My 2¢ Worth

o you save most of your important files on your computer? You're not alone — most of us do.

'd like to remind you, however, to keep backups of this important information, either on paper or in digital format.

 recently acquired a new client who had built a site and it is hosted somewhere. The problem is that when their computer crashed and burned, they no long have this info. Not the company, nor their user name and password, FTP login or anything else.

ow they want their site hosted elsewhere. Not a problem — I just have to retrieve their files and images out of thin air. I can do that. Performing minor miracles is part of my job. There is another problem though, not so easily solved. They, of course, had no idea who their Domain registrar is nor user name and password for that. Can't change the DNS setting without it.

o problem. A simple Whois search tells me their registrar; now it's just a matter of contacting them and retrieving the lost user name and password. Their registrar doesn't wish to give this info to either myself nor my client.

esson: backup, backup, backup!

Feature Article

Web Hosting - The Internet Marketing Tool

by: Bjorn Hakans Professional web hosting

An important part of doing any kind marketing today is definitely an effective Internet marketing strategy, and for that the first thing you need is reliable web hosting.

I know some people say that you can market this and that without having your own website, but I definitely disagree. Many affiliate programs and various business opportunities offer you "personalized web sites" that you can use without owning you own server space. However, replicated company websites and an often long and cumbersome affiliate link can only take you so far, with thousands of other people using the exact same material.

Another trick, that seems to be really in vogue these days, is people who want to advertise with Google Adsense or Yahoo using your money. Most often they make it sound like this is as easy as it gets, when it comes to making money online as an affiliate.

While Adsense and other pay per click advertising is definitely a viable option, one should remember that it requires thorough keyword research and continuous tracking in order to produce a good ROI. Additionally, according to Google's new Terms of Service, you can't point an AdSense ad directly to an affiliate link - the link must always point to an URL of your own. The very same thing goes for publishing articles in the popular article directories.

Finally, if you have your own company and product, your own high quality server space really is an absolute must these days. However, the big "dot-com bubble" was at least partially caused by people charging obnoxious fees for company websites that actually delivered very little results.

Done right, your online presense doesn't have to be that expensive, while still generating great revenue. The choice of web host is one of the crucial steps in turning your website into a great success.

Points to consider when choosing a hosting company

If you are serious about making it online you definitely need you very own web space, that you can do what you want with. As an affiliate you can, for instance, put up your own websites that offer some unique content to your visitors and pre-sells them on the affiliate product or business opportunity of your choosing. People do not like to be sold, remember - a friend with a genuine recommendation is always more welcome than a stranger with a business pitch.

So how do you choose a web host, then?

In my humble opinion you should be looking for the following:

• Reliability
• Support
• Integrated features
• Price

Exactly in that order. There are many services that provide you hosting space for free, I know, but if you are going to market in a professional manner you definitely need to get professional hosting. Besides, most free webhosts pack YOUR site full with THEIR advertisements.

When you are trying to build credibility with your audience this can easily be fatal.

The webhost I personally have chosen, fulfill the criteria I mentioned above. Their service is extremely reliable and their support is the best I have seen online anywhere - you can call, email or chat live with the friendly support staff 24/7/365.

I can not overemphasize the importance of this, because when working with websites, scripts and things like that, it is not a question of IF you will run into trouble but when. And unless you are a total guru yourself you will need help, the faster the better.

When it comes to features, it is naturally important to be allowed to run scripts like php, cgi, asp etc. Because these are widely used by shopping carts, sequential auto responders and other tools you may need.

Naturally, depending on your business strategy and goals, the features required of your webhost will vary. If you are an affiliate, promoting many different products, you need a web host that will allow you to set up many different domain names on the same server - creating separate web sites containing valuable information for your various target audiences.

If you are going to run a large web shop and/or send out large amounts of email, you should seriously consider investing in a dedicated or virtual server. Shared servers (which means you share a server with several other users) often place limits on how much email and bandwidth you can use per month.

When you have found a suitable web host, that can deliver all of the three first mentioned points according to your needs, you should start looking at prices. As the old saying goes, you generally get what you pay for. However, high quality hosting does not have to cost an arm and a leg these days. There are many excellent web hosts to choose from, and if you shop around a little you will find one that also fits your budget.

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Bjorn Hakans has been doing online marketing for over six years. On his web site, www.build-a-solid-homebusiness.com/WebHosting.html he shows you how to get high quality web hosting practically for free.

Trailing Forward slash

Here is a very simple trick you should employ if you have other sites linking to you, and you want your pages to load as fast as they can. It's a very simple trick, but not many people realize the logic behind it. The object is to make sure your links have a trailing forward slash on your URL, unless you are targeting a specific page. Here's what I mean:

http://www.yoursite.com/shop/

Note the final forward slash on this URL. This tells the server that shop is a directory, and not a file. If you don't use that final forward slash, the server will go through its entire directory tree searching for a file named shop. When it doesn't find that file, it assumes you really meant to find the default file associated with that directory, commonly index.html, or default.php, etc. By using a forward slash on directories, you save the server from redundant work, and pages will load faster.

This is especially important if you run your own server, and if you have many other sites linking to you. Get into the habit of using final forward slashes on your directory URLs.

* Get these syndicated tip feeds for yourweb site, free. *

Second Article

Software Teaches Your Computer New Tricks

by: Nora Tulley-Gears

It's likely that even people who don~t have computers have heard the word software. The reality is that almost every American home now has a PC. Software is an integral part of your computer's make-up. You can look at the motherboard and components as the skeleton and the software would be its nervous and muscular system. Without software, the PC would not even boot up.

Programs are running inside your computer at all times that it is on. The first program is always going to be your operating system, or OS. Microsoft Windows is the most common, Linux is also used and Macintosh's OS for Mac owners. These operating systems are both similar but will vary slightly. In the end, they give you the same result; allowing your computer to boot and all basic functions to work. The basics that will come with most computers aside from the OS are a word processing program (such as MS Word), a paint program, games and accessories (such as Solitaire and a calculator).

Aside from your basic software, there are many other types. There's software to assist you in designing web pages, graphic design and even for architecture. There is software to help you with your budget and other finances. You will find software that is designed for fun and entertainment, such as games. Gaming software involves many categories and topics designed for all ages. Many of your popular console games can be found with versions for the PC. You will find software games for toddlers and for adults.

Basically anything you use your computer for will need software. If you buy spyware or adware removal, games, or any program for your computer it will often come with a software disc to download. If you have the internet, you likely had to use software to get the internet browser to work on your computer. Some computers come with this software already installed but either way, software is required.

You will see when you buy a new software program that it comes with a registration code. This is due to hackers and peer-to-peer software sharing. A person could buy a program and share it with people they know or even with other folks on the internet. This type of piracy is illegal but hard to catch. Software companies were losing money from this type of software sharing and had to safeguard against lost sales and profits.

The market for developing software is large. One of the ways to make money online is to create your own software and sell it. That can be very profitable as long as you have a method to promote it. Creating a product that is so unique that it becomes viral - in other words, software that people will share with everyone they know because it is such a time-saver is something to consider as you develop the software and you could be on your way to riches!

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