It’s great to see related industries that support web hosting. So it is this coming week with WebmasterWorld’s Search and Internet Marketing Conference to be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from November 11-14. The conference has the shortened name of PubCon - referring back to the days when most of the networking was actually done in a pub. The conference was founded and is organized by my friend Brett Tabke, and is well worth attending of you are in the Internet business.

PubCon showcases experts who discuss what it takes to succeed as a webmaster. The main topics of the event are search engine optimization (pretty much every search engine and all the major search experts show up), search marketing, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, and how to gain traffic at a website and then monetize it. Pretty much what you need to know to have a website and earn money form it.

There are many reasons to attend the show, and also some speakers that don’t appear live very often. On of those is the keynote speaker who is the creator of one of the most effective and ROI positive viral marketing campaigns of all time, George Wright, VP of Marketing with Blendtec and creator of the ‘Will It Blend’ video series. You can see his creative videos here. This guy took like $50 and turned it into an innovative YouTube marketing effort that gets millions of views every time he releases a new video. That’s marketing genius.

On the hosting front, there will be a web hosting panel consisting of Ben Fisher, Vice President with TechPad Agency, Amy Armitage, Director of Business Development with Lunarpages Web Hosting, and Curtis R. Curtis, Senior Vice President with Superb Internet. Other hosting-related businesses participating in PubCon are: SmarterTools, an information technology (IT) management software company that builds applications to simplify and automate the day-to-day operations of hosting businesses. iNetU, a managed dedicated server company will have a display booth at PubCon, as will domain registrar and hosting provider, Register.com. Additionally, Affinity.com will participate in the show, featuring its customized monetization solutions for different types of publishers including search portals, toolbars, online directories, domain parking, blogs, URL errors, desktop applications and content websites. The Affinity.com brand is owned by hosting giant, Hostway.com.

Should you attend? Founder and principal with UK hosting company 34sp.com, Daniel Foster, advises on the impact of PubCon, ‘’In our very competitive industry, one needs all the information and expertise available to succeed. PubCon offers a great opportunity to learn from search experts and webmasters that are truly succeeding - as well as offer the chance to meet and speak directly with these experts at the networking events.'’

The founder of PubCon, Brett Tabke, gives additional reasons to attend, ‘’Real world actionable information is what PubCon is best known for - it is our brand. From turnkey shared hosting to cloud computing centers, there will be an expert in the field to talk about each sector. Whatever the issue is that a professional faces, there is an answer and solution here for them.'’

To learn more about PubCon or to sign up visit: http://www.pubcon.com/. Also be sure to look for PubCon London in July of 2009 as well. If you are involved in web hosting, websites or webmastery in Europe - it will be a must-attend event in 2009.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan exclusively for PingZine.

From time to time I am asked about reseller hosting options. Many web hosting companies offer a reseller program, therefore there are myriad options to choose from.

I have noticed a few more aggressive programs out there and some new developments that may be of interest to those who are considering entering into the hosting business through the reseller channel.

In the news, two resellers have recently announced some moves that are designed to increase their standings among resellers. First up is Fasthosts.com - originally a UK hosting firm which shares the URL Fasthosts.co.uk. The company has notified the marketplace that it intends to aggressively pursue U.S. hosting resellers. The company has enormous resources to achieve this being a part of United Internet - the parent company of web hosting behemoth, 1 and 1. As the first step in the campaign to attract attention in the U.S., the company is offering a ‘3 months free’ promotion to encourage adoption in the new market. The cost of the service then reverts to the standard 50 pounds per month that the company charges for reseller accounts. A look around the reseller section of the website tells a hosting professional that this reseller program is for real - with many aspects and opportunities.

The second reseller with news out right now is website hosting company 34sp.com which is also based in the U.K. According to the company’s blog, the hosting reseller program has been revised and updated to include a threefold increase in resources over the previous plan. The price is also considerably lower than the Fasthosts deal, coming in at just 15 pounds per month. According to 34sp.com Business Director, Stuart Melling, ‘’Our reseller accounts are perfect for web designers, small businesses or anyone looking to resell hosting services. The plan takes all the hassle out of multiple domain hosting. Everything is controllable through a really easy to use online control panel. Clients can add, delete or modify their domain hosting however they want, and whenever they want. That’s all backed by our renowned customer service team, where everyone has been a webmaster at some point. They know exactly what our customers need and how to help them.'’

Two other options that one may consider for reselling hosting are Verio’s reseller program - viaVerio - and HostGator web hosting. The viaVerio offering was an early entrant into the hosting reseller space and is worth considering for a couple of reasons: experience and products. The viaVerio team has been doing this for as long as anybody out there, and the professionalism at the brand is built through real-world knowledge. Additionally, this is one of the reseller programs that has a really wide range of products, like VPS hosting, that can be resold. The drawback may be the cost - both to the reseller and the end user as the margins needed are evident. HostGator is a great and fast growing web hosting provider that has earned a good reputation among hosting professionals. You can check out the reseller program here. The big claim to fame for HostGator has been the ‘unlimited’ sites per account feature. I presume that as long as you can fit the websites into the account specifications - you can keep adding them. The prices range from under 25 dollars for the entry level plans up to about 100 dollars for the high end plans.

Good luck to those of you who are considering entering hosting as a reseller. Remember - the platform makes a bit of a difference, but the real differentiator in a hosting business is the quality of the operations, the products, the prices and the services. These will all be set by you - the reseller.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan appears courtesy of the business hosting experts at 34sp.com.

Web hosting is a relatively new industry. Not only that, but a number of early web hosting firms are no longer around for a variety of reasons. Some simply did not compete well, others were merged together into yet larger hosting firms, and others succumbed to the dot com bust. So it is somewhat rare that a web hosting company announces an anniversary milestone of more than a few years. One notable exception in terms of web hosting longevity is 34sp.com.

UK budget hosting company, 34sp.com, has announced the eighth anniversary of the company - as of October 2008. The company is run by two young British entrepreneurs, Stuart Melling and Daniel Foster. I had the opportunity to bump into both gentlemen recently at this past year’s HostingCon web hosting conference in Chicago. I learned that in the early days of the company, Stuart and Daniel met personally with each and every new customer. That attention to detail and service continues to this day as the company has grown significantly in the past eight years, becoming one of the U.K.’s leading web hosting companies. However, as founder Stuart Melling explains despite many changes over the years, some things stay the same, ‘’What hasn’t changed at 34SP.com is our commitment to reliable web site hosting coupled with professional support. That was our main goal way back when we started in the year 2000. Over those years we have built a solid support team. Everyone on the team has a wealth of experience, everyone has been a webmaster at some stage, even myself. We know the challenges and demands of running a successful web site, and we are here to help whenever our clients need it.'’

As described on the company’s website, ‘’34SP.com was established in the year 2000. The company was founded with the aim of bridging the gap between sophisticated hosting solutions and affordable prices. Leveraging the power and stability of open source software with a commitment to ethical business practices 34SP.com has become synonymous with reliability, professionalism and value for money. Growth of reputation has been matched with an expanding range of services, seeing 34SP.com become a fully fledged service provider. A diverse range of clients now rely on 34SP.com to support their business operations, with available services ranging from dedicated server hosting to colocation.'’

The company has central offices in Manchester, England with its data center presence in central London. According to the company customers of 34sp.com represent a geographically diverse group with many European, American and Asian websites selecting the company for their hosting needs.

Among other aspects of the company that stand out are the fact that 34sp.com offers very solid Service Level Agreements (SLA’s), in addition to a comprehensive money back guarantee. 34SP.com also recently expanded their VPS hosting packages with the release of a new VPS hosting plan. The new package is aimed at small businesses and web designers alike. The new product marries the robust, stable 34SP.com VPS hosting platform with affordable pricing.

Mr. Melling, commented, ‘’Our VPS hosting packages have become wildly popular since their launch a few months ago. They have proven to be perfect solutions for high traffic domains, professional web designers and cutting edge programmers. One major piece of feedback from our customers was that needed smaller, more keenly priced VPS hosting. We aren’t ones to argue with popular demand, so we released our new mini VPS hosting package.'’

Congratulations to the entire team at 34sp.com for a great eight years of budget web hosting. Let’s all look forward to the next eight years to come.

To learn more about 34sp.com and their budget hosting services, please visit: http://www.34sp.com/.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan exclusively for PingZine.

Have you ever sent an amorous text message? If so, you are centainly not alone, according to a recent survey commissioned by AT and T which examined the role of text messaging among adults ages 18-55. The survey sought to examine how text messaging is used for dating and relationships. AT&T’s 2008 text dating survey was conducted by Synovate via an online consumer opinion panel of 1,000 adults ages 18-55 in May 2008.

So what exactly did AT and T find out? The survey has revealed that fully 40 percent of text messaging adults who are dating or in a relationship consider text messaging to play a ‘’significant or very significant'’ role in their relationships. Alecia Bridgwater, Director of AT and T’s wireless messaging unit comments on these findings, ‘’People have discovered that there are moments when just the right text, sent at just the right time, can go a long way to keeping romance alive'’.

It appears that the traditional love note has now evolved into thumb tapped lower case terse notes of passion from a cell phone or wireless device. The survey also pointed out these other interesting findings:

- Sixty-eight percent of texters surveyed admitted to sending a love note via text messaging. (”thinking of you” is the most common message)

- Sixty-seven percent have used text messaging to flirt.

- Fifty-two percent said “thinking of you” is the most common text message received from a date or spouse.

- Twenty-eight percent indicated that they text at least three times a day with a significant other or spouse.

- Eighty-two percent said they answer a text message immediately or as quickly as possible.

Since most web hosting companies have now added a ‘chat’ feature to both their sales and support functions - and since chat is now nearly ubiquitous in everyday life for technologist - I wondered if any ‘chat romances’ have sprung up in web hosting? In my recent work with the leader in VPS and dedicated servers, the most alluring text message I received was probably ‘what ru doing 4 lunch?’. Oh well, ‘c u l8ter’ on the Pingzine blog!

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and appears courtesy of the ColdFusion VPS experts at HostMySite.com.

According to Wikipedia.org, Google will turn ten years old on Sunday. The corporation was founded on September 7, 1998 by the now-famous duo of Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were students at Stanford University.

Quite a bit has changed for the company in the past ten years. For instance, the number of daily searches. According to the Google.com website, at the time of its official founding, Google was already receiving 10,000 search queries per day. That works out to around 416 searches per hour. My how Google has grown in ten years. The site now processes over 65 million worldwide searches per hour – according to a great Microsoft and Google comparison at the New York Times.

Revenue has seen a bit of growth as well. The company raised around $1 million to get started and if you remember the early days, they made no money. That’s right. Zero. That’s because they hadn’t yet thought up AdWords. So in ten years the revenues have grown from zero to an average revenue per hour in the last 4 quarters of $2.2 million. That’s $2.2 million per hour. Wow.

At the time of founding, Google had a staff of three. As of June 30th 2008, the company had grown to 19,604 employees. Each of them presumably getting free meals to boot!

In the past ten years Google has grown from a simple search engine to a sprawling empire with literally hundreds of products and services. You can see a complete list of everything Google has here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products. While the company has entered into web page hosting and blogs, it has yet to announce a dedicated hosting product. Although it is a strong contender to enter into the grid computing arena.

The most recent of Google’s product additions came just a few days ago – the Chrome browser. According to recent published data, the Chrome browser had already gained 1 percent of the browser market share after just one day.

So happy tenth birthday to Google. It will be great to see what the next ten years at Google will bring!

This content is provided courtesy of the ColdFusion VPS experts at HostMySite.com.

Despite the popular myth that the Internet was invented by Al Gore (a myth started by Al Gore) the Internet was, in fact, an American invention. The launch of the world’s first satellite, Sputnik, is reported to have lead to the creation of the ARPANET in 1958. By all accounts, the ARPANET net was the precursor to today’s Internet.

The Internet has remained largely controlled by the United States or U.S. industries from that point forward. Adoption rates for the modern Internet first exploded in the U.S. and today North American represents roughly 237 million Internet users – which means that the penetration rate for this region stands at around 71 percent. This is a shift that may have important implications for VPS hosting and managed dedicated server companies competing in a world economy.

In times past it was actually odd to see a website in any language other than English. One would gaze at it – imagining the information that it conveyed to a far-off and culturally distant neighbor on planet earth.

Today things are vastly different. As pointed out in the New York Times today, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/business/30pipes.html, the majority of the world’s Internet traffic now routes around the U.S. and not through it. A key driver of this trend is presumed to the passage of The Patriot Act – which ostensibly expands the authority of U.S. law enforcement agencies for the stated purpose of fighting terrorism in the United States and abroad. Among the provisions of The Patriot Act are those that permit the government to inspect email and online customer records in pursuit of terrorism. A certain school of thought argues that this transparency has lead to a cooling on foreign  entities storing customer data and records in the U.S. – opting instead for international destinations.

Whatever the specific reasons, the era of U.S. dominance on the Internet are at an end. Let’s hope that the rest of the world will carry forward the Internet torch in a way that best serves the entire global community.

This content is provided courtesy of the dedicated server experts at HostMySite.com.

Talk about being politically active! Google has demonstrated during this election cycle that the company is more than capable of affecting the outcome of the next Presidential election in the United States. This is a dramatic shift in the impact that the Internet can potentially have on politics, given that YouTube wasn’t even invented yet during the last Presidential election.

The first indication of the company’s involvement was the partnering during the debate cycle with various ‘traditional’ media outlets (notably CNN) to capture questions for the potential presidential candidates via YouTube. If you recall, anyone could submit a question for the candidates via a brief YouTube video clip.

Fast forward to the present and Google is upping the ante yet again on the election. This week will herald the beginning of the final push on the Presidential election. The Democratic party will convene first during  August 25 to August 27 at Pepsi Center and on August 28 at INVESCO Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. The Republican convention will be held from September 1-4, 2008 at the Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

Google has created its own complete website for the Presidential race which you can view here: http://sites.google.com/site/2008nationalconventions/.

Additionally, numerous news outlets including the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Google will create a special area and facilities at both conventions specifically for bloggers. In addition to providing Internet access, workspaces and couches for napping in the Google ‘Big Tent’ headquarters, the company will provide food and beverages for the bloggers as well.

According to the reports, Google’s software and services will be featured, including a kiosk in the public area of the tent where anyone can post videos on YouTube.

So what type of political agenda is Google angling for? It’s difficult to say for sure – and the company is maintaining a politically neutral position in the election – at least that’s the public face the company is projecting. So until the events play themselves out and we can all see what impact Google will ultimately have on the elections – stay tuned!

This content is provided courtesy of the VPS and ColdFusion VPS experts at HostMySite.com.

For those of you that haven’t heard, managed hosting company, Rackspace, has filed the paperwork persuant to an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. Here are a few of the highlights from the S-1 documents filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission:

Rackspace has traditionally offered managed dedicated servers and more recently, hosted email services. In the S-1 documents, here is how Rackspace describes its business. ‘’We deliver websites, web-based IT systems, and computing as a service. Our rapid growth is the result of our commitment to serving our customers, known as Fanatical Support, and our exclusive focus on hosting.

Hosting providers offer services to support websites, web-based IT systems, and computing. The equipment required (servers, routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, cabinets, software, wiring, etc.) to deliver services is typically purchased and managed by the hosting provider. As a result, hosting providers reduce customers’ initial capital investment and ongoing operating costs. Hosting also reduces the complexity of deploying and managing IT systems and computing, and changes the way companies purchase these products and services. Rackspace offers a full suite of hosting services, including dedicated hosting, managed hosting, and email hosting, as well as emerging services such as platform hosting and cloud hosting.'’

According to the S-1 documents, the following financial services companies are designated as underwriters of the shares, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch & Co. and WR Hambrecht + Co.

Rackspace has been growing substantially over the past few years. The filing outlines that Rackspace has grown net revenue over the past five years from $56.6 million in 2003 to $362.0 million in 2007, representing an annual growth rate of 59.0%. During the same five year period, the company grew net income from $208,000 to $17.8 million.

So how will Rackspace pay back thier investors and shareholders? By growing even more of course! Here is the statement regarding the company’s prospects moving forward:

‘’Our vision is to be recognized as one of the world’s great service companies. Our goal is to expand our leadership position in hosting around the world, and our strategy for accomplishing this goal includes the following key elements:

Add New Customers. We intend to continue our focus on aggressively acquiring profitable new customers.

Keep Existing Customers for Life and Sell Existing Customers More Services. When we serve customers well, they generally stay with us and buy more services. This means each customer has the potential to generate significant lifetime economic value.

Add New Services. Our goal is to add new services to meet our customers’ growing needs.

Expand Globally. We intend to expand further into continental Europe and to Asia.

Continue to Invest in Our Culture and Hire the Best People. We intend to continue our highly selective hiring process and maintain a work environment that encourages passionate, engaged Rackers.'’

Reagrdless of the outcome of this filing, it is a great step forward for Rackspace. The publicity surround the potential for an IPO is boosting the entire web hosting industry. I wish Rackspace well in capitalizing on this fantastic opportunity!

This content is presented coutesy of the VPS and dedicated hosting experts at HostMySite.com.

ColdFusion hosting and development received a big boost earlier this year with the official launch of Adobe’s ColdFusion 8 platform. Now that the dust has settled, I thought that I would list off a few good resources for those of you considering using ColdFusion 8 to produce websites or online applications. So here is a brief list of ColdFusion resources in no particular order:

The ColdFusion section of the Adobe website: You can read up on all the specifications of ColdFusion 8. Also compare the latest version features with previous versions. If you are so inclined, you can buy a full license to install on your own server. There are also some pretty entertaining customer story videos embedded in the home page.

The Adobe ColdFusion support forums: An active community of ColdFusion developers sharing tips and techniques for getting the most out of ColdFusion 8. There are posts from the very basic (read, getting started) to the uber complex. A good first place to go with any general technical ColdFusion 8 queries.

ColdFusion hosting and ColdFusion VPS hosting from HostMySite.com: You’ve got to host your ColdFusion site somewhere. HostMySite.com is a certified Adobe Solution Partner and has been hosting ColdFusion websites for 10 years. That plus the fact that they answer the phone in 3 rings or less.

The Forta.com website (the official blog of ColdFusion guru Ben Forta): Ben Forta has forgotten more about ColdFusion than anyone else on the planet has ever even learned. He has written several definitive ColdFusion coding books, and is currently the most Senior ColdFusion Product Evangelist for Adobe. That means he travels around the world explaining why ColdFusion is so great to the masses. If you want to see more on Ben’s credentials, check out his Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Forta.

Another great ColdFusion resource for developers is House of Fusion: This website developed and run by Michael and Judith Dinowitz is a deep and unparalleled coder’s paradise. There are significant chunks of well-written code, a very active ColdFusion developer community and also a ColdFusion jobs section. Plus, if you need ColdFusion tutorials, House of Fusion is the website for you.

There are many many more resources online for ColdFusion hosting and development. Another way to get started with this huge list of sites is simply to conduct a few Google searches on topics like, ColdFusion resources, ColdFusion code snippets, or any other ColdFusion-related search queries.

Good luck getting your ColdFusion 8 website launched!

I was fortunate enough to attend the launch of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 last week in Los Angeles. I wrote a summary which I am including below. It was a truly fun and exciting event. I highly recommend that you consider attending a launch event near you if you are a Windows host or developer. Register early though - the first event was ‘’sold out'’.

In a spectacular production that felt right at home in the land of motion pictures, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, Mr. Steve Ballmer, on Wednesday addressed a capacity crowd at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles to usher in the era of Windows Server 2008. Using 3 dimensional powerpoint slides, no less than 6 video cameras, huge wall projections, and a visually stunning steady cam shot throughout, Mr. Ballmer stepped through the entire Microsoft Strategy of Dynamic IT and the implications for developers embracing the new paradigm.

The preliminaries were conducted by another familiar face - the longtime anchor and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News, Mr. Tom Brokaw. In his eloquent introductory remarks Mr. Brokaw examined the rapid changes in technology over the past few years, and told personal anecdotes that illuminated the human side of technology. His defining statement offered was, ‘’The test of our place in this world is not yet complete, after all we don’t want to become Easter Island. What I believe in my heart and in my mind is that it will do us little good to wire the world if we short circuit our consciousness, and our souls - if we shortchange our potential to use this technology to advance mankind.'’

In a bluster of confidence born of running one of the world’s most successful businesses ever, Mr. Ballmer then strode to the stage and seamlessly brought together the impressive array of technology that wrapped around his cogent remarks. Teleprompter, video projection, 3-D floating graphics, wireless microphone, steady cam, video clips of a ficticious retail coffee corporation and live person, on-stage demonstrations unveiled themselves one after the other in a supremely choreographed ensemble that belonged within a stone’s throw of Hollywood. The theatrics, however, were never overbearing nor did they ever distract from an important message delivered by Mr. Ballmer: “For me the heart of our industry is the software developers, and the I.T. professionals who go out every day and make great things happen.'’

The Los Angeles event was the kickoff of over 200 worldwide events celebrating the launch of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. In addition to the keynote address, the launch event featured Breakout Sessions, Hands On Labs, Microsoft and Partner Pavilions, Chalk Talks, and Ask the Experts.

A capacity crowd estimated at nearly 7,000 attendees flooded the Partner Pavilion at the first possible moment that the doors opened - leading sponsors to deal with an unusual problem: how to manage the overflow of interested potential customers. One such sponsor, Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Bronze Sponsor of the Launch event, and Windows Server 2008 hosting experts, HostMySite.com, experienced the Partner Pavilion rush firsthand. According to HostMySite.com Vice President of Marketing, Mr. Derek Vaughan, ‘’The response from the developer community for these new Microsoft products is absolutely overwhelming. The company has obviously hit a huge homerun with the new features and virtualization components of Windows Server 2008. We are honored to be a sponsor of this launch event, and will participate fully in future events as they are announced.'’

Microsoft maintains a website devoted to the Windows Server 2008 launch events unfolding throughout the year. To learn more or to attend an event in your local area, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/default.aspx.

To take advantage of a special trial offer on a Windows 2008 server from Microsoft Gold Certified web hosting company, HostMySite.com, please visit: http://www.hostmysite.com/ws08offers/ or go to: http://www.HostMySite.com.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and is offered courtesy of HostMySite.com.