My Top 3 Choices for Affordable Web Hosting

Posted on August 16th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Showcased Posts, Website Tips, General Business.

I’ve had a website of one sort or the other since the early 90’s. In the course of that time I’ve personally used both free and paid hosts as well as used others on behalf of clients.

So just a few weeks ago, my all time favorite web host was taken over by another company and things started going downhill fast. So fast that I had to authorize an emergency switch to a backup hosting site when they kept one of my shops down for nearly an entire day. I thought to myself, “Boy am I glad we had a back up to go to!”

So on that note, I’m making this post about not just my web host of choice, but 2 others as well, in case you want to have your own back up hosting service.

The criteria I have used to pick these hosts:

  1. Features. Good storage and bandwidth. MySQL database. Ability to run cgi scripts. Ruby on Rails a plus. “One click” installs of popular applications also a plus. All the basics included (webmail, ftp, etc).
  2. Price.
  3. Reputation and Reliability. Downtime, customer service, etc.

So on to the hosts:

3rd Place: 1&1

I hosted with them for awhile when they gave me free hosting for 2 years. No problems with downtime. Good features, not so intuitive interface but still nice. I nearly kept hosting with them since their plan was still priced nicely but though my programmer liked them well enough, I just couldn’t get used to their interface.

2nd Place: Lunar Pages

I have not personally used them but have friends who have been using them for years. They have a great price for the features they offer and though they have had some problems, they seem to have been minimal.

1st Place: Dream Host

This is my present primary host. Their services and prices are nearly identical to Lunar Pages, but they beat them out if you can find a promo code. Since I officially moved over to them I have had some network slowness with them and one hour of actual down time but my friends who have been with them for years say this is very unusual. I’m sticking it out partly because the price was so cheap but also because I like their interface, the control the web developer has, and their customer service. I have been thinking of opening an account with Lunar Pages to act as a back up host though.
So there you go. My top 3 choices.

If you’d like to sign up with Dream Host yourself, here are some promo codes:
“DOMAINAND20OFFYR” - Get one extra free domain name and $20 off of the L1 year plan.
“20OFFYR”- Get $20 off the Yearly L1 plan.

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Instant Domain Search Tool

Posted on July 9th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Marketing, Website Tips.

While you can go to many places to see if a domain is taken or not, this tool is fast and shows you the domain status instantly as you type it. The other bonus is that your searches are kept private. This is an important factor because some domain registrar companies have been accused of grabbing domains folks have searched for, in which one person is just testing out searches, decides to sleep on it and then comes back to find out the domains were bought.

Handy when you’re trying to find a name for your latest website.

Instant Domain Search

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Easy Visual Site Statistics - Crazy Egg

Posted on March 10th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Marketing, Website Tips.

So I’ve been testing out statistics tracker, Crazy Egg for a few months now.

I’ve been quite happy with them and have been meaning to do a positive write up on them, but with a recent addition to their service they have gotten even better!

In a nut shell (or should I say eggshell?) Crazy Egg gives you statistics you can find through other services, but it does it with a great visual interface which shows you visitor habits in a very intuitive way. There are three main tools, all are shown first over a live picture of your website page.

They have a heat map overlay, a list of what links got clicked the most, and then an overlay with clicks and stats coming off as “flags” from links. The new addition to their service is also on this “flag” — it’s a “More” option which shows referring links. So, for example you can see a “flag” on a link to a t-shirt and then be able to conclude that, “People who clicked on this came to the web page because they typed in “T-shirts” in google.

It’s a brilliant service and the free version allows you 5000 visits a month. The whole thing works like other trackers, you insert some javascript and then visit their website to view the overlays.

I’ve used it to test two versions of my homepage and found it quite easy to see the impact in my changes.

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Online Encrypted File Backup - 2 Gigs Free

Posted on March 5th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Website Tips, Deals.

Mozy is an online backup site that allows you 2 Gigs for free personal storage and has pricing for unlimited and business storage as well.

A feature I like is that data is encrypted on your computer before it is sent online. You can even use your own encryption key so not even Mozy can see what it is. PC Magazine and the NY Times give the service positive marks.

While the 2 gig deal is for personal use only, I figure I can use this for personal file back up and that will mean more room with my other back up system for business files.

Mozy’s website is: https://mozy.com but if you’d like to throw me a referral (you and I will get an extra 250 Mb in our free accounts) please use this link: https://mozy.com/?ref=43N4QB

Thanks to Tony for the heads up on this company (I used his referral link).

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Google’s New Link Reporting Tools

Posted on February 8th, 2007 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Google, Website Tips.

So, thanks to a tip off from reading this article, I delved further into Google website tool land.

First, you need a Google Webmaster account, this is easy enough, if you have a Google account (for instance, you made one for a Gmail account) then you can sign up for this program as well.

To access the new information you will need to verify your website. Fortunately Google allows you to do this one of two ways. The first way is a common method that sites like Sitemeter and other link trackers use, you embed a bit of code into your home page. The second way, which I really appreciate, is that you create an html file and upload it to your website’s server. Google then checks to make sure it is there under the name it gives you. I appreciated this method because it is one less bit of code to clutter up my home page.

Now, on to the new tools.

You may or not be familiar with Google’s already existing shortcut. You simply type “link:www.yoursiteurlhere.com” into the normal Google Search bar and it brings back results for sites linking to that url.

The trick is that it only shows you some of the sites.

With this new tool, you can see much more.

Why is this interesting? Well, it helps to see how well your word of mouth campaign is doing, and it helps uncover places that link to you that you didn’t know about before. In general, it is also just good sense to know as much as you can about who is reaching you and what they are saying about you.

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I’m Trying out Text Link Ads

Posted on December 4th, 2006 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Advertising, Website Tips.

Text Link Ads

So, I was doing my usual surfing today and found a blog which I would love to get some exposure on, so I checked out their equivalent of an “Advertise with us” link and discovered a new text link ad system.

As you probably have guessed from this post’s graphic, I also found out they have a $100 credit for new accounts so I jumped on that and got ads with three sites for a month (including the one I wanted in the first place) and only paid $30.

Now why did I jump on this deal? Well, Text Link Ads makes a good point. You buy text links and basically will not only get traffic from folks clicking on the links, but you will also get a link that will count towards SEO — that right there is the angle that many of us can benefit from. To me it’s going to be worth the $30 and then some if it works. You can even get away with it for $25 really since the promotion is for a $100 credit on a buy of $125 or more, and it is applied right away to your ad buy.

Cons: Because it is an html link that you are buying, there isn’t a fancy tracking system on their end of things. That’s the catch with being able to benefit SEO wise from this type of link. You will get the benefit from being linked to from an “authority” in the field you are interested in, but it’s not a fancy java link with tracking.

I’m optimistic about this though so we’ll see.

Disclaimer: The graphic and the link to Text Link Ads on this page contain my referral link. Thank you for your support should you choose to use them.

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4 Lists for Getting Your Shop Ready for the Holidays

Posted on November 1st, 2006 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Marketing, Website Tips.


Yep, it’s that time already, Halloween is just over but you need to get your shop ready for Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa!

CafePress Tips
CafePress has already put up their tips on this handy Holiday Prep page. They have a lot of information including a “4 Day Program” guide which includes these topic highlights:

  • The right keyword can lead shoppers straight from a search engine to your shop
  • Target the Traffic
  • Add your top-selling merchandise to your shop for the Holiday season
  • Group your merchandise and shoppers will love you for it
  • Top Ten Holiday Products
  • Tag your images with words that work
  • Dress up your shop for the Holiday rush

5 Mistakes that could ruin your holiday sales
From Microsoft Small Business:

  • Betting too heavily on discount pricing.
  • Spending too little on advertising.
  • Marketing to some customers and not others.
  • Overlooking feedback.
  • Forgetting last-minute shoppers.

Last Minute Site Fix Ups
About.com gives us 5 tips for Last Minute Site Fix Ups

  • Use e-mail or themed e-mail newsletters to offer gift ideas to your current customers.
  • Offer Gift Certificates
  • Offer a discount or promotion for several items if purchased together (i.e. robe, slippers, and pajamas).
  • Discount items that aren’t selling well.
  • Make shipping info easily available.

TnT for TsE’s List
What I’ve already done:

  • Set up some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) terms on my sites
  • Sent out Pre-Holiday Newsletters with hints that shopping time is coming around and a coupon code
  • Purchased offline advertising

What I’ll be doing next:

  • Updating my Google Base feeds
  • Sending out a Christmas themed newsletter
  • Setting up/tweaking online advertising campaigns
  • Following up on PR opportunities

What I’ll do in December and What I’ll do, time willing:

  • Adding Holiday themed decorations to my shops
  • Sending out another newsletter with shipping deadlines
  • Reaching out with grass roots marketing (message boards, etc)

How about you? What have you got planned? Will you be running with any of the ideas listed here?

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Javascript Code to Auto Update Copyright Year

Posted on October 21st, 2006 by thetshirtnexus.
Categories: Website Tips.

Still pumped from CP Connect, I’ve been working on sprucing up some of my websites. Before I even got to more complicated things I noticed my copyright would soon be out of date. Copyright years for US residents should read the date of creation of the website to the last date the website was altered. In the case of my climbing site my copyright is from 2002 - 2006. I’ve used a javascript to auto update the last year for some other websites I own but I didn’t do it for this one for some reason. While googling for the script I used in the past, I came across an easier one to use which might help some of you out as well.

Here’s the explanation and cut and paste code. Essentially, you change the year to the first year you created your website and then drop the script where you’d want the copyright statement to appear and then add your name in regular html after it. If the year is any year but what you put in the copyright will be change to read 2005 - 2006 (or whatever the current year is).

As my friend Adam might say, easey peasey!

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