HitsDir Web Hosting Directory

Here is a cool offer for Hitsdir Blog readers. Currently Lunarpages are running a Fall promotional offer on its basic hosting plan, where you get unlimited featured hosting for only $4.95/month ( no hidden fees, you have to signup for 12 or 24 months to avail this offer - so that will cost you around $58/year )

Here are some of the features of basic hosting plan : Ideal for new webmasters, bloggers & small businesses. Apache 2 and SSH (Secure Shell) available!

• Unlimited Hosting Space
• Unlimited Addon Domains
• Unlimited Databases
• Unlimited Bandwidth
• Unlimited Pop/Imap Email Accounts
• SSL, FTP, Stats
• Front Page Extensions
• CGI, Ruby, Perl, PHP, MySQL
• Free Domain Forever
• Free Site Builder
• 24/7 Phone Support Best Support in the Industry
• $775 worth free bonus softwares and tools

Recently we made a deal with lunarpages and they agreed to provide lunarpages web hosting rebate for Hitsdir readers. So if you signup through the below process - I will give you $28 rebate in your paypal after 45-60 days. So the effective cost on you for this unlimited hosting plan will be $30/year or $2.5/month.

So if you want to take advantage of this rebate offer, follow this instructions carefully :

1. Clear your cookies of lunarpages or all cookies ( Also, You must have cookies enabled on your web browser to qualify for this rebate )
2. Click this link Lunarpages hosting rebate
3. Buy the Basic hosting plan, make payment for 1 or 2 years, don’t use any other coupon code.
4. Contact me with following details : Full name, Email, postal address, Date of purchase, primary domain name, paypal id.

Remember to follow the steps properly so that we can track the things. If any doubt, contact me before. Limited offer

A domain name is effectively the word translation of an IP address, which allows Internet navigation programs to visit individual websites. Because the domain name is the ‘title’ of your website, it is vital for any online company to get the most appropriate domain name they can, ideally linked to the company name or type of business.

This makes it easier for people using search engines to find your webpage, as they will likely search either under your listed business name, or the service/product you supply. For example if you had a discount business called Mike’s TV Rentals, then the two good choices for domain names would be mikestvrentals.com, or if you couldn’t get this then something like cheaptvrentals.com.

Web hosting companies normally help you set up your domain name as part of their webpage building services, and this will include a search feature to ensure that nobody else already has this name. Most web hosts will also offer suggestions if the name you want is taken.

Once you have a valid domain name you will then need to register it with InterNIC, which will grant you ownership for one year, (must be renewed annually), and this fee may be included in your web hosts services, or you may have to pay the additional $10 - $35 yourself.

If you run a website then you will need to think about online security, and how to protect both your own personal data and that of your customers. Therefore it is vital that you choose a web hosting services that provides adequate security for your needs, to ensure that the confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) of your website is protected.

There are three main issues to think about when selecting online security:

* Online Access – web hosts have ‘open’ systems to allow all of their clients to access and use the server technology efficiently, but this does make them vulnerable to malicious intent. Therefore you must ensure you select a web host that has firewalls, intrusion detection applications and also SSL, which allows you to exchange encrypted protected data and is essential for ecommerce businesses.

* Physical Access – the servers that web hosting companies use are based in secure locations to protect client information, so ensure that your web host company has adequate physical security to prevent intruders and onsite data theft, and also protection against natural disasters such as fire and flooding.

* Privacy – it is vital that you check the privacy policy of each web host before you sign up, to ensure that the private data you share with them is not passed on to third parties. Some companies will share basic private details such as names, email addresses and telephone numbers with other companies, so check each privacy policy carefully, otherwise you may start receiving unsolicited emails or telephone calls.

CMS stands for ‘content management system’, and is a computer software system that enables you to organize, create, modify and delete content such as documents and graphics on your website.

There are three main types of CMS systems currently in use:

• Enterprise content management systems (ECM) – this was created by AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) and is described as ‘the technologies used to Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve, and Deliver content and documents related to organizational processes’.
• Web content management systems (WCM) this is designed to simplify the publication process of website content, and allows authors and content creators to submit documents and graphics to a website, without the need for extensive technical knowledge of file uploading procedures or HTML creation.
• Component content management systems (CCM) – this system manages structured content such as XML, and allows content to be broken down and shared, reviewed, updated, or re-used into new publications.

Hope you found the article interesting.

Search engine marketing is an online marketing strategy that aims to promote websites by increasing their ranking and prominence in search engine result lists. Methods of SEM including search engine optimization (SEO) and also paid result placement and inclusion.

There are various SEM search engine vendors, including Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing, which offer various services such as pay-per-click (PPC), cost per impression (CPI) and click-to-call advertising.

The SEM paid placement method is controversial, as it means that the results returned from some search engines may not always be the most relevant results available, because companies have paid to be included higher in the rankings.

This has led to various trade organizations, such as The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to publically state the need for search engines to disclose all paid placements on search engines results. This is so that the user can determine for themselves which results have been returned because they are relevant to the initial search, and which ones have been included because of paid marketing strategies.

SEO stands for ‘search engine optimization’, and is a method of improving the volume of traffic to a website via search engine ranking. Basically the more relevant the content, keywords and HTML coding on the website, the higher up in the list of returned search engine results the website will appear, (this is the ranking), and therefore the more likely it will be to attract quality traffic.

There are 2 main areas which can improve your SEO best practice strategy:

• Content – to attract new and repeat visitors you will have to have some interesting and fresh content on your website that your visitors will want to read and also tell their friends about. To make articles easier to read try to write in a friendly, conversational way and keep it short and to the point so people don’t get bored. Update content at least twice a week to keep things fresh and new.
• Navigation – make sure your website is easy to navigate through, and that your menus are well structured and link to the correct pages. If your website is cluttered and disorganized visitors will soon get fed up and move on. It is also helpful to have a keyword search function, so that visitors can search the site internally to find what they want quickly and efficiently.

If you have more ideas, why not post some comments?