web hosting

Tips to Apply to Free Hosting

If you have been considering a free web hosting service for your website needs, you may want to think twice and prepare yourself to deal with pop-ups, pop-unders, third-party banner advertisements and other annoying elements.  You also have to keep in mind that common features such as PHP programming, MySQL databases, CGI scripts and FTP access may not be available.

You can embark upon a mission to look for a quality free web hosting service with no advertisements and useful features, but you will likely return disappointed once your search has concluded.  While you can never really expect any guarantees when it comes to free hosting, knowing what to expect will better assure that you do not end up with a terrible service.

Understand How Free Hosting Works

There are more than enough free web hosting providers to go around.  Unfortunately, most of them force you to place advertisements on your site or only provide you with the free service for a limited time.  Some do set you up with a quality service in exchange for carrying banners while others leave you to run your site on slow and insufficient servers.  In some cases, these servers fail to respond at all, leaving you with a website that is essentially useless.  So, if the service is impractical, how do free hosting companies make enough money to survive?

More and more, we are seeing free web hosts keeping themselves afloat by persuading their customers to sign up for paid hosting plans.  If they can provide a good service, this actually turns out to be a fair deal.  Premium hosting services are very affordable these days so purchasing service with a company you trust could prove to be worth your while.   The major downside is that even when upgrading to a paid service, your package could still end up lacking features that are commonly found on the professional hosting market.  For example, you just might have to pay extra for items such as FrontPage extensions and FTP support.  So even when you purchase service from a free web host, you still have to make sure you are getting your money’s worth.

Secure Your Web Presence

Should you find yourself in a situation where you must rely on a free web hosting service because of financial restrictions, there are a few things you can do to protect your website and identity.  First, you can register yourself a domain name with a reputable company such as GoDaddy or Yahoo.  Domain names are pretty cheap these days and only cost about $10 to $12 per year.  Before registering the name, look out for domain features such as a control panel and URL forwarding.  This will provide you with the ability to redirect your domain and change the destination to where ever you prefer.  So if your free web host folds and goes out of business or things simply are not working out, you can point the name somewhere else and move your website right along with it.

Layer Technologies Breaks Through on Inc. 5000

Many companies are struggling during the recession, but you couldn’t tell by viewing a certain list featuring a comprehensive look at 5,000 of the nation’s top-performing privately owned firms.

Based in Plano, Texas, web hosting provider Layer Technologies, Inc., just added another accolade to its long list of honors by ranking number 622 in Inc Magazine’s the third annual Inc. 5000.  Thanks to Northern Capital Insurance, the number one company on the list this year, insurance is leading the way as the nation’s leading industry with an average growth rate of a whopping 667%.   Other notable brands representing their respective industries featured on the list include beverage brewing company Honest Tea, rental car service Zipcar and internet powerhouse GoDaddy.

Jim Melloan, Inc. 5,000 project manager, says that the Inc. 5,000 is the best source for learning about new private companies that achieve success through innovative business models and older privately owned corporations that are still profiting and growing at an impressive rate.  Melloan noted that this is the reason investors and other spectators look forward to the list every year.

Layered Technologies made the prestigious Inc. 5,000 list due to its tremendous growth rate of 441% over the past three years.  The firm invests faithfully in research and development to implement the new technologies and features that has helped it remain one of the top 10 global web hosting providers.  Layered Tech evolved from a regionally known dedicated hosting provider to a world-renown web host with a scalable infrastructure that powers a broad range of internet applications and millions of websites.

Many are viewing Inc.’s 2009 list as a report card on the U.S. economy.  In light of the harsh economic climate, aggregate revenue of companies that made the list increased by an estimated $29 billion since 2008, with an average three year growth rate of 126%.  Since its inception, Inc. has played an active hand in creating more than one million jobs, serving as the perfect example of the positive impact fast growing businesses can have on the economy.  You can view the complete results of the Inc. 5000 list by criteria such as industry and region on the Inc.com website.

About Layered Technologies

Founded in 2004, Layered Technologies Inc. is a web hosting provider that specializes in managed hosting, dedicated servers, virtualization, cloud computing and a broad range of additional web services.  Leveraging the best of technology and a world-class infrastructure, the firm delivers the level of support that enables businesses of various sizes to eliminate costly upfront investments and save significantly on operating expense while focusing on the core aspects of their business.  Its highly scalable infrastructure lends its power to millions of websites and a host of web solutions and applications such as SasS (software as a service), SQL Server and content distribution among others.  Boasting one of the largest customer bases in the industry, Layer Technologies clients range from cutting-edge startup companies and thriving medium enterprises to some of the most successful integration and consulting firms in the world.

Park Your Domain or Build a Site – That is the Question

There are numerous ways to make money with a domain name.  Two of the most common methods involve developing a website for business purposes, or parking it for profit.  Which method should you choose?  This article will help you decide.

The Allure Behind Domain Parking

Many ambitious registrants elect to monetize their domain names by parking them on popular sites like GoDaddy and Sedo.  Others build websites that are strictly designed to generate revenue from programs such as Google AdSense.  These type of sites hold little value other than trying to get visitors to click on the AdSense ads.  Why do this instead of developing a real website or blog to go with the domain?  Even though these individuals have all the intentions of turning around and selling the names, most realize that this process usually takes a considerable amount of time.  In fact, it could actually take years for you to sell a single domain.  By parking them, owners can quickly recover their registration costs and also get a shot at steady revenues until that dream sale comes along.

When it Backfires

There is definitely potential in domain name parking, but there also many drawbacks to this method.  Instead of waiting for a big sale that may or may not come, they could be investing their time and effort into developing and marketing that domain through a website.  Of course this takes hard work but as they say, hard work pays off.

More often than not, domain name parkers end up waiting longer they would like, just hoping they miraculously fall into a thousand dollar sale with very little effort.  The ones who thought they were clever by registering multiple domain names with the hopes of parking for profit are usually the most disappointed when things don’t go as planned.

What most domain parkers don’t realize is that a domain’s true value lies in the popularity it builds and the traffic it generates.  The hard truth is that a domain typically does not increase any more in value than when you registered it, regardless of your status within a particular market.  A popular website doesn’t necessarily translate into a million dollar domain name.  This is especially the case when the name is simply sitting there boasting Google ads. Thus, if you are just parking it to get a few clicks for some measly ads, then your domain is only worth a couple of pennies over the price of registration.  This is something you need to take into consideration before you buy into all the prosperous stories about domain name parking.

Your Best Bet

If you can come up with a business plan that includes your domain name, you will have a much better chance of adding to its value.  This means you are generating traffic and bringing in visitors who actually subscribe for a newsletter, join your membership site or buy products or services.  If you really want to sell your domain name for big money, this is the best way to show that it has real business potential.  Even if you have no plans of selling the name at all, you are more likely to profit by putting it to use than letting it sit collecting dust in an overcrowded corner of the net.

Beware of Drop Catchers: Secure Your Domain

While the general concept may seem trivial, domain names are more highly sought after than one would ever imagine.  Because they can be so valuable, people of lower morals devise ways to steal them right from under your nose.  Domains are also lost everyday through a legitimate practice that has been coined as drop catching.  This process involves savvy domain traders who quickly snatch up names that have been expired and either try to sell them, or capitalize off the links associated with the site.  Though domain owners are victimized quite frequently, knowing how the domain registration process works can help you avoid drop catching and keep your precious name safe.

How Names are Lost

As you probably know, domain names can easily be registered with a service such as GoDaddy.  Although they are in great demand, a domain name can be purchased for around $10 a per.  You generally have the option of registering the name for anywhere from one to ten years.  Nearing the end of the registration period, the registrar sends a renewal notice to the domain owner via email.  If the owner doesn’t respond in a certain amount of time, the name is eventually placed back on the market and can then be purchased by anyone else.  Thousands of domains become available each day because the owners fail to renew them.  Others lose their domain names simply because they didn’t realize they were up for renewal.

Domain Registrars Aid the Process

Per the rules set forth by the ICANN, domain registrars are required to notify the domain owner that their name will be removed from the registry 45 days after the expiration date.  Once the name is dropped, the owner generally has a 30 day grace period to reclaim their domain.  After the time has expired, there is another five day period before the name is dropped entirely and goes back on the market.

Over the past few years, domain registrars have used an auction to sell expired domain names.  These auctions bypass the original process by making domains available within a thirty day period.  GoDaddy is one service that starts an auction before the domain names have officially expired.  The company does however, warn bidders that the domain owner still has the option to renew their name.

Domain service providers that aid in the registering of expired domain names offer tools to make these products much easier to find.  For example, many provide frequent updates on available names, recommend auction services, customized searches and tools for those looking to snag expired domain names.  Some offer free software to help you dig deeper for domains on the brink of expiration.

Get Proactive

Drop catching will continue to be a widely used practice as good domains become more scarce and people look to leach traffic from established links.  You can secure the identity of your website and business by knowing the status of your domain name.  The best way to do this is staying aware of the expiration date or selecting an auto-renewal option.  Relying on a registrar presents the risk of never receiving the notification due to a tricky spam filter and losing everything you worked so hard to build.

Six Important Considerations for Domain Name Registration

So,  you have finally decided that you want to make a name for yourself online.  Before you even create the website, it is best to register a domain name first.  As simple as it all sounds, registering a domain is something that calls for careful planning.  Without a strategy, you could end up regretting the chosen name and actually hinder your ability to succeed online.  To avoid those issues, we present you with six critical factors to consider.

Determine the Purpose of Your Site

Before registering a domain name, it makes sense to determine the purpose of your website.  For example, if you are a book distributor and want to sell novels online, you may want to incorporate relative terms into your domain.  If you want to brand your site, come up with something that is unique and can be easily pronounced – Google is a perfect example.

Domain Extension

If at all possible, you want to register your domain name with the popular .com extension.  While this extension is highly recommend, keep in mind that your ideal domain may not be available exactly how you want it.  When this is the case, you should get creative and think of a few combinations that will get you as close to the desired name as possible.  Some options include adding a (-) to the name, although it is not advisable to use more than one.  If you just can’t find that .com, don’t hesitate to use .net or .biz as they make the best alternatives.

Think Keywords

If you want to generate traffic from search engines like Google and Yahoo, it wise to research a few primary keywords relative to your initiative and incorporate them into your domain.  This could possibly boost your search engine rankings and drive in more traffic as well.

Length of Registration

Good domain names are hard to come by.  For this reason, we suggest registering your name for as long possible.  If you prefer to renew each year, be sure to do so on time or you just might lose it to someone else.

Domain Registrars

A domain registrar is what you need to register your domain name.  There are a several registrars to choose from and while they basically offer the same service, you will find that the price tends to range widely.  If you want to save money, you should look into a company that offers free domain registration with the purchase of web hosting service or an inexpensive registrar like GoDaddy.   In general, you should easily be able to find a respectable registrar offering domain registration for $10 or less per year.

Domain Privacy

The last factor you need to consider is the possibility of somebody looking for you on the web.  Anyone can search for domain owners on the WHOIS website.  Depending on what you have going on, you may not want to make this information accessible.  In this case, you could opt for domain privacy which will keep your domain name private on the WHOIS database.  A registrar typically charges an additional fee for this service, but you might find it to be worth the extra costs.