Web Hosting, Web Hosting Reviews & Virtualization
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Many websites running WordPress use the well-known Thesis Framework. Thesis is developed by Chris Pearson of DIY Themes. Thesis is sort of a WordPress Theme, but it is really a Framework that puts your WordPress website into overdrive. It allows for extensive SEO (Search Engine Optimization) configuration way beyond of what you can do with WordPress by itself. [Read more…] about Thesis 1.8.4 is available and why you should get it now
Google Adwords is one of the most advanced methods of online advertising. Google has tweaked this advertising program to be a beast if used properly. However, you usually lose some money before seeing success with this method of advertising. For one, if you are new to Google Adwords you should definitely start reading up on it. You can lose a fortune if you do not know how use Google Adwords. I highly recommend this book written by Brad Geddes. I have my own copy of it and I consider it the ultimate Guide for Google Adwords. [Read more…] about Advertising on Google Adwords
Let’s face it. Web hosting is an extremely competitive market to be in business in. If you want to drive traffic to your new web hosting business website, you can start hoping for a miracle. It ain’t gonna happen fast. Think search engine optimization and you’ll be dealing with websites in business for over 10 years that occupy all the main keywords. You could try to find keywords that cover small niches, but the volume will be low and you are left in the dark for a long time. Link building is extremely difficult and dangerous since Google is cracking down on this formerly so successful SEO tool.
One option you have however, is PPC marketing (pay per click marketing). This is not an easy one to master, but in the long run you might have a good shot at driving solid and targeted traffic to your website. PPC marketing is difficult though and if you are not well trained in the necessary skills you are going to lose a lot of money really fast.
I am doing PPC marketing for quite a while now and I am still learning new skills every day. One Adwords Mentoring program that has helped me is PPC Coach. PPC Coach is a pay per click training and mentoring program that teaches you many skills + allows you to communicate with some of the smartest affiliates out there. It is not specifically targeted towards web hosting, but that is not that important as the majority of the skills and tips apply across the board (bidding strategies, landing page structure and so on). PPC Coach has helped me a lot and I am active in niches I never thought about because they are so darn competitive.
If you are thinking to use Pay per Click marketing to drive traffic to your web hosting website, I recommend PPC Coach for several reasons. For one, this is a fairly inexpensive PPC mentoring program (approx. $50 USD per month). It’s not a scammy ebook or so – you can actually communicate with the coach and many affiliates and learn from them. There are handson example and you can have your own stuff being reviewed – be it in semi-public (PPC Coach forums are only open for paying members) or be it in private by the PPC coach or other successful affiliates. PPC Coach comes with a ton of tools that are free to use for paying members. This helps tremendously to jump start your PPC activities. There is guideance and the PPC mentoring program moves from fairly easy to more difficult PPC options.
Like I said this is not specifically PPC marketing for web hosting, but there is no such program for that anyway. PPC Coach teaches you skills that work in many markets – including the web hosting field. It’s not an ebook from some unknown super Guru, but from somebody you can actually talk to.
How To Make Your Website More Successful? (Part II)
by: Christoph Puetz
In part I of our series of how to make your website more successful we already showed you some important tricks to build a more successful website. This time we are going to expand the scope a little to further improve your website and to make it work harder for you on the Internet.
About The Author
Christoph Puetz is a successful small business owner (Net Services USA LLC) and international author.
Guides, Tutorials, and Articles for small businesses – http://www.smallbusinessland.com
How To Make Your Website More Successful? (Part I)
by: Christoph Puetz
Building a website and getting it online is easy. Driving visitors to it is the more difficult part. Most people are not patient enough when it comes to build up traffic. They expect thousands of visitors a week after they go live with their website. But that is not how it works. We share some secrets of how to make your website more successful.
About The Author
Christoph Puetz is a successful small business owner (Net Services USA LLC) and international author.
Guides, Tutorials, and Articles for small businesses – http://www.smallbusinessland.com
The Proper Way To Use The robot.txt File
by: Jimmy Whisenhunt
When optimizing your web site most webmasters don’t consider using the robot.txt file. This is a very important file for your site. It let the spiders and crawlers know what they can and can not index. This is helpful in keeping them out of folders that you do not want index like the admin or stats folder.
Here is a list of variables that you can include in a robot.txt file and there meaning:
Here are some examples of a robot.txt file
User-agent: * Disallow:
The above would let all spiders index all content.
Here another
User-agent: * Disallow: /cgi-bin/
The above would block all spiders from indexing the cgi-bin directory.
User-agent: googlebot Disallow: User-agent: * Disallow: /admin.php Disallow: /cgi-bin/ Disallow: /admin/ Disallow: /stats/
In the above example googlebot can index everything while all other spiders can not index admin.php, cgi-bin, admin, and stats directory. Notice that you can block single files like admin.php.
About The Author
Jimmy Whisenhunt is the webmaster at VIP Enterprises http://www.vipenterprises.org
Submitting your Web Site to Free Directories
by: Adrian Kennelly
Submitting your website to the various online directories is an important part of any Link Popularity campaign. Whilst your traffic from many directories may be minor or irrelevant, relevant incoming links to your website will help in your overall search engine link popularity.
Other than Yahoo!, which is quite frankly beyond the reach of many smaller websites, paying for your directory submission can be a waste of money. You can get just as good a resultfrom submitting to free directories, or those that are free with a reciprocal link. If the directory is exceptionally good, the cost is low, and your directory ranking will be improved by paying a fee, do so if you wish. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend you pay for what you can get free elsewhere.
To start with on your submission campaign, in my opinion it is better to submit to those directories that will allow you to easily modify your listing. That way, you can correct mistakes and get your campaign down pat before submitting to directories that don’t allow you to logon and modify your submission, thus saving yourself from wasting or reducing in value your efforts in those directories.
What Directories to Submit To
The best are Search Engine Friendly directories (those that actually have your site URL listed at some point, rather than outlinks that are simply code). Some will ask for a reciprocal link, some will not. One list of non-reciprocal directories is at http://info.vilesilencer.com/main.php?rock=seo-friendly.php. Opinion at the moment is suggesting that non-reciprocal or one-way links are better, although any relevant link is useful. Directories that encode their links are mostly useful for traffic if their Alexa Ranking is high enough. Directories that do not encode outgoing links will help your website’s Search Engine Ranking.
Deep Linking
It can be worth linking to other pages on your site other than your main page. Before doing this, make sure that the directory you are submitting to permits you to both submit URLs other than your home page (some only allow top level submission), and for the same site to be submitted to different categories (not all directories permit what are essentially multiple submissions of the same website). This will work especially if you have online tools or directories (such as your links page) on your site that are useful and relevant to add to other directory categories.
Choose the Relevant Directory Category
Most directories will have many categories you can submit your site to. Decide on the one that is most relevant, preferably a keyword that you are aiming for high search engine ranking in, and try to submit to the same or similar category in every directory, at least for your main page (also see Deep Linking below). This will increase the ranking of your site relating to the keyword chosen.
Submit to Different Categories
If the directory allows multiple submissions, and your website is relevant in several categories, submit to all the relevant categories you can. This will increase the number of incoming links to your website. Again, carefully check the terms of any directory before trying this to make sure it is permitted.
Write Title
Write the title for your website. Try to include a keyword you are aiming for ranking in in the title, but make the use of it appropriate, don’t just bang a keyword in for the sake of it; you could get your site submission rejected.
Write Description
Describe your website in a way that will attract visitors. The length of your description will vary from directory to directory, but most will be under 250 characters. Some will allow up to 1,000 characters, and in those cases write the most comprehensive description of your site and its features that you can. It is a good idea to write several descriptions of different lengths, say from under 50 characters for a brief overview, to around 150 characters for a fuller description, up to 250 characters for a yet more comprehensive listing, and finally a full description as previously mentioned for over 250 characters. Keep your listing pertinent to your website, insert keywords where relevant and appropriate, but do not just submit a keyword listing, as most directories will reject your submission. Save all your descriptions in a text file, and just copy & paste into the descriptions boxes when needed rather than typing the same descriptions out again and again.
Choose Keywords
Again, as with the description mentioned above, the amount of keywords you can use will vary from directory to directory. Some will not give the option, some will allow you numbers of keywords, whilst others go by numbers of characters. Make a list of all relevant keywords for your site, from most important to least, and basically keep adding keywords until either you get to the bottom of your list (unlikely unless your list is really short) or you run out allowed characters/keywords. Check what keywords your competitors are going for if you need inspiration. This can often be done by viewing the source of a web page and checking the META tags. Again, save your keywords to a text file.
Keep Track of Your Progress
Keep a careful record of what directories you have submitted to, and your progress. It is far too easy to totally lose track of what you are doing, which does not help your linking campaign at all. The best way is by using a spreadsheet, such as Excel, to keep track of your campaign. At a minimum, you need to keep track of the following: Directory URL, Directory Name, Date Submitted, User Login & Password for those directories that allow you to alter your details and Response (accepted/declined). Other categories can include: Directory Alexa Ranking, Directory Page Rank (this will be for the home page only), Referral URL (if the directory will improve your ranking for referring visitors) and any Notes. If you are using the deep linking and multiple submissions strategies above, also keep track of what other pages you have submitted to each directory. Make a seperate entry for each URL submitted. For example, your spreadsheet columns could go as follows: Directory Name, Direc!
tory URL, URL Submitted, Referral URL, Login, Password, Alexa Ranking, Page Rank, Date Submitted, Response. I would advise keeping the list in alphabetical order, rather than order submitted, as that way you can check more easily whether or not you have submitted to a particular directory.
About The Author
Adrian Kennelly is the webmaster of http://www.directorygold.com, a web directory & portal page featuring free email, article directory http://www.directorygold.com/more/article/index.php, Google PR & link popularity checker http://www.directorygold.com/more/pr.php and search engine keyword ranking checker http://www.directorygold.com/more/serp.php.
Effectiveness of Web Hosting Directories (WHDs)
by: Priyanka Agarwal
John is very happy today, for the first time in his life he has created his very own website. Now he is looking for a web host so that he can put his identity on the net. Casually he asks his friend Mac about it. Mac tells him that web-hosting directories are the best place to look for a web host. Getting curious John then asks Mac what exactly a Web Hosting Directory is. Mac responds that web hosting directories are a web hosting marketplace where prospective hosts list their products, plans, prices and other important information so that according to their requirements, customers can choose a suitable plan. Along with the details, it also contains web hosts’ rankings. John is now extremely happy as his dream is finally going to come to fruition. Like John, there are many beginners who are in search of a reliable web host and come across web hosting directories. Here a new question arises: Are these web hosting directories really trustworthy sources for novices like John? !
To find an answer it’s very important to understand the working of WHDs.
Basically web-hosting directories are of two types: paid WHDs and free WHDs. For paid directories, either web hosts pay a set amount for placing their banners on the site, or they pay commission if they get customers via that medium. On the other hand, free WHDs like www.askwebhosting.com and www.hostbyte.com etc. web hosts list their services without paying any fees.
Some people believe that paid WHDs are very easy to manipulate as the ranking of web hosts can be changed in unfair ways. Others have the view that WHDs that are actually free reflect the true ranking of web hosts companies. Whatever the case may be, paid or free, people should believe the web hosts rankings only if they are based completely on votes of customers who have actually given their remarks and have left their website address as well.
It is not possible for any web hosting company to have 100% positive reviews. It is also observed that at times customers who are satisfied with their web host forget to express their opinion about that host. However, a biased customer who is not satisfied with their web host does not forget to mention their opinion of that web host. This implies that a negative review doesn’t always reflect the true picture of a web host company.
No doubt web hosting directories are very useful if the newbie like John wants to compare prices and features of different companies. But, when it comes to choosing a web host he/she should make an intelligent choice by referring to other resource sites (forums etc.) as well.
About The Author
Priyanka Agarwal
http://www.m6.net
danielp@m6.net
Sometimes you need a kick start to get of the ground when promoting your new business website. Use these 11 tips to get started. A combination of several tips will most likely guarantee return visitors on your website. Return visitors most likely mean more sales.
Get PHP pages indexed in the Search engines
A simple method to convert files from Php to Html Extensions, on an Apache Server
Most will agree Php has become the common language for creating dynamic Websites. Although the language is simple and efficient, developers are finding trouble getting traffic to their Php site. It is believed by many educated Search Engine Optimization Specialists that spiders do not read beyond the, “.php,” on a URL. Therefore, dynamic pages that pass a variable will be overlooked. For example, on a PHP directory, variables may be passed to a file as, “index.php?category=x”. In this instance, the category specified as “x” will not be read or indexed by Search Engines. Spiders will open the parent page (index.php). This is supported by the belief that nothing is read beyond the “?”, thus making all category links, “index.php”.
While many dynamic Websites still receive modest traffic, it may be in a developers’ best interest to allow some, or all, dynamic pages to be seen as well. Having two pages indexed may not double a sites’ traffic, but it will ensure a noticeable increase. Developers’ can easily overcome this problem, if their Site resides on an Apache Server.
This simple fix will satisfy the problem for a simple script, as in the example above, where one or more Php files are passed variables to perform different functions. Bare in mind, if a Php file only performs one task, this is not required. Files that perform a task without the “?variable=x” being required will be indexed. Therefore, it would be useless to transform them to a Static URL (HTML File).
Identify the Php File Needing to be changed to an Html
First, identify the desired file, or files, that require the change, along with the variables that generate a common page. Generally, this may be, “index.php”. To help readers follow along, I am going to utilize the above Directory example. On our Directory program, we have a main page, “index.php,” which always displays links to Subdirectories. The subdirectories are opened by passing a variable to the index file. For example, a subcategory called, “Arts and Crafts,” is displayed with, “index.php?category=1”. Additional subcategories are displayed with an identical syntax, but the end variable changes. Because of this, we need to modify the way our server opens the index.php file, when a variable is attached.
Next, we need to place a simple .htaccess file in the directory where, “index.php,” is located on the server. The .htaccess file is a simple text file that we name .htaccess. Vdeck users may need to create a file named something.txt, and then rename the file to .htaccess, from the admin panel. Now we need to specify some variables to the server. For this example, I am going to change the, “?category=x,” variable to, “directory-x.html”. This step will eliminate our problem of having the subcategories noticed by Search Engine Spiders.
To start our server variables, we need to create a rewrite engine in the .htaccess file. Simply put our first line will read, “RewriteEngine On”. This tells the server we are changing the way certain files are to be handled. No we need to specify our Rewrite rule. On the next line, “RewriteRule ^directory-([0-9]*).* index.php?category=$1 [L,NC],”. This is delegating, “requests to this directory, where the file is named, “directory-,” followed by a range of 0 to 9, followed by anything (* = Wildcard) and, “dot,” anything (* = Wildcard), we are going to display, “index.php,” file with the variable attached. We can create another rewrite rule on another line of our .htaccess file. However, a meticulous developer likes to test things out before making changes to the actual Php file, or progressing ahead of oneself. We can test our, “RewriteRule,” by opening another browser window and entering, “directory-1.htm or directory-1.html,” into the address bar. We should see the same page displayed as, “index.php?category=1,” is called.
Finally, we want the Search Engine spiders to be able to see our shinning new readable URL that can be indexed. Rather than scurrying around to every search engine and submitting the URL, we are going to open up our Php file for editing. Before this is done, make a copy of each script that is going to be modified. Save the copy to the hard drive in a memorable location. Then identify the different areas of the program that create the links being changed. We don’t want to change things on the back-end, just the front-end. The Php file will still be getting the information as, “index.php?category=x,” from the .htaccess file. We want to change the display part that users to the site see. This is where links are dynamically created on the Php Script. We need to replace, “index.php?category=,” to read, “directory-,” where, “index.php?category=X,” is found and follow behind the variable (x) with, “.html”.
Once the area to be modified is found, check the modification following your changes. If you make a mistake on a script and get ahead of yourself, it may be difficult to fix the problem.