As many of you know from previous reviews, I’m not a big fan of web hosting directories which simply push hosting companies which pay out good commissions to them. I do realise that the primary reason for someone creating a web hosting directory is to make money however I believe they should still offer good advice and provide a good resource to visitors.

My first impressions of Web Hosting Top were not great. The design would have been fine 10 years ago but it looks very dated now. Thankfully, the directory is very easy to navigate. Down the left hand side of the site you will see an A to Z of web hosting companies. Reviews are also split into different platforms (e.g. Linux/Windows) and hosting categories such as shared hosting and dedicated servers. There are also lists of the best web hosting companies of each category type such as best blog hosting and best VPS hosting.

It’s a good thing that reviews are split into categories on the left column as the site lists a whopping 14,789 web hosting companies. I can’t recall ever visiting a web hosting directory of this size.

Hosting Reviews

As the old saying goes – ‘The proof is in the pudding’. And the ‘proof’ in web hosting directories is in the information it provides to visitors.

The web hosting companies are explored in detail in the review page for each company. Though the word review is a little misleading. There are customer reviews at the bottom of the page and these are incredibly useful, though the information above it is mainly factual rather than a personal opinion of the positive and negatives of the hosting company.

I can understand that it isn’t realistic to expect unique reviews of 15 thousand web hosting companies however I would have liked more in depth reviews of popular hosting companies.

In each ‘review’ there is general information about the hosting company like the data centres it uses, background information about the company and contact details. There are also web hosting coupons listed in this area, which is handy as most hosting companies don’t list discount coupons on their own site.

Each plan for the hosting company is also listed in a table and listed according to price and features. I found this particularly useful as most hosting companies split this information over several pages, so it’s good to see everything on the one page for easy comparison.

Statistics for the site are also displayed on the page including Alexa traffic, incoming links and domain name server addresses. I don’t personally find this information useful as you can always check this info yourself. More importantly, it’s not information which would sway my decision for choosing a web host.

It also displays the number of domains which the hosting company is hosting, which will give you an idea of the size of the company.

The reviews from customers are fantastic though. Customers can give a rating for their web hosting company and tell others their experience with the company. The only problem I saw with this was that well known hosting companies had lots of reviews but most of the lesser known hosting companies had no reviews at all, which is understandable with around 15,000 web hosting companies listed on the site.

Overview

Web Hosting Top is not the best looking directory out there and the reviews are more factual rather than covering the positives and negatives of the company. Though I found the reviews of popular hosting companies useful, particularly because of customer reviews and the price plan comparison table.

Worth checking out if you’re on a lookout for a new host.

Link: Web Hosting Top

* This was a Paid Review. If you are interested in having your site reviewed on Blogging Tips, please check out our Advertising Information Page.

Web Hosting Top Hosting Directory


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The site I am reviewing today is called AlreadyHosting. The site is very similar to many hosting comparison sites in that it gives you some basic information about what hosting is and then reviews dozens of hosting companies to help you choose the right one. So does AlreadyHosting really help you choose the right host? You’ll soon find out

AlreadyHosting

I understand how the web works. People spend time building websites and creating content in order to make money. As someone who works full time through the internet, I know this better than most. And I’m sure most of you feel the same way about affiliate marketing and advertising in general as I do.

Personally I am more than happy to visit a site with advertising on it and click on the owners affiliate links if the site helps me in some way. The site might offer me great content or it may offer me a great service for free; either way I’m happy to support the site if the webmaster is doing something for me, and most of the time good information is all that I ask for.

In my review of HostPeek a few days ago I explained that all hosting comparison sites heavily advertise hosting companies however I did find the information on HostPeek incredibly useful as it showed me how the performance of several popular hosting companies, information which is good to know when choosing a host and information which is rarely found on other sites.

The web is also full of websites which offer no real content. Some of these websites do make a lot of money but they rarely provide the visitor with anything worthwhile. Unfortunately, this is the kind of website AlreadyHosting is.

Before you jump to conclusions, let me explain myself. AlreadyHosting is a web hosting review website (their words, not mine!). So the purpose of the site is to help users choose a good host.

At first glance it looks like they are actually helping users choose a host. Down the right hand side of the site are links to guides for the Best Blog Hosting, Top Green Hosting sites and Joomla Web Hosting. All of these guides are very short and link to reviews of hosting companies. A quick look on the sitemap shows that there is a whopping 77 web hosting companies reviewed on the site.

Unfortunately, I need to use the term ‘review’ lightly. Clearly, with so many hosting sites it is unlikely that the writers have used every single one. That is not something I have an issue with. However, many of the reviews contain so little information that I feel I would offend my dictionary if I actually labelled them a review.

Check out their iPage Review to see what I mean. iPage is a hosting site which has managed to make it to number 9 of their top 10 web hosts list of 2009, and with 77 hosting sites being reviewed, you would expect the site to have impressed them a lot. This seems to be the case with 4 out of 5 stars and a host rating of 90% (how they award this is beyond me).

For those who didn’t click on the link mentioned above, here’s a screenshot of the review page:

So basically the review of iPage is a sentence stating that the web hosting site is ‘recognized as a top web hosting provider by AlreadyHosting.com’. Mmmm, I don’t know about you but that doesn’t exactly help me in choosing a host. There is of course more information on the review page.

Underneath the ‘review’ is a box showing you the price per month to host there. It doesn’t tell you whether this is for a shared hosting package, reseller package or dedicated server. Maybe half the fun is guessing what package $3.50 a month gets you!!

Underneath the ‘info box’ is a section entitled ‘About iPage’. This is the content which is within this section.

Small business web hosting offering additional business services such as: domain name registrations, email accounts, web services, FrontPage help, online community resources and various small business solutions.

Mmmm. That doesn’t sound too specific does it?

Underneath that section is the ‘Research iPage’ area, which shows you the Alexa and Compete traffic rankings for the site. This is probably the most useful information on the whole page. Ironically, they didn’t provide it.

After that is another reminder that the site was recognised as a top hosting service and after that is a link to an about page for the site and the whois information.

Unfortunately, this review isn’t a one off. Most of the reviews on the site contain as little information as the iPage review I just spoke about above. I would have much preferred if the owner had just chosen 10 web hosting sites and reviewed them thoroughly rather than writing 77 reviews that tell you nothing about the hosting site. Some of the reviews are a little longer but it’s difficult to know how reliable any information in the reviews is when the majority of them are rushed.

AlreadyHosting also has a blog. This section really baffled me as it actually contains some good articles. Why didn’t they put the same effort into their main site?

Overview

Let’s look at AlreadyHosting for what it is, a site which was setup to generate affiliate commissions from people who are choosing a new host. As I mentioned before, I have no issues with people placing advertising or affiliate links on their site if they provide good content, but unfortunately AlreadyHosting does not.

From their poor uninformative reviews to their spammy automated link exchange page, the whole site offers nothing to anyone who is looking for a new host. I’m sure the owner is a nice enough person and if they are making money with this site, good luck to them. Though I would advise you all to avoid this site at all costs as it won’t give you any help in choosing a web host.

Link: AlreadyHosting

* This was a Paid Review. If you are interested in having your site reviewed on Blogging Tips, please check out our Advertising Information Page.

AlreadyHosting – Web Hosting Reviews


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

Web Host Comparison

In total 9 hosting websites are currently reviewed on HostPeek: 1and1, DreamHost, Fatcow, Godaddy, Hostgator, Hostmonster, Hostpapa, Lunarpages and netfirms.

The reviews are very different from what you usually see on a host comparison site. Most review sites just stick give sites a rating out of 5 or 10 with a small description of what the site offers. Most of the time that reviewer hasn’t even used the hosting site in question and is simply trying to encourage the visitor to visit the hosting site through their link.

Of course, the main aim of any hosting comparison site is to make money. However, Dan offers visitors a lot more than normal hosting comparison sites. For a start, Dan has purchased a hosting package with every hosting service he reviews, so he actually has used every service he reviews.

Unfortunately, the reviews don’t talk about the quality of support or whether a specific package is competitively priced. This isn’t a major problem in my opinion as you can find this out yourself with a little research. What Dan does focus on is performance.

All 9 web hosting sites are monitored every day. You can see the CPU usage, memory usage, WordPress run time, Joomla run time, phpBB3 run time, server load, swap space and uptime.

Another nice addition is the ability to download a 10mb or 100mb file from the hosting package which Daniel Lemnaru has with the hosting site in order to test the speed of the server yourself.

On the home page you can see the performance rankings of all 9 hosting sites. This is an easy way to see which is the most reliable host and which one is the quickest. Most of the web hosting services have a similar amount of uptime but the difference in speed between the best and worst host may surprise you.

Overview

HostPeek is not a complete hosting comparison website as there are a lot of things which aren’t discussed like quality of support, price, bonuses, features etc. However, I don’t think that the site was designed to be a complete reference. What HostPeek does do is show you the performance of 9 popular hosting packages every day, and it does this incredibly well.

If you are unsure about choosing a host I would check out a few other review sites to get an idea of how good the site is. Though you should definitely check out HostPeek as well to get an idea of the performance level you can expect from the hosting company. Particularly if you plan on using WordPress, Joomla or the free discussion board phpBB3, as you can easily see how the host in question handles each script.

Link: HostPeek

* This was a Paid Review. If you are interested in having your site reviewed on Blogging Tips, please check out our Advertising Information Page.

HostPeek – Compare Web Hosts Performance


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

Today I will be looking at Layer Online, a budget shared hosting company which apparently use power management and advanced power saving techniques to reduce the energy they use.

Please be aware that since I am not actually using Layer Online, I can only review facts and figures and cannot give any detailed information on the quality of support, downtime or performance from them.

Packages

All Layer Online packages are shared hosting plans therefore they are ideal for those of you who are going self hosted for the first time. Their are three plans available: Silver, Gold and Platinum.

• Silver Plan: The Silver plan costs $1.98 a month. By using the code 50OFF you can get the first month for $0.99. This plan comes with 1gb of Disk Space, 1gb of bandwidth, 10 databases and unlimited domains. This plan is suitable for a new WordPress installation but if your blog starts growing quickly, you’d have to upgrade to a higher package.
• Gold Plan: The Gold plan costs $5.98 a month. By using the code 50OFF you can get the first month for $2.99. This plan comes with 20gb of Disk Space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited databases and unlimited domains. This plan would be perfect for small blogs.
• Platinum Plan: The Platinum plan costs $9.98 a month. By using the code 50OFF you can get the first month for $4.99. This plan comes with 50gb of Disk Space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited databases and unlimited domains. With more disk space, it may be necessary to upgrade to this plan if your blog grows.

There are a variety of ways to save money with all packages. The offer you two free months of hosting for every person you refer to Layer Online. They also give one month free to the person who is referred so it pays to be referred to them. If you pay annually you will also have two months marked off the price.

Layer Online also offer to buy out the remaining of your current hosting plan:

Q: What if I am stucked with my current webhost’s annual plan?
A: Not a problem. LayerOnline offers buy out program for the most cost effective way to transfer. We will buy out the remaining months in your current hosting contract when you switch to us.

For example, if you still have 8 months left with your current provider, you will get a total of 20 months of hosting with us when you buy our annual plan. If your current plan is monthly or you simply want a monthly plan with us, you will get one month free. Just email us your cancellation notice and we will reimburse the credit for you.

Like most shared hosting companies, LayerOnline offers a free domain to anyone who signs up to one of their plans but as I have said many times before, it is better to register a domain yourself and not let a hosting company take control of your domain name.

Hosting Technology

The Frequently Asked Questions page on Layer Online explains more about what you can expect about LayerOnline. I found this section to be incredibly funny as they have put the word Layer in front of several words in order to market several of their services including LayerSpeed, LayerEdge, LayerEasy, LayerCare, LayerFreedom, LayerWall, LayerAntiSpam and LayerGuarantee (ok, I’m easily amused!!).

All hosting accounts use cPanel which means that you will have numerous amounts of wizards to help you with your website

Overview

Since I have not personally used LayerOnline or any shared hosting company in years, it’s difficult for me to say whether they are worth trying out. The one thing I did like about their pricing over companies like HostGator was that each package had a limited amount of disk space. Too many shared hosting companies give the false promise of unlimited disk space when no such thing exists, so a defined amount of disk space was welcome.

LayerOnlines prices are certainly competitive though and at $1.98 a month, their Silver plan is one of the most affordable web hosting packages available.

Link: Layer Online

* This was a Paid Review. If you are interested in having your site reviewed on Blogging Tips, please check out our Advertising Information Page.

Layer Online – Green Hosting


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

This 48 page e-book spans 6 chapters and is available all our blogging newsletter subscribers.

Helping You Choose The Right Host For Your Blog

The book was written specifically for bloggers who have never hosted their own blog before, though I’m sure all bloggers will get something from it.

After a brief introduction about what hosting is, I explain some basic hosting terminology and look at the different types of hosting packages that are available to you. I then move on to look at all the factors that you need to consider when choosing a web hosting package.

The book does not delve into advanced hosting topics though it should help you gain a basic understanding of what hosting is and what type of hosting package you would need for your blog.

To download this ebook, all you need to do is sign up to our newsletter using the form below. You will be emailed a link to all of our free ebooks once you have confirmed your email address.

A huge thank you to Jonathan Bailey (Plagiarism Today) for proofreading this book. Your feedback was incredibly important to getting this ebook released

Free E-Book: Choosing A Web Host


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

As a result, when you sign up for a new host, you want that relationship to work out and last. However, doing that can be very tricky as hosts often times bury the important information under a pile of useless info and marketing.

So what should you check out about a host before your sign on? Here’s the short list with five things you need to know before you sign up.

1. Reviews

Before you even seriously consider using a host, you need to do a search for reviews of the company.

Though even the best host will have some negative reviews (any company, if large enough, will have some unhappy customers) but if you see a lot of negative reviews and there is a pattern to them, there might be something wrong. If people keep mentioning bad service, unreliable connectivity or other problems, it is probably time to look elsewhere.

Likewise, if a company has no negative reviews or, even worse, almost no reviews at all, it’s a sign that the company is either very new or very small. This isn’t necessarily a strike against the host, but does make it more of a gamble to use them.

In short, see what others have to say before you get burned by a host that already has a lot of bad press.

2. Technical Specifications

Though hosts are quick to promote their prices, how many domains you can host and what your bandwidth caps are, those aren’t the requirements for your blog. If you plan on using WordPress, for example, you need the following things:

• PHP 4.3 or greater
• MySQL 4.0 or greater
• The mod_rewrite Apache module

These requirements aren’t exactly impressive but they are important. Some hosts offer ultra-low-end accounts for static sites that don’t include PHP (surprisingly enough) and others don’t offer or place restrictions on MySQL.

Make sure that your host meets the requirements for whatever blogging platform you plan on using and will meet the needs of all the sites you plan on running without any difficulties. If you have to, ask questions of the sales staff.

3. Room to Grow

Your host can’t just meet your needs of today, but it needs to have room for you to grow. Even if your shared hosting account says that it is “unlimited” it really isn’t, it is only unlimited until your site becomes a burden on the server.

Make sure that your site gives you plenty of room to grow, either in the form of generous bandwidth and space allotments or easy upgrades to larger plans. You don’t want to sign on to a host you’re going to outgrow in a few months, so think about your future and see if this host can grow with you.

4. Content Restrictions

Read through the host’s terms of service and see what kinds of content are prohibited. Though all will prohibit illegal content, others may go beyond that and restrict “adult” content, large files (over X MB in size) and other restrictions. Others may limit how you link to or offer such content, such as prohibiting direct linking to music files, including legal ones.

You don’t want your host making editorial decisions on your behalf. Even if you don’t plan on hosting “adult” content on your site, for example, if you want to talk about something that might relate to the topic your host might make you reluctant. The same goes for any file and script restrictions the host places on you. Remember, these rules are often very subjective and how they are applied may depend heavily on how happy your host is with you as a customers.

Before you sign on, make sure that there will are no potential conflicts between your hosts TOS your site. Though most hosts aren’t looking for a reason to remove customers, you don’t want to give them a reason to, especially if your site grows rapidly.

5. Their Support System

If something goes wrong, how are you going to get help? Study their support system. Do they have a phone system? A trouble ticket system? An email address? All three?

Take a moment to look up how the host handles support issues and, if you can, give it a try. Call the number and see if there are real people or if it’s just a phone tree. Send an email if you can.

The last thing you want is to sign up for a host, have something break and then have to scramble to find out how to get a hold of someone or, worse yet, learn that no one is there.

Bottom Line

The problem with buying hosting is that many people approach it as if they’re buying a TV or a microwave. They look at the stats provided, they compare prices and buy what they feel is the best deal.

However, the best deal does not mean the best host. Just as with the TV or microwave above, buying the cheapest product without any research can leave you very unhappy in a very short amount of time. If you want a host that lasts, you need to check them thoroughly before you turn over your credit card.

In short, before you sign, know what you are getting into and make sure that it is right for you.

5 Things to Check Before Signing with a Host


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

To put it simply, you as a business, can now acquire exclusive ownership of any root suffix you like. Quite obviously the kind of fee associated with this ownership is not what small to medium businesses can afford to pay, however what small business owners need to be aware is to create a unique name identity which is exclusive and can stand the virtual storm of the domain name and branding crisis to come very soon.

It’s now even more important to acquire a brand name for which you have 100% ownership. Your unique name should possess all the attributes so it could survive the crazy world of e-branding. Players in the domain name industry will acquire every possible generic domain suffix through this policy. If your business name is generic you will be lost in this tide.

Think of names like Sony, Google, Panasonic, Microsoft, they all have 100% ownership of their names, with a matching .com domain name. On the other hand brands made out of dictionary words such as United, National, Eastern, Central, General, orange, red, blue, etcetera will be heavily duplicated and therefore face an uncertain future in this open global bidding. Any major player with a diluted name will need a professional game plan to address these sensitive issues.

The current brands face big challenges now. They need to answer and act upon tough questions regarding their brand, such as, is their current brand name can survive and maintain its unique identity in the years to come? Can they afford to change or modify their business name? If so, what strategies will they adopt to find a name that appeals to wider customer base and is equally passable under the new ICANN policies?

Marketing is getting more global than before. Today, even small businesses can create globally popular brands. While at it, it’s important to lay down iron clad foundations for the brand to survive and thrive in the years to come.

Embrace your Brand the Right Way


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

One of the biggest problems with hosting is the terminology. There are so many different kinds of hosting out there and their descriptions are not always helpful. Worse still, every kind of hosting is targeted at a different type of user and getting the wrong kind of hosting can leave you either overpaying for your needs or with a setup that isn’t powerful enough for your site.

So how do you know what kind of hosting is for you? Here’s a rundown of some of the more common host types, their advantages and who they are targeted at.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most basic and least expensive form of hosting you can find. Most large hosting companies such as Dreamhost, Hostgator, etc. primarily provide this kind of hosting.

A shared host is a host that puts hundreds, if not thousands of sites, on the same physical server. Since most sites use very little bandwidth or server resources, this is rarely a problem and it allows them to offer hosting at an extremely cheap rate, often just a few dollars per month.

The drawback is that shared hosting is not designed for high load. Though you can mitigate against it by using WP Super Cache or other caching programs, if your site uses too much resources it will be temporarily suspended before it takes the whole server, and hundreds of other domains, down too.

The majority of bloggers use a shared host when they first start out and works well for most smaller to medium sized blogs.

Grid Hosting

Grid hosting is a new kind of hosting that was first brought to everyday bloggers by Media Temple and is designed to mitigate against the problems commonly associated with shared hosting.

Grid hosting works very much like a shared hosting normally, but when a high load hits, the “grid” element takes over, spreading the load of your site across many different machines. This keeps your site alive even during traffic spikes, such as the Digg Effect.

The problem is that grid hosting is more expensive than shared hosting, usually about $20 per month, and there is a new metric to worry about, processing units. Where shared hosts just worry about bandwidth and disk space, grid hosting customers have to worry if their site is taking up too many processing units lest they get a larger bill.

Grid hosting is ideal for sites that don’t normally require a lot of hosting power, but experience occasional traffic spikes and would like to stay active through them.

Virtual Private Server

Virtual Private Server hosting, better known as VPS, is similar to a shared host in that multiple sites share the same physical server, but it is different in that the number of sites is much smaller and each site has a dedicated portion of the server’s resources (usually including both a RAM and CPU allotment). Furthermore, each account has root access, meaning that, to the customer, it is the same as running their own full server.

VPS provides much greater power and access than a shared or grid account but it comes at a higher price. Also, where shared and grid hosts are easy to set up and run, many VPS hosts require a great deal of expertise. Bloggers that aren’t comfortable running a server should probably stay away or pay extra for a managed solution.

A VPS is usually a good solution for bloggers that need more processing power than a grid host can cheaply provide or want to host many sites on the same server. It is also a popular option for the computer-savvy that love playing with their own server.

Dedicated Server

Finally, at the highest end of the hosting spectrum (at least before you start with enterprise hosting) is dedicated servers. The name pretty much explains the service, it is a an entire server available for you to do with as you see fit. You do not share the server, or any of its resources, with any other users.

Though dedicated servers usually provide the highest level of control and power, that isn’t always the case. A powerful VPS may have more resources available than a meek dedicated server. It all depends on the specifications.

That being said, not sharing a server has a great deal of benefit for anyone who wants to run very high traffic of very resource intensive sites. However, dedicated servers are also very expensive, usually many times more expensive than a grid or shared host, and are intended for hosts well beyond the needs of most bloggers.

Hybrid Solutions

In addition to the solutions above, there is a great deal of experimentation going on with file hosting services such as Amazon S3 and Rackspace Cloud Files as they let users host static files, such as images, on a powerful server for cheap while keeping their site on a less expensive host.

These setups can be both very cost and speed effective but require at least some degree of understanding both of the underlying technologies and DNS and Web site configuration. However, there are great guides on how to use Amazon S3 as an image or file host.

Bottom Line

The question every blogger has is which hosting is right for them? The answer is that it depends.

Most bloggers start out using a shared host and typically move up to a grid or a VPS as their traffic levels rise. Typically, I encourage people to be one step ahead of what they need. Though a solid shared host may be good enough for most bloggers, stepping up to a grid host offers little extra expense and a lot of peace of mind.

You don’t want to just meet your current needs but prepare for your future ones so you aren’t constantly moving from host to host. When you sign up for a host, plan on being there for two years and estimate your needs accordingly.

Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself searching for hosting a lot more often.

The Different Kinds of Hosting


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

Many bloggers prefer to host their images elsewhere. Whether it is that their hosts provide limited space, they have bandwidth concerns or just prefer the convenience, image hosts like Flickr, Imageshack and PhotoBucket have served bloggers and Webmasters over the years.

However, a new service hopes to make image hosting even easier for bloggers. Imgur (pronounced imager), does this by reducing image hosting to nothing but the upload. There are no accounts to register for, no need to tag your image, nothing but an upload button.

Best of all, the images hosted on the site are private, only the uploader gets the links, and, if needed, the service can do some very basic image editing before uploading the images to help ensure that your images are the right size when you embed them on your blog.

It’s a very simple service, but one that many bloggers are going to wonder how they lived without.

How it Works

When you first visit Imgur, you are presented with a very Google-like interface but instead of a search box, the main form element is an upload box with a large “Continue” button underneath. The only option the user has is to “Skip Image Editing”, which is checked by default.

You then select any image on your hard drive up to 2 MB in size and upload it to the server. If you choose to skip image editing, you are taken straight to the “share” page, which provides a series of links and HTML snippets to embed the image. It includes a direct link, an IMG tag, an HTML linked version and one using message board syntax.

If you decide to let Imgur edit your image, you are taken to a very basic image editor that will allow you to rotate and resize your image. However, the image can only be rotated in 90 degree increments, meaning no minor adjustments, and it can only scale the image in proportion so the image won’t appear stretched.

Currently, there is no way to crop or otherwise alter the image beyond those two functions. Once you are done with that and hit “Continue” you are taken to the share page mentioned above.

You can crop the image by clicking on it and dragging the portion you want to be visible and you can manipulate the proportions by clicking the “Show Presets” link below the dimensions if you want to use one of a set number of sizes (similar to other sites) or break the proportion of the image (though this will cause stretching).

All in all, it is hard to imagine a much more simple solution, especially considering there are no limits on the number of images uploaded and, at this time, no limits on the traffic the image can receive.

Spiritual Similarities

Of the major file sharing services, Imgur has most in common with ImageShack and TinyPic, a PhotoBucket service for those who don’t want to register an account.

Though both offer “No Registration Required” uploads, ImageShack puts limits on bandwidth and Tinypic places all images in a public archive that can be browsed. Both also have more complicated interfaces, albeit only slightly.

The upside to TinyPic and Imageshack is that they both accept video as well as images and have much more established names, meaning that they will almost certainly be around for a long time to come and their reliability has been proved to be solid overall.

All in all, Imgur seems to be positioning itself as the easiest of the easy image sharers. Though it lacks some of the features of the more established players, for those who need to just put an image on the Web and drop it into an email, blog post or IM, it’s probably the fastest method around.

Should You Use an Image Host?

The final question is whether a blog should use an image host at all. With every major blogging platform providing an easy way to upload images to your own server or your account, there likely isn’t much reason unless you are concerned about the image being taken down.

For the most part, your site will load faster and you’ll have better SEO if you keep as many of your images as possible on your own site. That being said, if you have limited storage space and/or bandwidth, it may be a worthwhile trade for a slight slowdown to ensure your site is always running well.

The best use for something like Imgur is usually to send something quickly to a friend or to post directly to a social news site. However, if you think that an image might draw a lot of traffic that could be taxing, such as a banner you’re encouraging others to post on your site, it may be worthwhile to host it remotely.

In short, you need to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of hosting your images off site and, if you do decide it is right for you, you probably need to give Imgur a good look.

If nothing else, it can greatly speed up and simplify the process of getting your work online.

Imgur: Dead Simple Image Hosting


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

In August of 2008 Who is Hosting This.com, a site that automatically determines the host of a Web site, looked at the then top 100 blogs and answered the question “Who Do Rock Stars Host With?”

Predictably, there was a wide range of answers and many different hosts mentioned. There were some free hosts, including BlogSpot, others were self-hosted but most were on a wide variety of dedicated Web hosts that target higher-traffic sites.

The winner, however, was Media Temple, a well-known and respected host from Culver City. Second was Datagram, a dedicated hosting provider that specializes in larger sites. Though these two doubled their nearest competition, combined they only had 19% of the list, meaning that there is a lot of disagreement about who to host with among even top blogs.

Though it is interesting to see how large blogs host themselves and maintain their sites with both high availability and high traffic, is there anything that can be gleaned from the list for small to medium-sized bloggers looking for a good hosting solution?

The answer is yes, but only if one is willing to dig through the results.

Following the Leader

For the most part, the Who Is Hosting This list is a good place to look for reliable and stable hosts that have proved themselves both to provide a fast service, but also reliability. Large blogs are very demanding in that they require a lot of resources to maintain and any slowdown or outage is immediately noticed by thousands of people.

Because of this, there are a lot of high-quality hosts on this list, and nearly any of them should be able to host just about any site thrown at them.

The problem is that the needs of very large blogs are different from those of most bloggers. A smaller blog will only receive a fraction of the traffic of a top 100 blog and, thus, don’t need as powerful of a host. As a result, most of the hosts on the lists, which specialize in such large-scale hosting, are too large and too expensive for most bloggers, often charging many hundreds of dollars per month where a basic hosting account elsewhere might only be $5.

Though these larger sites offer a great deal more than an economy shared hosting package, most aren’t willing to shell out that kind of money and won’t be in need of that kind of power, if they are lucky, for quite some time.

So how does one find a host to look at using that list? Simply put, one looks for hosts that provide smaller packages for up and coming sites, the theory being that since the lower plans are hosted on the same network, servers and manned by the same support teams, that the service will still be very good.

Though there are many on the list, some of the highlights include the following:

• Media Temple: Media Temple provides a “Grid Hosting” service designed for Webmasters that usually only need a shared hosting but want to guard against traffic spikes. The service currently costs $20 per month.
• Liquid Web: Liquid Web provides shared hosting for as low as $15 per month and VPS packages beginning at $60.
• The Planet: Though The Planet only provides dedicated hosting, it partners with Hostgator, who uses their network, to provide shared hosting. Though the network is the same, support will be handled by different teams.
• Layered Tech: Also provides grid-based VPS hosting for $60 per month. May be worth considering for Webmasters with many domains.
• Pair Networks: Also provides basic hosting for $10 per month. Accounts better suited for blogging (includes PHP) begin at $20 per month.

Is this to say that you should definitely host with any of these companies? Not necessarily. But they might make excellent starting points for doing your own search and will likely be good candidates for serious consideration.

Given the huge field of hosts out there, sometimes narrowing the list is the most important step.

Bottom Line

Again, none of this is to say that these are the best hosting companies or that they are the right host for every person’s needs. We all have to do our own research to find the host right for us. However, by studying the hosts used by well-established blogs, we can often get an idea of which companies have proved themselves and would be good “safe” bets.

Especially for those unfamiliar with selecting a host, these might make good starting points.

Though it’s never a good idea to blindly follow the lead of others, especially when it comes to picking something that will be as critical to your site as your host, getting recommendations of seeing what can help provide clues about where to go.

If these companies are good enough for the largest of bloggers, then they probably are good enough for us non-rockstars. The only question is whether they are a good fit and if they provide the same service to smaller bloggers that they do their major customers.

Who Do the Blogging Stars Host With?


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

While there are literally hundreds of sites and blogs dedicated to the subject of making money online, it seems there very few which explain how to save money online. Established bloggers and webmasters may well understand the concept of sites draining our pockets while new webpreneurs may feel overwhelmed by just how much money can be spent on creating, hosting and marketing a new venture.

In this short series of articles, I’ll explain how I have learned to build a successful blog on a very small, meager budget in the hope that my advices will be of benefit to you too! In this first installment, we’ll look at in detail at cheap (or free) web hosting and how to get the best price for your chosen domain name.

Overview

I first began blogging when I was a student at university. Back then I was a single parent and money was very tight, so when you bear in mind that my motivation was purely personal back then, I’m sure you’ll understand how saving money online was an important aspect of my ventures!

The blogs I built back then did not stand the test of time, though the lessons I learned have served me well in my current projects and I can honestly say I’ve saved hundreds of dollars from having blogged to a budget from the start! My main site, Blogger Buster has grown to become one of the most popular niche meta-blogs on the net. I have barely any outgoing expenses from my site and have not spend a dime in advertising ehich effectively ensures any earnings are purely my own.

Provided you are able to put a lot of tie and effort into your blogging ventures, you should be able to develop your own successful and professional blog by spending only a few dollars a year, not the hundreds accumulated over the months from hosting, advertising and marketing which you could spend to achieve similar results.

Perhaps not all of my ideas will be appropriate for your own needs, especially if you have already established your site. Instead, you should take the advice most suitable for your own requirements, which I hope will help you save money over the long term.

Choosing a blog host

When you want to save money, choosing a blog host is probably the most important aspect of building a successful blog. For many bloggers, the costs of monthly or yearly hosting is something which must be built into our budgets. So first let me explain my preferred solution: one which is (almost) entirely free!

Blogger.com

My preferred solution is to use Blogger.com for blog hosting. This is for two major reasons

1. It is completely FREE
2. It’s been the most reliable blog host I’ve ever encountered!

When using Blogger to host your blog, you will discover no restrictions on the amount of content (posts and images) you can host, and no restrictions on bandwidth whatsoever. Hosting with Blogger is free as in FREE. You will never be charged for hosting, your posts are safe and always available to visitors. The only cost involved with hosting your blog on Blogger is if you decide to use a custom domain for your site. In this case, you can purchase your domain for only $10 a year (and often far less as I’ll explain later).

There is far more which can be achieved when using Blogger than you may first think. While many believe that Blogger is incapable of producing a professional styled template, many experienced Blogger users have discovered new and exciting ways to customize their template to produce even magazine style layouts.

The key to success with Blogger relies on time, effort and patience. If you are prepared to work hard to create your perfect design, you can certainly host a professional and stylish blog for free with this host. On the other hand, of you prefer the functionality of plugins, a wider variety of “ready-made” templates and easier methods of customization, then you may find hosting Wordpress, Joomla or Expression Engine on a reliable budget host to be a preferred solution for you.

Purchasing hosting for your “self-hosted” blog

If you choose not to use Blogger then you will need to find a reliable but cheap hosting provider with whom to host your venture.

I’ve found the best way to find cheap and reliable hosting is to ask around. Visit forums, such as Web Hosting Talk, the Blogging Tips forums and Web Hosting Advice to learn about which hosts are recommended and how much you can expect to pay each month.

Often you will find that the “cheapest” and most popular web hosts are not so reliable or reasonable as they seem. I’ve personally used several “budget” hosts whose service has proved extremely unreliable. Budget hosts offer “shared” hosting solutions which can often see hundreds of sites hosted on a single server. While your contract may offer a certain amount of web space and bandwidth, you could often find your site inaccessible at busy times as the servers are overwhelmed by requests from the other sites hosted upon it.

Many webmasters find that small local hosting companies offer a much more reliable service. Though the cost of their basic hosting packages may be higher than that of large international companies, you will often find a much friendlier customer services department which is more than willing to offer help, resolve issues and offer upgrades at a reasonable price when needed.

You should also search online for any discounts or coupon codes offered by your choice of hosting company. Dreamhost for example offer a fabulous affiliate scheme which enables affiliates to offer hosting at up to 50% off the regular price (and joining their affiliate scheme could also help you earn money to contribute towards this lessened cost of hosting your site!). Simply Google the name of any hosting companies you are interested in to see if any discounts or additional services may be available and be sure to use these when purchasing your package!

Find cheaper hosting when you already have an established blog

If you have already established a blog, you may still be able to save money in the long term by changing your blog host or asking your existing host for a discount (just make sure you are not bound to a length of time by your contract!).

Search around for competitive monthly prices and compare your existing hosting with what else is on offer. Hosting providers who offer a more personal approach could be persuaded to reduce their hosting costs if you email or telephone to explain why you are considering leaving; ensure you have details of competitive hosting plans to hand to strengthen your case. While this approach may not be as effective as bartering for goods in a shop face to face, it’s certainly worth a try and if successful this could save you a lot of money each year.

It is also possible to migrate your existing blog from Wordpress to Blogger using BlogSync via Zeaster’s site. This tool is not yet as reliable as importing from Blogger to Wordpress, though we can hope soon Blogger will improve the new Export/Import feature to accommodate blogs from other hosts and platforms.

Cheap Domains

Whether you choose to host your blog on Blogger or purchase a hosting account for your blog platform, you’ll likely need your own domain name.

Many hosting packages offer a free domain name as part of a package deal, but if this isn’t the case you should be able to purchase a domain name for a maximum of $10 a year (and often far less!).

By far the cheapest domain name provider I know of is GoDaddy. The default price for dot.com domain names is $9.99 per year which surprisingly includes some free basic hosting and one domain based email address in the bargain. But if you search online for GoDaddy discount codes, you may even be able to purchase a domain for as little as $1.99!

Dot.info domains can be purchased for very low fees (often $0.99) though you should be aware that this price reflects the poor reputation of dot.info domains in general (many spam sites use this extension, and it is often inferred that sites on these domains rank less in search engine results because if this reputation).

You may also get a reduction in the cost of your domain name if you secure the domain for two or more years, rather than just the one.

If you choose a location based domain (eg: dot.co.uk or dot.co.nz for example) you may find it more economical to purchase a domain from a domain reseller based in your home country. However, do shop around and use a currency converter to ensure you get the best proce for your domain, especially if you plan on purchasing the domain for several years instead of just the one!

Here are a few more things to consider when purchasing your domain name to ensure you buy a true bargain rather than an unusable domain:

• Ensure that you can modify the DNS settings without further charge. Some domain sellers charge (a lot) extra for the ability to alter DNS settings and you would need to modify these settings if you plan on associating your domain name with a different hosting provider.
• Make sure that your domain is set to automatically renew. Otherwise if you forget to renew on the date your purchased domain registration ends, someone else could purchase your domain name (including the associated PageRank and “brand identity”) right under your nose!
• Be sure to set up and make use of any freebies offered when you purchase a domain name. Many companies offer some free hosting, an email address or other software which could be useful to you as a blogger.

Conclusions

Web hosting and domain names can be the two greatest expenses of a successful blog. In this article I’ve offered advice based on my own experiences of how you could save money by finding cheap (or free) hosting for your blog and being savvy when it comes to purchasing your domain names.

In the next part of this series, I’ll expand upon these notions and offer some advice regarding image, script and application hosting which can help reduce bandwidth and hosting charges and even eradicate these altogether!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this series so far. Please feel free to add your comments and your own suggestions by leaving your message below.

Image credits

Empty wallet byJeff Keen; Thrifty buttons by Normanack; Hosting servers by Johnnie W@lker;  Domain names by
A. www.viajar24h.com. All via Flickr Creative Commons.

How to blog on a (very small) budget (Part 1)


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

• Administrative Contact – The admin contact is the person appointed to manage the domain name. They have complete control over the domain name
• Registrant Contact – This is the company or individual who has the right to use or sell the domain.
• Technical Contact – The technical contact is the person who is responsible for maintaining the DNS nameservers associated with the domain name.
• Billing Contact – This is the person who is responsible for renewing the domain.

Most individuals use the same information for all 4 contacts but companies sometimes use different contact information for the billing and technical contacts. I remind you all that you should not let a hosting company register a domain name for you as you will not have full control over the domain name. Hosting companies usually put themselves as the admin contact which means that in the eyes of the law they own the domain and not you.

Whois Details

The contact details I mentioned above are known as the Whois Information. These details are made public and anyone can see the whois information of a domain name simply by searching for it. This of course brings up some privacy concerns. A lot of people, for many different reasons, don’t like their home address and phone number plastered all over the web.

Because of this, millions of domain name owners use false whois information. Government authorities don’t like this as they want to be able to track down the owner of any illegal site. I wouldn’t recommend anyone putting false information in their whois because in the event of any domain dispute you could find yourself in a difficult situation because the registrar can’t confirm you are who you say you are. However, many still use false information to their whois.

If you are worried about your private information being posted on the web then a much better alternative is to purchase a Domain Shield from the registrar (it’s sometimes known as ID Protect, Whois Privacy Protect or something similar, it depends on which domain registration company you are using). By paying an additional fee you can switch your whois info from Public to Private. This reduces the chances of someone stealing your identity and makes it harder for spam companies to add your email to their spam list.

The privacy shield usually costs around $10 a year but it depends on which company you use to register your domains. Is this $10 a good investment i.e. should you be hiding your whois information?

Do you need to protect your whois information?

A few years ago I banned a member on a forum I ran. That domain had it’s whois protected but the member found out about another website I owned which didn’t have the whois privacy option enabled. He posted my home address publicly and told other disgruntled members to send spam to my home. Thankfully nothing happened and the members quickly recognised him as the idiot he was but it did highlight the fact that I don’t want my home address made public. Since then I have paid extra to make my whois information private.

I currently pay an extra $8 a year for ID Protect for every domain which I have developed (not including some personal websites). In total I have protected 14 domains so this is an additional $112 in registration costs. However, I do not pay for ID Protect on other domains I own (around 30) and I am planning on purchasing more so I decided to ask members of DNForum if they used the whois privacy option and whether they thought it was worth it.

The responses were varied :

• Some members do not protect their whois info.
• Some have setup a company address and PO box with the phone number redirected to voice mail.
• Some use fake addresses and emails for their whois info.
• Some do pay extra to protect their whois information.

Many domainers believe that you should always keep your whois public so that any potential buyers can contact you. I think this is a wise decision for domains which you are looking to sell however if you develop a domain privacy may still be a concern. And just how much security does ID Protect give you? A little but not as much as you may think.

What surprised me was that when you pay the registration company extra to protect your whois information they change the name of the admin contact to their company name so technically speaking, they own the domain name and not you. I don’t believe any domain name company worth its salt would take the domain from you but it’s something to bear in mind.

Something which does concern me is the security of my whois information and it’s not as secure as you may think. Apparently, most domain registrars will give up the whois information of a domain name to anyone who calls up. Surely this defeats the point of paying for whois privacy in the first place? In my opinion, yes and no. I’m not happy about the fact that anyone who puts a little effort into calling my domain registration company can find out my whois information but that info is a little more difficult to find and at least my email address is not public so spam is not a major concern.

Overview

Domainers seem to be split about whether protecting your whois information is worth it. After hearing what other domain traders think and reading several articles about the topic I have come to the conclusion that ID protection is a personal choice.

If you are not concerned about your home address and phone number being placed on the net then ID Protect is obviously a waste of money. If privacy is a concern then I recommend paying a little extra to protect the whois information of domains you develop.

Whether you protect the whois of undeveloped domains is entirely up to you. I do agree that making your whois information public will increase the chances of someone contacting you about a sale. However, if you have placed the domain for sale on a popular domain marketplace (eg. Sedo) the buyer will be able to place an offer on the domain anyways (though they will not be able to contact you about any specifics) and you can always list all of your domains for sale on a private portfolio page and a quick search would highlight this page to any potential buyers.

Therefore in my opinion, whether you pay extra to protect the whois of domains you are not developing comes down to how much you can afford. With the ID Protect costing about the same as a standard domain renewal it’s clear the more domains you own the less likely you are to pay extra to protect the whois.

Do you think it’s worth paying a little extra to protect your whois information? Or would you rather setup a PO Box and use a skype phone number or some equivalent for your phone number?

I’d love to hear what you all think of the subject.

Do you need to protect your whois information?


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

This is why it’s important to lock your domain, why you should always make sure your domain is auto renewed and most importantly, make sure your domain name isn’t stolen. Unfortunately, there have been more reports of domain name hijacking in the last few months.

Hijack of DavidAirey.com

The first person I personally knew who had his domain name hijacked was David Airey, the designer who created the BloggingTips logo. About a year ago David went on holiday in India and told his readers he would be away for a few weeks. A criminal took advantage of this and used a google mail security flaw to hijack his domain name. Once the scumbag had Davids email he simply put in a domain transfer request from ICDSoft and transferred the domain name to GoDaddy.

David contacted the guy, named Peyam, and got this response :

)
Im sorry to say but its not possible to have it or it take about 1 month if you try hard to have it again ) and you lose your visitor ….hahaha
You can purchase it for 650 $ And we will use escrow sevices that will done in less than 2 days !

With the help from many of his readers David managed to get his domain name back but I can only imagine the stress and frustration which was caused by the whole ordeal.

Hijack of MakeUseOf.com

Earlier this month I read how Aibek Esengulov, owner of MakeUseOf.com, lost his domain name to a domain hijacker. The domain was registered at GoDaddy so the criminal (or should I say scumbag, douchebag, a’hole!) called up and impersonated Aibek and demanded the domain name be transferred to an account at NameCheap. Apparently, this was all done within an hour.

In response Aibek setup a temporary blog on blogspot to get more coverage about the hijcack. Many blogs including Daily Blog Tips, Digital Inspiration, Performancing, The Inquistr, The Next Web, TechyShit and LinkMoney gave their full support and spread the word about the hijack.
In this instance the hijacker asked for $2,000 to get the domain name back and quite rightly, Aibek refused to pay.

Aibek then went through the same procedure David Airey did and after sending some documents to GoDaddy they spoke with Enom (NameCheap is an enom reseller) and got the domain name back.

How secure is your domain name?

There are two things about these stories that worry me. Firstly, I think that domain registration companies should be doing more to prevent domain hijacking in the first place. Surely they can add a few more security steps along the way or at least provide an option for that. Some domain name companies let you password protect each domain individually so perhaps more options like that should be added.

For example, you need to provide your mothers maiden name or secret password in order to transfer the domain and if you do not have that information you need to send them evidence of who you are. I know this would be a real pain in the ass but if it stops domains from being hijacked so easily it’s surely worth the extra hassle. I need to give credit to Godaddy and Enoms support teams though as in both instances they did get the domain back to it’s rightful owner after just a few days.

Secondly, it concerns me that GMail can still be hacked so easily. Indyan posted in the forums yesterda that Aibek has confirmed that the hijacker hacked his GMail account in order to get the domain name. It’s scary to think that a domain hijacker can use the same technique which was causing havoc last year.

Aibek also confirmed that the guy who stole his domain has also stole YuMP3.org and Cucirca.com and is maybe the same guy behind 788 other stolen domain names.

How to protect your GMail Account

The technique which was used to hack David Aireys GMail account was explained by GNUCitizen around 14 months ago :

The victim visits a page while being logged into GMail. Upon execution, the page performs a multipart/form-data POST to one of the GMail interfaces and injects a filter into the victim’s filter list. In the example above, the attacker writes a filter, which simply looks for emails with attachments and forward them to an email of their choice.

This filter will automatically transfer all emails matching the rule. Keep in mind that future emails will be forwarded as well. The attack will remain present for as long as the victim has the filter within their filter list, even if the initial vulnerability, which was the cause of the injection, is fixed by Google.

I’m not sure if hackers are using the exact same technique but it wouldn’t surprise me.

If you use GMail then you should be concerned about this. Aibek posted some great tips on how you can protect your GMail account and your domain name. This is what he suggests :

1. Well, my very first advice would be to check your email settings and make sure your email is not compromised. Check fowarding options and filters. Also make sure to disable IMAP if you don’t use it. This also applies to Google Apps accounts.
2. Change contact email in your sensitive web accounts (paypal, domain registrar etc.) from your primary Gmail account to something else. If you own the website then change the contact email for your host and registrar accounts to some other email. Preferably to something that you aren’t logged in to when browsing web.
3. Make sure to upgrade your domain to private registration so that your contact details don’t show up on WhoIS searches. If you’re on GoDaddy I’d recommend going with Protected Registration.
4. Don’t open links in your email if you don’t know the person they are coming from. And if you decide to open the link make sure to log out first.

Overview

Having your domain name stolen is frustrating, stressful and potentially costly so be proactive and make sure your domain name is secure as it can be. I recommend paying extra to have your domain whois information protected and hidden from the general public and password protecting your domains if you have the option too.

Scarier than losing your domain name is having your Gmail account hacked. If you have emails with passwords in your gmail account then the hacker could cause mayhem and get access to your paypal, bank accounts or whatever.

If you have any tips or advice on protecting your domain name or Gmail account please leave a comment.

Thanks,
Kevin

* Kudos to Aibek of MakeUseOf.com for helping other webmasters who have had their domain stolen and for doing his best to warn others of this potential nightmare

How secure is your domain name?


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

However, domain names like this have long been registered. So, how do you name a blog or website for maximum profit? Thankfully search engine optimization (SEO) has changed what is considered a “good” domain name.

How SEO Has Changed Domain Name Registration

SEO has changed domain name registration principally because most surfers find information via organic searches, instead of heading to a specific site, for example.

Search Engine Optimization Definition: What is Organic Search?

People use the internet to find information. Organic search is when web surfers type in a search terms (ie, keyword phrases) and sites pop up. As most surfers have no specific site in mind when they use the internet to find information, they type in search terms and head to the sites that pop up in their search results. Most keep doing this until they find what they want.

Hence, it’s important for sites to be optimized well (eg, have lots of SEO content populated with relevant keyword phrases) so that surfers looking for the type of information they provide will to be able to find them.

It helps to have a domain name that clues surfers into what the site is all about.

Yesterday, I received an email from a reader of one of my past posts here about using dashes/hyphens in a domain name. She wanted to know how the search engines treat them. I wrote her the following:

These days, a site’s domain name doesn’t matter as much as how it’s optimized for SEO. This is because most surfers find a site via organic search, not by specific site name. . . . In fact, some SEO experts say that it’s better to have the subject matter of your site as part of its domain name because it makes it easer to find. For example, if someone typed in the keyword phrase “buy organic oranges”, they would land on your site (eg, buy-organic-oranges.com) faster than one that’s named, “buyorganicoranges.com” for example.

*Note: Domain names buy-organic-oranges.com and buyorganicoranges.com used for illustrative purposes only.

Now, you don’t want to go crazy and have a domain name with five, six or seven hyphens, but don’t shy away from using hyphenated domain names. They can actually boost your search engine rankings, particularly if it’s a commonly searched term.

Search Engine Optimization Tip: Which Is Better — .com, .biz. .info, etc.?

Domain names don’t have to end in .com anymore either. Again, a site that’s optimized well will rank high in search engines, even if it ends in a .info, .biz or any other kind of “dot”.

Remember, search engines spider content. If you have relevant content on your site that incorporates well-researched, popular keyword phrases as it relates to your niche, your blog/website will get good search engine ranking – no matter what its named, or what dot it ends in.

How to Choose a Domain Name for Your Blog That Will Generate the Most Traffic


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

I wasn’t sure if the reserve would be met but I am surprised that with 2 days to go the top bid is only $22,000 (not often I am able to use the term ‘only’ with that figure!). I suspect there is still a lot of bidding to go on but it doesn’t look like the domain owners will get anything close to what they are looking for. I’m hoping the domain does get sold as it would be good to see it developed

Sedo’s Premium Auction

If you have a little extra cash, I recommend checking the Premium Auction out as there are some good domains on offer.

Here’s a selection of some of the domains on offer and their current prices. In my opinion most good domain names would be suitable for a blog as well, you just need some imagination. I’ve added some suggestions to the list below to show you how they could be marketed as a blog.

• capture.com 12,500 $US – Would be a great name for a photography blog
• approach.com 7,777 $US – Perhaps a golf or dating blog.
• painted.com 7,600 EUR – A great name for a tattoo blog.
• sellmywebsite.com 1,750 $US – A good name for a website flipping blog.
• cheapwebhosting.org 900 $US – This would be a great name for a blog which compares cheap hosting companies.
• singing.net 210 $US – Good name for a karaoke blog.
• guitars.eu 525 £ – A fantastic name for a guitar related blog.
• grapes.net 510 $US – Would work well as a wine blog.
• workbook.net 500 $US – A good name which could be applied to a variety of topics.
• fore.net 150 $US – A great name for a golf blog.
• bostonjobs.net 80 $US – Would be perfect for a blog which summarized the best jobs being advertised from the Boston area.

Finding the right domain for your website or blog is harder than ever but if you check every now and then you might just pick up a bargain.

I know that most bloggers don’t have the finances to purchase a premium domain name but in my opinion blogs are no different to any other type of website. In other words, a good domain name is essential to branding and marketing your blog

Sedo’s Premium Auction


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/