, and earn extra revenue.
• AdSense for Mobile Content – create ads for special “mobile” pages.

What Are the Rewards of Using Google AdSense?

The good thing about Google AdSense is that it automatically crawls the content of your pages and delivers text and image ads that are relevant to your audience and your site content.  Relative ads are what you want in the long haul.

Now you will not become rich over night, so if you want to quit your day job – you had better set your goal a little lower.  However, aiming at small goals first (such as having the ads pay for your $5 a month hosting bill) is a good start.

Want to learn more?  Here are some Google AdSense resources worth checking out:

• Google AdSense Blog
• Google AdSense Help Forum

Overall, I would say it is definitely work checking into. If you are looking for a name you can trust, Google has won many people over in that aspect too.  Sometimes, I don’t want to sign up with some company I have never heard of, especially when I need to get or receive important information from them (thinking about tax related stuff).  So overall, I would say Google AdSense will not make you uber-rich but it is a trustworthy choice out there.

What does SSL stand for and what does it do?

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer, and it is a set of rules uses in exchanging information between two computers (or in web hosting, the visitor’s computer and the web hosting server).  Think of it as the Cone of Silence on the old Get Smart TV show.  You have a secure communication between the server and the client.

What is the job of the SSL certificate?

The best way I know how to describe it is to think of it as an electronic key that the web browser checks for that will encrypt transmissions between two computers, or in the world of web hosting – the connection between the web site visitor and the web hosting server.  The secondary job of the SSL certificate is to confirm that a message that you received actually came from the person identified.  In most cases, SSL certificates are used to protect person information such as passwords, credit card numbers and other personal data, when you are transmitting them over the Web.

What is the difference between the shared SSL certificate my web host provides, and the dedicated SSL certificate they are offering as an additional service?

Most web hosts give you two options when it comes to SSL certificates.  They are often referred to as shared SSL certificates and dedicated SSL certificates.

• Shared SSL Certificates – These are the ones provided by the web host and their server setup.  The use of them is often limited, and when somebody check out the SSL certificate via the browser, they will see your web host’s information and not your own.  That may not seem very professional to people wishing to login to use your services or send their encrypted information to you.  Good thing is it is free with most web hosts.
• Dedicated SSL Certificates – These are SSL certificates that are setup just for you.  Often sold with a dedicated IP address included (or for an extra fee), these will include your own business information, and will be able to be used with more services.  The dedicated SSL certificate is less limited that the shared SSL certificate.  You will need to pay for it though.

So you can used the shared SSL for your web site, if needed.  However, if you want a more professional look and feel, and want to do more with it – you might want to look into getting a dedicated SSL certificate.

For an example, webhostingshow.com is a podcast – that is a niche.  Some web hosts out there are doing specialized hosting just for people who podcast.

The premise of this argument can be understood with one simple idea, they need hosting too.  No matter what the niche is out there; any group of people would be happy to have a web host that looks out for just their needs.

Focus on the Features

You want to offer your customers a few special perks they will not get by going elsewhere.  These could be:

• More Expertise in that Area of Interest – Going back to the podcast metaphor, let us say I started up a web hosting company just for podcasters.  The perk here is that I have done podcasting before, so I know a thing or two to help you with your podcast hosting.
• Tools to Help that Specific Niche Topic – You could offer special tools that would help that specific type of niche web site grow and prosper even more.  An example of that would be if you are a blog host, and you distribute free blogging software to your clients to make publishing on the web easier.
• Special Deals on Services that Might Be Needed More – Some web sites use more of one resource than others do.  If you were running a photo gallery hosting service, you could give that niche more disk space so they have plenty of room to store all of their photos.

All you have to do is ask yourself, what I can do for them to make their lives easier?

Not a Web Host?  Grab a Reseller Hosting Account!

For those who are not web hosts, but would like to host for a specific niche of people a reseller account might be a good way to start.  Having a reseller hosting plan is already like running your own mini web hosting company.  So that proves the point that this is something anybody can do – not just your high dollar hosting companies.

The last benifit of hosting to please the niche markets out there is that you will also be building a community of like-minded web sites.  Encourage your customers or clients to talk to one another, share ideas and give each other help and feedback.  The social aspect to the Web is the hot topic right now, and you can build a hotspot of your very own.

So what does a domain sniper do?  This is when somebody registering a domain name as soon as the domain name expires.  For an example, let us say I really wanted the domain name webhostingradio.com.  After doing a WhoIs search on the domain name, I find out it expires on February 19, 2009.  So I wait until that date, and then pick it up myself as soon as the registration runs out.

The fact is though, that this can pretty much be considered extinct, for now.

Thanks to ICANN’s Redemption Grace Period (RGP) registrants are allowed 30 days to reclaim their domain name.  Before the RGP went into effect, the money made in domain name sniping was done when the sniper would try to extort money from the original registrant to get their domain name back.

Performance of Clustered Hosting

You use the power of many, for one.  Clustered hosting “virtualizes” the resources beyond the limits of one physical server, and as a result, your web site is not limited to one server.  The work your web site does, and any strain it might cause to a single server would be distributed in real time.  To translate that, you know all of those “unlimited” offers you see with some web hosts?

Well with clustered hosting – that might actually be true.

Poorly-written scripts will not hurt neighboring accounts either.  Troublemakers are isolated, monitored and restricted to the account’s available CPU cycles.  So if Billy down the block is getting his web site dugg by digg, it will not take down your web site hosted on the same server.

Redundancy, Control and Price

In the redundancy department, all functions failover because all the servers serve all the functions out there.  Services are not local to a server, so loss of a server is not fatal to the overall service.

On the web hosts’ side, accounts should be provisioned in real time depending on the resources that account needs.  Also server admins have one single login where they can go in and control the clustered hosting when needed.  Like editing databases, changing DNS and other server side duties.

For the end user, cluster hosting should be pretty cheap.  I would say somewhere between a regular shared hosting plan and a Virtual Private Server (VPS) in price should be about right.