So, if I was going to start looking for a web hosting job, where would I turn to?  Well, there are three resources you should keep in mind.  You have the web host themselves, the web hosting forums out there, and special job hunting resources that will list for you spots available with a number of different web hosting companies.

Find Jobs at the Web Host

Some web hosts will look for contracted workers in their own user base, so that is something to keep in mind.  If you want to go work for one specific web host, join their user forums and help out as much as you can.  See if you can become friendly with the current staff, and let them know if there is a spot available, you would like to be the one to fill it. Many web hosts also have “employment” pages up with positions that are open in the company.

Find Jobs on the Web Hosting Forums

Web hosting forums are another place to look for web hosting related jobs.  One of the most popular out there would be the Employment Offers and Requests section over at WebHostingTalk.com.  Other web hosting forums may have equally as helpful resources too, to start looking for a new web hosting job.

Find Jobs on the Web Hosting Employment Resources

Be sure to check out the web sites that specialize in advertising web hosting jobs too.  One of the more popular job boards for web hosting positions is webhostingjobs.com.  Run by the same staff the control TheWHIR.com, they have a lot of jobs listed for local and remote positions.

Don’t get discouraged if you get turned down by the first web host you try to get a job with.  Just go to the next one on the list, or try to ask around at several web host if they have any spots available for you as a local technician or remote contracted worker.

So that, my hosting homies, is the topic of today’s show.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 193!
Running Time: 10 minutes | File Size: 4.67 MB

This week on the podcast we will be covering the top ten reasons why your web site is not working. So without further interruption, let us take a dive into these troubling web site problems.

10. The Tubes Are Broken – It was former senator Ted Stevens who famously said, “the Internet is a series of tubes”. With that in mind, when the tubes are broken, it can cause a massive web site problem.

When you navigate to your web site, your request bounce from this point, to that point, to that point over there until you reach the server your web site is hosted at. Now what if one of the points is having problems? Well then your request gets stuck, and you can’t see your site.

One way to see if this is the issue is to do a trace route to your domain. With each line, you see a different hop your request took to get to the server. If it looks likes stopped, then your, “big truck” as Ted Stevens would call it has come to a halt.

9. Server is Down, Please Try Again! – Sometimes stuff happens on a server, causing it to go bonkers, stops it from serving your web site and makes it think it is a toaster. Any server at any web host can (and probably will) go down for any number of reasons, the trick is to find the one that has done so the least amount of times.

Think of a server as MacGyver on a busy day. Sometimes it gets it’s requests out of order, breaks down, and needs a few fixes here and there to keep it running better, faster, and for a little longer.

8. What, I Need Hosting Too? – It might be a rare occurrence in the web hosting world, but sometimes it happens. You forgot to purchase a domain name with your hosting, or you forgot to purchase a web hosting account with your domain name.

For people new to the web hosting world, they often think, I want a web site, so I am buying one thing, “the ability to have a web site”. Why would this be separated into two major things? Well, it is – so remember to tell people they need both!

7. Somebody is Abusing my Poor Little Server! – If you think of a shared web hosting server, as a community that you live in, and all the other sites hosted there are your neighbors, then it is easier to understand the idea of server resource abuse. Think of the annoying neighbor that keeps playing his music so load, everybody else in the community can’t get any work done.

This can happen in the Online world too.

Say for example, another web site hosted on the same server that your site is hosted on is using up too much of the server’s CPU. Due to this problem, your web site performance has started to slow down or come to a halt.

6. YOU Are the one Abusing That Little Server! – When somebody is found to be abusing a server (for example, by using too many server resources) and that person is you, that too can bring your web site down.

No mater if it is caused by a sudden burst in traffic, or a crazy script that is badly configured – you are using too many resources, and will be shut down so your neighbors (who are playing by the rules) can go back to seeing their web sites again.

5. Using Too Many Server Resources – Now number seven through six are pretty similar, and all mainly have to do with abuse to the server. One major thing you have to watch out for (and get ready to upgrade because of it) is the use of too many server resources.

When you are hosted on a shared server with 100 to 300 other customers, one guy can’t get away with using too large of a percentage of RAM or CPU power. What about disk space and bandwidth? Those can be abused too, but since those two are much cheaper these days – the new thing to really watch out for when it comes to server abuse is the amount of the server’s RAM and CPU you are hording for your own site.

4. You Got DDoS’ed – When a DDoS happens, you can say goodbye to your web site until your web host figures where the attack is coming from, and filters it out.

What is a DDoS?

DDoS stands for distributed denial of service attack and occurs when multiple systems flood the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system or systems. These systems are compromised by attackers using a variety of methods.

3. Disturbing (or Rule Breaking) Content – Every web host out there has a series of rules (often found in the terms of service or acceptable use policy) summing up what you can and can not host there. Some of it is common sense, (like anything that is against the law), however others might deserve checking into at least.

For example, some web hosts allow “adult” content on shared servers, and others require you to upgrade to a virtual private server or better. Also scripts that are known to cause high server usage, like many of the YouTube-clone scripts out there, might also get you in trouble with the rules.

2. Web Site was Hacked – Always make sure you are using the latest version of any script or plugin you install on your web hosting account. Getting your web site hacked is a major problem that is never much fun to deal with. Also, check out folder and file permissions (to make sure files are at least 644 and folder are set to no higher than 755).

Now I could probably do an entire second show on web site security, but one more tip I think is worth mentioning is don’t install a script, say you never used it again, and that is your excuse for not updating it and creating a big hole for any hacker out there to use to get into your web hosting account.

1. PEBKAC – For those of you not in the web hosting support world, the acronym PEBKAC might leave you a little confused. PEBKAC stands for “Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair”. It is nothing to be ashamed of, sometimes a user just configures things incorrectly.

Sometimes they forget to set their domain name to the right name servers. Sometimes they upload their web site, but all the file paths are pointing to locations on the PC. The thing to remember is don’t be ashamed to ask for help, because in this wild and wacky world of web hosting, we are all here to help learn from and teach each other.

I hope you enjoyed this look into the top ten reasons why your web site isn’t working today. If you have any other common errors I might have missed, be sure to leave a comment and share it with the rest of the Web Hosting Show listening audience.

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.

Here are the top seven dirty web hosting words (and phrases) that every hosting customer should know or be able to define.

1.  Server Resources - This is often the limitation you don’t hear about until you have reached it.  Many people might call it the, “Haha, got you now!” clause, but if you stop and think about it, it does make sense.  You can only do so many things on your computer before you begin to have performance problems, and the same could be said for a hosting server.  If one script, service or person is taking up all the RAM and CPU up for themselves, they have to be taken out of the picture to help everyone else who may be hosted on that server.

2.  Database Connections - Depending on who the web host is, and how they have their servers setup, you may only have available to you so many connections to a database.  For example, Joe hears that his database connection limit is 25 simultaneous connections.  What Joe doesn’t stop to think about is what the word simultaneous actually means.  For him to go over his limit, he would need 25 connections in roughly the same few seconds to get in trouble.  Since most scripts only connect for a second, this is not something most of us need to worry about.

3.  E-mail Sending Limits - Yes, you are limited on the number of e-mails you can send out.  This is a pretty new limitation that web hosts have been putting on their customers, mostly to curb spamming in any form.  If you are doing any sending of newsletters or something that goes out to a great amount of people via e-mail, you might want to look at scripts that will spread the wealth sending around.  That way instead of sending your newsletter to 10,000 people at once, you will be able to send it to maybe 2,000 people per hour through the day.  Both DadaMail and phpList will allow you to do this.

4.  Unlimited - There is no such thing as unlimited in web hosting.  It is a marketing word though that is bound to bring people in.  People like to get something for nothing and the chance to be able to grow their web site and brand to unlimited boundaries is a dream we can all be excited by.  Now, why does this word not really bug me that much anymore?  Well, even if you are sold by the word unlimited, chances are you aren’t even going to use enough of your unlimited disk space or bandwidth to hurt the server.  In most cases, it doesn’t do any harm.

5.  Uptime and Downtime - The one thing you see asked about by people who like to think they know a thing or two about web hosting is, “How is the uptime?” or “How much downtime have you had?”.  These are kind-of important questions, but I wouldn’t put too much weight into their answers.  Like I have said before, you are not going to find a web host who is perfect and has not even the smallest single flaw.  You will need to find an example of the problems they have had, and see how they have dealt with them.  That is how you can really tell how great a web host is.

6.  Overselling – In the world of web hosting, overselling is the term used to describe be hosts who put more customers on a server than the server can really support.  Most big name web hosts won’t have a problem with this, but some of the smaller to mid-range web hosts do.  The problem is that they can’t afford to bring more servers online, or they are packing you in like sardines into a can to save on costs.  It is something to try to be aware of, but chances are you won’t know about it till it is too late.

7.  The Comparison Box – I hate the comparison box of features you see web hosts use.  We have all seen them.  You have the features listed down the side, the different plans listed across the top and the thing that bugs me is every plan has every feature.  Why do a comparison chart, if every stinking plan has the same features?  The comparison chart should be use to compare the differences.  Most of the time, the only difference might be the disk space, bandwidth and price.  Give me a shorter comparison box, and just give me those three items if that is the case.  One more smaller item that bugs me about these boxes too is when they list stupid features that even your 98 year old grandmother knows are there.  For example, I am looking at a web host who does this, the comparison chart is as cheesy as ever and what is one of the features each plan has?  “support”.  As if in some bizarro world, there would be a web hosting plan that doesn’t come with “support”.

Know of another dirty web hosting word that didn’t make it onto the list?  Drop me an e-mail at mitch@mitchkeeler.com or leave a comment and we’ll see if we can find at least seven more amongst us all.

BuiltWith.com is a perfect companion if you want to do a little spying on how a web site was made and what is running behind it.  From the web site, all you need to do is type in the domain name and hit the “Lookup” button.  For an example, lets spy on thewhir.com to see what it was built with.

Under server information, we can find out it is using IIS 6.0.  So that would tell us they are using a Windows-based server to host from.  For tracking, we can see they use Google Analytics – which is never a bad thing.  Under framework, they are running Adobe ColdFusion and ASP.net.  As you can see – this gets pretty interesting for those of us who are geeky enough to have the desire to see what is going on “under the hood”.

From the BuiltWith.com web site, you can also get quick and easy access two two more tools, AboutUs.org and WebsiteGrader.com.

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?

Have any other interesting hosting videos to share? Sent ‘em to me at mitch@mitchkeeler.com and I’ll share them with the web hosting world.

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.

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.

From industry news, to domain stories.  From big business to the little guy.  Gawkwire is already providing news from all corners of the hosting world and doing well at it.  Here is how Robert Lang, Gawkwire managing editor describes this new hosting resource:

“We designed Gawkwire to build on the strengths of other hosting news portals and magazines. Unlike many sites, our content is updated continuously, not once a day or even once a week. We take it a step further, by creating a dialogue with our readers that enhances the overall experience of our site.  And we don’t stop with just news articles. Gawkwire’s rich content covers a wide spectrum, with everything from video blog posts to executive interviews.”

I am very excited to see the launch of something new out there in the hosting news bubble.  Too long has the field grown more than a little stagnite, and the hopes for Gawkwire is to add a little ‘bit more spice, interest and information to the world of Internet and hosting news.

“I am looking to setup another web site but I want to stay away from WordPress.  Do you have any suggestions for other content management system or blogging scripts to try?  Thanks!”

Just in case WordPress rubs you the wrong way or your just not happy with it – here are some of my favorite content management systems that are not WordPress.

• Drupal – found at Drupal.org, this is like WordPress on steroids. Lots of goodies and better membership system in place too.
• b2evolution – found at B2evolution.net is an old one, but still a good one – with tons of options.
• Joomla – found at Joomla.org might be too feature rich for the casual blogging fan – but a good engine for in depth web sites or basic blogs.

I used to suggest MovableType to people but over the past few years it just hasn’t been able to keep up with WordPress.  Plus it is a ‘bit resource hungry and their license agreements are way too confusing for normal users.

To check and more and to get some demos of both the output and admin interfaces be sure to check out OpenSourceCMS.com.  They have tons of examples from every corner of the blogging, CMS and forum world.  One of the best database out there if you are looking for a better alternative to WordPress.

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.

As you can see the Visual Trace route tool is where the most fun is. It goes from hop to hop showing you how it goes and where it goes. Other tools they provide include:

• Port Forwarding Tester
• Network Location Tool
• Phone Number Geolocator
• Reverse IP Domain Check

All in all a great resource for any web hoster, network freak or regular interested person should have in their networking toolbelt.

Previously, WordPress was leading the charge as the best of the best, but how do these solutions stack up to that titan of the digital publishing world?

b2evolution – An old one, but still a good one – and can hold it’s own weight still with the other selections out there. Dated, but still works.

Serendipity – This is a PHP-powered weblog application which gives the user an easy way to maintain a weblog or even a complete homepage.

Joomla – Like Drupal, might be too feature rich for the casual blogging fan – but a good engine for in depth web sites or basic blogs.

Sblog – Another one similar to WordPress, looks like it is playing catchup too. Once it gets there though, might be worthy competition.

Simplog – Simple, yet powerful – the name says it all here. You want basics without the fluff – go with Simplog.

No matter which of these selections you decide to choose, you should be well off in your own content producing ways. All of them have their benefits and their drawbacks so best thing to do would be to try them all out and see which does the best job for you.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 133!
Running Time: 14 minutes | File Size: 6.61 MB

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

• HostingBookmarks.com = Quality Hosting Resource!
• Tips to Spy on Your Server and Web Hosting Company!
• Mitch’s Golden Shopping Rules for Web Hosting!
• 10 Terabyes of Disk Space/Bandwidth for $1!
• Round 2 for the Best of the Blogging Scripts!
• Vote for Mitch as Ping! Zine’s Funniest Writer of 2007!

Did I ever mention that Sean Connery was my favorite James Bond? Then again – Sean Connery could do a voice over for a mupet and I’d probably like him in that too. There’s no doubt though if Sean Connery was a Web hosting company – there would be no others on the block.

TheWebHostBiz.com
This web site wants to be your guide to starting and running a successful web hosting business. Whether you are just starting out, or you have been around for some time, TheWebHostBiz.com features the tools, applications, service providers and resources that will make your web host business a success.

ServerADay.com
Well the short story for this web site given on the web site itself is “We think all those ‘deal-a-day’ websites out there are cool so we thought what the heck. We have something to sell, so why not give it a shot.” Also being a division of OLM means you don’t have to worry about any shady deals coming forth.

iWeb’s Server Warehouse Clearance Deals
This is another server deal finder that will allow you to hunt for a server of your own. You can list by price and “time of posting” for your deals. The inclusion of an RSS feed for the deals is also a winner. This looks like a great new way for the iWeb people to market themselves to the bargain hunters.

Remember you can always send me your hosting related links at mitch@mitchkeeler.com. New or old, I always love to check them all out.

I have touched on the topic of backing up your web site time and time again. With each article or podcasts I always seem to get the same remark.

“Well, thats great – now can you make it easy?”

For a long time I’d say no. Making it easy means doing something such as cron jobs and scheduling and a lot of other things that regular people don’t want to take the time to do. Now my new solution for the easy way out it going to be…

“Go buy CP Site Saver, it is reeking of awesomeness!”

CP Site Saver is the first tool for backing up your cPanel powered web sites that I have seen that actually works. No need for filling in confusing settings and geeky details. The whole process takes a matter of minutes and then your good to go.

The interface is simple, you just tell it your hosting login information and database details and then hit the backup button. The quickness and simplistics of it all are really amazing. My beef with many programs like this is there are 200 boxes you must fill in and keep updated. CP Site Saver just get the basics and lets you relax while it does the hard work.

When your all done, you’ll also be able to unzip you backup and have a look through it. What does CP Site Saver need? Well, it might be more of a flaw in cPanel rather than their product but I would really like to be able to say, I want to backup everything but that one folder. Also I wish there was a better control on having it startup with your computer (give me a yes/no box on that choice). Those are the only “nit-picky” issue I could find though.

Now there is a price tag on all this bliss, but $49.95 isn’t asking too much when you consider the time you will be saving.

Download the free 10 day trial and give it a shot. The trial will only allow you to work with one web site and one database backup. That should be enough to sell you though on this awesome service.

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.

Subscribe to the link list via E-mail!

• Promo-Code.net – Great Resource for Hosting Deals
• Inside View on Reviews at the Web Host Magazine and Buyer’s Guide
• The Planet Announces Free Fall Savings Campaign
• Host Department Offers Free .info Domain Names

No reason to make the same mistake twice though, subscribe to the Hosting Hoopla RSS feed so you can stay up to date with the latest and greatest happenings around the wild and wacky world of web hosting.

There are a lot of blogs out there, many more than you could count on your hands.. even if you have that freaky four extra fingers on that left hand of yours.

With that many blogs out there, there is a lot of backing up that needs to be done. BlogBackupOnline.com will do it for you.

You’ll hear no argument from me that backing up a blog can be very complicated and tedious. Having an external hosting account to do this on can be a lifesaver. At this time they support these blogging platforms:

• Blogger
• WordPress
• TypePad
• Friendster
• LiveJournal
• Serendipity
• Windows Live Space
• Movable Type
• Terapad
• Vox

They also provide a restore solution as well. With many of these online backup solutions they have an easy way to upload, but not such an easy job downloading what you’ve backed up. I’m happy to see they have this under control as well.

Backing up your blog is free while they are still in Beta. The bottom line is the storage space though. You get 50 MB of storage space is allocated to your account.

Backing up is hard to do – no wait, that was breaking up. Backing up is not that hard to do but for some reason we still do not like to take the time to do it. That is where cheap Online solutions come into play. One of those solutions out there for you right now is Allmydata.com.

Here is a little more information about the company and team from their about us web page.

Allmydata was created for all of us who have lost important information due to disk crashes, viruses or even a mere computer replacement. Allmydata was created for all of us who have given up on backing up our computers due to the cost and complexity of current backup solutions: external drives, tape drives and complicated online solutions.

Allmydata promises you “unlimited online storage and backup” but what is the price? All you have to pay is $4.99 a month. That’s a pretty good deal in my book. They also offer a Windows only desktop application to make your backing up a little easier to do as well. Overall it looks like a great way for anybody to keep their important files backed up just in case the worst might happen.

Finding out who you share your web hosting space with, if you are on a shared hosting plan can sometimes be a good thing.

It lets you know how many other people are on your server and it also gives you a few other URLs to check it something on your own domain isn’t working right. There are at least a dozen good reasons why you might need to know this information.

One Web Hosting Show listener named Neal writes in with this question.

Hey Mitch, I ran across you site while looking for some info. I’m trying to find a way to put in a web hosts company name and get a list of all the sites hosted by them. Is there any way to do that? Thanks! – Neal

In this case, what you want to do is a reverse IP lookup. This looks at your domain’s IP address and then goes out to the Web and sees how many other domains share that IP address. These would be your neighbors on that server. Now in the case of our listener’s question he would need to figure out a way to find all of the IP addresses this web host in question owns.

That might be a harder and a stickier situation.

Some web hosts own one or two servers.

Others own two hundred or three hundred servers.

As you can see this might be a pain in the rear job if you really got serious with it. One tool I can suggest to you to get the job done is found at SEOLogs.com. There you can do the lookup for free. Another good source is DomainTools.com. If the list is too long they do charge you for accessing it.

Either way you go you should be able to get the job done. Now you can see who you share your web hosting with.

When it comes to hosting these days, you really have to pick up a more interesting business model if you want to succeed out there. For folks wanting to start a business – but might not have the capital to put up for advertising and marketing just yet – life can be tuff.

I got an e-mail the other day from Stanley, a Web Hosting Show listener and the guy in charge of All or Nothing hosting. He wanted me to pass the word along to all of you that he would be happy to host free clients, artists, designers, programmers, coders, who are in desperate need for hosting and end up stuck with craptastic free solutions.

What does All or Nothing provide that the crappy hosts might not? He promised e-mail, control panels, MySQL databases, PHP support, ect. Sounds like a good deal for free right? Well I have to ask the million dollar question after this point – where is the catch?

It is ad supported hosting. You live with them making a buck on your web pages – and you get free hosting that is better than your average free web host out there. Not too bad. Also if you can stay active in their forums then you might be able to ditch the ads all together. So that is a nice alternative to have as well.

So if your wallet is empty and you want to setup a new web site, give the folks at All or Nothing Hosting a call and be sure to let them know that it was the Web Hosting Show that sent you there.

I am a web hosting professional I would say, or at least I play the part each week on this podcast. Nevertheless, I want to help you out with an often asked question that I get sent my way. Everybody wants to know how to be the best out there in the search engines. I have a few resources that will help you all get off on the right foot.

Getting ahead of myself though, first – here is the question everybody seems to be asking.

“Where’s a good web site our source where I can get more information about my SEO rankings and get advice on how to make it higher?

I’d really like to optimize my web sites but don’t know where to start.”

Here Come the Tools!

I have a not one great source for you to check out – actually I have two! The first would be popuri.us. It gives you backlinks and information on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and everything in between. They even give you a widget that you can share on your web site and show off your numbers.

The second resource I have for you is WebSiteGrader.com. It gives you more output options than you could ever want or need. It tells you how you rank in just about every way, shape or form out there on the Web. It also hands out advice on how you can get yourself a better “grade” too.

If you want a good resource to read up and learn more about the search engine optimization business – check out SEOChat.com. It is probably one of the best resources on any and all SEO issues.

When it comes to free hosting, OneDump hopes to have all of your bases covered. They deliver audio, text and image hosting for free.

The service, like many of the ones that came beore it, is very straight forward and simple to understand and use. A part of me would like to say they have an army of midgets in Singapore doing all the hard labor but they just would not be true.

So what are the rules of the OneDump service? You are permitted to upload upto 10 files at once, with each not exceeding 5 MB. It also supports these file formats:

jpg, jpeg, gif, png, bmp, tif, tiff, swf, txt, wmv, mp3, doc

You can use the service without feeling the need to register, but if you do sign up you can keep track of your uploads, view statistics of each file, add and edit captions to your uploaded data, create folders, and more. With the Quick Send feature you can also e-mail files into the service as well. This is a pretty neat addition that you do not see other free file hosts doing that often. As long as you follow the terms of service, they say there is no limit to the free files you can host here.

All in all, I would say they stack up with some of the best out there – they just need a good user base to get them going strong.

They have a lot to deliver, now they just need the audience to make all their hard work worth it.

Haven’t you ever wondered to yourself who was hosting that web site you just visited? Maybe there was something about the server quality while browsing that you really liked?

Maybe your just a nosy person that likes to know what is going on in the dark side of server administration. You want to know things you’re not suppose to know, right?

No matter what your reason is, WhoIsHostingThis.com should answer any and all questions you might have.

So how do you use this fabulous tool? You type in a domain name, hit the button and then they tell you something to the effect of, “ThisDomain.com is hosted by ThatWebHost.com”. Then you get links out to visit each. It is simple. It is straight forward. It gets to the point. I love it.

Now for some fun, lets just type in a few random domains and let see who hosts them.

- Digg.com’s web host is show up as Digg Inc. I am guessing that they probably own their own servers in this case.

- TechCrunch.com’s web host is Media Temple. No real suprise there as they do a lot of the popular blog hosting out there.

- Google.com is hosted by Google.

As you can see this can become very addictive. This is a very neat and unique tool that I expect to see copied (now that it is out) hundreds of more times by other people with web host tools and services.

Related Podcast Link: Listen to Episode 112!

When it comes to services based around the web hosting industry, I really like the ones that don’t just add to the noise. They really answer a need the industry has and are unique in how they pull that job off. That is the perfect description for Press Advance.

If your a web host or anybody who is even remotely related to the hosting industry, you might be in need of their services. Here is a little more information about them from their web site:

Our press release service includes comprehensive writing, editing and distribution of press releases for companies in the Web development, design and hosting industries. Press Releases are tools used to communicate with the news media information regarding new products, announcements, partnerships and other newsworthy items.

Just in case you missed it I talked to the man in charge of the press release writing empire there, and widely known as “that press release guy” in the hosting industry – Dan Garon on last week’s episode of the Web Hosting Show.

Want to know the top ten hosting RSS feeds you should be subscribing to to stay on top of the industry? Now there is a slew of information out there, and subscribing to the best of the best makes your job just that much easier in tracking what is going on.

From news, to press releases, to conversations here is the best of the best as far as hosting RSS feeds go.

1. Web Hosting Talk [RSS Feed!] – Yes, WebHostingTalk.com does RSS feed output now. You can click on the RSS Feed link on the main page to get a selection of good ways to keep track of things there. This is probably the biggest overall improvement they made in the last big update they rolled out.

2. The Web Hosting Show [RSS Feed!] – Ok, go ahead and call my an egotistical manaiac, I can take it. If your listening you know this is a great resource for all kinds of hosting news, interviews, help and random fun. If your not subscribed then what are you waiting for?

3. The Web Host Industry Review [RSS Feed!] – The WHIR is the big hosting resource for just about everything. From news, to interviews to everything else under the sun. They have a lot of feeds as well so you can pick and choose your favorite things to read.

4. Google News Search for “Web Hosting” [RSS Feed!] – Google is a great source for web hosting press releases and general information you might not see anywhere else. It combs a lot of the hosting resources out there and is one of the first places I check for the latest and greatest happenings.

5. The Hosting News [RSS Feed!] – TheHostingNews.com is another one of my favorite hosting news resources. The RSS feed is a little hard to find (hidden away on the sidebar) but it still well worth subscribing to. Yet another good place to get hosting news and interviews.

6. Netcraft [RSS Feed!] – Netcraft.com is a good place to get updates from the geekier side of the hosting indutry. From following server OS trends to getting uptime and downtime news, they are worth subscribing to for anybody because it is a good way to learn about some of the more advanced hosting trends.

7. Web Hosting Finds Blog [RSS Feed!] – The blog that the Web Hosting Finds web site puts out there is one of the more entertaining hosting feeds I have subscribed to. Covering a lot of random yet interesting news and links inside of the industry – you can not afford to pass it up.

8. The WHIR Blogs [RSS Feed!] – Wasn’t the WHIR already on this list? Well contrary to even my first thoughts the WHIR Blogs have bloomed into a really neat source for all types of industry opinions and coverage. This is one the best “brand extentions” I guess you could call it that the WHIR team has been apart of.

9. DomainTools Blog [RSS Feed!] – You can’t have hosting without domains, it is like peanut butter without the jelly. DomainTools.com is already my favorite domain.. well, tool and resource. Now they are delivering me my favorite blog about domains as well.

10. Web Host Blog [RSS Feed!]- Although I wish it was updated a little more often, WebHostBlog.com is a good source for more general hosting information and news. Put on by the team behind the Web Host Magazine and Buyer’s Guide this is a resource that might be light on quantity but high on quality.

A Few More Worth Mentioning…

Here are just a few more that are worth mentioning:

• Reseller Hosting Guide – [RSS Feed!]
• Web Hosting Unleashed – [RSS Feed!]
• Isabel Wang’s Blog – [RSS Feed!]

Have a favorite that didn’t get added to the list? Leave it in the comments or send it my way!

Here are some other good content management system resources to check out:

• The CMS Matrix
• CMS Web Links
• CMS Watch

Now for the sake of keeping things simple – for today’s show we are going to go with my favorite WordPress. Now should you download WordPress from its Web site and install or install via your control panel’s easy “one-click” install? I would say do it the hard way. Navigate your favorite browser towards WordPress.org, hit the download link and pick up the .zip download file.

Here are a few other suggestions for blogging scripts you could use:

• Drupal
• Joomla
• Mambo

You want a blogging script that will be easy enough for you to manage and that has plenty of other users. The reason you want to use one of the more popular choices out there is because when you run into trouble, figuring out a problem is often easier to do in a group. There are a lot of WordPress resources out there so that would be why it would be my suggestion for the best script you could use.

Related Podcast Link: Listen to Episode 108!