I mean really – aren’t they all about the same?  Does it really matter where you host your sites?  No one else will know but you, right?

Well, there is one thing that your readers will know and that is whether your site is up and running or not!  They’ll also know if your site is running slowly, which can be affected by the amount of other people that have hosting on the same servers.

Types of Hosting

First, let’s talk about the kinds of hosting you can get.

Shared Hosting is what most people will get when they are starting out and just need to have a blog or two going.  They don’t have a boat load of traffic and they might not even be sure if they can make a go of this online business thing or not.  Its affordable, which is a plus.  The downside is that there could be several hundred other people sharing space and using resources.  This is all fine and dandy if everyone keeps to their limits but if there are some that are using more than their share of resources it can cause everyone to suffer with slow loading times and even down time.

Reseller Hosting can be good for the person that wants to make a little bit of extra money by renting hosting to others or they might have clients that they will let use their hosting services as a part of a package.  This costs a little more but how much space you keep for yourself is up to you.  Of course, you also have the added hassle of having to manage the hosting.

Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and Dedicated Servers are for those who want maximum security and assurance that their site will be up virtually all of the time.  These will cost you but if you plan on hosting many sites or have a high traffic site or have a site that uses up lots of resources this could be your best option.

The Best Web Hosting?

Now, the big question is who has the best web hosting.

Well, I can’t tell you that for sure.  What I can tell you is that you need to do your research!!!

I can tell you that I love HostGator because I’ve been with them for over 6 years and had no major problems.  The one time I had to contact them because of downtime they got to me really quickly and the issue was fixed in short time.  I love that getting a hold of them is easy – phone or chat.  And I love that when you have a chat with them you are offered a record of the chat to be sent to your email.  I love that their CPanel is easy to use and I love that payments are fast and easy through PayPal.  I really have nothing to complain about with them.  I have Shared Hosting and for now, that works for me.

But, I really don’t want you to think that they are best for you because they have been best for me.  You should find out more.

One of the sites where you can find more information about web hosts is Web Hosting Deals.  They have real reviews by real people and loads of info on each site.  Each web host is ranked based on the personal experience of the owner, Daren, and the experiences of real site owners.  Some web hosts even offer discounts through the site.  When you read the review you can see how many people – real users – thought the site was a deal and how many did not, even by country!  Plus, their blog is filled will great information like how to choose a domain name, free ways to generate traffic to your site, and why you should/shouldn’t use a site builder.

So, does web hosting matter? Yes, it does!  If you’re looking for hosting go to Web Hosting Deals to do some research and find the web host that is best suited to your needs.

Does Web Hosting Matter? is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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A couple of days ago, I was just thinking about domain names (because I get kind of cranky if I can’t buy a new domain every month or two!) and I don’t know how this idea came into my head but I started thinking about a site that has short, easy to read e-books at a really reasonable fee.

I know that one of the reasons I usually only get free e-books is because the ones you pay for are much longer and I seriously don’t have the attention span to sit at the computer and read for long and I don’t have an e-reader.  But I would pay a couple of dollars for a short e-book that had targeted info that I’d really like to know about.  Or would make me laugh.  Or was just plain fun.  It’s a couple bucks.  It would be worth it to me.

And I thought to myself, “Self, you could write short e-books that would be inexpensive and fun…”

But then myself reminded me, “Me, you suck at marketing your own work.  You need to involve others.”

And I realized that I was right.

But what if there were dozens of writers – maybe even dozens of dozens of writers – that just wanted to have a little fun writing what they already know about for residual income and PROMOTING the site?

What if those writers got to keep 100% of the money that they earned from their e-books by putting up their own paypal button?

What if all those writers were having so much fun that they kept writing their little e-books and promoting them?

And the idea kept building…and building…and building…until I finally went and bought the domain for it.

I’m not going to tell you what the name of the domain is but let me just tell you that they e-books will all have a theme – “22 Ways to________” (and if you have more than 22 ways, expand it to 44 ways and you’ve got a sequel).  And I’m inviting anyone that can write to take part.

When I formally start taking authors in I’ll ask only a few things:

• Have an outline of those 22 ways ready so I know you’re serious.
• Have your own PayPal account and know how to create the code to put it into a WordPress post
• Be on Twitter and/or Facebook and other social media marketing sites and be ready to do your own promotions

And I think that is it.

I’ve been putting out some feelers already and found that there is definitely some interest so I’m working on getting the site ready.  So start thinking about your e-book.  Heck, start writing your e-book!  The site should be ready in a week or two!

New E-book Project – and You’re Invited To Play! is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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I’ve been working on this ideas for a membership site (ok, it’s all in my head at this point, but that is not relevant!) and I have been wondering how I was going to manage it.  I don’t know a whole lot about membership sites but one thing I do know about is WordPress.  And I’ve found the perfect solution – Magic Members, WordPress Membership Plugin.

This has got to be one of the coolest and most useful plugins I’ve ever seen – for anyone that actually wants to make money anyway.

Here’s the low down:

• Multiple Membership Levels – control access to different levels of the site with different kinds of memberships
• Easy Integration with Existing or New WordPress Blogs – easy to follow steps
• Flexible Membership Options – different billing options; daily, weekly, monthly, or annually – you have complete control
• Payment Integration Modules – you can use Epoch, ClickBank, PayPal, or Authorize; you just deactivate the ones you don’t want to use
• Unlimited Coupon Creation – great tool for promos; fixed price or discounts
• Sequential Course Delivery System – set it up so that after someone signs up they can access different content after certain time periods; drip feed the content to them
• Partial Content Display – tease people with a peek at what they could be getting with the use of tags
• Pay Per Post Access – give them a free membership but make certain posts pay per access
• Secure RSS Tokens – members can get access by RSS feeds but those who aren’t members won’t be able to access the feeds.
• Download Manager – one of the major flaws of regular WP passwords is that downloads are not protected but Magic Members changes all of that.
• Simple:Press Forum Integration – create a members only forum!

These are only a few of the things you can do with it.  It is exactly what I have been looking for and as soon as I get my idea worked out (and this has definitely got me thinking about it more!) I’ll be getting ready to install it.

Click here and check out Magic Members, WordPress Membership Plugin for yourself!

And yes, that is an affiliate link; but not, this is not a paid review – just something I’m excited about!

WordPress Membership Plugin is Cool is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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