How to Select a Web Site Host

So, you know how to create HTML files (web pages) and want to start a website. You have a domain name but don't know where to store the files (web host). You find countless web hosting companies offering a wide range of products but you can't make heads or tails of all the features to decide which plan is right for you. Does this sound like you? If so, this article was written for you. Hopefully after reading it, you will have a better understanding of all the terms associated with web hosting and find a hosting company that is right for your business. File Storage Space Usually hosting companies sell different packages centered around storage space. Storage space is specified in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes (GB); a megabyte is 1000 kilobytes and a gigabyte is 1000 megabytes.

How much storage space do you need? Well, that depends on what you are planning to do with your website. If you have only a few pages of text and little to no graphics or images, a 25 MB should be more than you will ever need. Most hosting packages start at 25 MB of storage space. When comparing web hosting companies for file storage space, be sure to check their terms and conditions to make sure they do not charge another setup fee for upgrading to a packge with more space. One way to determine the size of your files in Microsoft Windows, right click the Start button and click Explore. Scroll down and select the file(s) or folder(s) you plan on using for your website. Right click on the selected file(s) or folder(s) and click Properties and you will see the size. Bandwidth Bandwidth is the measure of how much data flows through your site. It is usually expressed in GB transfered per month. If you are expecting a lot of hits (millions of page views) to your site you will need to get the most bandwidth you can afford. For new web sites it may take a while to get up to a significant bandwith. If you find you are approaching the bandwith limit, you can always upgrade to a plan with higher bandwidth. Some plans allow you to increase your monthly bandwidth for an additional monthly charge. E-Mail Most hosting plans include a significant number of POP e-mail accounts and unlimited e-mail forwarding. POP accounts can be accessed with your current e-mail program and some hosts may include a webmail interface for your POP accounts. If you have several people that work for your web site/business and want them to have their own e-mail address, you will need to select a hosting plan with enough POP accounts. E-mail forwarding is when e-mail that is addressed to your website gets redirected to another e-mail address that you specify. An example of e-mail forwarding: for one of my websites mail addressed to mike-@-mrgoodbeer.com, sales-@-mrgoodbeer.com, and webmaster-@-mrgoodbeer.com all get redirected to my Gmail address. With e-mail forwarding you can easily track where your e-mails are coming from. Be careful though...the more e-mail addresses you have, the more SPAM you will receive. Shared vs Dedicated When comparing hosting plans, you may notice plans for shared hosting and dedicated hosting. Shared hosting simply means that your web site will be hosted with other websites on the same server or machine. Shared hosting is good for the average web site where speed is not a priority. A dedicated server is just that, a server that is dedicated to your website. The advantages of a dedicated server are speed and control. The disadvantage is cost, you will usually have to pay a much larger monthly fee for having a dedicated hosting plan. If you know nothing about Unix, Linux, or network administration make sure to get a managed dedicated server. The hosting company will take care of all the security and software patches/updates that arise over time. Make sure to review the hosting company's terms and FAQ concerning their dedicated servers to determine if their service is right for you. Support For the companies that do not have 24 hour support, you will have to determine if their phone support hours meet your specific needs. Make sure to note the location of the company and offset the support times for your time zone. If you plan on working on your web site during all hours of the day, make sure to choose a company with 24/7 phone support; otherwise, you will have to wait for them to open before you can get help to solve your problem. CGI Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a program, also know as scripts, that can be run on a website to make the site more dynamic. CGI programs can be written in PERL, C, Unix shell, and countless other languages. It is best to select a hosting plan that allows CGI because you will undoubtedly run across an application or game that you want to modify or include on your site. There are many resources on the web that list free CGI scirpts and countless companies offering CGI scripts for you to buy. MySQL MySQL is used for creating and maintaining web based databases. If you anticipating having some data on your site that your users might want to sort you will probably need to find a web host that supports MySQL. Some hosting companies specify how many databases you can have on your site and charge an additional monthly fee if you want more. You will have to determine how many databases you will need and select the appropriate web hosting plan. FrontPage FrontPage is a website creation and management what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) tool developed by Microsoft. The files generated by FrontPage may have extentions asscoiated with them. If you are using FrontPage to develop your site, you will need to make sure that the hosting plan you choose supports FrontPage extentions or your web pages may not display properly, if at all. Server Operating System (OS) For most basic websites you will not have worry about which OS your web hosting company is using. Most hosting plans are running on either Unix or Linux. For some unique web site features, you may need a Windows based server. Setup Fee Some hosting companies charge a setup fee when your account is created. This is usually a one time fee and may be waived, in some cases, when you pre-pay for your service. Check the hosting company's terms carefully to determine the details of their setup fee. SPAM Filter Most hosting plans include some type of SPAM filter for your e-mail accounts. This feature can come in very handy if you are using POP email accounts. Shopping Cart Some hosting companies provide shopping cart features as part of their hosting plan. You do not have to worry about this featue if your web site is not selling products. Also, there are many different third party shopping cart applications and CGI scripts available on the web that you may choose to implement on your web site such as the ones found at PayPal.

About The Author You may reprint this article (can be found at http://www.mrgoodbeer.com/hosting/ ) in any form but all links to MrGoodbeer.com in the credits, title, body, and this footer must not be altered. mike@mrgoodbeer.com

10 Ways to Make Money on Radio and TV Talk Shows

By Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound

If you have a new book, product or service to sell, here’s how to make money on radio and TV talk shows all over the country.

The tips are courtesy of Steve Hall, publisher of “Radio-TV Interview Report: The Magazine Producers Read to Find Guests.” The magazine reaches more than 4,000 talk show producers, and includes paid advertisements from authors and other guests who want to catch the attention of talk shows.

1. Learn as much as you can about the interviewer, the station, the market they serve, type of program and the angle they want you to take.
   

2. Get set up with an 800 number and credit card processing.
   

3. Alert retail stores of your upcoming appearance on their local talk station so they can stock your product.
   

4. Use a local talk show appearance to attract free newspaper coverage in that area. See Special Report #13: How to Recycle Your Publicity (for Serious Publicity Hounds Only.
   

5. Focus on being a good guest by being forthcoming with free advice.
   

6. Stir people’s emotions so they’ll want what you’re selling. Be passionate and convincing. Offer strong opinions.
   

7. Give listeners an incentive not to procrastinate. Offer a special bonus or discount if they call “right now.”
   

8. Suggest listeners buy your product as a gift for someone they care about.
   

9. Maintain a long-term relationship with the producer/host. Offer to fill in if a guest cancels at the last minute.
   

10. Impress prospects by listing your media appearances in your promotional literature. See Electronic Media Kits: How to Create Them, Deliver Them and See INSTANT Results

For a sample magazine and more tips, write to Bradley Communications Corp. at 135 E. Plumstead Ave.,
Box 1206, Landsdowne, PA 19050-8206. Or call 800-989-1400.

Need more help getting onto radio or TV talk shows?

See Special Report #27: How to Get Booked on Radio Talk Shows, Give a Great Interview and Get Invited Back.

See How to Get Booked on "Oprah."

See The "Oprah" Hotseat Teleseminar.

See How to Get Booked on "The View."

See How to Get on the Local TV New Tomorrow

See How to Get onto Drive-Time Radio Shows

If you like all those ideas above but would rather hire a publicist to help you implement them, see How to Hire the Perfect Publicist, an 85-page ebook that walks you step-by-step through the entire process. Includes 307 tips on where to look, questions to ask during the interview, the advantages and disadvantages of the four types of billing methods, how to help your publicist help you, and a handy chart that will help you rank your final candidates. Read this ebook before you waste thousands of dollars on the Publicist from Hell who will take your money and ruin your reputation. Downloadable, so you can be reading it in minutes.

Or book Joan Stewart to present "Savvy Media Relations: How to Get FREE Print Space and Air Time" for your next seminar or convention. Email Joan at JStewart@PublicityHound.com or call 262-284-7451 for availability.

Direct comments or questions about this article, including requests for reprint rights, to:

Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound
3434 County KK
Port Washington, WI 53074
Phone: 262-284-7451

What is Spam?

Almost anyone with a passing acquaintance with the Internet is familiar with spam. Just as junk mail is the demon of the Postal Service, spam is the scourge of e-mail.

Spam is unsolicited e-mail - often with some alleged commercial purpose, but almost always unwelcome. It's sent in bulk by automated programs to millions of e-mail addresses, usually offering products and services such as prescription medicines, get-rich-quick schemes and pornography.

As much as the objectionable content, it's the method of sending spam that upsets most people. Unlike junk (snail) mail that's delivered by the Postal Service at the expense of the sender, the cost of sending spam lies almost entirely on the receiver and the transmitters. There is a cost to the sender, when they use paid services to distribute, but the charge is often minimal.

So, why is spam so hated? After all, it can be eliminated with a simple delete. While receiving one or two unwanted e-mails a day is a minor inconvenience, when the number rises to 10, 20, or a hundred per day it becomes a major problem.

Before e-mail became an accepted means of communication, spam was mostly limited to USENET - newsgroups established to discuss specific topics. As it advanced, mechanisms for cross-posting - sending one message across multiple groups - came widely into use.

The ability to cross-post was, regrettably, quickly exploited by spammers. The same message could be sent to thousands of newsgroups with no regard for their actual interests.

With the rise in popularity of e-mail, spammers gained a whole new arena in which to inflict harm. They use software (spambots) to collect e-mail addresses posted on web sites or newsgroups, and send out their unwanted messages to millions of recipients at once.

Spambots are programs used to harvest e-mails for subsequent compiling into lists in order to - you guessed it - spam large groups of individuals in one easy and ill-bred way.

The sheer number of messages sent makes spam profitable. This is known as 'shotgun' advertising - when it's advertising at all and not a scam. Most reputable advertisers use 'targeted' marketing, which involves soliciting e-mail addresses voluntarily - or at least attempting to analyze the recipient - to send only messages that are likely to be welcomed.

Most people won't fall for get-rich-quick schemes or be interested in random merchandise solicitations, but if even one recipient out of a million provides his or her credit card number, the spammer's efforts can be amply repaid.

But don't despair. Spam is being fought on several fronts simultaneously. Companies and trade groups, legislation and technology are combining forces to make spam a thing of the past.

The effort may never be 100% effective since one man's spam is sometimes another's welcomed offer for a hotly sought item. But large strides are being made in all three areas.

In the interim, an individual needn't wait passively for others to solve the problem. We look at some tips on how to reduce spam and hinder spambots in later articles.

If you buy items online, surf the internet or use email then here are several tips to keeping your computer and your personal information secure.

Many people find it very easy to safeguard themselves by installing antivirus protection. Most antivirus protection software protects your computer from known viruses and Trojan horses. If a new virus is detected, your virus software will automatically download the new definition so that your computer will be safe.

Trojan horses are tiny programs that are downloaded inadvertently from the web. These small programs look for personal information and secretly upload it to a database. Many computer users have lost personal and financial information with the use of Trojan Horses.

One of the most damaging of all malicious software is the back door Trojan virus. Unlike many other types of malicious code, the back door Trojan virus is designed specifically to take advantage of vulnerabilities in the operating system such as Windows. The virus uses a back door into the computer too steal personal information, wipe files, or do other types of damage. To make matters worse, some of these back door Trojan horses disguise themselves and hide from anti virus software. Some are even intelligent enough to disable and render unusable your anti virus and firewall software.

You should also protect your computer from Spyware. Spyware is a tiny program that is downloaded usually when you download another program for free off the web. Spyware can be very irritating. Spyware keeps records of what your search for online and then sends you advertisements. Spyware can be difficult to erase.

It is also vital to protect yourself from Spoof emails. Spoof emails look like real emails from Ebay, Paypal, Banks and big credit card companies, but they are fake. Most spoof emails ask you to provide a website with financial information and then they steal this information. If you receive any emails that ask you for financial details, shut your browser, open up a new browser and contact your company's web site personally to see if there is a message for you.

Steps you can take to avoid problems with viruses and Trojans include being vigilant and paying attention to how your computer appears to be running. If you notice a decrease in performance that cannot be easily explained, or if you see an icon you do not recognize on the taskbar, it is a good idea to scan your computer and look for problems. Paying attention to your own computer, and using your own common sense, is one of the best ways to protect yourself and your computer.

TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE GOOD INSTRUCTIONS

• A good set of instruction should :
• Open with a brief introduction that identifies the procedures and explains its function.
• List the materials,equipment,tools, and skills required to perform the procedure.
• Provide a well-organized,step-by-step explanation of how to perform the procedure.

1. Provide any appropriate warnings,cautions,or notes to enable the reader to perform the procedure without unnecessary risk.

For examples :
WARNING : To reduce the chance of shock or injury,do not use your iPod in or near water or wet locations.

Caution: Never remove the main battery pack while the terminal is turned on.Doing so can cause data in the terminal to be deleted.

Note : The voices memos menu item doesnt appear until you connect a microphone.

• Be clear,accurate,and sufficiently detailed to enabled the reader to perform the procedure without unnecessary difficulty
• employ helpful comparisons and analogies to clarify difficult concepts
• use clear,simple "commands"
• conclude with a brief summary
• employ effective visuals to clarify the text
• contains no typos or mechanical errors in spelling,capitalization,punctuation,and grammar.