Affordable Web Hosting – making an easy decision (part 2)

in part 1 we looked at what is important for us in a quality web host, now we will look at which companies are both good value and have those features we want.

Affordable Quality Web Hosting Companies

So here is a list of web hosting companies I think fit the bill. They all meet our criteria and have strong reviews and industry ratings. Have a look and see which one appeals to you – they are all perfectly suitable and will do a good job both for anybody starting out and for those looking to switch to a reputable host.

Recommended Web Hosting Companies
Web Host Disk Space Bandwidth Allowance 24/7 Support Hosted Domains Money Back Guarantee Payment Term Lowest Monthly Cost
Hostgator
Hostgator
unlimited unlimited yes unlimited 45 day monthly and yearly $3.96
JustHost
JustHost
unlimited unlimited yes unlimited anytime monthly and yearly $3.75
iPage
iPage
unlimited unlimited yes unlimited anytime yearly $2.95
HostPapa
hostpapa
unlimited unlimited email unlimited 30 day yearly £1.95

Please note I am compensated for my advice – see my disclosure for more information.

More information on each Web Host

HostGator:

A very popular US based host, and rightly so. They have great prices, up to date servers, award winning support and lots of good reviews behind them. They are privately owned and run their own data centre. Office and servers are located in the US. Take a look at HostGator …

JustHost:

A relative new player in the hosting market, they bring a highly competitive offering at very good price. Customer service is outstanding and they have a  superb “anytime” money back guarantee which means you can cancel and get your money back at any point. Offices are in the US, UK and Australia. Servers located in the US. Take a look at JustHost…

iPage:

Re-launched in 2009 iPage offer a comprehensive service at amazing prices. They too have a rare Anytime Money-Back Guarantee, so you can cancel and reclaim unused months rent. They buy renewable energy credits making them a green choice and they currently host more than one million websites. Offices and servers located in North America. Take a look at iPage …

HostPapa:

Probably the leading UK based web hosting company. One of the earliest green hosting companies now powered 100% by renewable energy. Offices in the UK, US, Canada and France. Servers located in North America. Take a look at HostPapa …

So there you have it. All these web hosting companies are affordable, reliable and very good as first hosts (and beyond), indeed I use two of them myself. Hopefully you can make a quick choice and move on with what’s really important – your website content!

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Affordable Web Hosting – making an easy decision

One of the trickiest things to do when you are setting up your first website is choosing which web host to use. The choice is daunting, the terminology quite likely new and confusing and it is probably the first thing you are going to be spending money on so you are rightly cautious.

So how can I help? Well actually quite easily. There are a few web hosting companies which  regularly get good reviews and high ratings for their performance while offering a competitively priced service. It’s actually pretty hard to go wrong with any of these as they have a proven record and money back guarantees in case you want to pull out or change choices. So my help is giving you a shortlist so you can make your decision easily.

What should you look for in a Web Host?

Here are the key features you’ll want from a first web hosting company:

    • 99.9% uptime or better – so your website is always available
    • support for add-on domains – so you can host more than one website at no extra cost
    • generous disk space and bandwidth allowances – so there is plenty of room to grow and no restrictions to visitors (traffic)
    • quality 24/7 customer service - so support is there if you need it
    • cpanel support – cpanel is the standard administration interface and makes it easy to manage your hosting
    • affordable – you want good value for money of course
    • money back guarantee – in case you need it and as a sign of trustworthiness

Things you don’t want are to sign-up with a web hosting reseller – you’ll find yourself one step removed from the actual company doing the hosting. You want to be with the large well established host who’ll give you what you need – affordable and reliable web hosting.

Pay Monthly or Yearly?

This is one decision which might guide your choice of web hosting company. Pay yearly hosting is definitely the cheapest BUT you have to pay for one, two or even three years upfront to get the best prices. Pay monthly on the other hand is much cheaper initially and involves no commitment but in the long term works out more expensive. If you like the idea of paying monthly then the standout choice from below is Hostgator.

US or UK Hosting?

All the major web hosting companies welcome international clients and the search engines don’t give much weight either way so this isn’t a major choice. But if you are UK based and your target audience is the UK then it makes sense to use a UK web host. If this is the case then Hostpapa is the standout choice.

continued in part 2 …

 

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How to Earn Extra Money From Home?

Well that’s a good question.

I’m going to assume you’re not looking for obvious (but poor) answers like “stuffing envelopes” but rather something different, perhaps on the internet. After all you are on the internet right now.

First the good news. There are indeed ways you can earn money from home on the internet. The bad news is it’s not easy working out what those ways are because of all the scams.

If you put any kind of “making money” search into google you will be bombarded with websites claiming to have one great method (or scheme) or another and after trawling through some very enticing marketing blurb you’ll find they will be happy to tell you all about it if you’ll just sign up to their membership or buy their ebook at a “one time only” discount deal.

So how can you earn extra money?

My advice (from someone who does make money on the internet) is this:

  1. Don’t believe there are any get rich quick schemes – there aren’t. No legitimate ones anyway. And there wouldn’t be would there otherwise everybody would be doing them (including me).
  2. Do your research thoroughly and objectively but don’t get overwhelmed. It’s possible to spend weeks researching and at the end feel completely lost with no idea what to do. Hundreds of options but no way of knowing which way to go first. Instead decide if you trust what you are reading. Is it marketing spiel? Are they leading you to buy something from them? Or does it seem like genuine advice? (there really is some out there).
  3. Persist. Given there are not any real get rich quick schemes then all the genuine ways to make money are going to take some time and effort. Find one you believe in and stick at it, doing a little every day and keeping it moving forward. If you don’t give it a good go then how can it work out? (that would be get rich quick again)

How Do I Make Money?

I do it primarily through affiliate marketing. That’s a process where you earn commissions by connecting internet traffic to retailers. It involves a good deal of research and making some websites but both are within the scope of everybody, don’t have to cost much money and can definitely be done from home.

It’s a big subject, much more than can be written in a single post. So my suggestion is read all about it at how-can-i-make-money.net. It’s a good upcoming website that aims to teach you what you need to know in a series of lessons or tutorials. It’s totally free too.

Alternatively you could take a look at The Keyword Academy. They have a similar objective but have also built a “community” to help and support each other through the process. To get access to the advanced material and the community you do need to join though.

Either way or if you keep on searching then the best of luck. Keep in mind my advice and don’t give up – there is genuine money to be made out there.

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Purple Shoes

Purple shoes are gorgeous but aren’t they difficult to find in the shops? You may find a few here and there but not a whole selection, not hundreds and hundreds, and that is frustrating.

A selection of purple shoes from Javari

One place you can find hundreds and hundreds of purple shoes though is online in the various fashion and shoe retailer websites. But there is a problem with buying shoes online – getting the right size !

Enter Javari

Javari is a UK* based online shop, built and run by Amazon, which dedicates itself to and brings a new approach to the sale of shoes online. The key factor is they give you FREE Returns which means if a shoe doesn’t fit, it doesn’t cost you a penny!

But free returns are not all they offer, checkout some of these other great features:

    • FREE UK one-day delivery, so you have your shoes the next day
    • 100% Price Match Guarantee, so you know you’re getting a good deal
    • Innovative zoom technology and alternative views to allow you to practically touch the new shoes
    • An easy-to-shop site. Shop by style, brand, size, colour family or price
    • Customer Fit Ratings to see what other shoppers had to say about their purchase
    • Detailed product descriptions including construction materials, heel height, and customer reviews
    • Customer Service representatives available to assist you

More than 1000 Purple Shoes

And the big upside with using Javari is the number of purple shoes they have – more than a thousand! How many high street shops would you need to visit to find that many?

Purple trainers and boots from Javari

They have purple shoes, boots, vans, slippers, sandals, purple kids shoes, purple mens shoes and even purple sports shoes.

So why don’t you take a look and perhaps try a few, you quite literally have nothing to loose.

* they do offer international shipping although currently the free returns are for UK customers only

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Slogans List – making your slogan work

Slogans-List is a site where you can add your slogan and link it back to your website, making your slogan work for you.

In the world of corporations and marketing it is well recognised how important a catchy and relevant slogan is, but what about in the world of websites and the internet. Well I think there is a strong argument that having a good slogan for your website is even more important.

Website Slogans

Why? Because people who browse the internet have a notoriously short attention span. If they don’t like what they are looking at or it isn’t want they wanted then they click BACK and are gone in an instant. No second chances, no reading down to find your great content, just gone.

Now what’s the very first thing somebody sees when they click through to your website? Your logo or banner of course. So they read your title and see the image but does it tell them what your site is about? Well probably not, unless you have a slogan that is.

Great Slogans

When you put a good slogan right there as part of your banner image you get a chance to capture your visitors interest right away. Something short, meaningful and perhaps with a little intrigue and readers are much more likely to stick with your website a little longer. Long enough to find your main content and then you have them.

Using Your Slogan as Link Anchor Text

Now you have a good slogan, one that captures the readers notice and tells them what your website is about, another great place to use it is on some of your backlinks as the anchor text. The anchor text is the part of a link the reader sees, it’s normally in blue text and underlined. For the same reason that it captures the visitor on your website header it will also capture the visitor where they see your link and entice them to click through to your site.

One of the places you can make such a link is Slogans List, a website for doing just this. They have an interesting feature they call a ‘click widget’ which is a button labelled with your slogan which you can place on your website. Every one of your visitors that clicks it increases your slogan popularity at Slogans List with the most popular slogans getting the not insignificant bonus of a slogan anchor text backlink on every page of their site!

Put Your Slogan to Work

So if you’ve got a slogan make sure it’s a good one and put it to work on some backlinks. If you haven’t then perhaps it’s time to spend a few minutes creating one …

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