A web hosting service allows you to make your website accessible to the world wide web. You generally upload your site files via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to your host and they go “live” and become a part of the internet. There are free web hosting services for personal sites but if you have a business site, you will want to pay for a better hosting service. There are countless hosting services on the web but there are things you need to look for when shopping for a good host. Below are ten things you might want to check before choosing your host.

1. Support System – One of the most important things to look for in a host is a good customer support system. When you are having problems you don’t want to wait days for answers. Test the support system of the host before you purchase. See how friendly, helpful and fast they are. Do they have an email, support forums, phone number? They might even have a live chat option available.

2. Disk Space – You want to make sure the host offers a good amount of disk space but you want to also make sure they do not offer too much just to charge a higher price. An average business site might use about 50 MBs of space but if you offer images, ebooks or other downloadable files, you will probably need much more than that. You will need to consider what you will be offering on your site to determine how much disk space you will need.

3. Bandwidth – Bandwidth is the amount of data transfers that occur on your site. This would include visitors downloading your web pages to their computer, you uploading files to your site and any other data transfers. Again, if you offer downloadable items on your site you will need more bandwidth than the average site. As your site gains in popularity, you will be using more bandwidth. The average business site will probably not have to worry about bandwidth, but it is best to check it out thoroughly including what the penalty will be for going over the allotted bandwidth.

4. Programming Services – Websites can be built just using HTML and CSS but most sites will require additional programming languages and database capabilities such as PHP, CGI, MySQL and SSI. Be sure to check to see if your potential host is compatible with these programming languages and services.

5. FTP Access – FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an easy way to upload files faster and more efficiently then through your control panel. The easiest way to access your ftp is by using your domain as your FTP. Not all hosts have this easier FTP access.

6. User-Friendly Control Panel - Control panels can be very intimidating and frightening. Your potential host should be able to provide a demo of the control panel they provide. Check to see that it is easy to use, navigate and understand.

7. Site Builder – Web creation tools can be a big help for people building new websites or additional sites. Most hosts will provide these website building tools but always check to be sure.

8. Web Statistics Tools – You will surely want your host to have web analytics because you need to know how many visitors you are getting, when you are getting them, to where they are going, how long they are staying and more to produce a successful, efficient website. These tools are invaluable in helping you to find out how to improve your website so it can grow!

9. Email Accounts and Mailing List Feature - A good web host should offer you numerous email accounts. You might also want to check for a mailing list feature to help you build an email marketing mailing list.

10. Uptime – Another very important service a good host should provide is reliable uptime. One thing you do not need is for your site to be down more than it is up. Most sites will claim 99.9% uptime but do some research and find out if it is actually true.

Web hosting services are a dime a dozen online and sifting through them all to find a good one that provides you with everything you need can be a daunting task. See if you can get someone you know and/or trust to recommend a good host. Do a search for web host reviews and read some real experiences of people who have used the host. Find out everything you can before choosing a host because that can be one of the most important choices you make in building your website!

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

10 Things to Look for in a Web Host

Online backup services, such as SOS Online Backup, Carbonite and Mozy, fill a definite need by making the prevention of data loss, affordable, automatic and secure. To use one of these services, you must install software on your computer to scan the hard drive for every file that you want to back up. When you do, the files are compressed and encrypted, and the information is uploaded to servers, which located at multiple data centers with military-grade security.

Choosing Your Service

This depends on much more than the annual fee involved. Start by considering how the service chooses – or allows you to choose – what will be backed up. Generally speaking, most of them will automatically select your Mac user or Windows my document folders. In most cases, you can fine-tune these choices by using a window containing a file directory tree and a folder. It also has check boxes to indicate the files and folders you want to back up.

What You Can Do

Some services also provide additional choices with the right-click menu, including backing up, deleting or restoring files in your online backup set. In addition, every service installs a system tray icon, which enables you to launch the browser that acts as its interface or to access the program window. With this icon, you should be able to begin a restore or backup at once.

Along with the encryption most services use when they store files on their servers, many of them will also allow you to be the only one who has the password protecting those files, and it cannot be accessed by their employees.

Your Main Choices

There are two types of online backup service that are commonly used. With scheduled backup, by using the service’s software, you decide when you want the required processing and uploading to be done, overnight in most cases. Conversely, you may be looking for continuous backup, and certain services, including SOS Online backup and Editors’ Choice, provide a hybrid of both methods. This allows the user to determine what individual files should be monitored continuously and backed up when any changes are made.

With a scheduled backup, the entire bandwidth of your internet connection will be left to you when it is not in use, while a continuous service will necessarily siphon off some of your bandwidth. However, if continuous backup is your main concern, a service like Carbonite or Backblaze is exactly what you need.

Finally, note that any sizeable backup can take a substantial amount of time, perhaps even weeks, to upload several gigabytes, and will vary with the speed of your online connection at the start. After that, your service will only have to upload the parts of a file that have changed, and subsequent backups will be much less time-consuming.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Choosing the Right Online Backup Service – A SPN Exclusive Article

Ever go to a web site and find that after poking around a few pages you just click off and go to another site? Of course. It happens millions of times a day on the web. Why? Good question!

If you can’t get people to stick around your site and eventually contact you, your website is just taking up cyberspace.

What does a results-producing website need? Let’s start with quality design, clear formatting and substantial content on every page. And you need to answer the “What’s in it for me?” question every step of the way. But that’s just the beginning.

Even sites that have all the bases covered often miss the key to turning visitors into clients. It’s the difference between a website that “just sits there” and one that gets a prospect to give you a call or send an email saying, “Can you help me?”

And that big key is called the “Call-to-Action.” And you don’t just use it once, but over and over throughout your site. Here are some important calls-to-action that you can easily add to your site:

1. At the bottom of every page tell people where to go next.

Then include a link that points there. If you don’t, your visitors will scratch their heads thinking, “Where do I go next?” and then scroll up to the navigation bar to figure it out. Don’t make them think. Make it obvious where they should go next.

Your directions might say something like: “Now that you have a better idea of the kind of clients we work with, click here to learn about the results you can expect to receive from our services.”

2. A “Contact us” link, also at the bottom of every page.

Who knows when the inspiration will strike to contact you? Have you ever been on a website and wanted to contact the company but couldn’t find an email address or a phone number? Bye, bye business. And make that Contact Us page more than a phone number, email and address. Tell them what will happen when they contact you. Make it easy to do business with you.

3. A response form at the bottom of every services page.

Take an extra step here. Insert a small form that they can fill out to request even more information about that service. Get their name, email, company name and the answers to a few questions about their needs. Yes, people do fill out these forms. But keep them simple!

4. Have them do something that will get them involved.

This is the psychology behind the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes. It would be easier to just have people mail back the form. But they found that the more involvement, the better the response. You might try a survey of some kind.

5. Have prospects apply to be your client.

When I promote my high-end groups I decided instead of a “payment link” at the end of the description of the groups, to put in an application form. This way I can screen applicants, since I don’t accept everyone. Then I send an acceptance email to those I feel will get the most from the group with a payment link. The conversion rate is still very high. When I accepted individual clients, I used a similar application form.

6. Capture their name and email address.

This is really the number one purpose of a website. Offer a pithy article or report, plus an email newsletter (in that order) in exchange for their contact information. Once you have them on your eZine list, the marketing really starts. I call it “keep-in-touch marketing.”

7. Offer ongoing calls-to-action in your eZine.

I generate much more business from the eZine than from new visitors to the website. Think of the web as the place where you introduce yourself to your prospects. And think of the eZine as the place they get to know you. Then invite them to explore your services in more depth (by sending them back to the website). Now go back to your site and start inserting all these calls-to-action. I promise you’ll start getting better results!

The More Clients Bottom Line: Every single marketing activity needs to include a call-to-action. But the website is a “call-to-action machine” that moves people step-by-step through the marketing process. And this is true marketing leverage, because you don’t even have to be there to do it.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Web Site Leverage

Generally I will not lead an article by stating the intended reader(s) or target audience. However, I decided that I would clearly state that this article is targeted primarily to website owners. At the same time, I am hoping that all online businesses will take note of this. These include advertising companies, web host providers, web designers and programmers, and even my own field – Search Engine Optimization.

Many online businesses (especially those in the marketing field) are plagued with bad reputations. I mean the field as a whole. A clear example is my very own category of online marketing, site management, and search engine optimization. The term “Black Hat SEO” wasn’t pulled out of thin air, nor was the idea to combat this “label” by clearly stating (or in many cases) professing to be above-board, or “White Hat”. For those that are unfamiliar with these terms, you can go with the sound…”Black Hat” having an almost evil connotation, while “White Hat” is seemingly “angelic”. This example applies to other online service providers as well, including web host providers, web designers, programmers and advertisers. I was prompted to finally write this article after my blood had boiled over in dealing with dirty, underhanded companies (again, including my very own field).

About two months ago, I was approached by a “Brick and Mortar” company that had been online with a simple site for about 3 years. The client of course wondered how I could help get her site on page one. I was up-front with her in saying that “Brick and Mortar” was a hair trickier than a business with a large online presence (or even strictly online). Nonetheless, I assured her that we would give it our all. Her site, like you would expect from a strictly “Brick and Mortar”, was not very interactive, and contained very little content. From face-value appearance, this site was “ok”. Behind the scenes was a different story.

When checking a potential new client’s web or blogsite, the very first thing that I do is really quite simple. I use the tool on most browsers by right-clicking and selecting “view page source”. This is perhaps (in my past experiences) the fastest indicator of simple site factors like the meta title, meta description, and keywords – first for the home-page. Is the title too long? Is the description poor, spammy, or too long?
Are there too many keywords? Is a particular keyword used too often (spam)? This two minute drill can really tell you a lot. By asking the owner who “described” the site, you’ll know even more. Was it the web designer? A third-party, outsourced content writer? All important to know. Now I dig deeper.

After running a full site analysis (broken links, ranking details, keywords statistics, etc.) I then use what I truly believe to be the single most important SEO tool available…Google it! By doing a search engine query using numerous keywords, you’ll find out exactly what you’re stacked-up against. What is the SERP count? Are the top SERP results articles or the actual site home-page?

Ok, right about now is when you should be asking me, “So what’s the deal with policing my site and becoming a webmaster?” We’re getting there…I promise!

So you give your potential client your facts, your theories, and your hopes. They accept your proposal. Now what do you need? You need site access, file manager access, database access, and website log-in (with administrative) access. Depending on what needs to be done and the degree of your programming or coding skills, you may need a programmer on your team. I happen to have been blessed with the knowledge and know-how to do just about everything that needs to be done to correct site issues.

Regardless of the content management solution (CMS), somehow or another me and my trusty code editor seem to plug away until we get all the “kinks” worked-out. Now comes the policing and loss of respect that give others a bad name in such a competitive area. I won’t name companies, web designers, or advertisers. My goal is not to expose or “call them out”, but rather to raise a website owner’s awareness that they exist, and what to look out for.

While I am only going to use one example, please be aware that I have encountered this on numerous occasions, and always with a unique twist or seemingly “organized” way of accomplishing their mission. I am going back to the recent “Brick and Mortar” company, as this one simply disgusted me the most.

At first appearance, the site consisted of a landing page, an about the company page, a contact page, and an FAQ (frequently asked questions). All things considered, this was ample for establishing an online presence (although I have since added a blog!). So what are we looking at, a four, five page site? Also keep in mind that this site is a simple html only site. No php.

Not even a database. Accessing the Control Panel and file manager should show me very little, right? Wrong! Unbeknownst to her, there were dozens of “hidden” files in her site. Provided by? Her web hosting company. In viewing these files (and I viewed them thoroughly), I found page after page that promoted her web hosting company’s site with countless “dofollow” links. Let me cite one example:

Her site is delivered from the folder “public_html”, meaning that the files directly from this folder are the next page, post, or folder directly from her domain, like example.com/ contact-us/. In her case there were odd file names like /Fbq573s.html. Of course no-one will EVER know to view this page and it isn’t linked-to. However, it is VERY much alive, crawled and cached by search engines, absolutely sapping this paying customer of any potential of being exposed for anything. Bottom line, she would NEVER see page one. Why? Why do this?

Don’t you want to see your customer succeed? My hosting company uses no dirty tricks. I want my web host user’s site to flourish, to expand. That is true credibility.

Lesson – even if it’s the basics, learn some basic html, view your website’s file manager, and if you have to, get a second opinion. To your success.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Policing Your Site – Becoming Your Own Webmaster – A SPN Exclusive Article

Choosing a colocation data center for your servers is an important step in the growth of any business. There are a few important things to consider before choosing a data center. The following tips will save you a significant amount of money and improve uptime:

* Choose a location that is easily accessible to your business or by a reliable support technical team. This will help in reducing or preventing outages and minimizing downtime. Most major cities have hubs full of technical expertise and resources that can be available at the drop of a hat.

* The data center facility you choose should have a sufficient amount of room to expand. That way you do not have to worry about moving if the facility fills to maximum capacity.

Alternatively, be cautious of moving into an empty facility. You do not want to do business with a data center that has a failing business model.

* Consider your future colocation Internet bandwidth needs because Internet bandwidth prices can vary dramatically from data center to data center. It is wise to select a vendor that is capable of growing with your needs at the drop of a hat. Provisioning additional resources can often take weeks to prepare and install.

* When asking for colocation rates, make sure you ask for all prices including: rental fees, rack or cage setup, additional power, interconnection, additional technical support charges etc. Ideally, you want to find a provider that does not charge for remote hands service because it can be very costly. There is no need to pay a fee when there are state-of-the-art providers that offer it for free. These colocation providers who include remote hands service for free often have faster, more responsive and experienced technical service personnel who will be on site around the clock (24/7/365), when you need them most.

* Find out what type of colocation services they provide. Most colocation services offer One Server Colocation, Quarter Rack Colocation, Half Rack Colocation and Cage Colocation.

* Make sure the colocation provider has the necessary certifications for running a data center. For example, Internet T1, a colocation provider has technicians that are certified in CCNP, CCNA, ATSP: Internetworking, ATSP: IP Telephone, A+, Network +, MCSA, MCDST, MCP, MCSE 2000, MCSE 3000, Network Application Management and Network Baseline Analysis.

* Make sure the data center offers support. A good colocation data center will provide client support 24 hours per day and 7 days a week.

* A colocation facility should have top-notch security. They should utilize video surveillance, state-of-the-art firewalls and fire detection systems. It is highly valuable to find a provider that has invested in state-of-the-art security, whereby digital surveillance cameras are throughout the facility, card key locks at every entrance and exits within the facility exist with an enforced access list, and personal locking cabinet(s) are provided. It is important to note that individual secure locking cabinets are much more secure than an open rack in a shared cage. However a shared cage can be more affordable than cabinets.

* Location, Location, Location: go with a provider who is located within a telco building or carrier neutral POP with diverse fiber connections to all carriers. The saying “Birds of a feather flock together” – meaning that there is a reason for all the carrier connections being in a telco colocation facility, mostly because of reliability for uptime of their equipment, ease of access and it being a centrally located facility for quick access and access to other network providers or customers.

* Choose a colocation service provider that is financially stable. Profitability means satisfied customers! A financially sound company allows for better pricing and overall technical security because there are no hidden/excess charges attributed to alleviating company financial burdens. A provider that is profitable will not cause you the frustration of a forced move due to bankruptcy. Choose a provider that has been consistently profitable for many years.

* Longevity translates to experience and stability in any industry. It is wise to find a colocation service provider that has proven itself over time, having survived the dot.com bust, moreover sustained business and growth repeatedly for numerous years. Look for a colocation service provider which has been in business for over 5 years.

* It is crucial for the provider to maintain an especially cooled environment for all of the servers it houses on a continual basis. Heat is the enemy of servers and network equipment. Having redundant A/C systems means that if any of the A/C systems fail, another A/C system is already helping to cool each separate colocation suite and can therefore take over as the primary cooling system. Choose a provider that has a state-of-the-art A/C system that provides air in each section of the facility redundantly.

* These days power consumption is costing businesses more and more. Consider negotiating an acceptable power amperage rate to service your servers. In many cases you can request lower power amp costs in the negotiation stage of your services. If over time you are finding your power consumption is more and more, don’t be afraid to ask for improved power pricing. Data centers should be providing A+B Power options, in other words if the main power supply to the building should fail it should have failover to UPS while diesel generators kick in to support the main load. These generators should be able to sustain power for potentially 1 week should a catastrophic event occur.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How to Choose a Colocation Data Center to Host Your Website – A SPN Exclusive Article

One of the things that set Mac computers apart from other computers is the applications. Apps, as it is more commonly known, are the coolest thing to ever be incorporated into a computer. They can also be found in other products such as an iPhone but there certain apps that are just for a Mac. Asides from the other cool features of Macs, this is definitely the crowd pleaser.

Getting an iPhone repair or a Mac repair can just as easily be done through an app. There are a bunch of apps available on the Mac store. Some are free while some are not but you will surely find something that is worth your time. As much apps there are available, not all are essential to a Mac user.

Here are the top 5 essential Mac Applications that are surely worth getting:

1. CopyPaste Pro

This one makes it at the top simply because of how useful it is. We all go through the task of copying then pasting text or an image over and over again. As you copy it, it is then stored to a clipboard which can’t be used again once you copy something else. But, imagine being able to have multiple clips which you can edit and alter anytime.

Add a nice multiple clips viewer and a few clip tools and the result is CopyPaste Pro. This gets your work done faster and more efficiently.

2. iKey

This next app is “time-saving” at its finest. As a Mac user, you probably have a lot of task done on your computer on a daily basis. This involves a lot of clicking, use of programs, typing, and the like. Most of the tasks are also repetitive which means it involves the same process every day. Instead of doing the same thing every day, why not have all your problems solved through a click of a button. This is exactly what iKey does, it stores your whole process into one key and it does the rest. Do less and accomplish more with iKey.

3. MacSpeech

Think of this as your personal transcriptionist. MacSpeech is a voice recognition software made to convert everything you say into text. It has different text formats for your converted content. It also comes in different packages which have different specializations.

4. 1Password

Tired of remembering or keeping a list of all your passwords? 1Password does all of this for you. This app stores all your passwords so that you will never forget them again.

5. FreshBooks

This app is focused on creating a quick and efficient way on tracking and organizing your expenses and invoicing of your clients. This helps you keep track of the time and takes away all your worries. You will be able to focus on the more important things asides from the paperwork.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Top 5 Essential Mac Applications

W3C Validator: A Spell & Grammar Checker for Website Code

To make a good customer impression on the web, businesses owners need to ensure a clean and clear website. One way is by using a W3C validator. Think of it this way; if you were writing an important report or a letter to a customer, you would want to use a spell and grammar checker to catch unintended errors. Website markup also has a syntax and grammar that needs to be checked. Business owners need to be sure that they have not overlooked potential flaws in the markup code.

Similar to word processing applications, web browsers do not distinguish invalid from valid statements. As a result, your web sites may look fine at first glance but have compromised functionality. For example, people may not be able to find information about a product because the link is missing or there is some invalid text. Using a W3C validator helps reduce this risk.

Comparing Web Markup & Web Standards Using W3C Validator

The W3C validator compares web pages and web sites that use the (X)HTML languages, with a set of standards. Led by the Web inventor Tim-Berners Lee, the W3C or World Wide Consortium sets these web coding specifications based on conversations and review from an international community of web industry leaders and public commentators. The resulting specifications represent a consensus on good web markup practices, lending itself towards well formed web pages. These rules form the backbone of the W3C validator’s reports on any errors or warnings after checking web code.

Not only will the W3C validator tell you how many errors and warnings it found after checking the web language, the validator will list the line, an explanation, and recommendation for each error and warning.

If parsing through lines of markup is not an option for you, the W3C validator provides the choice to clean it up using HTML-Tidy. This is especially handy after creating a web site or web page using a third-party software application. However, W3C Validator, and related HTML-Tidy option may overlook some types of web code that are not HTML and are used to perform more complex web programming, such as Java, ASP or PHP. Also the validator may miss more complex issues caused by the relationship between different pages and content problems.
Steps to Use the W3 Validator

Open the W3C Validator. Click on http://Validator.W3.org to open the W3C Markup Validation Service.

Decide where you wish to check the code. You can check your website markup directly, through a web browser. Alternatively, you can download the W3C Validator to your local machine to validate unfinished web pages not ready for the public eye or private web pages.

Enter what you wish to check. Type in the web address in the Address field. This is in the “Validate by URI” tab. Alternatively you can upload a local file through the “Validate by File Upload” tab. If you wish to check the code directly, then choose the “Validate by Direct Input Tab”. Copy your HTML code and paste into the empty field below.

Choose options, as needed, to view the validation results. Select the “More Options” arrow for selections. Choices include “Character Coding” or text language (e.g. Italian), “Document Type” or type of markup, listing error messages sequentially vs by type of error, displaying the web source, displaying the web outline, cleaning the markup language, validate web pages that have a “404 not found” error or “Validate Error Pages” and “Verbose Output” or more description of the error

Press Check. The W3C validator will start and complete its check. It will report on any deviations from the standard web X(HTML) language you specified.

Don’t Rely On Only the W3C Validator

While the W3C validator saves time by catching basic mistakes on websites, a W3 validator is not always a good substitute for more robust web-site testing. The W3C validator catches mistakes on the surface, but not the deeper issues.

For example, some web code may interact with applications needed for security and/or to manipulate data. Also, some websites may present different kinds of media; such as images, video and sound. A W3C validator will not judge the quality of these, other than whether the file is referred to correctly by the markup. If you are looking to validate website links or a web style sheet, the W3C validator will not fit the bill. Different web browsers may have quirks in the code that does not recognize valid HTML. Finally, the W3C validator cannot be used to validate content for mobile phones, see 9 Ways to Misunderstand Web Standards. Links to these alternative tools are available on the W3C Validator web page.

Should you forgo or supplement the W3C Validator, based on these drawbacks, for another tool? It depends how you define the quality of your website and how much chance you wish to take on how many errors appear on your website.

For example, AboutUsoffers both a free and for pay check of other basic SEO web standards.

Images: Copyright © 03 Aug 2011 World Wide Web Consortium, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics, Keio University). All Rights Reserved.

This article was originally contributed, on AboutUs.org, by Michelle Knight of Michelle1130.wordpress.com.

Michelle is a very curious information specialist who loves researching, organizing, and analyzing information. She has been testing software for the last 4 years.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

W3C Validation

Over the last several months, I’ve had to make a few trips to doctor’s offices and medical facilities for myself and my kids. As a result of those adventures I have a new pet peeve: Organizations that ask WAY too much information for their files.

Filling out a patient form in a doctor’s office is like applying for a mortgage these days. Home phone number, work number, cell number, full contact info for your closest relatives, social security number, job title, on and on and on. Equally offensive is having to fill out multiple forms with this same information or to have to answer these questions after already having filled out the forms.

As a marketer, I understand the need to collect data. But, in my mind, if you’re going to ask someone for a certain piece of information, you’d better have a legitimate reason to need it.

After leaving several messages at my home phone number, a doctor’s office complained that I was difficult to reach. I responded that I work during the day and that if they needed to reach me, they could have used either the work number or the cell number in their file. That’s when they said: “Well, some people don’t like us to use those numbers.”

Which gets me to tips for website contact forms.

Tip #1: If you’re not going to use the information you’ve requested, then don’t ask for it!!

Your website contact form is a great tool for generating qualified sales leads. With a few pointed questions, you can determine pretty easily which leads are serious and which ones are just wasting your time.

However, it’s important that your contact form ask just enough to be able to properly steer the lead to the right department or salesperson; going much beyond that threatens to annoy the prospect at the least and, at worst, can cause people to abandon the form, and your website, entirely.

Tip #2: Don’t ask questions on your contact form that your prospect can’t answer.

Contact forms generally are going to be filled out by people who have no prior experience with your company, products or services. Because of that, your prospects may not know exactly how to describe what they want in the terms that your company would use.

For example, if you sell machinery called the Pro-Master I, Pro-Master II and Pro-Master III, it might make sense to have a question on your form that says: “I would like additional information on:” with check boxes for each of the three pieces of machinery. More than likely, prospects will check off all three because they don’t know enough about any of them to make a determination of which machine is best suited for them. And, in the process, you’ve likely annoyed them by asking them to know enough about your machinery to make that determination.

A better way to word this would be: “Please send me information about your Pro-Master machinery line.”

Tip #3: Don’t assume that all people who fill out your contact form read your whole website.

Many Internet users are skimmers, not deep readers, so chances are that the folks who fill out your contact forms have only looked at your site long enough to compel them into filling out your form. They’re not interested in reading all 300 pages of your website, they want to talk to someone to get their questions answered. That’s a good thing!

Tip #4: Give prospects information in the way they requested.

Folks who fill out contact forms generally do this to avoid phone calls. They want to be able to evaluate your company’s information on their own, before initiating a direct conversation. But, sometimes, the reason they fill out the form is because they don’t want to have to navigate your phone system to get to the right person. On your form, ask whether they would like to be contacted by phone or by e-mail, and then follow up in that manner. It will put your prospect at ease and make them feel that you understand them.

This doesn’t preclude you from doing a follow up phone call once you’ve e-mailed out the requested information.

Tip #5: Treat a contact form like a phone call.

I’ve always been amazed at retail establishments that will have a client standing in front of them wait while they answer a phone call. Shouldn’t the person who walked in your door two minutes ago get first priority over a ringing phone?

Similarly, it’s best not to make your contact form prospects wait several days for information they’ve requested. Contact forms should be treated as you would an incoming phone call. Process them in the order they arrive as efficiently as possible. You want to be sure that the prospect receives the information they requested before they forget that they ever sent the request.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

5 Tips on Making the Most of Your Contact Forms – A SPN Exclusive Article

Ever since the early days of home computer technology — when computers weighed as much as a welter weight boxer, and stored an impressive 128K of RAM — data backup has been of major importance.

It’s amazing how far we have come over the past three decades. Now we are in the most exciting time for computers, with an internet that has trillions of websites indexed, and where the average Joe can buy a server stack and create his own basement website at his parent’s house.

Yet no matter how modernized we become; no matter how compact and automated we may be today, there is one important command that you must never forget: back up your data. Then as now, if you don’t you only have yourself to blame if tragedy strikes. In a world of data center failures (like the recent epic Amazon failure, which took social media giants like Reddit and Quora offline for hours), it’s not just about backing up your data. It’s about ensuring that its uptime is always present and that you have options should something serious take place that threatens or compromises it.

With that in mind, here are the Top 10 reasons why your website needs a data backup plan.

1) People accidentally delete important files all the time. This is increased if more people have access to those files.

2) Most websites have data that is constantly changing. Therefore you should be backing it up as often as once or twice a day to ensure that the integrity and relevance of the data is never compromised.

3) There are many different ways to locate easy, dependable website data backup. These services range from traditional secure off-site storage services to co-location and managed co-location cloud-based backup solutions. These are all well worth the money – especially when compared to the potential value of data lost forever.

4) Many websites have Word Press or Blogger back ends. These all come with a data backup plan, but many users fail to implement them. Laziness is no excuse. It takes just a minute to set it up.

5) For sites that have databases (stores, forums, etc.), this data is constantly changing as well. It should have differential backups scheduled throughout the day so that no information is ever compromised.

6) Most data backup plans scan the files first, to ensure they are safe and clean. At that point, they are then backed up. This protects you in the event that, say, a virus or hacker sweeps through your servers corrupting files and infecting them.

7) The best way to think about a data backup plan for your website is by comparing it to any insurance that you might buy. You have health insurance in case you get sick, but what about if your data gets sick? Welcome to the 21st century digital world, where you need data insurance as well. That’s what backup is.

8 ) DVDs, DVRs, CDs, backup drives… they can all fail at some point; malfunction, corrupt files and so forth. A data backup plan ensures that you have a foolproof method of obtaining any data you have ever created.

9) Peace of mind. You spent how many years creating that blog, populating that website or designing that forum, and it’s all gone in a minute? Not with backup, it isn’t.

10) The only way to truly know that your data is safe is by backing it up. It’s the only clear cut solution to preserving your information in today’s store-it-fast, use-it-even-faster world.

If you website doesn’t have a backup plan for any of the details listed above, it may be a great place to start and begin creating a ‘Plan B’ for your website in case anything were to ever happen.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Ten Reasons Why Your Website Needs A Data Backup Plan

Over the years, Microsoft has taken its fair share of criticism and scorn. Vista was very nearly the last straw for many users. Thankfully, the software giant was able to redeem itself with Windows 7. Despite the many fine qualities of Windows 7, there’s still the old problem of registry corruption. Over time, Windows has a tendency to become sluggish and bogged down under the weight of its own extensive software infrastructure. Windows registry repair and recovery can be scary for inexperienced users. That doesn’t have to be the case, however. With the right tools, working with the Windows registry is a breeze.

The Registry In A Nutshell

As you may know already, the Windows registry is the heart and soul of any modern Windows installation. Since the days of Windows 3.1, the registry has been the central core of the Windows operating system, governing its complex labyrinth of processes and programs. Essentially, the registry tells the operating system how to function through a database of simple configuration files. The integrity of these files can mean the difference between a well-oiled machine running at peak capability, and a PC that can barely function. If there’s a problem with your computer that isn’t virus-related, the smart money says that it has to do with the registry.

The Main Issue

A properly maintained registry of configuration files does a great job of keeping Windows 7 humming along the way it should. When the operating system and the many programs that reside within it have the right registry files to go off of, Windows 7 is a dream to work with. But over time, the registry of nearly every Windows PC becomes corrupted for a number of different reasons. One of the main causes of registry corruption is duplicate registry files. In other cases, registry files are improperly stored or maintained and become overwritten with inaccurate values.

Without proper upkeep, the registry is prone to degradation and needs a bit of housekeeping to stay in tip-top shape.

Fixing The Registry

The only way to repair a corrupted Windows registry is to look at each file and rectify individual errors on a case by case basis. If duplicate registry files for the same program exist, the extra files need to be deleted. With thousands of processes and programs running on any given Windows installation, this can quickly become a tedious and daunting task. Fortunately, there’s a better way to go about this. You can use an intelligent piece of software such as a registry repair utility to do the heavy lifting for you. Registry cleaners can sift through the registry of your Windows 7 PC and automatically fix errors faster than any person could by hand. Ultimately, they produce a faster, more efficient Windows installation without all the hassle of manual registry repair.

In Summary

The biggest problem isn’t the registry itself. It’s locating a capable tool to maintain the registry without harming the underlying Windows installation in the process. This is no small task. The registry is fairly complicated, and it takes an intelligent, well-designed piece of software to do the job right. Fortunately, there are many registry repair tools available if you know where to look.

If you’re having registry problems, the worst thing you can do is spring for the first available option or the cheapest program you come across. Good registry tools are hard to find, but they’re out there. Do your due diligence and explore all possible options before entrusting your Windows PC with any registry repair program. A little bit of research can save you hours of headache and wasted time in the long run.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How to Repair Your Windows 7 OS Registry