Shared Hosting – How Much Can You Afford to Share?

Your website is the focal point of your online business, as it represents your online identity and reputation on a continual basis. The performance, appearance and presence of your site directly affect the way your visitors perceive the professionalism of your online business. Every site operates on a web server, and this server ultimately dictates the full functionality and performance limitations of every web page on the site. Every time a page is loaded a small burden is placed on the web server, and if the load is too heavy the site performance begins to suffer, in the form of slow page loads, and even site down time. The likelihood of this decreased site performance occurring depends entirely upon the kind of web server being used, as some are more powerful than others. Shared web servers are perhaps  the least beneficial, simply because all of the server resources are shared amongst various sites simultaneously.

How Much Is Shared?

Fortunately, sensitive site information  (such as financial data) is not shared between unrelated sites in a shared hosting plan. However all of the server resources, such as bandwidth, data transfer, and even storage space are shared with other users that are renting a hosting plan with your web host. Your site’s IP address is also shared with these users as well, which means that their actions may reflect on both the legal credibility and search engine ranking of your site.  Since you are sharing all of these attributes with sites that are not under your control, it is possible that unforeseen circumstances could arise, such as being de-indexed from search engines, or even having your site taken offline temporarily.

How Much Can You Save?

The main reason why anyone would purchase a shared hosting plan would be to save money. However, when you factor in the issues that could result from sharing all of your server resources with dozens of other sites, it becomes clear that you may not be saving anything at all. In fact, the percentage of people that will eventually upgrade from a shared hosting plan is rather high. Therefore if you’re inevitably going to upgrade in the future, then there may be little sense in paying for a plan which will soon be obsolete. The truth is you can save a lot of time and money by starting with a plan that is right for you.

When Would Shared Hosting Be Optimal?

If you are operating a personal blog, or a .info domain that is not of high importance to you, then a shared hosting plan could accommodate your needs. Shared hosting is only recommended for individuals, and is not an ideal solution for the online business owner. If you are currently using a shared hosting account for your online business, you may want to consider switching to a VPS or Dedicated hosting account instead. Dedicated and VPS hosting plans offer flexibility, privacy and capabilities that cannot be found in any shared hosting service.

The Secrets of Buying and Selling Domain Names

Buying and selling domain names online has become a very profitable business. With the internet more than doubling its size in the past decade it is easy to see how much money there really is in domain names. Every new web site has a name, or needs a name in order to exist. Domain names are absolutely mandatory for web sites, so there is a massive market that is based on simple supply and demand.

As the internet continues to expand it is very unlikely that the supply will outweigh the demand. In fact, it is almost a statistical impossibility, considering the amount of domain names left and the amount of people that are trying to buy domains. If you’re wondering why this incredibly profitable business opportunity has been kept from you for so long, keep reading to discover some of the secrets of buying and selling domain names.

Finding the Domain Name

The first step in buying and selling domain names is finding the name. You need to find a name that is almost guaranteed to be sold again in the near future. While this may seem like a difficult task, there are endless opportunities created by a sea of individual markets and industries. All you have to do is find a keyword or interesting name that would be valuable to a buyer.

Most domain sellers wont tell you that they use auction sites and certain tools to find out what kind of names are hot at the moment. Simply visit your favorite site auction site and checkout some of the current auctions. Look for the auctions that are currently being bid on the most. If you can emulate that success by picking a similar name then you’ll be able to consistently profit from buying and selling domain names.

You can also use the latest trends to your advantage by purchasing domain names that are relevant to new hot  topics that are being frequently searched for in search engines. To find this information you can use a tool like Google Trends. If the topic is hot and you find a matching domain name then you can be sure that someone will bid on the name and give you more than what you paid for it.

Selling the Domain Name vs. Parking It

Once you have acquired a good domain name you can start making small amounts of money from it right away, or you can sell it for a more hefty and lump sum profit. A lot of people don’t know what domain parking is. When you park a domain for monetary purposes you are actually leasing that domain name to an advertising company that will pay you to place ads on your pages. Obviously there is a potential for an extra revenue stream, however it would take hundreds of parked domains, which could be a hassle to manage.

On the other hand, selling the domain will give you a larger amount of money, sometimes entering into the range of thousands of dollars. There are a variety of ways to sell your domain.

When is it Time to Graduate to a Dedicated Server?

Most people start out online with a basic shared hosting plan that lets them build a small website and become acquainted with the web hosting world. However, it is not often that someone remains content with this kind of hosting setup, especially when operating an online business. Sooner or later, the urge and need to upgrade will be unavoidable, and at this point the webmaster begins considering more robust hosting plans such as VPS and Dedicated hosting plans. The problem is, it is not always clear when the best time to upgrade is. In fact, in many cases you can get by with a basic hosting plan for years. However, “getting by” is simply not enough if you are trying to strive, and slow-loading pages or site downtime is just one of the many hurdles you’ll encounter if your site is running on inadequate server resources. So how do you know when it is time to upgrade?

How Many Daily Visitors Does Your Site Get?

If your site is receiving more than a few hundred visitors on a daily basis, then you may want to consider upgrading from a basic hosting plan. This is especially true if you host a lot of multimedia content. If there are many people browsing your site and watching videos at the same time, the bandwidth will quickly dwindle and the browsing experience will become less enjoyable for your visitors. In many cases your site could lag to a complete standstill, causing your visitors to leave your site altogether. Upgrading to a dedicated server will give you the resources needed to accommodate thousands of site visitors on a daily basis.

How Many Sites Do You Have?

If you have more than five sites that receive a decent amount of traffic on daily basis, then it may be time to upgrade. Likewise, if you have one large website that is receiving a lot of traffic you will still need more server resources. Keeping all of your sites on a shared hosting plan is not wise when you consider the limitations of your current hosting setup. With a dedicated server you can host up to 50 high traffic sites without any problems in most cases, especially if you are renting a powerful server.

How are Your Sites Performing?

Ultimately the true test is the actual performance of the websites you own. If you are still able surf the sites without any slow loading pages, and you aren’t experiencing any down time, then it may be okay to stick with the plan you have. However if your sites are down more than once a week and it takes longer than 10 seconds for a page to load on a broadband connection, then you should definitely consider upgrading. A site’s performance will greatly affect it’s bounce rate and how many repeat visitors/page views per visit are received. Shared hosting can only take you so far before an upgrade is absolutely necessary.

The Best Business Control Panel – vDeck vs. cPanel

Web hosting control panels are the focal points of all hosting plans. Virtually every aspect of web hosting account can be controlled from within the centralized interface, from email account management to redirects and everything in between. The main purpose of the control panel is to provide simplified management of the hosting account and the websites hosted on the web server.

There are dozens of control panels available on the internet, and in many cases they are included with the hosting plan by default. Thus, it is best to choose the right hosting plan which includes a suitable control panel for your online business. There are two control panels that you should consider when looking for a solution for your online business – vDeck and cPanel.

The Advantages of cPanel

cPanel is the most popular web hosting control panel in the world, and there are undoubtedly thousands of people using it at this very moment. With such a large user base it is easy to see why there are a plethora of video tutorials and online communities devoted to the usage of cPanel. Aside form its simplicity and thorough documentation due to its popularity, cPanel is also one of the most visually pleasing control panels ever created.

Every aspect of web hosting administration and management is classified into specific modules that are neatly organized into rows. In fact, the navigation of cPanel is so self explanatory even the most novice webmaster can learn their way around it in a matter of minutes. With so many advantages and such a simple interface it is easy to see why many web hosting providers offer cPanel by default with all of their hosting plans. As a business solution, cPanel is perfect for small to medium-size business owners that need a user-friendly comprehensive control panel.

The Advantages of vDeck

vDeck is not quite as popular as cPanel, but being in its third generation it is steadily gathering a fan base. The producers of the vDeck control panel are promising that it is the future of control panels. One aspect of vDeck that makes it more appealing for the large business owner is the software’s ability to simplify the management and promotion of extensive web sites. vDeck is completely expandable, and there are a plethora of modules that are devoted to various administrative and promotional duties. Users have the freedom to install and change pre-designed templates that give the control panel a custom look. There are also plenty of addons for vDeck that can make it much more powerful than cPanel. Ultimately, vDeck is the perfect control panel for a professional online business owner.

Conclusion

The final decision between cPanel and vDeck is one that must be made by each individual business owner. Small to medium size business owners with little technical skills would inevitably fair better with the simplified user interface of cPanel. On the other hand, professional online business owners that need an expandable powerhouse control panel may want to consider giving vDeck a try.

Spam – Potentially Dangerous, Annoying, and Effective

Unwarranted and unwanted emails populate our inboxes each day. Most are caught by a spam blocker but there are a few that still filters through. Most of these messages are unread, but on occasion, the subject line contains something interesting and we open to find another advertisement or worse.

All about Money

This begs the question: If we aren’t reading these and it’s illegal, why are they continuing to send them out? The answer is simple: money. Sending out messages in this manner costs the sender less than it costs the impacted parties. Its simple economies of scale, as the number of spam emails sent out increases, the cost per message decreases.

Most email users check their accounts multiple times throughout the day. This gives spammers the opportunity to send multiple messages. Many of these messages appear to be legitimate emails allowing them to slide past spam filters and become more difficult to sort.

The Math behind Email Spam

The cost per message for a sender is the charge for the internet connection plus the time expended to actually create the message. On the other hand, the cost per message for the recipient is the charge for the internet connection and mailbox charges, plus the time to process the mail.

Spamming Methods

Some spammers do not pay anything for sending out emails by hijacking resources that belong to other users. Also, there are many software programs available that make spamming emails an automated process. Other spammers do not use mailing lists, they simply assault a target domain sending emails to all those on that domain name. This is accomplished by sending the same email to all possible letter combinations.

Scams

There are many email scams that appear in user’s inboxes everyday. These include winning money in a foreign country and all the user has to do is send a small check. Others involve messages from banks requesting account information or credit card information. Furthermore, some claim the user has won a prize and must click a specific link to claim the prize.

Conclusion

Consequently spam is an effective method of extracting personal information or reaching users because it’s cheap (or free) and large groups see the message. Since spammers are becoming more creative, many of the messages look interesting and legitimate. Most email systems offer some type of spam blocker. Unfortunately this doesn’t work 100% of the time. A good rule of thumb, if you don’t know who the email is from delete it.

Using the Control Panel to View Traffic Statistics

Keeping track of the traffic statistics of your website is absolutely imperative, especially when considering all of the variable that exist when trying to optimize your site for future visitors. In order to know what to focus on, you have to know what is working. Without a solid outlook on the progress of your site it will be nearly impossible to advance and give the visitors what they want. With in depth traffic analysis you can tell what is hot, and what is not, thereby gaining complete control over the popularity of your site and it’s pages.

There are many ways to track traffic statistics. Sometimes people simply track the amount of clicks that go through a certain link. Other times webmasters use integrated tracking systems within their content management system. But perhaps the easiest and most reliable way to check traffic statistics is to use a site-wide script that is installed and viewed through your web hosting control panel.

Traffic Tracking Scripts

Most web hosts include installation utilities that can be used to install commonly used scripts that enhance the functionality of a site. For example, the Simple Scripts utility lets you install dozens of tools and scripts on your site with ease, such as WordPress. However, many people become confused when they try to install Awstats or Webalizer using Simple Scripts, because it is usually not found in this interface. This is because most web hosting control panels include an entirely different section of the control panel for traffic tracking. This module is called the log section, where all of the site’s statistics are kept.

Installing a Traffic Tracking Script on Your Domains

In the log section of the control panel is a module called “Choose Log Programs” (or something similar, depending on the particular web host). Click on this module and you’ll be brought to a screen in  which you can install Awstats or Webalizer by checking the corresponding check boxes next to each domain name. It is important to realize that traffic statistics will not be enabled for these domains for up to 36 hours, at which point traffic data is generated every 24 hours for the webmaster.

Awstats or Webalizer?

The most recommended traffic tracking script is Awstats, and in recent years Webalizer has really fallen behind in popularity. Awstats is seen as being a better option simply because it provides a more detailed analysis, and allows you to structure reports in a more personalized manner. For example, the user can export monthly, weekly, or daily traffic statistics. Awstats is the premier traffic tracking script available today, and can be found in the control panel of almost every reputable web hosting company.

Awstats presents four main kinds of stats – Unique visitors, visits, page visits, and hits. The unique visitors statistic is the most important as it signifies the amount of people that have visited your website.

Utilizing Video Marketing to Optimize Search Engine Results

Video content sites like YouTube are quickly becoming the most popular platforms for content sharing and information awareness. Using video to market for website is a great opportunity to increase the exposure of your online business and a fantastic way to increase the the search engine ranking for your site. When using a search engine to browse the internet a video will usually take the top spot in the results. What follows is an example of how one can reach the top of the search engines with no monetary obligations in a short period of time.

How to Increase the Popularity of Your Website Using Video

As is common knowledge, the popularity of a website has much impact on the search engine results. The more well known a website is, the more people will link to it, higher numbers of links will in turn yield more hits from search engines. Viewing internet marketing in this way almost reminds one of a snowball effect. The more you pile on, the faster the site will take off. One of the best things about video marketing is that people are more likely to watch a video as apposed to reading page after page of information. Added to this the fact that most people are more likely to link to a video than a text page and you can see the obvious advantages of video marketing.

Be Easily Accessible

One of the more common issues with video marketing is the format in which it is done. Many people use Flash software to add video content to their websites. The problem with Flash videos is that they are not easily picked up by search engines. Because of this it is generally recommended that when adding video to your website that a video sharing site like YouTube be used. YouTube offers a different format that is more easily accessed on the web than Flash formats and will increase the odds of being seen.

Using YouTube you can link videos to your website or embed them into the actual page themselves for easy viewing allowing readers to never have to leave your site in order to view the content that they have been searching for. Many YouTube videos are displayed at the top of most search engines and offer great exposure to those seeking it. With good keyword placement it is possible to reach the top of search engines.

Do Not Be Mundane

Most people do not realize that one of the factors of successful search engine utilization is the time spent on your site by visitors. Search engines like Google use advance algorithms to gauge how long each visitor to your website stays on your page. The longer a visitor views your page, the higher the ranking of your website will be with search engines. Knowing this, it is best to try and keep guests to encourage guests of your web page to stay longer periods of time. Using video content will give users something to do while visiting your page. Watching videos, for many people, is often the easier softer alternative to actually reading page upon page of information. Adding videos to your website will encourage browsers to stay longer periods of time and thus increase the ranking of your site.

Telehouse America Expands to China

Telehouse America has recently announced their expansion of data centers into China. Their Shanghai center will be their 39^th globally. The opening of this data center represents a continuous global expansion covering 10 countries throughout 21 regions. Telehouse is a segment of the KDDI Corporation, a leader in international telecommunications services and colocation facilities.

The Location of the Data Center

The Shanghai center will be located in the Pudong District which is the central commercial and financial hub of the whole country. This was a collaboration with Shanghai Data Solutions Co. Ltd. The location is a perfect access point for many major corporations located in the area.

The Data Center

This data center greatly surpasses industry standards to meet the needs of global business or all sizes. It’s equipped with the best power system’s with multiple layers of redundancy from different sources including power supplies, substations, uninterrupted power supplies and backup generators. This equipment is geared to guarantee the most impressive uptime ratings.

In addition to top notch power features, the data center will incorporate fire sensing equipment, multiple security levels including 24/7 security guards, video surveillance, metal detectors and facility access cards through numerous security gates. Also, the center will have multiple telecommunication providers. These include China Telecom and China Unicom. This allows for the most robust and accessible network.

The Shanghai Data Center is the best-in-class for providing preventative equipment for the most secure and effective connectivity options available. This will allow both domestic and global customers to feel at ease. Telehouse will reinforce their Total Solution package by providing the best customer satisfaction in addition to setting the standard of operational excellence regardless of location.

Given that most of the customers of the Shanghai Data Center are international, they must offer the best features of every area. Telehouse’s commitment to excellence has not gone unnoticed as many major corporations have chosen to call the Shanghai Data Center their home.

As informational technology business needs continue to change and develop, data centers are popping up across the globe offering the best equipment available. Each location continues to top the others become the best-in-class. With so much vital information available on the internet, these precautionary measures are a must.

Telehouse is greatly expanding across the globe and proving that geographic location has no effect on connectivity and telecommunication issues. The world is truly becoming boundary less.

.CO Domains Gaining Momentum and Google Support

There are currently over 280 domain TLDs, or extensions, available for web sites. Most of these domains are country codes that are used to denote a specific geographical location of the web site. For example, .co.uk is used for sites that are based in the United Kingdom. Even though most people are familiar with .com domains, as these are the most popular kinds of domains. However, if you missed your chance to get the .com domain of your dreams, there us still hope, as you may be able to grab a new .co domain. These new domains are sweeping the net since there global release on July 20^th, 2010 and are expected to become a popular alternative to .com domains.

Who Can Register .CO Domains?

Fortunately, anyone in the world can register a .CO domain, as long as you have the money to cover the registration costs. .CO domain names can also be transferred to other people with ease, which facilitates an easy transition should a sale occur. At the moment, as of July 2010, only 10 accredited domain name registrars are bale to directly distribute .CO domains, however there are plethora of resellers that are also selling .CO domains for profit.

The Advantages of the .CO TLD

The primary advantage of the .CO TLD is its memorability, which stems form the fact that it only has two letters, and is pronounced as CO, as in “company,” or
“corporation.” Even though the domain name was created as the country code for Columbia, it is now being marketed on a global level as an alternative .com domains, which now dominate the internet. Google has now officially enabled International targeting, thus .CO is now able to rank as well as other TLD, such as .com and .org.

In ten years, the trend may be reversed, with .CO domains taking over the internet within the next decade. The new .CO domains are cheap, professional, and unique, so they are expected to catch on during the next few years as more people learn about their existence. In short, .CO is recognizable, credible and highly desirable in today’s incredibly competitive internet marketplace.

What are .CO Domains Used For?

.CO domain can be used for any legitimate purpose and there are no limitations that specify what .CO domains can and can’t be used for. The .co domain was created in 1991, however the domain extension was not considered for commercial use until 2001, when a Columbian University theorized that the domain could be marketed as an alternative to the popular .com domains.

Conclusion

If you are tired of trying to find suitable .com domain names then you may want to consider the benefits of being a .CO pioneer. These new domains are being sold on a first-come first-serve basis, which means the sooner you jump on the bandwagon, the better chance you have of obtaining a very valuable domain name.

Top Five Drawbacks to Shared Hosting Services

Although shared hosting is the most popular type, there are also many drawbacks which cause hosting customers to look elsewhere. With other types of hosting available such as dedicated hosting, multiple domain hosting and co-location hosting, customers have many options.

Depending on the need of the customer, shared hosting might be a good choice. On the other hand, as sites expand and consume more storage and bandwidth, the move from a shared hosting service might be the best choice.

The top five drawbacks include:

1. A reduced level of security
2. Limited resources
3. Website can go offline if too resource intensive
4. Lack of permission to install programs and software
5. Lower quality

One of the primary drawbacks of shared hosting is a reduction in the level of security offered by the provider. Since the server is shared with numerous other websites, the risk of security threats greatly increases. Although there are measures to decrease security issues, the server has a greater chance at being a target which decreases uptime.

Another concern for customers is the availability of resources. As the site is first created, the basic hosting plan offers plenty of storage and bandwidth. However, as the site and other sites on the server grow, they require more resources. If a website develops a good deal of traffic, it affects all other sites on the server since the resources are shared.

This often leads to receiving a restricted service message. If a website is too resource intensive, due to the number of other sites on the server, it could become deactivated and go offline. This is extremely detrimental to business.

Additionally with shared services comes a lack of permission to install programs and software. The server is run by a company so they usually don’t grant the authority to install any program. Each program can affect their other customers linked to that server.

Finally, another significant issue with shared hosting services is the lower quality offered to the customer. There will be more problems than other types of hosting due to the fact that everything is shared. This also will significantly decrease the speed of the connection, especially during high traffic periods.

Although shared hosting services are the preferred method because they offer extremely inexpensive packages; this isn’t the only reason to choose a host. There are many drawbacks to this method of hosting that can have a significant effect on business.

What is the Google Sandbox?

The Google Sandbox (also known as aging delay) is the theory that new website rankings are temporarily reduced placing them into what is known as the sandbox. Release of these websites out of the sandbox can take days, weeks, or even months; placing various new websites at an extreme disadvantage to the competition.

Why does this occur?

One of the primary reasons for new sites into the sandbox is due to blackhat practices. These include creating duplicate content, keyword stuffing and bulk purchasing of links. All of which optimize a website, but do not create a targeted search.

The result of these fake sites falling within page one or two page rank is an overall decline in the quality of search engine results. Consequently Google potentially places a restriction to weed these sites out and remain organized so users can find the exact information they’re searching for.

Limiting the Sandbox Effect

As a new webmaster, it can be detrimental to business to immediately be placed in the Google Sandbox. Luckily there are a few methods that can help for a decent page ranking. These techniques include:

• Buying expired domains
• Proper planning
• Don’t concentrate on popular keywords
• Create quality content that relates to the website

Buy expired domains

If you purchase an old or expired domain, Google will be less likely to place it in the sandbox since it has been used before. This can be a huge advantage when conducting business in a niche area as the need to be the first to market is tremendously important.

Proper planning

Publishing a few pages at a time as opposed to the whole site at once can be advantageous. Google will see these and slowly begin to index them. As time passes and the website reaches completion, there will already be many pages indexed.

Don’t concentrate on popular keywords

Although the site will be indexed, it’s unlikely to be in the first couple of pages by utilizing popular keywords. Consequently, utilizing less-popular keywords will result in the website ranking in the first few pages due to less competition.

Create quality content and gather good links

High-quality, new, relevant content combined with good links from reputable sources will significantly help with page rank. By gradually building links, the site could consistently rank at the top after a period of time. Links from .gov, .mil and .edu do not get filtered by Google and are excellent sources.

Although Google Sandbox can hinder a new business, it’s not the end of the world. There are plenty of other search engines available while time passes to index a website at Google. With time, patience and good search engine optimization methods, your website could be at the top of the list in no time.