Sunday, January 16, 2011

A2 Hosting Automates Web Hosting Package Selection

Linux web hosting company A2 Hosting (http://www.a2hosting.com) has just made their customers’ lives much easier thanks to the launch of their brand new Hosting Package Selection Wizard (http://www.a2hosting.com/services/help-me-choose). Customers who use the Wizard are given an immediate hosting package recommendation after answering four short questions about their expected resource needs.

This new feature can be found on the A2 Hosting homepage under the appropriately named "Help Me Choose" tab. It will select a package recommendation for the customer amongst A2 Hosting’s web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting or dedicated hosting services. Visitors can make their purchase directly on the site after receiving the recommendation.

CEO Bryan Muthig commented on A2 Hosting’s new Hosting Package Selection Wizard: ”We make a concerted effort to keep our website as easy to use as possible. Our exclusive new feature is as helpful to web hosting experts as it is to brand new users. It takes a total of 60 seconds or less to answer its questions and to receive a hosting package recommendation. Choosing a hosting package has never been easier.”


About A2 Hosting:
A2 Hosting, Inc. is a Linux based web hosting company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A2 Hosting provides their customers with real support. Their range of services include affordable, developer friendly website hosting for personal homepages up to full service solutions for businesses of all sizes. A2 Hosting supports a wide range of internet technologies including PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby on Rails, MySQL, PostgreSQL and many more.

The Hosting News Re-Launches Social Media Friendly Site

Web hosting information resource, The Hosting News website, has been newly redesigned by parent and development company, TechPad Agency.

The Hosting News produces daily news and information about Internet and small business related topics, including web hosting, dedicated web hosting server reviews, data center information, reseller web hosting comparisons, virtual private server tutorials, tutorials and articles.

In addition, TheHostingNews.com for the iPhone™ or iPod® touch is designed to provide mobile access with free, full feature story access to all of the useful current web hosting news and information available, from the web hosting resource’s full feed. Get the App for free at http://itunes.thehostingnews.com/

When asked about the new design process, President, Ben Fisher explained, ”It has been a great experience, though quite challenging. Our team decided to investigate the best ways that we could optimize the site without sacrificing usability. The new design is more modern and much better represents The Hosting News’ position in the market. A number of team members were involved in various stages of the process and we are extremely pleased with the final results.”

The Hosting News is a web partner for many of the top hosting and affiliate brands in the industry. Over the past decade, TechPad Agency’s SEO and Internet marketing services client base has grown markedly. The company specializes in Internet marketing expertise with focused, tailored solutions that translate business objectives into successful web strategies and presences.

Dan White, TechPad Agency’s CFO remarked, ”While assessing the new information architecture and interface for the site, our developers found that a hybrid solution allowed us to incorporate search engine friendly HTML. The ease offered by the state-of-the-art publishing solution, WordPress, gives us the best aesthetics, web standards and usability. Ultimately, those features provide the most beneficial web user experience.”

TechPad Agency’s Online Marketing Division works closely with clients, developing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns and tailored web marketing services, such as targeted online advertising and consulting.

Brent Oxley from HostGator said “It’s always nice to see that that sites covering the hosting industry are doing well and continuing to stay active. The redesign of TheHostingNews.com shows the site is doing both of those things and will continue to be a go to news source for our industry.”

Based in Avondale, Arizona, TechPad Productions is the multi-platform development division of TechPad Agency. TechPad Agency also owns and operates gaming industry resource, The Game Reviews. TechPad Productions’ iPhone app development projects include its award-winning board game creation: ServerMania. Originally developed as a promotional piece for the 2007 HostingCon trade show, the game has been recognized by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA),with a gold Davey Award as one of the best, most innovative promotional pieces in the ”Print and Collateral” category.

Discountdomainsuk.com Opens Exciting Discounts On Web Hosting And Other Services

Halesfield 8,Telford–November 16,2009 –Establishing a web presence provides benefits for businesses and individuals so newly added enhancements to the services at DiscountDomainsUK.com will further increase those advantages. As one of the leading domain registration services in the United Kingdom, the site already offers affordable web hosting but now they will offer site building assistance, too.

The DIY Sitebuilder added to the site’s services provides customers with an easier and more affordable method of creating a site. The site builder features more than 400 different templates, a library of available images, and a wizard-system to guide inexperienced users through the process with minimal difficulties. This service comes free with any web hosting package purchased through the company. Customers wanting a more complex or unique site can purchase affordable web site design services through the company, as well.

In addition to the site builder feature, DiscountDomainsUK.com recently reduced the prices on web hosting packages. A £10 discount applies to the Bronze and Silver packages; the Gold package now costs £100 less per year. The Gold package includes multiple SQL databases for ecommerce sites while all of the packages include email addresses, space on the server, and reasonable bandwidth amounts.

Dedicated servers will also be available in the near future through the company. Monthly contracts, low set-up fees, and 24/7 customer support via email or chat come with these dedicated server packages.

Customers can register their desired domain names for two to ten years. Individuals can register international top level domains and co.uk domains through the service. Other services include search engine submission and POP3 email.

Press release written and distributed by Content Axis (www.eContentAxis.com)

About DiscountDomainsUK.com

DiscountDomainsUK.com offers web hosting and domain registration services primarily to customers in the United Kingdom. The site launched in 2002. Since 2007, the company has been an ICANN registrar meaning they can do direct domain registration for customers. Centrally located in Telford Shropshire, the company prides itself on customer service and its full-range of services.

Web Hosting Q and A: LeaseWeb

Countries with upcoming economies are very important to LeaseWeb. At this moment LeaseWeb is focusing on markets like Spain, Italy, Russia, Turkey and Eastern European countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. Mainly because they have upcoming economies with an underdeveloped Internet infrastructure and a definite need for high quality Internet presence.

In Turkey, for example, the importance of Internet presence is even pushed by the government. There are billboards on the sides of the roads saying ‘Internet is the vitamin for your children’, and Turkish companies are currently required to have a domain name and an email address.

LeaseWeb’s appeal in countries with emerging markets has an obvious reason. Internet connections in those areas are still not comparable to those in Amsterdam. Connections in Amsterdam are faster and far more stable. In addition, LeaseWeb’s network, with its capacity of more than 750 Gigabits per second, is very attractive to those countries.

TH: Tell us about the typical clients you encounter.

CZ: Most of LeaseWeb’s clients are professional customers like system integrators, Web designers, hosting resellers and Web developers. For them it means they have a highly stable and accessible Web environment to sell in the Eastern European market. We have quite a number of customers in those markets for whom it’s easy to sell their services on top of our basic Web hosting building blocks, with unique selling points like ‘Amsterdam’, ‘LeaseWeb network’, and ‘AMS-IX, DE-CIX and LINX peering connections’.

TH: Do companies from North America have misconceptions about approaching the European market?

CZ: First, there are misconceptions towards the range of continents you can serve out of one specific location. In theory, as a North American hosting company you can deliver hosting services to European clients with good fiber connections to the European continent only. For latency purposes, however, some clients, usually the larger and more corporate ones, might ask you for local European presence in terms of data center facilities and network capacity.

For this reason, Wikimedia, as an example chose to have local presence in Europe. They came to LeaseWeb for their European Internet traffic and got a capacity of 2 Gigabit per second in LeaseWeb’s European network. Apart from that they have local European data center presence. Wikimedia not only houses 300 servers in a data center facility in Florida, they also have more than 50 servers in the data center of EvoSwitch in the Amsterdam region.

Lots of misconceptions (surround) the cultural differences in communication customs however. The hosting business especially is a business where lots of transactions are done on a distance and without any face-to-face contact. This makes the process of selling hosting services even more difficult. You always have to be aware that speaking the same language on the telephone does not always imply that you understand each other.

Web Hosting Q and A: LeaseWeb

Countries with upcoming economies are very important to LeaseWeb. At this moment LeaseWeb is focusing on markets like Spain, Italy, Russia, Turkey and Eastern European countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. Mainly because they have upcoming economies with an underdeveloped Internet infrastructure and a definite need for high quality Internet presence.

In Turkey, for example, the importance of Internet presence is even pushed by the government. There are billboards on the sides of the roads saying ‘Internet is the vitamin for your children’, and Turkish companies are currently required to have a domain name and an email address.

LeaseWeb’s appeal in countries with emerging markets has an obvious reason. Internet connections in those areas are still not comparable to those in Amsterdam. Connections in Amsterdam are faster and far more stable. In addition, LeaseWeb’s network, with its capacity of more than 750 Gigabits per second, is very attractive to those countries.

TH: Tell us about the typical clients you encounter.

CZ: Most of LeaseWeb’s clients are professional customers like system integrators, Web designers, hosting resellers and Web developers. For them it means they have a highly stable and accessible Web environment to sell in the Eastern European market. We have quite a number of customers in those markets for whom it’s easy to sell their services on top of our basic Web hosting building blocks, with unique selling points like ‘Amsterdam’, ‘LeaseWeb network’, and ‘AMS-IX, DE-CIX and LINX peering connections’.

TH: Do companies from North America have misconceptions about approaching the European market?

CZ: First, there are misconceptions towards the range of continents you can serve out of one specific location. In theory, as a North American hosting company you can deliver hosting services to European clients with good fiber connections to the European continent only. For latency purposes, however, some clients, usually the larger and more corporate ones, might ask you for local European presence in terms of data center facilities and network capacity.

For this reason, Wikimedia, as an example chose to have local presence in Europe. They came to LeaseWeb for their European Internet traffic and got a capacity of 2 Gigabit per second in LeaseWeb’s European network. Apart from that they have local European data center presence. Wikimedia not only houses 300 servers in a data center facility in Florida, they also have more than 50 servers in the data center of EvoSwitch in the Amsterdam region.

Lots of misconceptions (surround) the cultural differences in communication customs however. The hosting business especially is a business where lots of transactions are done on a distance and without any face-to-face contact. This makes the process of selling hosting services even more difficult. You always have to be aware that speaking the same language on the telephone does not always imply that you understand each other.

Webhosting.uk.com Hosting Review

WebHosting UK (webhosting.uk.com) are a UK based hosting company that have all I like to see when considering hosting for wordpress. Even with their shared hosting package they have cpanel control panel equipped with Fantastico for the pain free one click install of the latest version of Wordpress as well as other open source applications such as php forums, Drupal and Joomla.

One stand out feature – especially useful for developers and affiliates is that you can host unlimited domains even on their cheapest Linux hosting shared packages. A dedicated IP (said to be good for SEO purposes) can be added to the Linux hosting as an optional extra. The data centres they use are in The UK as is the head office and support which is normally a good thing. When looking at hosting reviews, most negatives are about offshore or ineffective support.

The company has some more encouraging features too – a 30 day money back guarantee, free transfers for existing websites, their own lively forums and 24 / 7 support.

Webhosting UK also have an affiliate scheme where you can earn 25% commission on your referrals.

Easy Steps To Get Hostgator Coupons

Hostgator is the Fortune 500 hosting company however are they good?

Let me give you a quick run down in this review of my thoughts on HostGator. Check out our blog, If you are looking out for a Hostgator Coupon.

I have used so many webhosting services however now I just use Hostgator. The reasons will be know to you right now.

Reason 1: The cost of HostGator isn’t much different to other hosts but for that cost HostGator do offer a quality service.

Reason 2: Many webhosting companies doesn’t offer Cpanel but with Hostgator you get Cpanel access. For new marketers Cpanel is much.

Reason 3: Hostgator provide top class customer service, When you join hostgator you will get the benefit of Live Chat Service, they are very friendly and normally fix any technical issues within minutes .

There are the top 3 reasons you should see in any hosting companies and ar the fundamentals of what you would search for in a host. You can go for webhosts who do not have Live Support & you have to go through all kind of problems.

I chose them in the beginning without any prior research but now I am using them since more than 2 years and really love their services.

I suppose I’m lucky that I chose right the first time without research but for you this should help you understand what to look for in a host even if you don’t decide to sign up with them.

One of the major things with marketing these days is having a mailing list. You need to pay $197 PA to get this service at GetResponse. Aweber is expensive than GetResponse. With Hostgator package you get a FREE autoreopnder to capture emails of your customer.

Follow the step by step instructions to get your Hosting Coupons now!

HostGator News & Issues

Let’s start with the issues. Nothing like having the bad news first, right? :D

I set up a new HostGator account last week and I’ve been having all kinds of disconnect issues, as well as incredibly slow loading pages and images.

I figured it was something to do with that site specifically, as I have several other HostGator accounts that seem to be doing just fine… but I’ve heard reports from other users that they are experiencing the same on their end.

If you have hosting accounts with HostGator, I’d love to hear from you either way – any issues with your accounts over the past week?

To be fair, I’ve never had any major issues with HostGator and their support is second to none. In fact, I can’t think of a single issue I’ve had with them at all. So I’m inclined to wait this out as I’m sure it will be resolved rather quickly.

Earlier today I received the HostGator Newsletter, which I thought might mention the issue so I opened it up. No mention of that, but there were a couple of cool points in that email.

First is that you can find HostGator on Twitter: @hostgator – “In addition to updates and news about HostGator, unofficial support is provided via the company Twitter account”. I can vouch for this, as they sent a timely response while I was having a conversation with someone else about HostGator just this week.

Second was about an upcoming live webinar that looks interesting:

HostGator Live

On Wednesday, July 29 at 8 PM central time, HostGator is hosting a live webinar and question and answer session for HostGator customers. The webinar will include:

* Tips on how to get the most out of your HostGator account.
* Exclusive discounts, deals, and giveaways
* Introduction to and question and answers about our upcoming Windows Shared Hosting offering
* Question and answers with senior HostGator employees and management
* See our blog post for more details, including information on how to listen in and participate.

And… I saved the best for last :D …

Special Offer:

Save 20% on your next hosting plan or order with HostGator. Use the coupon code hgnews7.

You can also use the coupon code “wordpress” to get your first month of hosting for only a penny, so you’ll have to do the math and see which coupon code would save you most on your order.

Like I said upfront, some of the accounts seem to be having an issue this week, but not all. But I’m sure that will get resolved fairly quick. I’ve been through some real hosting nightmares (!) in my years online, and HostGator is the absolute best host I’ve worked with to date.

I love the fact that they’re doing the live webinar. That is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, so be sure to mark you calendar.

Web hosting users learn of MySpace ‘popularity issues’

Most web hosting users will be aware of Myspace, whether they use it to listen to bands or simply interact with others. However, it has now been suggested that MySpace is not as popular as was expected when social networking took off.

Neil Stapley, founder of Dadooda.com, a content networking website, said that MySpace was failing to generate the traffic expected of it when News Corporation bought it in 2005 as it is "losing business to competitors in an increasingly crowded market".

"The effects of new competitors entering MySpace’s space, so to speak, may have been underestimated," Mr Stapley commented. He asserted that Facebook is now "the social networking site of choice".

"In a broader context we may also be seeing the first signs of the core market for social networking being defined. The growth had to slow one day," he added.

However, the expert said that the social network market will start to separate as growth slows and this will create a demand for new products.

According to Mr Stapley, while this development could be a threat for Myspace, it could also serve as an opportunity.

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer at News Corporation, recently admitted that the alliance between MySpace and Google was not going to meet the $900 million (£541 million) revenues it was once expected to accrue. News Corporation executives said they would be around $100 million (£60 million) less than that sum.

He was making his comments after News Corporation announced a nine per cent increase in quarterly profits but saw disappointing figures for MySpace, which has had its focus repositioned by its owners to be more music-orientated.

As of November 3rd, the most popular social networking site according to e-business web resource eBizMBA.com was Facebook. In second was MySpace, one place ahead of Twitter. LinkedIn was fourth and Classmates fifth.

Web hosting users could be inspired by Sky Mobile TV App

Web hosting users looking to attract those using mobile internet may want to leverage applications to provide a better service to customers.

They could get inspiration from big-name companies entering the marketplace, such as BSkyB, which has just announced the launch of the Sky Mobile TV App on the App Store.

Sky has created a dedicated app for the service, specifically for iPhone and iPod touch, which will let users stream live TV via Wi-Fi, with all Sky Sports channels to be available.

This will mean users can watch live Premier League football via their mobile. Other channels on offer include Sky News, ESPN and At The Races.

David Gibbs, general manager for mobile at Sky, commented: "Sky Mobile TV offers more choice, control and flexibility for customers ensuring they can access the content they want, at a time that’s convenient to them, on the screen of their choosing."

In recent news, it emerged that the Pizza Hut App for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch has garnered over $1 million (£603,100) in sales.

Web hosting users could be inspired by Sky Mobile TV App

Musician makes a house call

The chairs were set up, guitars were tuned, microphones were tested. Coles Whalen, a well-known singer-songwriter from Denver, was ready to take the stage. But her venue was not a local bar or coffee shop; instead, it was in the living room of Greg Hammonds' Marietta home before an intimate crowd of 40.

Hammonds conducted a house concert for friends and Whalen's fans Saturday night, complete with appetizers, wine and the acoustic performer making a stop on her nationwide tour.

House concerts have become a popular trend lately in the music business as a way to expose those with an interest in music to emerging artists, and for the artists to sell merchandise, albums and play before an engaged crowd that might otherwise be distracted in a loud, busy performing hall.

"It's certainly more intimate and intimidating than playing at a music venue, but I actually appreciate that it's smaller," Whalen said. "People who attend house concerts are here to enjoy your music and take part in a true listening environment."

Artists are not paid by the host for their performances, but use the opportunity to sell merchandise and CD's, and spread their music to a new audience.

Hammonds, an amateur guitarist and avid music consumer, said his 2009 New Year's resolution was to host a house concert after a friend in Washington, D.C., raved about having one.

He met his resolution in May, when he hosted three singer-songwriters from Nashville. He found the musicians on the Web site www.concertsinyourhome.com, which connects artists with potential house concert hosts. The May concert was so popular, and Hammonds enjoyed hosting it so much, he decided to do it again.

Julie Forester, one of the musicians from his May house concert, recommended Whalen to Hammonds. Hammonds said he listened to Whalen's music and really enjoyed the laid-back beauty of her voice and guitar, but the recommendation from a fellow artist he respects gave him the reassurance he needed to host her in his home.

"I really love the personal interaction that happens here, that you really get to know them both as people and artists," Hammonds said. "They're not on the stage, playing, then off and gone and that's it. My family had dinner with Coles and Kim (O'Hara, Whalen's bassist) and learned all about their musical history, stories behind the songs, and just who they are as people."

Whalen, whose stop in Georgia came between concerts in Charlotte and Nashville, said she performs at house concerts once or twice a month, but most of her performances are at public music venues. The artist performed two music sets at 40 minutes apiece, with a break in between to meet with the concertgoers.

"I would actually like to host house concerts if I ever decide to settle down and buy a home in Denver," Whalen said. "It's just such a great way to hear new and good music, and to have your friends there at the same time. I think they'll only get more popular over time."

Web hosting users told of WordPress and Joomla updates

WordPress and Joomla web hosting users can now get their hands on a couple of new updates to make sure they are ahead of the game and protected from potential threats.
First of all, WordPress announced the introduction of the 2.8.6 security release, designed to fix two issues in particular.
These issues can be taken advantage of by registered, logged-in users with posting privileges, Ryan Boren pointed out on the WordPress blog.
"If you have untrusted authors on your blog, upgrading to 2.8.6 is recommended," he said.
One of the security problems is a cross-site scripting vulnerability in Press This and was identified by a certain Benjamin Flesch. The other, discovered by Dawid Golunski, "is an issue with sanitising uploaded file names that can be exploited in certain Apache configurations", Mr Boren explained.
Meanwhile, the Joomla Project has announced the availability of Joomla 1.5.15, just over three months since Joomla 1.5.14 came out on July 30th.
Upon the release, the organisation added that the Development Working Group at the organisation is to continue to provide regular updates to the Joomla community.

Chitika