So which one of these two web hosting plans gives you the best value?

VPS Hosting Value

VPS is an acronym for virtual private server.  I won’t go too deep into the dictionary definition, but in a nutshell this type of hosting plan is a virtual machine setup on a server.  A web host can run a series of VPS accounts all from the same server (as they do with shared hosting) however, VPS hosting gives you more server resources to work with (such as RAM and CPU power).  If you are just running a series of websites and have no idea how to be a server administrator – VPS is the best upgrade you can make.  You can get the power of a dedicated server environment at a significantly cheaper price.  The drawback with VPS hosting is that you might not be able to do some advanced server side configurations.

Dedicated Hosting Value

A dedicated server or dedicated hosting plan would be you renting an entire server to do the work you need to have done.  Unless you get it fully managed (which will be costly) you will be responsible for keeping all the server side things like the control panel, PHP, MySQL and other things of that nature all updated yourself. If you know how to do all that, this isn’t a problem.  Your average guy on the street might have no clue how to do this so this is already the first drawback for the service.  The advantage to dedicated hosting is that you get to set things up however you see fit.  The window of customization is fully open for you to tweak and configure things to fit your needs.

Overall, I think most people will find that VPS hosting offers more value than a dedicated server hosting package. The one thing it comes down to for me is that you can get the best of both shared hosting and dedicated hosting all wrapped into one package.  You can get the server side things totally managed by the web host, as you would with shared hosting.  VPS hosting also offers you more RAM and CPU usage, which is necessary for any popular website of any type. If you have another opinion though, feel free to share them in the comments.  Would love to hear a viewpoint from the other side of the fence.

Welcome to the first Web Hosting Show for 2011.  So what is the first thing we have to talk about in the sixth year of this broadcast? I want to touch on the topic of getting your own YouTube clone set up.  We will tear apart the basic necessity you need (FFMPEG hosting) and give you a few good scripts to try out so you too can get on the social video sharing bandwagon.

You can make a clone of about any popular website service out there, and YouTube is no exception.  You basically need the FFMPEG tools to help convert the video or audio into a digestible web format and a script to organize it all.  Sounds pretty simple, right?

Here is what we have in store for you on today’s show:

What is FFMPEG Hosting?

Time to take a look at another hosting term you might have heard of but didn’t really know what it means.  FFMPEG hosting is the word up for review today. This is a term that is used to refer to any time of hosting that provides an assortment of of recording, converting and streaming tools for audio and video on the server side.

Best YouTube Clone Scripts

So, you want to start your own website where people can upload videos of dogs of skateboards? A few years back, this would be nearly impossible. These days though, finding a script that will clone many of the best features a video sharing service like YouTube has is pretty easy.  There are a lot of duds out there though in the world of YouTube clone scripts so I have gone through the trenches to find you the three best scripts for the job.

That is it for today’s show.  Hope you enjoy – and if you have any feedback be sure to use the contact link above or leave a comment and share with me your own thoughts on FFMPEG hosting.

Short of sharing our opinions, sharing our goods and services (whatever they might be) is the biggest thing we do online these days.  Everybody has something to sell, but how do you get started in the e-commerce world?  I will be covering some of the e-commerce basic right here on this very podcast today.  Hopefully it helps you learn a little more about how to get your own shopping cart set up or how to setup a store though one of the free store providers out there.

You want to sell something online?  Then you have picked the right podcast to listen to.  I might not cover every little thing, but I will give you the information you need to get started in web hosting e-commerce.

Here is a summary of the topics we will cover this week:

DIY E-Commerce Basics

There is a lot more to consider when it comes to setting up your own online store on your website.  If you are serious though about becoming an e-commerce entrepreneur though, I will give you the basic things you need to have before you get started building your own online storefront.

3 Great Free E-Commerce Storefronts

If you want to start your own virtual store out there on the Web, you don’t have to go through all the hard work of setting up a shopping cart, lining up shippers, processing credit cards and all those other headaches that are often involved with e-commerce.  You could sign up with one of these free online storefronts instead.  While they might take a cut of the profits, in the long term – they might also save you money too.

Hope you enjoy this week’s podcast – and if you have your own e-commerce tips or shopping cart reviews to share, feel free to do it in the comments.

When you talk about a web hosting control panel, nine times out of ten, you are talking about cPanel.  This juggernaut of the web hosting world has been around longer than I can even remember – and continues to be the dominate control panel out there for web hosts to choose.  So what makes it so special, and how has it lasted so long?  That is what we’ll be diving into on this episode of the Web Hosting Show.

For many people out there, cPanel has been the best control panel for a number of reasons.  The question I have for you is what are those reasons?

Here is a summary of the topics we will be discussing this week:

cPanel – Fresh, Bold and Fun Control Panel

If you ask just about anybody what control panel their web hosting account is using, nine times out of ten you are going to get cPanel as the response.  While cPanel has always seemed to be the proverbial, “big daddy” when it comes to controlling hosting accounts – I do have to say the company has done a great job at sort of remaking its image to seem more up to date and awesome.

Top 5 Reasons cPanel Rocks

Now, cPanel is by far the most popular control panel option out there these days.  Do you really know what makes it stand out from the rest of the crowd though? Here are the top 5 reasons why cPanel really rocks.

Feel free to leave your own thoughts, suggestions and feedback on or about cPanel in the comments.  I would love to hear them.  Hope you enjoy the show, and if you do – consider sharing it on Twitter, Facebook or even subscribe to the RSS feed so you never miss another episode!

We all complain day after day.  We complain about little things.  We complain about big things.  We complain about things that do not make any sense.  In web hosting, the main thing we complain about is the relationship between a web host and a customer (or vice versa depending on which side of the fence you are on).  Today, we have a very special guest that will help us all curb our complaining habits.

Meilena Hauslendale personal development author, and has been providing life guidance and insight for over 11 years.  She has published six books and in those books, her style of writing really gives the reader a step by step guide to achieving success.

Her most recent book, Stop Complaining: Your Guide to Living Life Instead of Complaining About It, really brings home the idea that you can live a much happier life if you curb your unproductive complaining and how to really redirect your energy towards bettering your life, rather than depleting it.

On today’s podcast I talked with Meilena one-on-one about not only her projects but the frustration we sometimes have when it comes to web hosting and customer relationships, or the other way around.

You can check out more of Meilena’s work on iMotivate.org and also you can pick up her book Stop Complaining: Your Guide to Living Life Instead of Complaining About It at Amazon.com.

Hope you enjoy this special edition of today’s show.  I hope it serves as a reminder that we don’t need to get all stressed out and worried about silly situations in the web hosting world.  There is always a better solution, you just have to go out there and grab it. 

What things do you complain about when it comes to web hosting or web development these days?

It is a big bad scary world when it comes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and website hosting.  On today’s podcast I will be discussing with you in detail what the DMCA is, what it means for web hosts out there, and what you should do if your own content has been ripped from your website.  The Web Hosting Show is on the air.

So how does web hosting, the DMCA and copyright protection all mash up and what do you need to know?  I am glad you asked.

Here is a summary of the topics we are covering this week:

Web Hosts and the DMCA

What is the DMCA and how does it pertain to web hosts?  I will go into detail about how parts of this law do have to do with web hosting, and how that might effect us all.  Also, learn what each web hosts needs to ask for before a DMCA claim will even be looked into.

How to Handle Website Content Theft

So, you have somebody stealing your articles, photos, artwork or something else.  How can you use the DMCA and the US copyright laws to your advantage?  I will let you know.  Also, learn how and what you should do when your confronting those who have stolen your content for the best results.

Hope this week’s podcast comes in handy in your own copyright battles, or to help you better understand how the DMCA, copyright theft and website hosting all meshes together.

Apple TV Giveaway Contest!

Ping! Zine and the Web Hosting Show have teamed up to offer you a chance to win your very own Apple TV.  Where is the catch?  There isn’t one.  All you have to do is subscribe, for free, to Ping! Zine.  For more details on this fantastic contest be sure to check out webhostingshow.com/pingzine.

Feel free to leave your comments, thoughts and suggestions for future show topics or your own feelings about the DMCA and copyright theft in the comments.  This podcast is here to help anybody, from big web hosts to small web developers – so I want to hear back from each and every one of you.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 209!
Running Time: 9 minutes | File Size: 4.15 MB

So what should you know and be aware of?  Let me do what I can to help.

There is no doubt that search engine optimization is a tricky business.  Rather than give you a handful of SEO tips as I have done before, I want to help you learn what search engine optimization really is, and what you should look for if you are in the market for hiring our own SEO expert.

Truth About Search Engine Optimization

On the Internet, it can sometimes be hard to tell what is true and what is not true.  I will go over all the basics and history about what search engine optimization is, what it isn’t and what you need to know to become successful at it.

7 Questions to Ask a SEO Company

Some of the larger web hosts out there might be looking to hire an SEO expert of their very own.  Before you sign up with any search engine optimization firm though, I would highly recommend you check out this list of seven things to watch out for when hiring an SEO firm or expert.

Apple TV Giveaway Contest!

Ping! Zine and the Web Hosting Show have teamed up to offer you a chance to win your very own Apple TV.  Where is the catch?  There isn’t one.  All you have to do is subscribe, for free, to Ping! Zine.  For more details on this fantastic contest be sure to check out webhostingshow.com/pingzine.

Hope you enjoy this search engine optimizing version of the Web Hosting Show podcast.  I am always looking for ways to help make the wacky world of web hosting and web development come alive.  So if you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback make sure you leave a comment.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 208!
Running Time: 10 minutes | File Size: 4.69 MB

Having been on both sides of the web hosting support fence, both as a client and as a web hosting customer support guru, I will give you all the insight I know about this topic today, in a handy mp3 format.

Now some might say a lot of what I suggest on today’s show is common sense.  This is true.  Sometimes though, common sense gets thrown out the window when it comes to just getting the job done.  I don’t want to just show you how to do the job.  I want to share with you my advice on how to get the job done right.

How to Get Faster Web Hosting Support

You might not know this, but there are plenty of ways you can get faster support from any web host out there.  You have to learn how to ask your question, give as many details as possible, and do so in a way that covers all the bases and speeds up the web hosting support response times.

How to Give Faster Web Hosting Support

Your web hosting company is only as good as your web hosting support team.  Make sure your support replies are built like a brick house, and not like a sloppy sandwich.  Company to client conversations are always delicate, so best not to get sloppy when your customers are having a problem.

What do you have to say about this topic?  What advice would you have out there for the web hosts or the web hosting clients when it comes to making the entire support experience better?  Feel free to share your questions, comments and suggestions in the comments.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 207!
Running Time: 8 minutes | File Size: 3.39 MB

Learn on this week’s podcast how to reduce your impact on the shared hosting server your web site is hosted from and have a little fun.

Has your web site gotten suspended due to you using too of the server’s memory or processing power?  Here’s some of the topics we discussed on today’s show:

Website Using Too Many Server Resources?

Before you can fix a problem, you have to know what the problem is.  So what does it mean to be using too many system or server resources?  We will discuss this in detail, so you know exactly what the problem is your web host is trying to explain to you.

How to Fix a Server Resource Site Suspension

Now that we know what it means to use too much RAM or CPU power of the server, how can we fix the problem?  How long will it be before your web site is back up and running?  I will let you know, from my own experience, how long this might take and what you can do to help lessen your own downtime.

Would also love to hear what you have to say on the topic.  Make sure you leave your comments to let us all know your questions, answers, suggestions or tips when it comes to getting your web site back up and running after being shut down due to a server resource suspension.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 206!
Running Time: 8 minutes | File Size: 3.48 MB

The world of affiliate hosting, for both web hosts and web hosting clients is surrounded with a lot of buzz words and scariness.

Today I will cut through the clutter to help you understand it all.  Here is what I have lined up for this week’s show:

Earn Cash on Web Hosting Referrals

There are hundreds of web hosting providers out there that provide affiliate programs for you to join.  The questions now are, what is an affiliate program? Why would I want to join one? What can I do to make my affiliate links more successful?  Well, I hope to bring you up to speed as I discuss the benefits of affiliate programs for your average webmaster.

How to Setup an Affiliate Program

Are you a web host looking for a way to bring in new customers, and reward current customers or web site owners for doing the dirty work for you?  Then you might want to look into setting up an affiliate program.  It takes some capital stored up to get started, but once you do – you will see your new accounts list grow and grow every single day.

This week’s podcast should be a lot of fun.  Hope you enjoy listening to it, and let me know some of your favorite affiliate tips and tricks too.  By sharing our ideas and opinions we can all make the world of affiliate hosting a better place for everybody to make money in.