Live chat, in one way, shape or form seems to be a perk that many web hosting customers are looking for.  If you are a web host though, how do you know which live chat tools are the best?  Here are some of my favorite live chat providers out there that seem to get a lot of love from the web hosting community.

Kayako Live Response - When it comes to live chat support, Kayako is one of the best.  Not only do they provide the web interface for it, they also have a desktop client to interact with the service too.  Other nice features include desktop sharing, quick responses and a VoIP softphone add-on.

ProvideSupport.com - This tool is one of the cheaper ones out there, but don’t let that fool you.  They too provide some visually appealing tools as well as chat transcripts, multiple chat support, and easy integration into any web hosting site.

LiveZilla - For those web hosts out there on a budget, I do have one free live chat support option for you.  LiveZilla might have a few less frills than the paid for applications, but still deserve consideration.  The fact that it is free gives it a big green check mark in the “good things about it” column too.

What live chat solutions do you use?

Previously I told you about an awesome web site status tool that could help you tell if your web site was up or not.  Down for everyone or just me looks to have become a real success.  I have one better though, thanks to a suggestion from a Web Hosting Show listener named John.

I’ve been using DFEOJM a long time, and have found it to be a great tool.  You’re right that the URL is a tad long. I came across this web site:

http://www.checksite.us

It’s almost identical, except it’s a shorter URL, easier to remember. It doesn’t have the instant site checking, but at least the URL is shorter.

All you have to do is type in the domain you want to check into the text box on the site, and hit the “Enter” key on your keyboard.  Then the web site tells you if the web site is up or down for them.  A very nice alternative to use if you want to check to see if others can see your web site.

From time to time it is handy to know what your IP address is.  Now it is no secret that there are a hundred and one different ways of getting this done.  From looking in your PC, to putting a widget on your desktop to even visiting a web site.

WhatsMyIP.us is the newest of those Online resources that will let you know what your IP address is.  The difference here is that they do so without any annoying interface or loopholes to jump through.  You just have your IP address there and you are done. If you’d like to share this functionality with others, it is easy to do with their embeddable JavaScript code.  Just copy and paste it to give your own visitors their IP address back at them.

Now back on the notion of why this is handy to have?  Well with some remote workers out there in the hosting arena, you may need to pass your IP address along to your boss to gain access to their technical support center.  For others, it might help you troubleshoot a home networking issue.  Your IP address is what could be likened to your “home address” on the Internet.

So add WhatsMyIP.us to your own hosting tools bookmark folder.  You might not need it today or tomorrow, but when you do need it you’ll be happy you saved it to the side.

URLmetrix.com brings in a quick and useful way to check your web site’s Online popularity via a slew of resources.  Wondering what your Google PageRank is?  How about your Google or Yahoo backlinks?  Check them all out on this one single web site.  Definitely a resource to bookmark.

Here are all the services they cover:  Your web page title, Google PageRank, Alexa rank, Compete rank, Quantcast rank, Technorati rank, Google Indexed, Yahoo Indexed, Google Backlinks, Yahoo Backlinks and Delicious Links.

For each thing it scores it will also give you a link to go get more information.

Ready for the Online tool that promises to provide you with the quickest domain name searching ever?  Domize.com is promoting themselves as the “better” instant domain search tool.  Do they live up to that hype?  Yes, they do!

There is no rocket science needed to use it either, which as you all know if something I like to see.  Just type in the domain name you have in mind and they will let you know if there is a .com, .org or .net version of that domain available to use.  Red means it is in use and blue means it is available.  If you hover your mouse over the red links, they will give you a thumbnail picture of that registered site too.  Find one you like?  Click on a blue link and you will be taken to GoDaddy.com to purchase.

All Domize traffic is secured over SSL, making sure your queries stay private and away from snooping eyes.

Another neat feature of this web site is you can search via your iPhone too.  Now why your searching for domains on your phone?  That is another problem I can even begin to get into here.  Nice to know though that if you get that big idea for the next great domain name you can check on it even if there isn’t a PC in sight.

So go visit Domize.com for more and let them know them know the Web Hosting Show sent you there.

I am about to let you in on a little secret. Now see, you might look at your average web hosting guru and say, “Wow, he knows a lot about web hosting - I want to grow up and be like him some day”. What they don’t tell you is that all the best workers in the web hosting industry cheat.

Ok, maybe they don’t cheat in the literal sense but they do use cheat sheets. These are documents or images that have a lot of information packed into them so that when the question comes up all they have to do is pull up the right cheat sheet and they are good to go. The best place to get a lot of these digital life savers is ILoveJackDaniels.com.

Just point your browser in that direction and click on the “Cheat Sheets” link at the top. Here are a few of my absolute favorites that I use day to day doing tech support for others:

• HTML Cheat Sheet
• ASP / VBScript Cheat Sheet
• HTML Character Entities Cheat Sheet
• MySQL Cheat Sheet
• CSS Cheat Sheet

The one I get the most use out of might be the Mod_Rewrite Cheat Sheet. All are available as PDFs or PNG files to download. For any web hosting worker tuning in I would suggest you make a cheat sheet folder on your PC and save at least the ones I have mentioned here. There are many others too you might get some use out of.

Who says cheaters never win?

As many of you know I work my “day job” I guess you could call it, at Lunarpages and I often get asked questions about if somebody’s web site is up or not. Now more times than not it is often something to do with the web site owner’s side of things. Either their ISP is being a ‘bit wonky, they need to refresh their DNS or some other solution. One quick and easy way to tell if your (or any other) web site is down is downforeveryoneorjustme.com.

I know the URL might be a little long, but this tool is an awesome one to keep in your web hosting tool belt. The simple interface just has “Is ‘text box here’ down for everyone or just me?”. You put your domain name in the text box and hit the linked “or just me?” text and it will spit back a yes or no answer.

If you want an even easier way of using it, just type in their domain name, put a slash in there and then your domain name, such as:

http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/mitchkeeler.com

There you have it, instant site checking. Some people have reported problems with false positives - but with a little fine tuning I am sure this web site will become an instant classic for those of use who need to keep tabs on if a web site is up or not.