FESTIVE GREETINGS TO ALL MY READERS. HAPPY NEW YEAR. HAVE A WONDERFUL 2019
Here is a great article about going the extra mile in
business. This article contains some
great tips for success in business. It’s
in two parts. Come back tomorrow for
part two. Let me know how useful you
find the article with a comment below.
Going The Extra Mile to Business Success – Part 1
By: Kevin Sinclair
You cannot fail when you give more than 100 percent. In whatever
endeavour you are doing, always give more than one hundred percent. You will
find that whenever you do this, your rewards will always be far greater than
the extra effort you expended. Some people refer to this success concept as
going the extra mile. What it means is that you need to give people more than
they expect.
If you are working in your business and want to see it grow, the surest way to
achieve it is by giving more. Customers are impressed when they discover a
business that is innovative and gives them more than what they expected. Look
for better and more efficient ways to do things. For example, make it easy to
order from your site. Reduce the number of clicks to get to relevant
information about your product or the order form.
Don't be afraid of giving information for free. This is a crucial step in the
online world to building credibility and trust. A free report or a sample (or
extract) from your information product will enable your potential customer to
determine whether what you are offering is what they are looking for.
Always include some free (but valuable) bonuses with every product ordered.
This also promotes the perception of getting more than what was paid for. In
some cases, I have purchased products on the net because the free bonuses
interested me more than the main product.
Ensure that your product delivery is quick and efficient. If you sell an
information product, ensure that the customer can download it as soon as they
have paid for it. Provide alternative download formats and locations so that
all needs are catered for. Follow up a couple of days later to ensure they
received their products without problems. If they had problems, resolve them
straight away and provide an additional bonus to compensate for their
inconvenience.
If your product needs to be shipped, provide your customer with alternative
shipping methods. You customer can then choose how quickly their order is to be
delivered and they can pay for the faster alternatives. Again, follow up to
ensure they received their order on time and without problems.
Author Bio
Article by Kevin Sinclair, CPA, of Personal & Business Success Resources.
Visit his website at www.mlm.ksinclair.com
You have set up your blog and you are looking for ways to
monetize your blog. Have you looked at what
Adsense can do for you? This article
will give your some good tips on how to profit from AdSense. It’s in 2 parts. Welcome back to part 2. Let me know what you think with a comment
below.
AdSense Tips For Bloggers – Part 2
By: ReveNow.com
Decide what area you would like to write about and then do some keyword
research. Research is easy if you use Google's keyword tools found at
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox.
The keyword tools are located
in your Google AdWords account. Yes, you need a free AdWords account to be
successful but you don't have to fund it to use the keyword tools. Look for
keywords related to your subject that are high paying. These are keywords where
the bid amounts are high. Make a list of the top paying keywords, and use that
list to determine what topics you will write about.
Remember, you want people to visit your blog time and time again, and build up
a readership, make sure that your blog is well written and informative. Don't
just target keywords for the sake of targeting keywords - the writing needs to
make sense! Writing valuable content is the first step to generating traffic to
your blog, and traffic is needed to profit from AdSense ads!
You are allowed to use the AdSense ad units in two different places on each
page. You can accomplish this in a couple of different ways. First, you can add
the AdSense ad code to the template for your blog. This is done through the
control panel for your blog, and some knowledge of HTML is needed. The other
option is to paste the AdSense code directly in your blog post each time you submit
a new post. You can use it once at the top and once at the bottom, or once
after a few paragraphs of the post, and again after a few more paragraphs.
Get that code in there however you see fit - but then pay close attention to
the results so you can see what is working and what isn't. Tracking is
everything if you want to make real money!
Of course, you need to advertise your blog as much as possible as well. Make
sure that you provide Trackbacks to other people's blogs as often as possible,
and that you visit blogs, leave comments - and leave a link for your blog as
well!
Discuss this topic in the ReveNow AdSense Forums: www.revenow.com/forums/
Author Bio
ReveNow! is an AdSense marketing resource covering
AdSense, AdWords, affiliate marketing, and SEO.
You have set up your blog and you are looking for ways to
monetize your blog. Have you looked at
what Adsense can do for you? This
article will give your some good tips on how to profit from AdSense. It’s in 2 parts. Come back for part 2 tomorrow. Let me know what you think with a comment
below.
AdSense Tips For Bloggers – Part 1
By: ReveNow.com
If you have joined the blogging revolution that is sweeping the net, and
you think you might want to make a little revenue - or a lot of revenue - from
your blogging efforts, you need AdSense tips for bloggers. Blogging has opened
up an entirely new way of how non-technical people interact with the Internet,
and now, anyone can publish anything about any topic - without having a website
- and anyone can profit without even having a product!
Adsense for blogs make perfect sense. Google's advertising programs are
designed to work with sites related to the keywords for the ads that
are being presented. Each time you add content to your blog, the Google
spiders gobble it up. The more you update, the more the Google spider visits
your page. Ultimately, you move up in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)
for the topics that you write about. You see where this is going. The higher
your search ranking, the more traffic you receive, which ultimately leads to
higher revenue from AdSense ads.
The beauty of blogs is their potential for rapid growth. If you become known as
an expert in your area of expertise, word of mouth spreads quickly and your
blog can become very popular. So it is vital that you always teach something
with every blog entry. You want your readers to come back frequently and they
will if they know they will learn something. Not only will your readers
bookmark your blog and return often, but they will link to your blog
enthusiastically as well. People in forums will refer to your blogs and discuss
what they learned. Websites will link to you as a valuable resource. In short,
an informative blog can grow very quickly if the information
it provides is valuable.
It is important to write about specific topics, and sprinkle your blog entries
with specific keywords to get the best results - and the highest revenue - with
your Google AdSense ads. There is a method to the madness. Start your revenue
generating blog by testing the waters.
Author Bio
ReveNow! is an AdSense marketing resource covering
AdSense, AdWords, affiliate marketing, and SEO.
Google AdWords may seem like a great way to get traffic to
your site but will this pay-per-click marketing system end up costing you a lot
of money without making you any?Have
you thought of all the ins and outs of it?If you want to know the key to success with AdWords check out this
article.It’s in 2 parts.Welcome back to part 2.Let me know how useful you find it with a
comment below.
Okay, so now you know the basics of how keywords work in AdWords and how
Google charges you for clicks. What's next? Keyword research. The best way to
go about this is to use WordTracker. I won't get really specific about how
WordTracker works, because they've got a ton of information right there on the
site - just go do some reading there when you finish this article. Basically,
though, WordTracker will help you find the best keywords to use in your AdWords
campaign. You type in any word, and you'll get up to 300 related terms, which
you can then click on to find a few hundred variations of that term. The terms
you'll get are all terms from WordTracker's search query database, which uses
metacrawlers to compile information (again, they explain it on their site if
you're really interested). So you know that all the words you find there are
real terms that people are actually searching for. Even better, you get a
prediction of how many searches to expect per day for any keyword, how many
times it shows up in their database, and a KEI value to determine your best
words (KEI stands for Keyword Effectiveness Index, which you can also read
about on the site). You can get a free trial, or you can sign up for a single
day to test it out with all the features included (a day's membership is just a
few bucks).
There are some free keyword research tools you can use, but I recommend these
only for absolute newcomers who have no budget to start out with. Overture's
Keyword Inventory is a good, free resource, but there's a catch: it shows
results only for searches done through www.yahoo.com. If you're marketing with
Google AdWords, you should know that Google accounts for at least twice as many
searches as Yahoo!, in some cases three or four times as many. (Though reports
vary, Google usually receives credit for about 50-60% of all searches, while
Yahoo! gets about 20-30% - but this is based on all searches, and results for
individual searches may vary widely.) You may find other "free" tools
or downloadable programs that claim to help you with keyword research, but I
say don't bother with them. You get what you pay for. Most of them just pull
their results directly from other free online tools, and they don't offer
anything in the way of features unless you buy the "full version." If
you're out to get one for free, just use Overture. (Google's own traffic
estimator is decent, but it doesn't give you an exact count for searches within
a given period; you just get status bars, which are hard to interpret. Google's
bid and position estimates are also usually way off.)
But third-party tools, even if they're very good, won't do your keyword
research for you. You'll have to pick through your web site (or your
affiliate's sales letter) for words and phrases that you can use. Then, using
those words, see if you can think of similar words or concepts that people
might be searching for. There's no real trick to this; you've just got to do a
lot of brainstorming. Once you've got a good core list, take that over to
WordTracker to beef it up. (Hint: If you see any words that don't directly
relate to your product, service, or niche, add them as negative matches.)
Now you should have a lean but healthy keyword list. This is your first step to
beating out your competition on Google AdWords.
Author Bio
Ryan Cole runs The Internet Marketing Blog,
a free resource for those who need help with Google AdWords, affiliate
marketing, SEO, PPC, or any other online marketing topics. Visit for more info
on keywords, WordTracker, and Google AdWords.
Google AdWords may seem like a great way to get traffic to
your site but will this pay-per-click marketing system end up costing you a lot
of money without making you any?Have
you thought of all the ins and outs of it?If you want to know the key to success with AdWords check out this
article.It’s in 2 parts.Come back for part 2 tomorrow.Let me know how useful you find it with a
comment below.
As you probably know, Google AdWords is a pay-per-click marketing
system, which is a great way to get traffic to your site. But if you don't know
the ins and outs, it can end up costing you a lot of money and not making you
any.
So, what's the key to success with AdWords? Well, I wish I could tell you there
were one or two simple tricks, but the fact is, the best way to ensure success
with AdWords is to be familiar with every aspect of the system. This will
likely take weeks or months of research, plus a few bucks spent testing out a
real AdWords account. However, you can greatly increase your chances by
following this bit of advice: don't skimp on the keyword research!
Maybe you had it in your head that you could go through your site, grab 20 or
30 words or phrases, load them into an ad group, and you'd be watching the
traffic and sales pour in. This is simply not the case. Keyword research should
be the most time-consuming part of setting up any campaign; not only that, but
you should be doing it all the time. That's right - never stop building your
keyword list. Okay, now let me explain a few things:
First, you need to understand how Google uses your keywords to show your ads.
You place a bid that determines your maximum cost per click (CPC) for each
keyword. This can be different for every single keyword, if you wish. This bid
does not represent the amount you'll pay for each click (like on Overture);
this is just the maximum you'll ever pay for any single click. For example, if
you have a max CPC of $0.50 set for a keyword, you'll only have to pay the full
amount if someone else bids $0.49. If that person decides to lower his bid to
$0.30, you'll only pay $0.31. This is because Google's bid discounter only
charges you one cent more than the next highest bidder, no matter what your max
CPC is. Theoretically, then, you could bid $10 or even $100 and still only pay
$0.31 for a click.
But that's not all! As you start getting impressions (i.e., your ad shows up in
the search results) and clicks, you'll have a click-through rate (CTR). This
represents the number of clicks you receive per 100 impressions. Here's the
really beautiful thing about AdWords: the higher your CTR, the lower your click
cost. Because Google values relevance, you'll receive a bonus for having a
relevant ad, and CTR is the primary indicator of how relevant your ad is. So,
let's say you're competing with someone for ad position No. 3 on the search
results page for a particular keyword. Your max bid is $0.50 and his is $1. He
should be way above you, right? Not necessarily. Suppose you have a CTR of 5%,
and his is only 1%. Google factors in CTR when calculating ad positions, so you
end up with this: max CPC × CTR = (what we'll call) ranking factor. In this
case, your ranking factor is 0.025, while your competitor's is only 0.01. Which
means your ad shows above his for $0.50, even though he's willing to pay up to
$1!
Author Bio
Ryan Cole runs The Internet Marketing Blog,
a free resource for those who need help with Google AdWords, affiliate
marketing, SEO, PPC, or any other online marketing topics. Visit for more info
on keywords, WordTracker, and Google AdWords.
Do you know how to make the most of Search Engine
Optimization for your website? Have your thought about what SEO is and why it
is important?Read on to find out
more.Let me know how useful you find
this article with a comment below.puvlixiry mwrhosa,
These days, everyone seems to have an opinion or the other in the SEO
field. Well, it will not serve any of your purpose if you keep on listening to
everybody and implementing everything that you come across. If you are very
serious about your online business venture, your best bet would be to hire the
services of the best SEO firm in your city to do the work for you. No one needs
to be told that SEO means search engine optimization, but what they need to be
told is what are the proper methods of doing SEO.
Basically, SEO is nothing but publicity methods of a site on the web. Publicity
rules and you must make sure that you have the best advertising methods in
place for announcing your presence on the web. Competition is immense and you
have to risen yourself in this competition to be successful in online business.
Search engine marketing is one of the fastest growing industries. To be
successful on the web, it is important to do search engine optimization.
For doing successful online business, it is important that your site must be
available and accessible to all online visitors at all times of the day. If visitors
come to visit your site and sees that your site is not functioning properly,
then he will not come back again to the site. The net is a very good source for
you to learn about the basics of SEO. However if you want to make use of SEO
methods for popularizing your site, hiring SEO services from the best SEO firm
is the perfect as well as the safest bet for you.
Sure you will let the best SEO firm handle the job for you, but it pays in the
long run if you have a proper knowledge about this. The first and foremost
thing that you should do is find out and determine who the target audience of
your product is. It would be rather stupid on your part if you are targeting
the wrong audience for advertising your product. All your money, time and other
resources will simply go waste without yielding any visible results. Your
business will just go to a downwards spiral. So take a hold of your online
business before it is too late to amend the damage.
Work towards getting targeted traffic to your site. On any given day, your site
can have thousands of visitors, but what purpose will this serve if their visit
is not monitorized. Making commanding landing pages on your site is a great way
of going about attracting the right kind of visitors to your site. Visitors on
clicking the link of your site must be immediately transferred to the page that
they want to see. This will ensure that visitors do not face any difficulty in
finding out what they are looking for.
Hiring the services of the best SEO firm in your city is an excellent source
for you to do successful online business. SEO firms are experienced and know
what they need to do to make your site successful on the web. There are many
aspects that need to be dealt with and taken care of popularizing for your site
on the web. Just make sure that you find out the best SEO firm to do the work
for your site.
Author Bio
Steve Waganer has specialization in Web Marketing. He is expert in Search
engine optimization, Affiliated Marketing, Affordable search engine marketing
and Organic search engine optimization.To get services of Best SEO Firm for
your website to get high rank and top position in major search engines
visit www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com
Want
to know some great tips for getting your website listed in Search Engines
(SE)? Neil Patel gives some great tips
in his video and this is article with 10 tips on getting started is definitely
work checking out. The article is in 2
parts. It covered 5 tips yesterday. Welcome back to part 2 today. Leave a message to let me know what you think
of the article.
A guide to good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
tips – Part 2
Getting your website listed in Search Engines (SE) can sometime be a
monumental task in itself, here are my top ten tips to get you started.
6. Keywords
Some say they aren't that important anymore to getting results in the SERPS
(Search Engine Result Pages) but using them correctly can add to your sites
overall effectiveness. Concentrate on 3 - 4 keyword phrases (eg: "custom
website design" or "web site design" for web site designers) and
make sure they are used in the first and last paragraphs of your home page
content.
7. Google Toolbar
Not only a search tool the Google Toolbar displays each sites Page Rank
according to Google on it popularity and web presence.
8. Alexa Toolbar
Download the Alexa Toolbar from Amazon and sign up to their affiliate program,
the toolbar is an essential tool in gauging the popularity and hit results of
how your website ranks in the www..
9. RSS Feeds
Want to increase traffic? well consider starting a RSS Feed on your website
with important news items relating to your business and your chosen profession
then link these to your articles.
10. Article Writing
Article writing is another way to cross promote your site with helpful
information for others and with links back to your site.
In conclusion
There are many facets to Search Engine Optimisation of websites and these 10
tips are merely just a few and a good starting point to get your website
promoted in the www.
Author Bio
Craig Bucknall is the owner and Managing Director of the Sydney based Website
Design studio Bullie Graphics. You can view his website at www.bulliegraphics.com.au.
Want
to know some great tips for getting your website listed in Search Engines
(SE)? Neil Patel gives some great tips
in his video and this is article with 10 tips on getting started is definitely
work checking out. The article is in 2
parts. It covers 5 tips today. Come back for 5 more tomorrow. Leave a message to let me know what you think
of the article.
A guide to good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
tips – Part 1
Getting your website listed in Search Engines (SE) can sometime be a
monumental task in itself, here are my top ten tips to get you started.
1. Page Title
Forget using 'Welcome to my website' as your page title, if you really want to
attract target media specify your keywords and list your product keywords
separated by an | (hold Shift + backslash key) symbol (eg: Digital Cameras |
Video Cameras) will boost the strength of your chosen keywords, in this case
Digital and Video Cameras.
2. Page Filenames
Still naming your page filenames as products.htm or aboutus.php, why not add
some weight to your website and help the SE distinguish from the multitude of
pages with generic names and again utilise your keywords into your filenames
(eg: paper_back_novels.htm) for a Book selling site with this link to the list
of Paper Back Novels.
3. ALT Tags
Again keywords play a huge part in the design of your site and another area to
include these words is in your image 'ALT" tags.
4. Header Tags
Getting back to your Page Title, there is no point in making the heading text
"Welcome to my Website" especially if you are selling Garden Tools.
Using , and tags to emphasize your Products and Services in order of
importance, lets the SE's.
5. Bold Text
Got something to say?, say it in Bold Text, this tells the SE that this text is
important and relates strongly to your content and keywords and should be taken
notice of.
Author Bio
Craig Bucknall is the owner and Managing Director of the Sydney based Website
Design studio Bullie Graphics. You can view his website at www.bulliegraphics.com.au.
Have you ever thought about hosting your own web
server? Before you take that step this
is a good article to look at the pros and cons of such a move. The article is in three parts. Welcome back to part 3 today. Yesterday we looked at what to buy. Today we look at where to put it. Let me know how useful you find this article
with a comment below.
Hosting Your Own Web Server: Things to Consider –
Part 3
By: Ant Onaf
Where to put it?
·Locate a location within your home that is static-free, we do not want
to put the server on the carpet, near curtains, or anything else that can
produce a static reaction. The reason for this is that you do not want the
server internal components to receive a static charge and short circuit.
·The location should be a cool environment, preferably below room
temperature. The reason for a cool area is because servers (as well as desktop
computers) produce large amounts of heat, the more heat it produces the more it
needs to cool off. If the server is not kept cool, then this can lead to the server
hanging and then eventually crashing. It's the same result of when a car
overheats, it stops running. You can keep a server internal components cool by
keeping the room cool, additionally you can add more fans to the server which
cools the server internal components, you can also position a standalone fan
directly at the server back panel and constantly have the fan cool the server
internal components. Depending on how cool your room is and how much heat your
server produces, getting more fans for your server may be a must and not an
option.
·It is suggested that the server is at a higher level within your house
(mid-floor), because if it is in the basement and a flood occurs it could ruin
it. If it is in the attic and the sun beams on the attic for hours the server
could overheat. Mid-floor level is usually the cooler place within the home,
but these recommendations is optional and you should put the server in the most
comfortable and convenient space following the rest of the guidelines.
·Be sure the area you choose is not damp or wet (no leaks, moisture, near
any liquids, or near a window ??especially open??). We all know what can happen
when electrical components get wet.
·The server should sit at least 4 inches from the ground
·Be sure a working electrical outlet is near. It is an important to have
a power supply, a good brand is APC. Having a power supply can save you from
electrical outages, blackouts, and brownouts. Having a power supply helps the
server keep its power, remain stable, and unaffected when there is an outage,
as well it protects your server against electrical shock. If your outage
remains more than 5 minutes it is recommended to begin backing up anything
deemed important and shut the computer down voluntarily as well as any other
electrical attached devices.
·Have a LAN line near and also a phone jack (if you plan on using the
server for any dial-up services). It is not recommended to use your web service
with a dial-up connection. A broadband connection or greater is recommend for
optimal performance. The LAN line should never come from your wall and plug
directly into your server, it should plug into a hardware firewall (usually a
router with a built-in firewall).
·Depending on the size of the server and the internal components the
server may be extremely noisy and loud, especially with the fans going. It is
suggested to have the server in a secluded location which is not near any
peaceful area of the house, such as: bedroom.
Those are all some basic things to consider before
hosting your own server. Hosting your own server is not an easy task, but once
you have had some time and experience with it, it becomes a breeze. You will
have a better web hosting experience, you will be more in tune and reliant to
your customers, and you will gain greater technical aptitude. Hosting your own
web server is rewarding, useful, and gives you the opportunity to host
unlimited websites, databases, services, etc.
If your web traffic becomes too great for your
server then it is recommended to choose an offsite web host. It is recommend to
purchase a dedicated server with a quality web host. If you choose a server
with the above recommendations then your server traffic should be fine for at
least up to 25,000,000 page views per month. It could be greater or less
depending on your operating system, your server configuration, performance,
applications, and services. The point is you should be well in a position to
purchase dedicated server space by the time your traffic gets too high, because
if you are getting anything close to 1,000,000 page views a month you should
have some competitive advertising or ecommerce income. And plus, with the
knowledge you will gain from the experience you will be able to support your
own server at a dedicated server (remote) location, thus cutting more
overhead.
The biggest disadvantage of hosting your own web
server is the uptime reliability. If your web server powers down for any reason
then your website is offline. Usually web hosting companies have methods and
networks to prevent this failure from affecting your website. Usually if the
system goes down they have a mirror location where your site is rejuvenated and
doesn??t experience much downtime. Some web hosts do not practice this method
or any other fault tolerance. Imagine if a blackout or power outage occurs,
then your web server could be down for hours or even days, this can affect your
business greatly. There are some hosting companies who provide mirror web
hosting for a small fee, I haven??t found one that is reliable yet. Or you
could cross your fingers and hope for the best, until you are able to host your
server outside your home on a larger network.
Hosting your own server usually is not a
money-saving experience. It sometimes cost more to host your own server, when
you total the up keep and maintenance. The benefit of hosting your own server
is usually a better platform for your customers, because it is no longer a
shared server and it gives you the ability to make global changes almost
instantaneously. When your customers request more performance or specific
applications, then you will be able to implement this immediately. Customers
like to know that you are in control. If you tell your customers that the
server will be down for maintenance from 6 a.m. ?C 7 a.m. then it would be best
if that is when your server is down, not from 5 a.m. ?C 10 a.m. You know how
your web host will tell you one thing and then you have to try explaining it to
your customer. In the end it will benefit you to host your own web server as a
web business, this helps you and your customers.
Author Bio
Ant Onaf is is in association with Data Center Life which is an employment
portal for Data Center Jobs. Ant Onaf is an online internet marketer, web
advertiser, content writer, and IT consultant. He has years of IT related
experience and internet related experience. His ingenuity, dedication, and
passion for technology, internet marketing, & writing has made him a monumental
icon in the World Wide Web. His blog can be visited at www.journalhome.com/AntOnaf
Have you ever thought about hosting your own web
server? Before you take that step this
is a good article to look at the pros and cons of such a move. The article is in three parts. Welcome back to part 2 today which looks at
what to buy. Come back for more
tomorrow. Let me know how useful you
find this article with a comment below.
Hosting Your Own Web Server: Things to Consider –
Part 2
By: Ant Onaf
What to buy?
·First determine your budget. Be realistic and expect to spend at least
$2,500 for a low-end server. For a low-end, quality server with other needed
equipment and services I spent a little over $4,500 easily.
·Determine your ISP (broadband) provider. Research and speak with several
different vendors before deciding which broadband solution best suit your
needs. Each provider plan is different and has different benefits, determine
the best one which fits your needs. Bandwidth should be put into consideration
when choosing your ISP.
·A backup device should be purchased before implementing a server install.
The backup device should be double the server storage space. This could be a
standalone unit like an external hard drive or network storage device or the
backup device could be multiple devices such as: backup tapes, disc, etc. The
reason the backup device should be larger is because you want to be able to
have months worth of backups and not just weekly or monthly backups. You should
have at least 24 weeks of backups without the concern of storage space. The
backup device or safe deposits should also be external, removable, and
portable. This is so the backups can be stored in a remote location. Usually
for safe-keeping, in event of a theft or disaster.
·Determine your daily traffic goal (the daily traffic which you hope to
see within 1 year ?C be realistic), divide that number by the daily traffic you
currently receive, and then multiply that number by 5. That is the total number
of GB space you need.
In the example you should purchase a 100GB Hard Drive, it is best to buy 2 or
more drives oppose to 1. In this case, since 50GB drives do not exist or harder
to find, you would buy two 60GB drives giving you a total of 120GB. 2 or more
drives are usually needed in a server to configure the proper RAID option, in
some cases 3 or more are needed. Your backup storage space should be a minimum
capacity of 200GB (or 240GB, optional).
·Determine your memory. If your web server daily traffic goal is 500,000
then I would recommend at least 2GB worth of memory. If it is a shared server,
meaning it also has other server services running on the machine, especially a
mail server or database server (which is not recommended) then your memory
should at least be 3GB or more. Otherwise you can think small and upgrade as
needed, a 1GB memory stick should be fine for starters.
·Determine your network components, which NIC card best performs under
high traffic levels and which router best performs for your LAN / web server.
It is best to get a router which has a built-in firewall (commonly known as a
??hardware firewall??). Your ISP may provide you with a router or hardware
firewall, this is how they are able to authorize your traffic on their network.
Like a cable box does for cable television. The router also shares your IP
address with other clients on your network. This enables you to share your
internet connection without having to get a different IP from your ISP. The
hardware firewall is simply a router with a built-in firewall, which means it
shares your IP address as well as provides added protection to your network. It
blocks bad addresses and ports at the forefront, before it can even make it to
your computer. It is not recommended to rely only on a hardware firewall for security,
this is just the first step. It is recommended to also include a software
firewall (firewall software which installs on your computer) and it is
recommended to continue timely security practices, such as updating and
patching your system on a scheduled routine.
·Determine your processor speed and power. Regardless of the amount of
traffic you are expecting I would recommend a dual processor or greater. A dual
processor or greater is best because if your website unexpectedly take off then
you will be well prepared and if you host other server options or websites on
the same server then you will have better performance. At the time of this
writing the 64-bit platform is the processor direction. 3.8GHz is the most
available speed. If your pockets can afford the latest technologies then that
is ideal, but keep in mind at this particular time a 64-bit compatible
processor is not necessary, without having many applications that require or
deliver on that platform. That is a lot of speed going no where fast. Also,
remember the power of the 64-bit platform and the greater the processor speed
the more heat it produces, therefore it must be cooled much more rapidly and
efficiently. At this time a dual 32-bit, 2.8GHz ?C 3.2GHz processor will
suffice (even that is way more than enough). Though, if your pockets can afford
it then the latest and greatest would be fine, you will be well prepared.
Otherwise, do like most people and upgrade when the time comes.
·Make sure you have a CD/RW drive. A floppy disk drive is not needed, but
I do recommend it for making system restore disk. The CD/RW drive is needed
because you need some type of removable storage device. You never know when you
need to install a driver from a different location??like a ethernet driver. An
external CD/RW drive is the best option, especially if you have multiple
machines.
·Choose your operating system carefully. Choose the vendor which you are
most comfortable with. Do not choose a MAC if you never used a MAC before. Just
because your friend suggests it and says it is a piece of cake does not mean it
will be for you. You are trying to get a web server online not re-learn a whole
new system. Stay focused and grounded. If you are comfortable with Microsoft
then go with Microsoft, regardless if the IT person at your job says Microsoft
products are unsecure, Linux or Unix is more secure and much better for a web
server. If you have never used Linux or (especially) Unix then you will be in
for a ride of your life. Your web server experience will soon become a
nightmare and you will have wasted thousands of dollars on equipment. Go with
what you know, not what you are told. Each platform has its pros and cons:
Microsoft is the user-friendly of them all; Mac is the web/graphic developer of
them all; Linux is the open-source/developers paradise of them all; Unix is the
most secure of them all. Each of them can be tweaked in ways to provide a
solid, quality platform, it is best to stick with what you already know.
·You should install on your system all the web services (such as: Apache,
IIS, etc.), applications (such as: backup device software, RAID (Array)
Manager), scripting languages (such as: PHP, Perl, etc.), CGI, Database (such
as: MySQL, Microsoft SQL, etc.), and a web log analyzer (such as: weblog
expert, nihuo, etc.). It is also recommended to perform system updates,
security patches, and firewall installs and configurations. It is sometimes
best to leave the security installs and configurations for after you have the
system functioning properly to avoid any uncalculated problems. This way when
you install the firewall and something stops working properly like connecting
to your website from outside your network, you can troubleshoot assuming that
it is the firewall, therefore you would begin by opening port 80 on the
firewall. This method can save you a lot of hassle, but can sometimes be
considered the unsecure method, especially if you don't have a hardware
firewall already in place.
Next, there are a few things to consider before
installing and configuring a server. Where to put it? A secluded, cool location
is ideal, but if this cannot be accomplished then adjustments can be
made.
Author Bio
Ant Onaf is is in association with Data Center Life which is an employment
portal for Data Center Jobs. Ant Onaf is an online internet marketer, web
advertiser, content writer, and IT consultant. He has years of IT related
experience and internet related experience. His ingenuity, dedication, and passion
for technology, internet marketing, & writing has made him a monumental
icon in the World Wide Web. His blog can be visited at www.journalhome.com/AntOnaf
