How to Select the Right Hosting Plan

There are many types of hosting plans available for your small business website from many different companies. Clever Monkey Domains offers three types of hosting plans:

1. Shared hosting
2. Virtual Dedicated Server
3. Dedicated Server

These hosting solutions range from low cost to high cost respectively.

Shared hosting is the least expensive option.  Shared hosting means that many websites other than yours are all sharing the same computer.  This isn’t bad, it just means that your site may not be super fast, and it may not be able to run certain programming.  It’s the best solution for websites that are just starting out and don’t expect a lot of traffic. Cost starts at around $5/month

Having a dedicated server means that one computer is completely dedicated to running your site.  Generally you have more control over a dedicated server, so you can run almost any programming language on it and install any type of software you want.  These are good for sites that have a lot of traffic and require a lot of control over the hosting environment (for installing software and custom programs). Your site will load more quickly with a dedicated server too, but the cost is much higher, starting around $80/month.

Virtual dedicated servers give you a cross between shared hosting and dedicated servers.  They are good for people who need improved performance, but don’t require as much control over their hosting environment. They boast many of the benefits of a dedicated server, at a lower cost, starting at $30/month.

Questions to answer before you purchase a hosting plan

1. How much traffic do I think I’ll receive to my website in the first year? This will determine the amount of bandwidth you’ll need.  If it’s a low number, than you won’t need as much bandwidth and could choose a lower cost hosting plan.  If it’s a high number, you may need the higher cost shared hosting or you may look at a virtual dedicated server or dedicated server.
2. Am I going to be running any programs on my website, like an email service or other software that requires additional resources?  If the answer is no, then shared hosting is probably okay.  If the answer is yes, you may need a dedicated or virtual dedicated server.
3. Am I hosting one website or many websites? - Some hosting plans allow you to host multiple websites.  For instance, my dedicated server hosts multiple websites.  If you only plan to have one website, however, the lowest priced shared hosting plan may be enough for you.
4. What programming languages am I using for my website? Make sure that the hosting plan you choose supports the programming language of your website.  (i.e. MySQL,  PHP, Ruby on Rails, etc)

When in doubt, contact a professional to help you make a good decision about your hosting plan. But don’t sweat it too much.  You can always upgrade a shared hosting plan or transfer your site to a dedicated server down the road when you start getting more traffic to your site.

Purchase hosting now

How to select a good domain name

Selecting a good domain name is essential for the success of your small business website. Here are a few tips to help you select a good domain name.

1. Make it memorable - a domain name that’s easy to remember is much better than one that’s difficult
2. Make it short - the short the better.  This makes your domain name memorable and easy to type into the browser.  You run a bigger chance of mis-spellings with longer domain names
3. Avoid misspellings - Don’t use words in your domain name that can be easily misspelled.
4. Purchase multiple domains - You may want to purchase the .com, .net, and .org versions of your website to limit competitors from purchasing those domains and developing websites on them.  There’s also .us, .mobi, .biz, .ws and .me to consider.  It just depends on how much of the market you want to capture.  I would also purchase common misspellings of your domain name (i.e. craigslist and craiglist) and plural forms of your domain name (i.e. hotspring.com and hotsprings.com)
5. Use keywords - This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but generally, putting the main keyword in your domain is a good thing for search engines. For example, if your site is about Yoga, then try to have Yoga in your domain name.

What to do if the domain name you want is taken

1. Use hyphens (i.e. hotsprings.com is taken, use hot-springs.com)
2. Use alternate extensions - I’ve recommended to you that you buy the alternate extensions of your domain name, but if other people haven’t secured them, purchase the .net or .org version of your URL first.  If those are taken, you may choose one of the other extensions like .us or .me.
3. Get creative - Brainstorm all the different ways you could describe your business and what you do, then see if there’s a creative name for your website.  I did this with my meditation website, which I named MayAllBeHappy.org
4. Use a phrase - A great example of this is Jim Edward’s website Igottatellyou.com.  It’s an easy to remember phrase, and highly unique

Are you ready? Purchase a domain name now.

If you have other suggestions, add them to the comments below.

Achieve 80% Productivity by Working Just 1 Extra Hour a Day

I recently read Rich Schefren’s Uncertainty Syndrome Report. In it, he discusses how to make major breakthroughs in your business by changing your mental state. Yes…this may sound very new age, or even too simple. But if you have an online business, it’s really worth reading. Time management is a big part of what Rich emphasizes. Here’s just one thing I learned.

Rich has a productivity rule that demonstrates how you could work less and be more productive. I think it’s a good principle for anyone who’s running a business. Here’s how it works.

If you’re working on your website 20 hours a week and you’re productive 4 of those hours, then you’re productivity rate is 20%. If you want your productivity to be 80%, then you would work 5 hours per week. That’s right, you could go from 20% productivity to 80% productivity by simply working one extra hour per week. Of course, you also have to cut out the hours that you’re not productive–work less, be more productive.

Sounds simple, but how are you going to do it? Well, that’s why I joined Rich’s Guided Profits System. For the next 30 days, Rich is coaching over 80 people on how to hone their skills to do this and many other things. The primary premise of the program? Your business is not limited by your ability–it’s limited by your constraints. Eliminate your constraints and you’ll have a successful business.

More to be revealed…

Arizonans for Obama

The Arizonans for Obama website was a great pleasure for me to put together and manage.  The website includes extensive use of Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google Translator and Flickr photos to help display information about the Obama Bus Tour stops throughout Arizona.  More to come! Visit the Arizonans for Obama Bus Tour website.

Get Your Website Noticed

I recently had a client tell me she was giving up on her Internet business because no one was commenting on her articles after 3 months.  This came as a suprise to me, and it made me realize that many people don’t fully understand how the Internet works. 

Building your website is really just the first step in a long process of building an online business.  Don’t expect someone to build your website, put it on the Internet and receive instant success.  It takes a lot of time, effort and patience to build a successful online business, and it doesn’t happen overnight.

How the Internet works

When you first launch your small business website, it’s like an undiscovered island, in the middle of a huge ocean–no one knows it’s there.  So while technichally  your site is on the Internet as soon as it’s uploaded to your hosting site, that doesn’t mean you’re connected to the millions of people surfing the Net.  For that to happen, you need to do a few things.

How to get your website noticed

Unlike an island, that just has to sit there, you have some other options for working with your website.  Here are just a few.

1. Add your website to directories - Directories are the easiest way for small business websites to go from isolation to people know they’re there.  Not all directories are worth joining, and many are not worth paying for, but there are many good, free directories that can help improve your visibility on the Internet
2. Write articles for ezines - There are many websites out there that will publish your articles for free with a link back to your site. Then, in addition, other people can republish those articles to their site as long as they include a link back to your site.  So you provide free content, and they provide you with visibility.  It’s a win/win in many situations.  Just be aware that once you release an article to an ezine, it’s now open for anyone to reprint, so the unique value of that article goes way down.  So don’t put up your best content–save that to add to your own website.
3. Join a forum - Every time you post on most forums, you can leave a signature with a link to your website.   It helps to contribute helpful information on forums related to your business niche
4. Comment of other people’s websites - Every time you leave a comment on a blog or other website, you usually get a chance to include your website url.  It’s even better if you can comment on websites and blogs that are related to your site’s theme
5. Write quality content - Continue to write quality content on a regular schedule.  As you add more articles to your site, search engines will start to pick you up more in search results and more visitors will come to your island…I mean website
6. Request link exchanges - Offering to link to another website in exchange for them linking to your site is a great way to improve your visibility on the Internet, and bring in some traffic to your small business website. 
7. Be patient - After 3 months, you’re probably just starting to get enough content to be picked up by search engines.  Don’t quit now! Keep at it for at least a year, maybe longer.

How long will it take to see results?

I have a website that ranks #1 for many meditation keywords on Google.  These pages bring in thousands of visitors every month.  I followed all the advice I’m offering here, and it took me over a year to do it.  I followed the simple formula of continuing to add new content to my website every week, exchanging a few links, commenting on other sites, and participating in forums.  And yes, being very patient.

For you, it may take more or less time to get things rolling with your website. But the key is: (and you know this), don’t give up too soon!  The truth is, unless you have tons of money for advertsing, things move very slowly on the Internet.  3 month simply isn’t enough time to see if something is working.  If you’re truly working hard on your website and doing the things I recommended in this article, then I would give it at least a year, and more if you’re not working on your website consistently.

Choosing how to use your website to promote your business

This process isn’t for everyone.  I had this conversation with my client before I built her site, and we discussed it again after 3 monts when she wanted to quit.  When she fully realized how much work her website was going to be, she just wasn’t interested in doing what it took to market it online.  And that’s understandable.  It is a lot of work and I hope you don’t underestimate that.  If the process I explained to you isn’t appealing, then don’t do it.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a website…

If you don’t want to do all the work of promoting your website online, you can still use your website to promote your business as a marketing tool.  If your business thrives on personal interaction, then you don’t necessarily need the search engines to bring visitors to your website–you can do that!  When you talk to potential clients about your business, and offer them a business card with your website on it, you’re doing what search engines do–you’re driving traffic to your website.  And you’re website can house helpful information for your potential clients to make informed decisions about purchasing your services.

Ultimately, my client decided to use her website as a marketing tool, instead of trying to build her small business through online marketing and search engine traffic.

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