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How To Use Twitter For Marketing

07 2008 Wednesday

By Darren Olander in Featured

Twitter is a relatively new web 2.0 site that is starting to gain a lot of popularity. That means that a lot of people have heard of it but it is also quite common to run into people who haven’t heard of it.. yet. Twitter.com is this social site that encourages users to post often about what they are currently doing.

A lot of people are using it to improve their marketing reach, by being an active twitterer they gain followers who are interested in what they got going on. This means people being exposed to their updates on a regular basis. For example, if you have hundreds of followers in Twitter and you decide to post an affiliate link, that means that hundreds of people have instantly been exposed to your offer. In this article I will discuss ways to maximize Twitter for your marketing, and also a big mistake to be aware of.

In order to have a fan base per say of followers in Twitter you must be able to keep their interest in you and what you are doing now. “What are you doing?” is the whole foundation of what Twitter is about in the first place. Make sure to post daily if not several times throughout the day updates about what you are doing. The magical thing behind this is that many of your contacts will be able to feel like they know you so much better, will trust you more, and feel much more comfortable about working with you. On the other hand, when you follow others you can learn about them and their possible needs.

The big mistake to watch out for is only posting affiliate links or offers on your Twitter page. This looks like Spam and many people will see you as just abusing Twitter for your own personal gain. Think of it this way, if you would not want to invite your friends or family to keep up with you via Twitter then you are going about it all wrong. As with anything you send out or provide, ninety percent should be content and ten percent (at most) advertising. So this concept is quite simple… constantly post throughout the day what you are doing.. it is usually very simple and only takes a few seconds to post! Secondly, if you write articles or provide content online, provide a link for those in your Twitter posts. You may post many things within one day, but the last thing you post for the day is usually the most important because it will be there the longest. This means that your last post for the day should very well contain a link that you want your followers to see before your start Twittering again the next day!

Another part of Twitter is contributing. As with any social site it should be a give and take relationship. Notice that give comes first… the more you give the more people will want to work with you and the more attention you will receive. Make sure to read and follow other users in Twitter. If you read something interesting or helpful then make sure to reply and say so, or even put a link for it on your Twitter so that you are directing others to more quality content. This can also be as simple as connecting with other users, if they know you are reading their Twitter page they will be much more likely to check out what you have going on too.

To get started in Twitter you should first invite contacts who aren’t using Twitter and also find contacts who are already using Twitter so that you can start following them and also start getting people to follow you. Twitter has a nice invite and find feature that makes this incredibly easy. To grow your reach even more you can start following people who follow or are followed by the people who follow you.. or that you follow. You might need to read that sentence again.. but basically you can find other users to connect with that are already connected to other users.

Now for a big tip. If you really want to maximize the potential with Twitter, you should make sure to take advantage of any plug-ins or sites that support Twitter. Here are three, but I’m sure there will be many more in the future if not already. Squidoo allows you to input your Twitter account info into your Squidoo account and then it can automatically post updates to your Twitter account when you create or update Squidoo lenses. Facebook has an application called Twitter, it automatically updates your Facebook status when you make a Twitter post. The other tool is a free WordPress plug-in called TweetMyBlog that allows you to create a two-way connection from your blogs to Twitter. TweetMyBlog allows you to use a widget on your Wordpress blogs that will display your current Twitter feed.. that way all visitors to your blog can look at the widget and see a running feed of your latest Twitter posts. If they click on that they will be brought to your Twitter page. In addition, when you make a new post to your blog, TweetMyBlog will automatically make a post to your Twitter page with a link to your latest blog post. Imagine the extra exposure you can receive by using these tools that help people see more of what you are doing.

Lastly, have fun! Twitter is a social site… so interact and enjoy!

Darren Olander is dedicated to teaching others how to create a success online through internet network marketing strategies. He is a site owner, article writer, coach & marketing consultant enjoying the benefits of working full time from home. Learn more about him at http://www.darrenolander.com

Is Finding A Profitable Blogging Topic Enough?

07 2008 Wednesday

By Edward Lomax in Featured

If you want to make money blogging, it all starts with a great, profitable topic. If you don’t get the niche of your blog right from the beginning, everything else you do is just a waste of time. Sounds, dramatic, but it’s true.

But really, finding a profitable blogging topic is not all that hard. You only need a niche that has two characteristics:

There must be lots of people interested in the blog topic and there must be people ALREADY spending money in the niche. That’s it. If there is a lot of interest and a lot of money being spent, all you need to do to have a profitable blog is tap into the existing income.

But that is where the problem starts.

There are so many blogs and so many bloggers that there really are no untapped niches that live up to the two necessary requirements of a profitable blog topic. While discovering a profitable niche is still the first step, you have to take your blogging plan further and figure out how you are going to distinguish yourself from your competition.

Every profitable blog starts with a great idea in a profitable niche. But success of the blog is determined by how well you differentiate yourself from the other bloggers in your niche. And if you are a newcomer to the niche, you have to do what the established blogger is already doing, but in a more impressive and valuable way.

The days of becoming a successful blogger making a full time income for a few minutes of work are long gone. Now you must have a plan if you want your blog to raise in the ranks and be recognized as an authority. And you must be willing to do more than your competition.

Here are some ideas to make your blog successful and profitable after you’ve identified a profitable niche to blog about.

1 Have A Plan

Just having a plan sets you apart from the majority of your competition. A lot of bloggers still don’t even blog about one specific topic. Their blogs are all over the place talking about whatever comes to mind. So, forget about them having any kind of plan or goals.

2 Create A Publishing Schedule

Coming up with great content is a challenge. And frankly, it is impossible to come up with fantastic posts every day. So, you need to have a publishing schedule that keeps you on track, but is relaxed enough to be accomplished.

I suggest making a publishing schedule that consists of a combination of short utility posts, longer featured posts and posts designed to recommend or sell products. This mix keeps regular posts being made to your blog without the pressure to come up with all the content yourselves.

3 Use All The Tools At Your Disposal

There are a lot of software programs designed to make blogging easier and more effective. And here is the good news… most bloggers don’t use them! If you are one of the bloggers in your niche using software to help you create a fantastic blog, you can set yourself apart from the competition.

4 Promote Your Blog

A lot of bloggers just post to their blog and that’s it. They sit back and wait for their post to be indexed by the search engines and the traffic to flow in. And a lot of time, they just keep waiting with little or no traffic to show for it.

So, if you are promoting your blog, going to where your potential readers are and drawing them into your blog, you can quickly take over the top spot in your niche.

Finding a profitable blog topic is easy. Just look for niches of high interest with a lot of money being spent. But remember, the competition is growing every day. Be prepared to do more, faster and more effective than other bloggers in you niche and you will take how a lion’s share of the profits.

Edward Lomax invites you to learn the Ready-Load-Aim-Fire Formula Of Profit Blogging by downloading his free report and accessing the valuable information on his blog. If you want to beat your blogging competition and profit from your blog, visit: http://www.bloggingbattleplan.com

Increasing Conversions with AdWords Demographics

07 2008 Wednesday

By Tim Rule in Featured

Users running a PPC Campaign in the Google AdWords platform are given the choice of displaying ads on the Google Search Network and/or on the Content Network. I have never been a big fan of advertising on Content Networks, as I find the automated matching process to be less than ideal. I can generally browse the net and quickly find ads that are irrelevant to the sites they are displayed on. This can give one a healthy dose of skepticism.

While advertising on Content doesn’t generally cost a great deal, we have never seen much in the way of results. By and large we do Search Network only, however recently I have had to re-assess that view.

The Web Emperor Has No Clothes

07 2008 Wednesday

By Jerry Bader in Featured

If you’re in business, you’re in sales; that’s just the way it is. We are all salesmen; we all have something to sell, a product, a service, an idea, a cause, or maybe just an opinion. And if you’re in business you have a website intended to communicate the value of that which you sell.

So if you’re in the business of selling something, and your website is the vehicle you choose to communicate your sales pitch, then shouldn’t your main concern be how effectively you are communicating that message?

Communication or Analytics

Instead of concentrating on effective communication, many businesses put the emphasis on search engine statistics: how high they rank on Google, MSN, and Yahoo, with the assumption that the higher they rank, the more traffic they’ll generate, and the more traffic they generate, the more sales they’ll get. At least, that’s what we are led to believe.

Here’s the problem: almost all the rank-generating strategies are aimed at search engine spiders, not people, so you have to ask yourself, who exactly is my website communicating to, robots or human beings?

The Secret Formula Doesn’t Exist

Why are today’s business owners and executives so mesmerized by this whole search engine thing? It reminds me of the story of an infamous Hollywood movie mogul and studio head who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Instead of firing the guy immediately, he was retained for some time for the simple reason his movies made money; and the dirty little secret in Hollywood is that nobody really knows why some movies are hits and others are bombs. So you keep paying the guy you think is making you money, no matter what he does, because maybe he knows something you don’t.

What we have today is a new generation of business leaders who came of age with the Internet. These Internet technology geeks and boffins are the new Web-wizards and wunderkinds: the guys with the secret formula. But like the movie industry, nobody really has a foolproof search engine recipe for success, but since most of the technical stuff is ever-changing, and over most entrepreneurs and business executives heads, they buy into it; that is until somebody tells them the emperor has no clothes.

What’s A Web Entrepreneur To do?

You heard the old expression, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” well it has never been so true as it applies to website marketing. The simple truth about websites is that success is based on a site’s ability to communicate a marketing message that makes sense, and is understood in an easy to digest format.

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

Sale of Yahoo to Microsoft Imminent?

07 2008 Wednesday

By Kalena Jordan in Featured

After months of stop-start negotiations, Microsoft are now closer than ever to their goal of acquiring Yahoo.

The latest breakthrough came following Yahoo’s settlement this week with ex AOL chief and billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Mr Icahn, who controls approximately 5 percent of the company with his ownership of 70 million Yahoo shares, has been a big supporter of the merger with Microsoft, going so far as sending Yahoo stockholders an open letter urging them a deal with Microsoft would be in the company’s best interests:

“Yahoo’s search business is in a precarious position and it needs to join forces with Microsoft to compete with industry leader Google Inc.”

Icahn’s letter stated.

“Google is going to put in billions and billions of dollars, and where’s Yahoo going to get that money?”

Mr Icahn’s letter also pushed for Yahoo’s Board of Directors to step down, including Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang. A joint restructuring proposal from Icahn and Microsoft was sent to Yahoo board members on July 11, with the company given only 24 hours to accept or reject it.

At first Yahoo board members resisted the proposal, but Monday saw a settlement between Yahoo and Mr Icahn that ended the proxy contest. The settlement included an agreement for one board member to step down, Mr Icahn to be appointed to the board and for eight other board members to stand for re-election.

With Yahoo pushing out their 2nd Quarter financial results late yesterday and a more pliable Yahoo board set to be elected at the company’s annual meeting on August 2, it appears that the announcement of a deal with Microsoft is imminent.

Article Marketing Success Secret: Give Them What They Want

07 2008 Tuesday

By Bill Platt in Featured

Some people find great success with article marketing, while others think its proponents are full of bull. The difference between the winners and the losers in article marketing is most frequently defined when the writer sits down and begins to write. That is right. Success and failure is most often determined by the writers’ motivation, and more importantly, by the writers’ commitment to the reader.

Flawed Strategies

In 2005, a few of the Internet Marketing gurus took notice of the success people were having with article marketing, and they passed this news to the Internet Marketing newbies of the world. But, there was something missing from the advice given.

In a lot of cases, the people preaching the power of article marketing had never used the technique themselves. Even today, few of my article distribution competitors utilize reprint articles to promote their own businesses. Most of my competitors rely upon affiliate marketing to promote their websites.

Unfortunately, the Internet Marketing newbies of the world were given a lot of bad advice. It was said that:

The only purpose of article marketing was to build links, and link popularity for search engine rankings;

The writer only needed to write enough words to meet the minimum word count requirements of publishers;

It wasn’t necessary for the content to be well-written, since the publishers do not read the articles they approve for publication;

Anything that can be done to reduce the time/cost of article writing would benefit the marketer.

The only suggestion that bore any resemblance to the truth was the first item about “building links for link popularity”, but the error in this statement was to assume that there was no other purpose for article marketing.

The Bigger Picture

I have been using article marketing to promote my own websites since 1999, and I have offered article-marketing services professionally since 2000 and under my current domain since 2001. I had been using article marketing and providing services for at least five years, before the gurus started leading the uninitiated Internet Marketers astray in 2005.

As one of the pioneers in this industry, I have always attributed three benefits to article marketing, in this order:

1. Publication in a newsletter ensures that thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of readers, can read ones’ article when it is published. (Frequently, publication day for my articles will generate phone calls from many potential customers and multiple sales, sometimes thousands in sales.)

2. Publication on a website increases the likelihood that your article will be found and read on websites that have targeted and loyal visitors.

3. Building links for link popularity and improved search rankings.

I have never denied the ability to use articles to build ones’ link popularity and to increase ones’ ranking in the search engines. In fact, my website ranks in the top 20 results in Google for hundreds of keywords.

But in my experience, using articles to increase search rankings is something that is ranked at #3 in my list, because it is a long-term play. Your ability to rank in Google for specific keywords is influenced significantly by what your competitors have done before you. I have used this example many times before, but if you want to rank for the keyword “travel” against such websites as: Expedia, Yahoo, Orbitz, The Travel Channel, CNN, Travelocity, Lonely Planet, USA Today, the New York Times, and the U.S. Government; then you better bring a huge budget to the contest.

Once the newbie in Internet Marketing is aware of the challenges of the search rankings game, then the newbie is better prepared to target and get realistic results from an article marketing campaign.

What Newsletter Publishers Require From Their Writers

While it may be true that a few article directory managers do not review articles before publication, it is not true of all article directories. Directories such as http://www.EzineArticles.com, http://www.IdeaMarketers.com, http://www.Website-Articles.net, http://www.InvisibleMBA.com, http://www.ArticleStars.com, http://www.ArticleDashboard.com, and http://www.Isnare.com have editors who personally review each and every article posted to their directories, to ensure that the articles meet the directory’s editorial guidelines.

And, newsletter publishers personally read and approve every single article they publish. Why? In order for a publisher to be able to sell high-dollar advertising, the newsletter must attract and retain loyal readers. In order to get and keep readers, the newsletter must “absolutely” publish content that its readers appreciate receiving and want to read.

Herein lies “the secret to success” in article marketing. Not only do newsletter publishers read articles, seeking to find the content that will ensure the loyalty of their readers, the website publishers who have served loyal audiences for several years also strive to provide their readers only the best content available.

Article Spinner Software Stops Short Of Serving The Reader

No matter how well the Content Spinner software sellers may write their sales copy, one would be a fool to trust computers to write the kind of articles that people want to read.

Remember, the newsletter publisher and the successful webmaster are solely focused on finding content that will keep their readers loyal to them. Also remember that the “link building game for link popularity” is a long-term play that could take years to see fruition.

Given this knowledge, why would someone who is truly seeking success online be willing to trust that the article spinners are able to develop articles that would pass the “human eye test” or even the “smell test”?

What The Article Marketing Professionals Have To Say

I know that I have always suggested that one should take into account what someone is selling, before taking his or her word at face value. Since I sell ghostwriting services, it is absolutely in your best interests to take my words with much skepticism. BUT… I am not the only professional Internet Marketer with this viewpoint. Following are quotes by people whose names you may recognize.

Christopher Knight of Ezine Articles was asked, “How much must I change or rewrite my article so that your content filters won’t reject it or suspend my account?” Chris responded, “The answer is all of it. Seriously, don’t rewrite your own articles. Just create new ones. It’s not that hard.” Chris added that derivative content adds no value to his website. (http://blog.ezinearticles.com/2008/07/content-filtering.html)

Chris McElroy from http://www.ArticleContentProvider.com says, “Computer-generated articles can never replace hand-written original content. Just getting articles into article directories does not help your link popularity, so submitting garbage will get you nothing in return. Only when your articles are reprinted in newsletters, ezines, websites, and blogs that are related to your topic do you get any value from article marketing. Those who think otherwise don’t understand the first thing about article marketing or SEO.”

Allen Taylor, who contributes to the article marketing blog at http://articlecontentprovider.com/article-marketing-blog/ was asked to review someone’s article spinner software. I am sure the guy who requested the review is kicking himself in the butt right now; since Allen proceeded to show his readers exactly how worthless the software is in the real world.

Allen concluded his review with the following words: “I would not recommend rewriting your articles. Just write fresh articles that don’t threaten to have problems like the ones noted above. Really, it doesn’t take long to write a 500-word article that can be used for article marketing or other online marketing purposes. If you’re going to do something, why not do it right?” (http://articlecontentprovider.com/article-marketing-blog/2008/07/09/)

Willie Crawford (http://TIMIC.ORG/) is not an article-marketing professional. Instead, he is a professional marketer, who uses article marketing to promote the many websites that make up his online empire. Willie is a seven-figure earner, and yet, he continues writing new articles whenever he has the time to do so.

Willie said: “I’ve looked a numerous ‘article spinners’ and seen that the output from them was generally so incoherent that it would have been an insult to my readers.”

“I respect my readers and realize that writing is communicating one human to another. That’s why all of the articles that I publish are unique and not software generated variations of my work.”

Communicating One Human To Another

Those people who have found the greatest success utilizing article marketing as a promotional tool are those who understand that article marketing is best-used as a tool to communicate “one human to another.”

At the beginning of this article, I suggested, “Success and failure is determined by the writers’ motivation, and more importantly, by the writers’ commitment to the reader.”

Successful newsletter publishers are those who have made a commitment to keep their readers interested and reading every issue. Successful webmasters and bloggers are those who have made a commitment to keeping their readers satisfied and coming back to their websites frequently. All are looking for article content that will attract readers to their publications and ensure reader loyalty.

The successful article marketer is the person who understands his or her audience and gives his or her audience exactly what they want.

The article must convince the newsletter publisher that his or her subscribers will value the message in the article enough to read the next issue. The article must convince the Webmaster and Bloggers that the article will keep a reader on his or her website for a while longer. And finally, the reader must be thankful for having been given the opportunity to read the article.

In the end, the decision is yours. Are you simply happy complaining about what could have, should have been with the articles you have written. Or, do you want to invest what will be required to make sure your article marketing campaigns are successful?

Bill Platt has been helping online marketers with article ghostwriting and article distribution services since 2001, through his website: http://www.thephantomwriters.com If your small business finances are being pinched during this era of high gasoline prices, get your own copy of the ebook, “How To Increase The Fuel Mileage Of Any Vehicle” to learn how to improve gas mileage by 30% or better: http://www.automotivewebmasters.com/ebooks/increase-mpg.php

Ways To Find “Freebies” To Add To Your eBook and Ideas for Viral Marketing

07 2008 Tuesday

By Angela Meyers in Featured

If you shop online regularly I’m sure you are already familiar with the marketing techniques many webmasters use by offering you FREE bonuses, gifts and other incentives in an effort to encourage you to make a purchase from them.

That is all well and good.

However, did you know that (depending on what rights you are granted with the freebies); you can use those “Freebies” to your advantage to add value to your eBooks and other products?

Here are just a few ways that you can find Freebies and things that you could do:

Do a Google search on the internet to find free gifts that are related to your product.

Search under a few keywords such freebies, free reports, free eBooks, free software, free gifts, etc.

Look for products that compliment your product that you can give away as a free gift in your eBook.

By doing that you will make your product more appealing to your readers and you will increase your chances of making a sell.

Look for eBooks on the same topic of your eBook that are published by established expert publishers or by other publishers who have a different take on the same topic.

You can accomplish this by placing your keywords in every chapter of your eBook and researching those keywords in your favorite search engine(s).

Once you have found the free eBook that you are looking for add a link to it in every chapter of your eBook.

Don’t be afraid to search, as many sites have freebies and they want you to distribute them.

Here are a few ideas to help you start your viral marketing campaign:

1. Purchase the branding rights to a viral Book and allow people to give away your free eBook to their subscribers. When their visitors give away the eBook it will take on an exponential effect and spread like wildfire all over the internet.

2. If possible, set up a forum or bulletin board and allow visitors to use your forum or bulletin board for their website. You can include your banner at the top of the forum or discussion board.

3. Write articles pertaining to your niche and allow others to reprint them on their website, in their newsletters, ezines, eBooks or magazines. Always include your resource box at the bottom of each article along with the option for the article to be reprinted.

4. Search the internet to find products with branding rights that allows you to add your name, website information, and contact information to the product and those that allow you to pass it along to others “free of charge.”

5. If you are creative you can design your own graphics, software, templates, fonts, etc., include your own ads on them and include a link directly back to your website.

To preserve the integrity of your designs, make sure that visitors to your website agree to keep any copyrighted information that you provide in tact and include in the copyright notice a link back to your website.

Once they have agreed to your terms and conditions you can then allow them to give away your templates, graphics, fonts, software, etc.

6. In exchange for allowing your website visitors to advertise in an eBook that you have written, make sure they agree to give away your eBook to their ezine subscribers or to their website visitors.

Always over-deliver and give your readers the very best offer possible. They will appreciate you for it.

Angela Meyers is a writer and internet marketer who writes and publishes eBooks and media material on various ways to make money online. Want to find out more? visit: http://www.resellrightsandplrmadesimple.com

Discover The Benefits Of Exit Grab Technology

07 2008 Tuesday

By Vincent Newton in Featured

According to an article in PC World Magazine, the average visitor spends between 25 - 45 seconds viewing the main page of a web site. That’s about enough time to read this article to the point you are at right now and, maybe, most of the way through the next paragraph.With that short an amount of time available to get someone’s attention, your main page better do a pretty good job of selling. The problem is, most main pages do not get the job done as well as they could.

Sure, you could hire a professional copywriter to re-work your sales page. Then all you have to do is keep testing different copy versions until you either run out of money or you hit upon the winning combination of words.

Email Marketing: 5 Simple Tips How To Craft Killer Headlines that BOOST Email Open Rates, Opt-ins

07 2008 Monday

By Bonita L Richter in Featured

Email marketing is a fabulous way to market your products and services to your readers and make sales—*if* they bother to open your emails to read them! In the world of marketing communications, your first impression — your headline — can lead to either marketing success or failure. The only way headlines will work is if they appeal to your reader’s interests. The best headlines are designed to:

Top 10 Things to Look For in a Web Host

07 2008 Monday

By Amy Armitage in Featured

Although this is a “top 10” list, most of the following things could easily be listed as the #1 most important consideration, so take them all seriously. It doesn’t matter if you are a large company, a small one, or just a hobbyist who wants to display photos of hand-painted electric trains. Everyone needs to consider the same things, just to different degrees.

Now, remembering that there is really no firm order to these, let us consider the top 10 things to look for in a web host:

Reliability (“uptime”) – Your host should be reliable, stable and fast, and should guarantee its uptime, the minimum figure for which should be 99%. A straight 99% is actually considered low these days, as 99.5% or higher is rapidly becoming the new standard. Check to see if the host provides a prorated refund if uptime falls below the stated benchmark. With how much business a company can lose any time their website is down this crucial aspect of web hosting probably does deserve to be in the #1 spot, but read on for other important info.
Data transfer (traffic or “bandwidth”)?– Data transfer mean the number of bytes delivered from your site to its visitors as they browse. If a web host advertises “unlimited bandwidth,” find out how much traffic the particular deal you’re considering really allows. Most new sites that are not archives, storage or “drop-send” sites normally use less than 3GB of bandwidth per month. If you expect your traffic requirements to increase over time, check the host’s policy for “overages.” If there is a charge (usually per additional GB) over the allowed bandwidth, you need to determine if it’s cheaper to pay it once in a while (if it will not be ongoing) or to upgrade your service level.
Disk space?– Be on guard against the “unlimited disk space” deals, too, and view them with the same skepticism as you just observed being applied to data transfer. The vast majority of sites need no more than 10-20MB of web space, so don’t fall prey to enticements like 500MB, or “unlimited space.” To get an idea of relative size, a site with about 200 pages and the usual assortment of text, pictures and motion graphics will use only about 10-15 MB for all of the pages and supporting files.
Technical support?– Is the tech support 24/7/365? You should probably avoid a host that has no staff working weekends or holidays since things have a habit of breaking down at the worst possible times. A claim of “24/7 support” is not always true, so test the sales pitch by e-mailing or calling on a Friday night or holiday. Measure how long it takes for you to connect with a human being on the other end. In addition response time, ensure that the support personnel are technically proficient. Believe it or not, some tech support personnel are converted sales people “learning on the job,” which is not the kind of help you need in an emergency that threatens your business.
Technical features (FTP, PHP, CGI-BIN access, SSI, etc.) –?What once were luxuries are now necessities. Fact is, you simply must have all of these. There are many commercial hosts that require getting their approval to install PHP or CGI scripts, which means that you cannot implement a feature on your site when you so desire. You need these functions if you want to customize error pages, maintain databases, set up additional security measures and so forth. Make sure you have full access to these tools, and find out about any restrictions on their use.
Server type?– The operating system and server can be very important, and there are good, practical reasons for choosing one server over another. If you intend to take advantage of ASP, for example, it is available only on a Windows NT/2000/XP server. However, it is often cheaper to go with a Unix system running the Apache server software, which is stable and dependable. Another advantage of Unix-based hosts –using Linux, FreeBSD, etc. – is that an Apache web server lets you create and manage error pages, block IP addresses, stop email harvesters and more, without needing your host to install or approve a thing. Finally, if you plan to do some e-commerce on your site, find out if you get SSL (Secure Socket Layer), MySQL and a shopping cart. At the very least, you will need SSL if you plan to get credit card information from your customers over the Internet.
Email services – You have your own domain now, so you probably want e-mail addresses with the domain name. Although the vast majority of plans include e-mail services, find out about the quality and level of auto-responders, mail forwarding? and list management. Ensure that you also have web access to your mail (“webmail”) and investigate the spam tools that are provided.
Control panel?– It may be called this, it may be called your “Net Tool Kit,” but all hosts give you a set of utilities to manage the particulars of your web account, and a web page from which to do it, too. You need to be able to manage your e-mail, change passwords, block spammers and so on. These are all standard maintenance chores for webmasters and if you have to wait on your host’s tech support to take care of things, you will lose important control over your business.
Price and payment plans –?Naturally, price is always a consideration, but remember that the most expensive hosts are not necessarily the best. Factor in price, and be wary of great price differentials on similar plans. Most web hosts offer annual or even quarterly payment plans that discount the monthly rate, but if you are using a new or less-well-known host, you should consider paying monthly until you establish their reliability. When you are satisfied with the host, you can change your payment plan and grab that discount.
Reviews – What do others say about the hosts? Use Google to track down both complaints and congratulations, and consider the source of each comment.

There’s a lot to do, but with your business possibly at stake – or at least the fate of those model train photos – you can’t be too careful. Get the information you need to make an informed decision, and weigh things carefully. You will save yourself a good deal of frustration if you do.

About The Author:
Amy Armitage of Lunarpages Web Hosting (http://www.lunarpages.com/) is a leader in affordable web hosting and dedicated server solutions. With their great pricing, excellent web hosting affiliate program (http://www.lunarpages.com/affiliate/) and top-notch support, they are the obvious choice for your website and your online business identity.

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