Do you have a website or are you thinking about getting one?

You are probably aware that you need a company to ‘host’ the site for you.  This means paying someone to store your files on their servers so that people can see your website.

In addition to hosting space you also need to register a domain name, and it often makes sense to register your domain name and pay for hosting in one place.

Sooo… if you are new to the world of websites/domains/hosting where do you start??

How do you decide which company will offer you the best value and service for money?

My advice to you is do your research!

Go to Google or your search engine of choice and type in hosting company+review or top ten hosting companies or something similar – you get the idea.  What suits one person may not suit another.

I’ll discuss two Hosting Companies in this post, HostPapa and GoDaddy – similar names, very, very different products and company personas.  I have experience with both and hope this will be informative and also give you an idea of what to look for when you’re shopping. And let me say right up front — I have a personal bias, but I’ll let you guess about that.

Let’s start with the front pages of their websites, after all, first impressions mean a lot, right?

HostPapa (they have both .com and .ca — I’m using .ca since I’m in Canada).

First things I see:

• A fairly friendly looking site with a large animated header advertising their main service features
• Certified Green Web Hosting
• $5.95 simple plan (at time of writing this post)
• Unlimited space, bandwidth
• Free domain for life
• Several important Hostpapa features

Click for larger version

OK.

And now GoDaddy

First things I see:

• Girls  — at the time of writing the post there’s Danica Patrick (racing star & official GoDaddy girl) and just below I see a link to a video that shows a girl about to receive a massage from another girl.  Along with that are other links to GoDaddy videos, each one with various ‘GoDaddy Girls‘ and one proudly professing it’s been ‘Banned from the Superbowl! ‘.  Am I really at a hosting site?
• Domains selling from $1.99 and other domain sales info
• No pricing on the hosting packages that I can easily see off the bat
• Oh, and looks like they have a Huge Email Sale going on! . . . wait. . . what IS an email sale?  Do emails cost extra at this provider??

Click for larger version

What do each of these companies really offer (at time of writing)?

HostPapa:

A hosting package with HostPapa includes a Domain name — yes you can register a domain name for free with HostPapa. It’s included in your hosting plan, no extra charge.  Also, they allow unlimited domain names under your account.  This means that if you have more than one domain you are using on the web they will all go into the one-price account (though you will have to pay for registering any extra domain after your first free domain)

$5.95/month? Well, in order to receive that rate you need to commit to and pay for three years of service — but they do have a 30 day money back guarantee.

If you only want to pay for one year up front it will cost you $7.95 a month — and yes, that still includes your free domain.  $95.40/year for a hosting plan with unlimited server space, unlimited bandwidth and a free domain.

( Hey! — What about those emails that GoDaddy has a big sale on? )
At HostPapa all your emails are included in that price — you can make as many emails as you like for your domains and set how large you’d like their in-boxes to be.

In addition they offer the usual web building tools, and CPanel which is a common back end way to manage your website(s).

What about the ‘Green’ bit?  Read this from their site, click here.

“We promote the development and use of wind and solar energy resources by purchasing green energy certificates to offset all the power we use in our data centres and offices.”

HostPapa Checklist:

1. Hosting space – unlimited
2. Bandwidth – unlimited
3. Domains – unlimited, one free
4. Emails – unlimited
5. User Management – CPanel
6. Other benefits – Green philosophy and practice (as much as possible)
7. 1-888 phone number, 24/7 support

GoDaddy:

First, here’s a GoDaddy web commercial to get you in the mood (you can see many of these on their site, but this is a quickie from YouTube):

Is this how you want your hosting company to present itself?

OK, on to the rest of our service run-down review & comparison:

Looking over their website, it looks like GoDaddy offers many options to suit your needs –

Of course, many people do not need ‘unlimited web space & domains’, so let’s find an economy package, something with less features that will cost me less money.  Let’s have a look:

Their Economy Plan costs $4.74 a month for 12 months up front.  $56.88/yr, significantly less than HostPapa.  OK, what do I get with this plan?  Will it work for me?

• 10 GB Space | 300 GB Transfer
  100 Email Accounts

More than adequate for most people with one or a few websites.

100 emails?  Wow. What about that Email Sale?  Does that mean I’ll get a discount?

To be honest, this is where things get confusing — here’s what it says about the Email Sale:

• Perfect for individuals who want a fast, memorable, secure address.
• Create a unique, memorable, personalized address based on your domain!

Huh?  Can’t I do that already with their economy plan?  If I have a domain and a CPanel back-end, I can create any email address I want right?  Why do I need to purchase this at $1.07/month PER EMAIL ADDRESS (On SALE!)  — would one address would add $12.84 to my yearly bill?

I know you’d like me to explain this further, but I can’t, because I’m getting a bit confused at this point. All I know is that with any previous  hosting account I’ve had, I’ve used CPanel to create any email addresses I want.  GoDaddy does not use CPanel — they have some proprietary (read: you can’t go there easily) back-end which limits what you can do and how you can do things.

I just tried to set up an email account in GoDaddy and the first thing I encountered was this message:

• To apply a free Email credit, click on the “Use Credit” link for the account type you want to activate.

What’s an email credit?  Why do I have to use a credit to create an email account?  How many credits do I have?  Is this part of the big Email Sale?

Are you confused yet?  I am!  How do I sort this out and get the information I need fairly quickly and easily?

I’ll use GoDaddy’s 24/7 customer support!  What’s the number? 480-505-8877.

Yes, you got it, 480 — NOT 1-800 – GoDaddy.

They don’t have a 1-800 number.  Every minute you spend on the phone with them comes out of your pocket.

GoDaddy offers a myriad of features and enhancements for your domain — a quick look at the user panel shows items such as:

• Search Engine Visibility
• Protected Registration
• Domain Certification
• Premium email (there’s that email thing again!)

All of which are add-ons to the basic package and cost more.  Click here to see GoDaddy features — it’s a little overwhelming as most of these charts are, but this says that with a basic account you are allowed up to 100 email accounts and that your TOTAL email storage is 100mb.  So if you set up 100 email accounts each one will be allowed 1mb of storage space.

If Aunt Betty sends you her holiday snapshots you could find that your email storage space has exceeded it’s maximum!!  AHA!! So maybe that’s why I should go for the big Email Sale and purchase a premium address with more space!

GoDaddy Checklist:

1. Hosting space – 10GB but I can pay for more
2. Monthly Bandwidth – 300 GB but I can pay for more
3. Domains – Not clear, text says unlimited websites maybe hosted in one account but doesn’t mention unlimited domains for these sites
4. Emails — did we get that one figured out yet?  100 with 100mb space – but — YUP –  I can pay for more!
5. User Management – Proprietary system
6. Other benefits — is it the GoDaddy Girls, maybe?
7. 24/7 support no 800 number

From a purely personal point of view I have found GoDaddy’s user panel to be extremely confusing, at every step I seem to be offered add on features at discount prices.  I attempted to change something within my account — a simple thing ‘set domain to auto renew‘ but I couldn’t to do so because of a conflicting setting which even the folks at GoDaddy tech support have been unable to change.

Anyway —

Next. GoDaddy is very good about letting their customers know about current sales and specials — you’ll receive many emails regarding these, possibly on a weekly basis.

To my mind,  if you are a novice at the web (or even someone who’s done web stuff for a while), I think it would be extremely easy to end up paying extra for services you do not need, and these weekly/daily specials get a bit much — I have enough email to contend with. . . .

So, Which Hosting Company Should You Choose?

I’m not going to tell you which company to choose (or am I?), I don’t know your requirements, your personality or your budget.  All I will say is Be Aware, and Be Wise. Do not get fooled or sucked into paying for a service that you don’t need, and, it’s always good to look for online reviews of a particular company before you make your final decision.

And a side note about one of HostPapa’s  girls that comes up on the front page –

As you can see, she has a different persona compared to the GoDaddy Girls.

I guess it’s ye olde cliche, ‘different strokes for different folks. . .’

Oh, and I did find a video on YouTube for HostPapa — see below — It’s not glamourous, or sexy but it does have some real information about what HostPapa have to offer.

If you happen to decide to sign up with one of these two companies here are the links again -

HostPapa USA HostPapa Canada or

Click here to go to Daddy!

A recent blog post by fellow bead maker Mallory really made me stop and think about the value of the beads we create.

If you have any interest in beads you have probably come across really inexpensive glass beads in your travels.

If you don’t know much about beads you might be fooled into thinking they are great value, and might also be wondering why beads such as mine are so much more expensive.  I’ll explain why!

Many of the inexpensive beads come from China where they are

• mass produced,
• created from low quality glass
• not annealed (an essential part of the process) and
• not cleaned

Each bead I create has come from thousands of hours of learning and practising.

My first torch and accessories cost approx $150

That kept me going for a little while, but I soon needed to upgrade to my present torch that uses both propane and oxygen.

New torch, Nortel Mega Minor $150

Oxygen Concentrator to create the oxygen needed $550

Hoses to hook it all up $40

Regulator for the fuel $100

Kiln!  For annealing glass $760

And we haven’t bought any glass yet!

Ventilation – $700

That is just the equipment!  Add to this the cost of fuel for the torch, electricity for the kiln and supplies such as mandrels and bead release.

Tools!!  We all need tools – prices vary from under $10 to over $100

Eye Glasses!  Needed to protect our eyes from the flame – $150

THEN comes the glass – this can range in price from $7/lb to $100/lb depending on the type !

Add to this

• time spent learning this art,
• cost of lessons which can be $200 per day
• the little bit of ‘me’ that goes into each and every one
• time spent creating and cleaning each bead by hand
• days wasted when Muse is on vacation and beads are horrific!
• other incidentals that go along with making these one of a kind pieces of wearable art

Each bead that I offer for sale is the very best of what I make. I’m very critical about what I consider to be a sellable bead and many just don’t make the cut for one reason or another.

You’ll soon realise that Lampwork beads are PRICELESS!

When you consider purchasing a bead or set of beads from any lampwork artist please take a moment and reflect on what is included in that price – you’ll soon understand why these beads are truly a remarkable value.  You are purchasing one of a kind pieces of art that can last for generations to come.

My new site is up!  olioME.com is what I’ve been working on.  NOW I need to know if it’s viable, if people will want to use it and if everything is working ok.

olioME! is -

• a site for glass artists to upload/dowload free tutorials
• there are links for lampworking forums and I’ve started a list of links to other tutorial sites
• the more you participate the more rewards points you earn
• points can buy you free advertising or article placement on the site or may be used as discount credits for web/graphic/design services that are also offered.

olioME! can -

• help you build your web presence by creating one of a kind webpages for clients who need an online place to guide potential customers to – one page for your Etsy, ArtFire, Flickr, Blog, Twitter info!  If you haven’t already got a website this might be just what you are looking for!
• create custom graphics for web or print
• design full websites
• set up blogs
• offer proofreading and copy writing services

I’d be thrilled if you take some time to check it out and comment or vote in one of the polls.  We are looking for input, suggestions on ways to make the site even more appealing and useful – is it worth adding other tutorial sections like ‘Jewellery Making’ and ‘Silver Art Clay’?

olioME’s blog is here I’m hoping to use this as a place to post news regarding the site.

This Giveaway has ended but stay tuned – I have another in the works and even a likely culprit as the prize!

Watch out!  It’s about to happen!  World Domination by BUNKEES!

Actually it all started with one tiny monkee – you can read Bunkee’s story here – it’s heartwarming, – you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll cheer Bunkee on and you’ll desperately look around for a monkee to hug!

Each Bunkee is unique, they are all handmade by me from glass.  All Bunkees are digitally annealed to ensure their strength, they are then lightly etched making their cheeks almost pinchable, finally they are scrubbed clean so that they don’t smell of the jungle.
Bunkees are designed to be easily strung on cord or leather.  They are not recommended for children because of course they are made of glass.

Bunkees are only available until Easter – if it’s good enough for Cadbury’s it’s good enough for Bunkees!

It’s time for a Giveaway!

I wanted to finish Bunkee’s story with a real bad pun of a proverb, but couldn’t think of anything better than ‘ A fool and his Bunkee are soon parted‘ – I know, it’s feeble!

All you need to do to get in on the giveaway is leave me a really bad pun about my story (in the form of a comment on this post), or at the very least give me some more ideas for monkee beads, or let me know what you think about the Bunkees!  Don’t forget to leave some way for me to contact you.  Once Easter is over I’ll have a random draw and one lucky person will win a Bunkee of their very own!

Fireseed

Buy Handmade

FREE SHIPPING on all Bunkees!

Wait a minute…Wetsy???  Isn’t that one of those dolls that drinks and wets?

Not any more!

WETsy Banner

WETsy is officially one of Etsy’s newest Teams – it’s a wonderful collaboration of Artists from the Wet Canvas community.

Want to see what we’ve got going?  Click HERE or go to Etsy and search using the term wetsy – you’ll find a breathtaking array of glass beads, jewellery and art, and be sure to check back because we are in our infancy and growing in leaps and bounds.

WETsy members have already scored many treasuries, we have our own BLOG and a FORUM.  Our super creative members are brainstorming ways to promote ourselves so watch out because we are going to be making a  huge Wet Canvas Splash on Etsy!

I’m not much good at snagging Treasuries so I created the banner and avatars – that’s the nice thing about being part of a group, different members have different strengths.

Now to focus on my Etsy shop and load it up with goodies!

I’ve been looking for a better way to display my blog for a while, and I’m a bit of a junkie when it comes to ‘themes’ – you know – those things you can apply to your site or blog to make it look completely different.

I’ve found one I like so don’t be surprised if you come here soon and think you are in the wrong spot!
If it looks anything like this -

My new theme!

It means I’ve switched to the new look. If you want a sneak peek you can click here to go to my test site.

This theme is called Mimbo and started out looking quite a bit different from the way I have it now.  I’ve changed colours, added a header image and swopped out some of the content.

“But it doesn’t LOOK like a Blog” you might say.  That is because it’s a CMS Theme.  CMS stands for Content Management System – in other words it means you can control where and how different parts of the content are displayed.

I think it looks more organised than my present blog – hopefully everyone else will too!  If you’ve got an opinion one way or another, I’d be interested to hear it!  It’s a big change and I’m a bit nervous about doing it!  It’s a bit like when you get a new computer and it takes a while to figure out what is missing that you used to have on your hold hard drive.

The geeky stuff for anyone interested:

• Get the FREE Mimbo download here.
• Get the Pro Mimbo Theme here – it’s very nice and I only wish I had a spare $100 to upgrade to it!
• Mimbo is created by Darren Hoyt – thanks Darren for a great CMS Theme!

Most days I check my blog statistics. Maybe this puts me in the nerd group, but it really is fun! For example this morning I can see that I had a visitor from Kathmandu in Nepal – that’s pretty neat! I can see they came to me through my Blogger profile and stayed to read some things. I am wondering who they might be and what it’s like in Kathmandu, and even if it’s common to have your own internet connection there or if people go to internet cafes.

Kathmandu

Besides being fun, checking your statistics is also a good way to find out how well your blog is doing. Online blogs often come with built in statistics, but if you don’t have any and wish you did you might consider Statcounter.  I’ve been using them for years now and really like all the information I have access to.  A starter account is FREE which is always nice, this lets you see the last 100 entries, or pages that people have looked at.  It keeps track over time of how many people visit your blog or webpage and you can run reports to see graphs of how your traffic looks for the last month, year etc.  Another nice feature is that you can have a visible or invisible counter on your site/blog.

You can also see a wealth of other information -

• how long your visitor’s stay
• which pages they visit
• which search engines they used with what keywords
• if they are new or returning visitors
• even which browser they are using!

You can find ways to increase your site's popularity!

That might all sound a bit boring, but if you’ve got a website or blog and are using it as a business tool it really is a necessity.  Statistics can tell you how your visitors found you!  This is very useful information if you are trying to build a bigger presence.

For instance, if I post pictures of my latest beads in online showcases I can see the number of people who clicked through to my website from there.  Similarly, if I was paying for online advertising I could tell how effective it was – something that’s very important if you are spending money.

Track whether paid advertising is bringing you results

You can see that besides being an interesting thing to watch, your website or blog statistics are also a very important way to gauge your success!

I want to see if I can put a flickr slideshow into a post -

Apparently I can! That was quite painless, I think I’m Flickr challenged, it usually takes me forever to find instructions on the Flickr site to do what I want to. There’s a little slideshow icon above your Flickr images that you can click to create a slideshow, and once the slideshow starts you can click the ‘share’ button to grab the code you need to place it into your blog or webpage. Too bad it resizes the smaller images to fit, making them look very pixely.

They (whoever they may be), do say, that to be successful on Etsy you need to list items often, daily if possible.  So, this is my new goal – to try and list daily, or at least every other day.

I spent the best part of yesterday cleaning, photographing, processing and creating listings for the coming week.  I’m beginning to think it takes longer to do all that than it does to make the beads!

Last night I listed one of my two faced monkees – I like this design because it doesn’t matter which way the bead is facing, you have a silly monkee face staring out.  I was idly thinking that they could be used like the ‘Magic 8 Balls’ – you know the ones you ask a question to, shake and then look at the magic answer.

You could ask these monkees a question, and depending on which one is facing you the answer might be “I don’t have a clue” or “Don’t ask me! I’m only a monkee!” – Could prove to be a big selling feature don’t you think ;o)

Magic Monkees!

Just a short post on this subject, but a very important one none the less! There aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything you can to network online AND create AND live your life, so pick which are most enjoyable to you and try and stick with them – persistance is the key so they say!

Just a few social networking sites!

Consider ways you can network with others (and here are just a few!) -

• Forums – both in your special interest field as well as others, be active!  Show what you do!
• Social Networking Sites – Facebook, MySpace, IndiePublic, Beaders’ Showcase etc. – again choose some that are specific to what you do and some that are broader based.
• Groups – once you have some online contacts, consider creating a group to discuss how you can help promote each other!
• Etsy! – If you belong to Etsy, join one or more Teams in areas of your interests – again these can be specific to your art or craft, as well as broader interest based groups.
• Flickr! – If you belong to Flickr or another image site, don’t just post pictures – again join some groups and share what you’ve got to show.
• Twitter – Blogging in miniature – one sentence blog posts, it doesn’t take long and again, you never know who might find you!
• Read Blogs – sign up for Google Reader or Bloglines or something similar and keep up to date with your favourite blogs, comment on them!  Leave your mark!

These things just scrape the surface, there are all number of other specialised networking tools out there, the main thing is that you network in a way that you can enjoy, so that it’s not a chore and so that you will keep it up – most of the time anyway ;o)  Good luck!  I hope I run into you in my networking travels!

Let me know if this information is useful and if you have any other good ways of networking online!