Round Tale
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How do they do it?
Those Olympians. How do they prepare for the Olympics? How do they prepare for the chance of loss?
I enjoy watching the Olympics. The spirit of the athletes is something to behold. I admire those that win their individual challenges, but I’m inspired by those that don’t. When I see athletes giving it their all when they know they have already lost the event, I can’t help but to be proud of the human race and our spirit to achieve. (Read More…)
Read the entire “How do they do it?” edition of the Web Hosting Talk Insider
Dealing with surprise
Last night my wife and I were at our local Toastmaster’s meeting. The table topics discussion was “what has surprised you?” The story of the time Kevin Gold and I made a hurried trip to LA that was filled with surprises from the beginning quickly came to mind. (Read More…..)
Read the entire “Dealing with surprise” edition of the Web Hosting Talk Insider
(The Hosting News)- The National Federation of Independent Business, has entered into an exclusive partnership with Web.com. The alliance gives NFIB members access to Web.com’s Web design and online marketing products that help small businesses succeed online.
“We are dedicated to helping small businesses own, operate and grow their businesses, and that means using the Internet as one of their tools,” said Mark Garzone, NFIB’s Senior Vice President, Marketing. “Web.com has both the experience and the expertise to provide the best and most comprehensive solutions available to our members, as the many Fortune 500 companies that choose to partner with Web.com can attest. Also, by choosing Web.com, our members will gain the added benefit of working with only one company, instead of many, to have their online marketing needs addressed.”
Web.com will provide NFIB members with a complete online marketing solution that incorporates professional design, marketing and search engine promotion capabilities—including enhanced listings in Google™ Maps, top Internet yellow pages and local search engine directories—a mobile website and a performance scorecard that provides site traffic updates in real time. Members will also have access to ongoing support from Web.com’s team of design and online marketing experts.
“With more people using the Internet, a website is often the first impression customers will have of a business, especially when they are not an established brand,” said David Brown, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Web.com. “When you’re competing for mindshare in the marketplace, just having a website isn’t enough. Small businesses need websites that are properly designed, optimized, marketed and maintained. Our core competency is to provide that assistance to small businesses effectively, efficiently and affordably. We appreciate the opportunity to work with NFIB, the voice of America’s small businesses, and look forward to helping NFIB members succeed.”
NFIB and Web.com(Nasdaq:WWWW), to Improve Online Visibility of Small Businesses is a post from: Hosting News and Reseller Web Hosting information.
(The Hosting News)- The National Federation of Independent Business, has entered into an exclusive partnership with Web.com. The alliance gives NFIB members access to Web.com’s Web design and online marketing products that help small businesses succeed online.
“We are dedicated to helping small businesses own, operate and grow their businesses, and that means using the Internet as one of their tools,” said Mark Garzone, NFIB’s Senior Vice President, Marketing. “Web.com has both the experience and the expertise to provide the best and most comprehensive solutions available to our members, as the many Fortune 500 companies that choose to partner with Web.com can attest. Also, by choosing Web.com, our members will gain the added benefit of working with only one company, instead of many, to have their online marketing needs addressed.”
Web.com will provide NFIB members with a complete online marketing solution that incorporates professional design, marketing and search engine promotion capabilities—including enhanced listings in Google™ Maps, top Internet yellow pages and local search engine directories—a mobile website and a performance scorecard that provides site traffic updates in real time. Members will also have access to ongoing support from Web.com’s team of design and online marketing experts.
“With more people using the Internet, a website is often the first impression customers will have of a business, especially when they are not an established brand,” said David Brown, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Web.com. “When you’re competing for mindshare in the marketplace, just having a website isn’t enough. Small businesses need websites that are properly designed, optimized, marketed and maintained. Our core competency is to provide that assistance to small businesses effectively, efficiently and affordably. We appreciate the opportunity to work with NFIB, the voice of America’s small businesses, and look forward to helping NFIB members succeed.”
NFIB and Web.com(Nasdaq:WWWW), to Improve Online Visibility of Small Businesses is a post from: Hosting News and Reseller Web Hosting information.
Managed Dedicated Servers Content Provided by Superb Dedicated Servers
In today’s world, every business is on the World Wide Web. You just can’t compete without a website. But in order to be on the Internet, you need a hosting company. Not just a hosting company, as you will soon discover, but a top-notch hosting company which can help you take your business to the next level. This becomes more challenging than one would think. Since new hosting companies are appearing on the scene all the time, it is hard to know exactly which ones to trust or simply which ones are skilled at what they do. How can you choose the best managed hosting company for you needs? Let’s talk about some of the best ways to choose the best possible hosting provider.
Turn to Google.com and the Web. You already know that “everything” is on the Web, so get out there and see what you can find out about the company you are considering. Google.com is obviously the most popular search engine to turn to when you are doing research but there are many others such as Ask.com. Put in their company name, top executives’ names and other pertinent information. See what information appears about them. Ask questions if any questionable links arise and see what type of answers you receive.
It’s not just about the “bottom line” when choosing managed hosting. Many companies or entrepreneurs are tempted by low rates when they choose managed hosting, only to discover low or non-existent customer service or a strange contract that they have “agreed” to by signing up for the service. Be careful if that deal seems a little too sweet – take the time to read the fine print because usually, there is a reason why it’s small.
Take the tour of the site and judge its performance. Have a critical eye on a new hosting company’s website when visiting. Is their website updated and current? Do they have lots of typos or other careless mistakes? Are links broken? Does the graphic design look like a cheap template? These are all signs of someone who isn’t doing their best work – or of someone who is just starting out. Let them make their mistakes on someone else’s hosting. Not yours!
Do they have an About Us page? A proud company – any company – will want to tell you more about it. The new hosting company ideally should have an About Us page and even a Staff page so you can learn exactly by whom and how your hosting will be managed. This can give you a sense of how many programmers, customer service staff, executives and other staff people the new hosting company employs. Even the existence of a Staff page helps you determine their size and professionalism. The company that won’t tell you anything about its history could have very well been started last Thursday by someone fresh out of college (hey, we have nothing against a recent grad). We’re not critical of anything you put on your About Us page – it’s simply important that it gives a potential client a chance to learn who you are before doing business with you.
Consider 6-12 hours appropriate. With most new hosting companies, 6 to 12 hours will be considered an appropriate time for a response from Customer Service or an Executive with the company. If you don’t receive a response within that time, ask yourself if you are somehow sending your message during a holiday, weekend or other off hours without realizing it. The new hosting company that doesn’t get back to you within 24 hours is a cause for concern. They are either too busy or badly organized and neither is a good sign for someone who wants to do business with them.
Look for multiple contact methods. Consider it a “red flag” if you can only contact the company via email or even more so, only through one email address. This is often a sign of a one-person hosting company or a very new company not really ready to handle your business. Or if they are a larger company, it can also be a sign that they don’t want to actually help or communicate with their customers. Before doing business with your new hosting company, be sure they offer you a telephone number and several email addresses. These contact methods will help you connect with someone – should you ever have a need to do so.
New doesn’t mean “bad”. There’s nothing wrong with being new, small, starting out or anything like that. There are hundreds of new hosting companies that are excellent and ideal to do business with. The key is learning which ones are best to do business with and which ones you need to avoid. Someone who is passionate enough to start their own business is often dedicated, enthusiastic and willing to work the hard hours to make it work. Sometimes, choosing the best new hosting company is simply “good horse sense” and trusting what your gut tells you – do you have a good feeling about this? Listen to that feeling.
Can You Trust New Hosting Companies? is a post from: Hosting News and Reseller Web Hosting information.
In an economy where businesses are failing at alarming rates, domain name auction sites are cashing in. New domain name auction sites are popping up everywhere offering domain names that were once selling for $6-$10 at staggering prices. The question many of us ponder is, “How do they do it and who is actually going to pay that much for a $6 domain name?”
For an internet marketer, a seasoned domain name is worth its weight in gold. It comes complete with all the things an internet marketer would pay money for and spend time (often lots of it) to attain. Let’s take a look at a few of the things that may come as part of the package when you happen upon a great expired domain:
Traffic – Even though a domain is expired, it will still show up in the search engine results. The older that domain name is, the more search results it is likely to be associated with. An internet marketer could potentially save thousands of marketing dollars by simply buying an expired domain name for a product that falls in the same or a similar category as the one they currently offer. Traffic from website text, blogs and videos for the expired domain will now be directed to you, the new domain name owner.
Reputation – If you do your homework, you could benefit from the reputation for quality and service that was built by a now-defunct business. A good example of this is in the mortgage and real estate industry. Many brokers who had great domain names are no longer in business after being around for decades. People are still being directed to their expired domains as a result of seasoned search results. The important point here is to remember to do your homework. Every broker in the industry did not have a good reputation.
Page Rank and Links – If you buy an expired domain while it’s hot and fresh, you’ll reap the benefit of the Google and Alexa page rank that it carried. You will also enjoy the back links from other sites that were once associated with the now-expired domain name.
Increased Profitability or a New Revenue Stream – An expired domain can be profitable in more ways than one. There is the obvious increase in sales that come from the traffic associated with an expired domain. But for some, selling and trading (or flipping) expired domains has become a new business venture. There are lots of websites that sell internet marketing guides on how to market expired domains easily and quickly.
Content ideas – If you were at a loss for content ideas, you may be able to work with the previous domain name owner to borrow some of their content ideas. One millionaire internet marketer used this strategy very effectively. He found a domain name that he wanted and bought both it and the sales copy from the owner. He paid a few thousand dollars for it but made millions. That domain name was definitely worth its weight in gold.
These are just a few of the considerations that are calculated into the pricing of an expired domain name. As the percentage of the world’s population that buys via the internet continues to rise, we are likely to continue to see expired domain name prices rise too.
Google, Microsoft, and The New York Times are just a few of many big names that have suffered notable security breaches in recent times. Hacking has become an industry all its own and there is a lot of money to be made for unscrupulous characters who are good at it. While there is a good chance your website is safe and secure, there is also the possibility that it is vulnerable and open to a wide range of threats. Unfortunately, many new customers have the presumption that just because they have signed up with a well known web hosting firm, they are automatically protected from a security breach. They believe that the host will handle all the security measures while they sit back and simply maintain their website. It is this type of thinking that could make you an easy victim. In fact, your best defense against a security breach involves taking the necessary measures to protect yourself.
A Little Common Sense Goes a Long
While many security software solutions exist, some of the best ways to defend yourself can be summed up to applying common sense. Here are five simple tips to help keep your website safe and secure:
1.) Smart E-commerce – If you plan to sale goods or services through a shopping cart, make sure that the software used is properly figured and secured. If you do not possess this knowledge, bring someone on board who does.
2.) Password Protection – Use secure passwords for all of your website applications that require a login. This goes for everything from your control panel to CMS software. A good rule of thumb is to use a combination of numbers, letters and symbols, in addition to never using something that others can associate with you for a password.
3.) Monitor Your Server Logs – By checking your server logs on a regular basis, you may be able to identify strange or unusual activity. Because knowing what to look for can be difficult, many software solutions exist that will do the job for you. These programs analyze your log files and automatically send alerts if strange behavior is detected.
4.) Update Your Web Applications - An outdated web application is one of the most vulnerable points of a website. Hackers are constantly working on new ways to compromise security so if your applications are not up to date, you could be exploited. Also keep in mind that most updates consist of critical upgrades that address known security issues.
5.) Backup Your Website – Because no website is ever 100% secure, it would be wise to frequently backup your site and all the files its contains. Don’t overlook this. Not only do hackers target websites, but entire web servers. If the server your site resides on is compromised, you could possibly lose everything you worked so hard to build. Regular backups give you the assurance that your website data can be restored should a disaster occur. Be sure to keep a copy of your backup in a location other than your hard drive just in case ill fate happens to strike your computer.
(The Hosting News) – NUREMBERG, Germany – Open-Xchange, the leading provider of business-class open source collaboration software, increased its number of users to more than 15 million people worldwide – an increase of 80 percent in 2009.
The results come from deals with software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers including Versatel (Germany’s third-largest telecommunications provider with 1.3 million e-mail accounts), Dotster (among the world’s largest domain name registrars servicing hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide), NameCheap (a leader in domain name registration and web hosting with 1 million domains), Nexen-Alterway Hosting (the French leader in open source web hosting) and NTS (a leading distributor in the Asian market). With the exception of NTS – the first distributor moving into the SaaS market in Asia – all the others have replaced their web mail with Open-Xchange and are selling additional groupware and mobility capabilities – providing additional benefits along with revenue opportunities for the SaaS providers.
“While we’ve made tremendous progress in sales and development in 2009, we expect to build on that momentum with a goal of reaching 26 million users in 2010,†said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. “There are very exciting deals in our sales pipeline and more social network features coming to our collaboration software. We’re really seeing the pace accelerating as we look ahead to next year.â€
The company‘s software is also used on-premise by some 3,500 companies and organizations worldwide — including the addition in 2009 of a large Japanese retail bank and the University Hospital Cologne (in Germany).
In 2009, the company introduced an innovative groupware concept called “Social OX,†which can aggregate e-mail from Google, Yahoo and many others into a folder in Open-Xchange, plus automatically add and incorporate contact details from social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Xing to the Open-Xchange address book.
With availability of the Open-Xchange OXtender for Business Mobility in 2009, users can receive push e-mail and synchronization of contacts, calendar and other information from their Open-Xchange account to their smartphones, including iphone ,BlackBerry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and others.
Other additions this year are OXtender for MacOS X, which enables end users to access and edit all information and documents stored on the Open-Xchange server with their familiar desktop Mac applications. Plus, availability was made this month of a free open source connector for Mozilla Thunderbird, the cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation.
Official Open-Xchange support for Dutch and Spanish languages was added to English, French and German and the Open Source community contributed many other language packs.
Open-Xchange also announced important partner agreements. In the near future, the collaboration software will be extended with Rack-Soft’s leading Unified Communications software to give end users telephone, fax, instant messaging integrated with Open-Xchange e-mail, contacts, calendar and task information.
Also, SugarCRM, the world’s leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software, announced cooperation with Open-Xchange to integrate data from SugarCRM and the Open-Xchange collaboration software as the first software to build on the social networking capabilities in Open-Xchange.
About Open-Xchange
Open-Xchange is the innovator of scalable and integrated open source e-mail and collaboration solutions for enterprises, academic institutions, and government authorities. The company provides on-premise versions called Open-Xchange Server Edition and Open-Xchange Appliance Edition, along with Open-Xchange Hosting Edition, which enables web hosting companies to provide an easy-to-use and feature-rich application delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS). The Open-Xchange Hosting Edition is architected to integrate into a hosting provider’s existing infrastructure, such as authentication, provisioning, billing, and e-mail storage and does not require that these systems be replaced.
Open-Xchange AG is a privately-held company headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany with offices in Olpe, Germany and Tarrytown, N.Y. For more information, visit www.open-xchange.com.
Open-Xchange Open Source Collaboration Hits 15 Million User Mark is a post from: Hosting News and Reseller Web Hosting information.
(The Hosting News) – NUREMBERG, Germany – Open-Xchange, the leading provider of business-class open source collaboration software, increased its number of users to more than 15 million people worldwide – an increase of 80 percent in 2009.
The results come from deals with software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers including Versatel (Germany’s third-largest telecommunications provider with 1.3 million e-mail accounts), Dotster (among the world’s largest domain name registrars servicing hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide), NameCheap (a leader in domain name registration and web hosting with 1 million domains), Nexen-Alterway Hosting (the French leader in open source web hosting) and NTS (a leading distributor in the Asian market). With the exception of NTS – the first distributor moving into the SaaS market in Asia – all the others have replaced their web mail with Open-Xchange and are selling additional groupware and mobility capabilities – providing additional benefits along with revenue opportunities for the SaaS providers.
“While we’ve made tremendous progress in sales and development in 2009, we expect to build on that momentum with a goal of reaching 26 million users in 2010,” said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. “There are very exciting deals in our sales pipeline and more social network features coming to our collaboration software. We’re really seeing the pace accelerating as we look ahead to next year.”
The company‘s software is also used on-premise by some 3,500 companies and organizations worldwide — including the addition in 2009 of a large Japanese retail bank and the University Hospital Cologne (in Germany).
In 2009, the company introduced an innovative groupware concept called “Social OX,” which can aggregate e-mail from Google, Yahoo and many others into a folder in Open-Xchange, plus automatically add and incorporate contact details from social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Xing to the Open-Xchange address book.
With availability of the Open-Xchange OXtender for Business Mobility in 2009, users can receive push e-mail and synchronization of contacts, calendar and other information from their Open-Xchange account to their smartphones, including iphone ,BlackBerry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and others.
Other additions this year are OXtender for MacOS X, which enables end users to access and edit all information and documents stored on the Open-Xchange server with their familiar desktop Mac applications. Plus, availability was made this month of a free open source connector for Mozilla Thunderbird, the cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation.
Official Open-Xchange support for Dutch and Spanish languages was added to English, French and German and the Open Source community contributed many other language packs.
Open-Xchange also announced important partner agreements. In the near future, the collaboration software will be extended with Rack-Soft’s leading Unified Communications software to give end users telephone, fax, instant messaging integrated with Open-Xchange e-mail, contacts, calendar and task information.
Also, SugarCRM, the world’s leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software, announced cooperation with Open-Xchange to integrate data from SugarCRM and the Open-Xchange collaboration software as the first software to build on the social networking capabilities in Open-Xchange.
About Open-Xchange
Open-Xchange is the innovator of scalable and integrated open source e-mail and collaboration solutions for enterprises, academic institutions, and government authorities. The company provides on-premise versions called Open-Xchange Server Edition and Open-Xchange Appliance Edition, along with Open-Xchange Hosting Edition, which enables web hosting companies to provide an easy-to-use and feature-rich application delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS). The Open-Xchange Hosting Edition is architected to integrate into a hosting provider’s existing infrastructure, such as authentication, provisioning, billing, and e-mail storage and does not require that these systems be replaced.
Open-Xchange AG is a privately-held company headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany with offices in Olpe, Germany and Tarrytown, N.Y. For more information, visit www.open-xchange.com.
Open-Xchange Open Source Collaboration Hits 15 Million User Mark is a post from: Hosting News and Reseller Web Hosting information.
(The Hosting News) – NUREMBERG, Germany – Open-Xchange, the leading provider of business-class open source collaboration software, increased its number of users to more than 15 million people worldwide – an increase of 80 percent in 2009.
The results come from deals with software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers including Versatel (Germany’s third-largest telecommunications provider with 1.3 million e-mail accounts), Dotster (among the world’s largest domain name registrars servicing hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide), NameCheap (a leader in domain name registration and web hosting with 1 million domains), Nexen-Alterway Hosting (the French leader in open source web hosting) and NTS (a leading distributor in the Asian market). With the exception of NTS – the first distributor moving into the SaaS market in Asia – all the others have replaced their web mail with Open-Xchange and are selling additional groupware and mobility capabilities – providing additional benefits along with revenue opportunities for the SaaS providers.
“While we’ve made tremendous progress in sales and development in 2009, we expect to build on that momentum with a goal of reaching 26 million users in 2010,” said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. “There are very exciting deals in our sales pipeline and more social network features coming to our collaboration software. We’re really seeing the pace accelerating as we look ahead to next year.”
The company‘s software is also used on-premise by some 3,500 companies and organizations worldwide — including the addition in 2009 of a large Japanese retail bank and the University Hospital Cologne (in Germany).
In 2009, the company introduced an innovative groupware concept called “Social OX,” which can aggregate e-mail from Google, Yahoo and many others into a folder in Open-Xchange, plus automatically add and incorporate contact details from social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Xing to the Open-Xchange address book.
With availability of the Open-Xchange OXtender for Business Mobility in 2009, users can receive push e-mail and synchronization of contacts, calendar and other information from their Open-Xchange account to their smartphones, including iphone ,BlackBerry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and others.
Other additions this year are OXtender for MacOS X, which enables end users to access and edit all information and documents stored on the Open-Xchange server with their familiar desktop Mac applications. Plus, availability was made this month of a free open source connector for Mozilla Thunderbird, the cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation.
Official Open-Xchange support for Dutch and Spanish languages was added to English, French and German and the Open Source community contributed many other language packs.
Open-Xchange also announced important partner agreements. In the near future, the collaboration software will be extended with Rack-Soft’s leading Unified Communications software to give end users telephone, fax, instant messaging integrated with Open-Xchange e-mail, contacts, calendar and task information.
Also, SugarCRM, the world’s leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software, announced cooperation with Open-Xchange to integrate data from SugarCRM and the Open-Xchange collaboration software as the first software to build on the social networking capabilities in Open-Xchange.
About Open-Xchange
Open-Xchange is the innovator of scalable and integrated open source e-mail and collaboration solutions for enterprises, academic institutions, and government authorities. The company provides on-premise versions called Open-Xchange Server Edition and Open-Xchange Appliance Edition, along with Open-Xchange Hosting Edition, which enables web hosting companies to provide an easy-to-use and feature-rich application delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS). The Open-Xchange Hosting Edition is architected to integrate into a hosting provider’s existing infrastructure, such as authentication, provisioning, billing, and e-mail storage and does not require that these systems be replaced.
Open-Xchange AG is a privately-held company headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany with offices in Olpe, Germany and Tarrytown, N.Y. For more information, visit www.open-xchange.com.
Open-Xchange Open Source Collaboration Hits 15 Million User Mark is a post from: Hosting News and Reseller Web Hosting information.
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