My Recommended Web Hosts

April 15, 2011 in Reviews & Recomendations, Tools & Resources with 0 Comments

With there being literally tens of thousands of web hosting providers out there, it can feel impossible to pick the one that is right for you.

I’m here to help. I have been at this a long time, and worked with a lot of web hosts. Some good, many not so good. Here is my list of the best of the best that I have personally dealt with over the past decade.

Shared Hosting

I don’t have any of my sites hosted on a shared hosting platform anymore, however it remains the most cost effective option for small businesses an entrepreneurs. I personally recommend JustHost.Com, and I have done so for a number of my clients. My personal experience with Justhost has always been very positive, and I have never received any negative feedback from any of my clients regarding their customer service.

This, combined with their great pricing (3.95 canadian per month), earns them my personal recommendation.

Dedicated Servers & VPS Servers

If you are looking for a bit more power, and a self contained server environment where you are the only one using it, you are probably looking for a virtual private server or a dedicated server.

My two preferred providers are both equal in my eyes; I have had servers and vps servers with them ongoing for almost 5 years now, and they are my top choice for two reasons. The first is that they offer fully managed servers: they handle everything for you so you can sleep at night. It’s like having a full time team of computer engineers watching over your servers for you. The second reason (and most important), is they both have top notch, 24 hour support available by email and telephone.

Option #1: Wired Tree

I currently have 3 “hybrid servers” with Wired Tree, and I have had them for going on 5 years now. They handle the majority of my websites, and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Option #2: Liquid Web

I used to have 5 dedicated servers with Liquid Web, and their support and customer service has never been anything short of amazing. Although they are considerably larger than Wired Tree (they manage tens of thousands of servers spread through 3 data centres), they still manage to maintain a personal touch when you have to call them.

Google Adwords… the new Yellow Pages?

April 15, 2011 in Internet Marketing with 0 Comments

In case you haven’t noticed, there has been a significant shift in the way your customers are looking for your products and services. Don’t believe me? Step back for a second and think about this: When was the last time you opened the yellow pages to find a product or service you were looking for? What did you do instead?

If you are like most people, you opened your internet browser and searched for it with an internet search engine… most likely Google.

So, what am I trying to say here? Here it is:

When your customers search for your products, you need to come up on the first page.

Period.

Now, there are 2 ways to go about this. SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing).

Today I want to tell you about Google Adwords, which is a pay-per-click advertising platform offered by Google. This falls distinctly under SEM. (I will get into SEO at a later date).

If you are a new business, or you are just starting to advertise your business online, Adwords is the best way to instantly propel your web site to the front page of Google under your chosen keywords.

Google Adwords are paid listings that apear at the top and right hand side of search results:

Google Adwords Example

So, the next question is, how can you get your business listed on Google’s front page? It’s fairly easy, and best of all you can get started today.

Adwords ads are sold on a cost per click basis. This means you only pay when someone clicks on one of your listings

Advertisements are sold using an auction style system, where the most desirable spots (being the top 3 spaces) go to the highest bidder. If you want good placement, you have to be willing to outbid everyone else. Not to worry, Google provides tools that will allow you to do this automatically, while still staying under a maximum bid amount (much like eBay).

If you want your business to be displayed for the keyword “calgary plumber”, you bid on that keyword by specifying a maximum cost per click, and they will automatically insert your link into the ads displayed, and it will be ranked based on what everyone else is willing to pay. If you are the high bidder, you will come up number 1.

A advertisement on Google will cost you anywhere from 50 cents to several dollars per click. The amount you pay is directly related to the amount of competition for your keywords.

The only way to definitively find out what it will cost to advertise on Google is to open an account and setup some advertisements. You will be shown how much it will cost before you commit to anything (or pay for anything), and you can decide if it fits your budget.

Ready to try it out? Click here to go to Google Adwords and check it out for yourself.