Friday, June 29, 2007

What a great time to be an affiliate for iPowerWeb

As you know, iPowerWeb is currently running a Fourth of July promotion for $4.95/month ($59.40/year). However, we're still paying $100 commission on every one-year plan. We can't make this any easier for you to earn money! There aren't many opportunities out there to earn $100 when you sell a product for less than $60. Tell all your friends and family to purchase their web hosting through your links. It'll be our little secret that you're making a fortune.

If you haven't yet signed up, you can join our affiliate program at http://partners.ipower.com. We pay monthly by check or through PayPal. You'll get paid after your very first hosting sale. No long waiting.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Just purchased hosting account at full price?

Don't you hate it when you come across a huge sale the day after you just purchased from that company? Well, at iPowerWeb you can still take advantage of our Fourth of July promotion of $4.95 web hosting even if you just purchased hosting from iPowerWeb at full price. Here's what you do, give us a call at 888-511-4678 and you can add up to 2 extra years to your account at the new $4.95 per month price. Everyone can take advantage of this awesome pricing!

Did you just purchase web hosting from a different company and spend a fortune? IPowerWeb will help you every step of the way to transfer your hosting account to us and lock in our $4.95/month price for up to 2 years.

Remember, this is a limited time offer only through July 6th at noon(PST). Tell all your friends and family about it too. It's the biggest sale we've ever had on web hosting!

iPowerWeb Announces Biggest Sale EVER!

To celebrate the Fourth of July, iPowerWeb has announced its biggest sale EVER! Our normally-priced $7.95/month Pro Plan hosting package will be discounted to the extremely low price of $4.95/month. That’s almost a 40% discount! This discount is available for our 12-month and 24-month plans. Hosting accounts will renew at regular rates.


This is a limited-time offer valid from June 27, 2007 thru July 6th 2007 12:00PM PST



Monday, June 25, 2007

Merchant Account

Many iPowerWeb users are small businesses who wish to sell their products online. An important first step to starting a successful online business is to setup a web hosting account and register a domain name with iPowerWeb. Once your domain name and hosting account has been setup, you will want to begin designing your eCommerce website and setting up a merchant account. If you don't know what a merchant account is, here you go...
A merchant account is an online bank account that allows a merchant to settle credit card transactions. Without a merchant account, the merchant cannot process credit card transactions automatically and have the funds sent to their account.
If you wish to learn more about Merchant Account services, please contact our Sales Department at 888-511-HOST. iPowerWeb offers very affordable merchant services for all of its users.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Domain Name Ownership

iPowerWeb is one of the world's most popular web hosting providers. As an extremely popular hosting provider, over the years we have grown respect and popularity in many other spheres of the Internet and web hosting. This includes domain name registration services. For just $6.50 per year you can register your very own domain name. Some registration companies will charge you over $50 for the exact same service (if not worse). So due to the fact that we have become such a popular domain name registration provider, many customers and potential users regularly ask us who owns the domain name is it is registered through iPowerWeb. Here is the Answer...

The owner of any domain name registered through iPowerWeb is the customer that is registering the domain. Unlike some companies, we do not take ownership of your domain. This allows you to make changes to the domain at any time because YOU are the legal owner of the domain name. If you wish to learn more about registering a domain name, please Contact Us. We continue to grow at a rapid pace and love what we do. If you are considering registering a new domain name with us, please go ahead and do so. Our prices are very low and our quality of service is very high. We have received many awards for our services and we are always working to please all of our customers.

Setting the Time Within Your Plesk Control Panel

All shared iPowerWeb hosting accounts come with the award-winning vDeck control panel. vDeck is a very to use control panel which allows you to manage your website(s) from one simple and clean user interface. Although if you are using a dedicated server with iPowerWeb you will not have a vDeck control panel, rather you will have the Plesk control panel. Our Plesk control panel for dedicated servers is also very easy to use. Here we will explain how to set the timing system within your control panel.

Step 1:
To change the server's time, log into Plesk and click on the Server link in the menu to the left.

Step 2:
Click on the System Time button within the Plesk control panel.

Step 3:
Adjust the system time and click Set. You may also specify a server to sync your servers time with the time on that server. Note: When clicking Set, the page will not change, but the time will be set.


For a screenshot walkthrough of these settings, please visit www.ipwhelp.com, click Plesk Dedicated, choose System, and click Setting the System Time.

This process should be quite simple to complete but if you ever have any questions or concerns, please contact us at 888-511-HOST.

URL Masking

We like to provide you with answers to some common questions that our Customer Support Department receives on a regular basis. Here we will cover the question of URL Masking and what it is.
When you visit a website, you see typically see the URL (or address) in the address bar of the browser. When you have additional domain names that point to a subfolder of a main domain, you may not want your users to see the true location of the site.
If domain-a.com points to domain-main.com/a, you want your visitors to see domain-a.com when they type it into a browser. The hiding of the true URL and the showing of the alias is called URL Masking.
As an iPowerWeb customer you will have the ability to take advantage of URL Masking and show the alias of your domain name rather than the true URL. Please visit our Domain Names page in order to register a new domain name. As always, if you ever have any questions or wish to learn more about URL Masking - please contact our Customer Support Department.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Guestbook

Many existing and potential customers contact our customer support department asking us if we support Guestbooks for their website. The answer is Yes, and if you do not know what a Guestbook is...here you go. A Guestbook is an electronic form that allows your visitors to leave comments on your site. In order to learn more about how to configure your own Guestbook or just learn about the great features that come with an iPowerWeb hosting plan, you may always contact us.

Offices

iPowerWeb came into the industry in October 2001, today we host over 700,000 websites and continue to grow at a rapid pace. iPowerWeb initially started with just a few employees in an office in Santa Monica, California. Today we have over 300 employees and 5 office locations with multiple data centers.

Our offices are currently located in:

1. Phoenix, Arizona, United States (headquarters)

2. Santa Monica, California, United States

3. Los Angeles, California, United States

4. Montreal, Canada

5. London, United Kingdom

Is iPowerWeb The Right Hosting Provider?

When searching for a new hosting company, you definitely want to go with a company with a positive reputation and a company that will not just disappear. iPowerWeb is one of the world's largest web hosting providers, currently hosting over 700,000 web sites and we continue to be one of the fastest growing web hosting providers in the industry. iPowerWeb is a privately owned, profitable, and debt-free web hosting company. We host over 700,000 members from over 150 different countries. While most Internet companies are slowing down and scaling back, iPowerWeb continues to thrive. Our large customer base is a testament to the fact that we are a highly successful and great web hosting provider. If you ever want to learn more about - we are always available via both email, telephone and live chat. As an iPowerWeb customer, you will not have to worry about us disappearing or going out of business - like many hosting providers have done in the past.

Telnet of SSH Access For Your Web Site

Back to some common questions we receive from our customers...Does iPowerWeb support Telnet or SSH Access on their hosting plans? Here's the answer...
In the majority of cases you will not need SSH or Telnet access in order to properly run your site. Due to security reasons and being on a shared hosting server, our BusinessPro and WindowsPro accounts do not provide Telnet or SSH access to your files. Although if you are on a Virtual Hosting Server or a Dedicated Server plan with us you will be able to have Telnet and SSH access. But this does not mean all of our shared customers needing Telnet or SSH access are out of luck, you may use Telnet to connect to port 110 (incoming mail) and port 25 (outgoing mail). You will not be able to access files using telnet or SSH on our shared hosting plans. SSH is Telnet-like and lacks the security issues that plague Telnet. In order to receive more information on Telnet, SSH, and iPowerWeb hosting plans in general - please contact us at 888-511-HOST. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Automatic Renewal

If you are an iPowerWeb web hosting customer, you may be aware that we renew all accounts automatically unless we are notified by the customer not to do so. This may seem undesirable at first, but it is one of many things we do at iPowerWeb that our users love. When purchasing your first web hosting account or domain name you may not know how long you will need the website or domain name for - this is a very common feeling and we understand your feelings. Therefore all iPowerWeb hosting accounts come with an unconditional 30 day money back guarantee and we allow you to extend or shorten your term of service at any time. When you join iPowerWeb you do not have to worry about any contracts or hidden fees. But back to the point - we renew all accounts automatically, which in many cases is a very helpful process. This means that you do not have to remember to pay us on a certain date in order to keep your website up and running. iPowerWeb does all the work for you, all you have to do is worry that your site is the best it could possibly be. All iPowerWeb Accounts are automatically renewed so our customers do not experience any downtime. Many of our customers run their businesses through their websites and we can not risk bringing their service down for even one day. We do attempt to contact every customer three times via e-mail before the account renewal is due. This ensures that our customer will be aware of the renewal taking place. If you ever have any questions regarding the status of your account, please contact our customer support at 888-511-HOST.

Working From Home

Many people love the idea of working from home. Rather than sitting in an office with many of your colleagues you have the ability to work from one of the greatest places in the world, home. At first it may seem like there are only advantages from working at home and it is always better than sitting in the office. If you feel this is true, we would like to provide you with a few tips to consider when working at home. By the way, this list does not apply to everyone that is working from home.

1. DO NOT leave your cell phone back in the living room when you step out to the diner for a couple of hours.
2. DO take your BlackBerry and cell phone when you go to the bathroom.
3. DO schedule a few short conference calls with anybody who works for you, since they are probably at the office cursing your name. This will show them you are fully engaged in the business of the day, which, of course, you are!
4. DO NOT start drinking any earlier than usual. Not even beer.
5. DO send out that lengthy e-mail with several Excel attachments that people have been waiting for since last Tuesday. This will serve two purposes: 1) demonstrate that you are active and on the field, in spite of all appearances; 2) stop anybody from replying to you on any issue while they chew over a spreadsheet they have no desire to deal with on a Friday during July or August.
7. DO NOT leave your Beatles album playing in the background while you talk with colleagues, even if they are junior to you. Word will get around.
8. DO NOT answer the phone during your nap. Allow the ring to wake you. Splash some cold water on your face. Then return the call and apologize for having been “caught up” in something else while it was ringing. You may not fool anybody but it will be worth the attempt.
9. DO attempt to call your boss at 6 p.m., when you know he has gone for the day. You will appear on his call sheet first thing Monday morning as any industrious corporate citizen should.
10. DO NOT conduct any sort of business in your underwear. People will know. I don’t know how, but they will.

This list will most likely be as helpful to an entrepreneur. Here are some more general thoughts.
11. When working from home, do not let other family members answer the phone! Also, shut off ALL other phones when on conference calls.
12. When you answer your home phone, always say “Hello, this is ” (you never know who it might be)
13. When you grocery shop, think about your work day. Don’t eat while you are on calls, etc. Take time out to sit down and eat away from your desk. Take a walk after a meal. Get out of the house.

Also, you may feel that this list is totally incorrect and does not apply for people that work for home. Every persons case is different, so again this post may not be the most helpful for you. Thank you for visiting our web site, we will post some information that is not related to web hosting every once in a while - just like now.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

ASP Testing

If you are in need of ASP support, please visit our WindowsPro page for more information on our top selling Windows web hosting plan. If you are already a user of iPowerWeb's WindowsPro package you may understand the functionality of ASP and why you need it. Here we will explain how to test if ASP works. If the test fails it may be related to the server located in our data center, while in some cases it may be due to the fact that your account is not on a Windows server rather it is on a UNIX operating system. Here goes the test...

1) Create a regular text file and call it test.asp.
2) In the text file, enter the following line:

<% Response.Write("Hello World!") %>

3) Save the file and upload it to your wwwRoot folder.
4) Go to http://yourdomainname.com/test.asp (do not forget to replace yourdomainname.com with your domain name)

When you go to the URL in step 4, you should see the words "Hello World".
Note: Step 4 will work as long as the domain name is resolving and the test.asp is in the wwwRoot folder.

We hope this test helped you check if ASP is functioning properly. If you ever have any web hosting related questions, please contact our customer support at 888-511-HOST.

Email Support: Port 110

You are probably aware that iPowerWeb does not only provide web hosting services, we offer domain name registration services, dedicated server hosting solutions, Windows web hosting...the list could go on for a very long time. But another service we do offer and are respected for is our quality email hosting. Not only does iPowerWeb host your web site, but they also host your emails. Our Help Center and your vDeck control panel provides great information regarding email configuration. In this post we will discuss Port 110.
Port 100 is the port used by the POP3 email service. When you receive email, your incoming mail server uses port 110 to download your mail to your computer. Therefore when configuring your email account(s) make sure that your incoming mail server is set to Port 110.
If you want free email hosting for life you can get with iPowerWeb. This is because every BusinessPro hosting plan comes with 2500 email accounts, which allow you to send and receive emails at lightning fast speeds. So as long as your iPowerWeb shared hosting account is in good standing - you will receive free email hosting with iPowerWeb.

JSP Hosting Support

A common question we get is, "Does iPowerWeb offer JSP support on its web hosting plans?"
If you do not know what JSP is, you may not need it. But just to increase you Internet knowlege, JSP stands for Java Server Pages. JSP is a technology for controlling the content or appearance of Web pages through the use of servlet s, small programs that are specified in the Web page and run on the Web server to modify the Web page before it is sent to the user who requested it. JSP was developed by Sun Microsystems and if you are wondering we do not support JSP with our shared web hosting plans, such as our BusinessPro. But this does not mean we do not support JSP at all, rather you do have the ability to run JSP on a dedicated server hosting solution. Our dedicated server plans give you the ability to run almost any program you wish and you are the sole owner of the server so you could really do whatever you wish. We manage the server and make sure that it is always running properly and the rest is really up to you. As a dedicated server user at iPowerWeb you truly have the luxury to do whatever you wish.

Keep Drinking Water

We sometimes need a break from the Internet and need to start thinking about ourselves. It is amazing how much time we spend in front of our computers surfing the Internet - due to spending so much time on our computers, many of us begin to neglect our bodies. One thing all of us need on a regular basis is water. We all need to drink at least 6-8 glasses each day in order for our bodies to function properly. Here are ten reasons why we all need to drink water:

* Get Healthy Skin
* Flush Toxins
* Reduce Your Risk Of Heart Attack
* Cushion And Lube Your Joints And Muscles
* Get Energized And Be Alert
* Stay Regular
* Reduce Your Risk Of Disease And Infection
* Regulate Your Body Temperature
* Burn More Fat And Build More Muscle
* Get Well

So if you are not drinking enough water each day, you should start now. You will feel great and your body will thank you. If you need tips on how to properly drink water, please call iPowerWeb support at 888-511-HOST - we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Just Kidding - although we really are always available. You may want to consult your physician before drinking water.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Extending or Shortening Your Service Term

When purchasing a web hosting plan with iPowerWeb you have the option of getting a 3 month, 6 month, 12 month (1 year), or 24 month (2 years) service term. In some cases a person may not know how long they would need their hosting plan for therefore you may want to extend or shorten your service time. As you are most probably aware we offer a 30 day unconditional money back guarantee - therefore if you wish to cancel your plan within the first 30 days you may do so and receive a full refund with no questions asked. The money back guarantee does not only apply if you are unhappy with our service (which we know will never happen) but it also applies to people that no longer need their website.
So lets say you are 2 months into your web hosting plan and need to cancel your web hosting plan, how do you do this?
Or lets say you are 2 months into your 12 month web hosting service plan and want to extend your service term, how you do this? Well if you are considering either of the two - you are at the right place.
You may change your service term at anytime without paying any extra fees. You simply pay the difference or receive a refund, depending upon whether you want to extend or shorten your service term. To arrange for these modifications, please contact billing@ipowerweb.com with your request. For security verification, please include the last four digits of your credit card on file. Some hosting companies like to give their customers a hard time when they want to renew or cancel and may even have some hidden fees. At iPowerWeb we work hard to make web hosting simple and stress-free. A great example of such policies are when we make everything easier for you when you want to add or subtract time to your web hosting service term. If you ever have some questions regarding the length of your service term, you should always contact us either via email or by telephone at 888-511-HOST.

Looking For A Good Web Host

The Internet is very large and people are always wanting to have their presence felt on the Internet. One of the first steps towards being seen on the Internet is by having a website. It is vital to have a website in order for people to find out about you and/or your company does. Some may think starting a website and finding a web host is simple, and in some cases this may be true, but in order to be great you need to put in time and effort. Generally people won't just find your website, you will have to work in order to be seen. The foundation of having a successful website is having a good web hosting provider - iPowerWeb is that hosting provider. We host over 700,000 websites and are highly respected for our quality servers, service, and affordable prices. If you are looking for a good web hosting provider that makes the entire hosting and website development process easier, host with iPowerWeb. As always, if you ever have any questions - you should give us a call at 888-511-HOST.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Six Expressions You Should Probably Know

As if the English language is not hard enough, we all have to be aware that the world is filled with other languages. The English language is not unique to the United States or even the United Kingdom, rather people all around the world use the English language in order to communicate. In this post we will provide you with six foreign expressions that you should probably know. When we refer to "foreign expressions" we mean expressions that are not commonly used in the United States, instead they are from another country - like Australia. Foreign expressions represent an integral part of the English language. Knowing the meaning and usage of the most used ones is very important. First of all because it will enable you to understand pieces of text that include them. Secondly, because you might also need to use those expressions on particular situations (avoid using them just to sound smart though). Below you will find 6 foreign expressions commonly used in English, enjoy! We think that you will find these expressions very helpful to know.

1. De Facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means “actual” (if used as an adjective) or “in practice” (if used as an adverb). In legal terms, de facto is commonly used in contrast to de jure, which means “by law.” Something, therefore, can emerge either de facto (by practice) or de jure (by law).

2. Vis-à-Vis

The literal meaning of this French expression is “face to face” (used as an adverb). It is used more widely as a preposition though, meaning “compared with” or “in relation to.

3. Status quo

This famous Latin expression means “the current or existing state of affairs.” If something changes the status quo, it is changing the way things presently are.

4. Cul-de-sac

This expression was originated in England by French-speaking aristocrats. Literally it means “bottom of a sack,” but generally it refers to a dead-end street. Cul-de-sac can also be used metaphorically to express an action that leads to nowhere or an impasse.

5. Ad hoc

Ad hoc, borrowed from the Latin, can be used both as an adjective, where it means “formed or created with a specific purpose,” and as an adverb, where it means “for the specific purpose or situation.

6. Per se

Per se is a Latin expression that means “by itself” or “intrinsically.”


Hopefully this short list of foreign expressions will help you in the future.

Computer Keyboards and Dishwashers

According to a recent NPR (National Public Radio) article, computer keyboards have more bacteria than toilet seats. We should have probably given you some warning before writing this and quite frankly I'm not feeling to good about my computer keyboard either. When you think of toilet seats having less bacteria than a computer keyboard - that is very scary. With the keys designed the way they are, it is very difficult to clean your keyboard. Due to this issue some people have come up with a sort of extreme solution to this matter, place your keyboard in the dishwasher. Yes yes yes, this sounds crazy if you have never heard of this - but lately people have been talking about cleaning their computer keyboards via the dishwasher.
If you ever use your computer, which you probably are doing right now, you know that keyboards get messy and quite dirty very quickly. Like we said earlier it is very difficult to clean a keyboard so initially the idea of cleaning your keyboard with the dishwasher seems quite genius. But although this seems like a good idea - many people do not recommend using your average dishwasher in order to clean your keyboard. There are companies that do disinfect your keyboard, although we recommend using keyboard disinfectant solutions available at your local office supply store. But please understand that it is best to stay away from cleaning your keyboard with the dishwasher.

Best Technical Support

iPowerWeb is known for its great servers, cheap prices, and wonderful support. All iPowerWeb customers are able to contact iPowerWeb support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you ever have any issues, you can just pick up the phone - dial 888-511-HOST and immediately speak to an iPowerWeb representative. If for some reason you are not near a phone, you are always welcome to email us. Similar to contacting us by phone, we do our best to answer your questions or requests as soon as possible. Therefore if you send us an email, we will try to respond to you very quickly.
Our award winning world class customer support center never rests. We hire the experts, so you don't have to. Our greatest asset (by far) is our experienced team of support reps, developers, and engineers. Our support team has the highest average tenure in the web hosting industry. No one else offers the cumulative web hosting experience we do. Even better, there's someone here to help with your issues around the clock, 24x7, 365 days a year. If you are considering hosting your website with us, host your website with us. In order to make you feel safe about your choice, our web hosting plans come with an unconditional 30 day money back guarantee. Please remember that we are always only an email or phone call away.

Cool CSS Tricks

You may be wondering what in the world is CSS?
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets, which in simple terms is language that is used to describe how an HTML document should be formatted. As an iPowerWeb hosting customer you have the ability to use CSS on your website. Here we will provide you with ten helpful CSS tricks...

1. CSS font shorthand rule
When styling fonts with CSS you may be doing this:

font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
font-variant: small-caps;
font-size: 1em;
line-height: 1.5em;
font-family: verdana,sans-serif

There's no need though as you can use this CSS shorthand property:

font: bold italic small-caps 1em/1.5em verdana,sans-serif

Much better! Just a few of words of warning: This CSS shorthand version will only work if you're specifying both the font-size and the font-family. The font-family command must always be at the very end of this shorthand command, and font-size must come directly before this. Also, if you don't specify the font-weight, font-style, or font-variant then these values will automatically default to a value of normal, so do bear this in mind too.


2. Two classes together
Usually attributes are assigned just one class, but this doesn't mean that that's all you're allowed. In reality, you can assign as many classes as you like! For example:

...



Using these two classes together (separated by a space, not with a comma) means that the paragraph calls up the rules assigned to both text and side. If any rules overlap between the two classes then the class which is below the other in the CSS document will take precedence.


3. CSS border default value
When writing a border rule you'll usually specify the colour, width and style (in any order). For example, border: 3px solid #000 will give you a black solid border, 3px thick. However the only required value here is the border style.

If you were to write just border: solid then the defaults for that border will be used. But what defaults? Well, the default width for a border is medium (equivalent to about 3 to 4px) and the default colour is that of the text colour within that border. If either of these are what you want for the border then you can leave them out of the CSS rule!


4. CSS document for printing
Lots of web pages have a link to a print-friendly version. What many of them don't realise is that there's no need because you can set up a second CSS document to be called up when a user prints the page.

So, your page header should contains links to two CSS documents, one for the screen, and one for printing:





The first line of code calls up the CSS for the screen (notice the inclusion of media="screen") and the second line calls up the CSS for the printable version (using media="print").

So, what commands should you put in this second CSS document? To work it out, open a blank document and save it as printstyle.css. Next, point the screen CSS command to this document so that the command reads: .

Now just keep entering CSS commands until the display on the screen matches how you want the printed version to look. You'll certainly want to make use of the display: none command for navigation, decorative images and non-essential items. For more advice on this, read Print Different, which also mentions the other media for which you can specify CSS files.


5. Image replacement technique
It's always advisable to use regular HTML markup to display text, as opposed to an image. Doing so allows for a faster download speed and has accessibility benefits. However, if you've absolutely got your heart set on using a certain font and your site visitors are unlikely to have that font on their computers, then really you've got no choice but to use an image.

Say for example, you wanted the top heading of each page to be 'Buy widgets', as you're a widget seller and you'd like to be found for this phrase in the search engines. You're pretty set on it being an obscure font so you need to use an image:

Buy widgets



This is OK but there's strong evidence to suggest that search engines don't assign as much importance to alt text as they do real text (because so many webmasters use the alt text to cram in keywords). So, an alternative would be:

Buy widgets



Now, this obviously won't use your obscure font. To fix this problem place these commands in your CSS document:
h1
{
background: url(widget-image.gif) no-repeat;
height: image height
text-indent: -2000px
}

Be sure to change "image height" to whatever the height of the image is (e.g. 85px)! The image, with your fancy font, will now display and the regular text will be safely out of the way, positioned 2000px to the left of the screen thanks to our CSS rule. Please note, this can cause accessibility issues as any user with images turned off won't be able to see the text.


6. CSS box model hack alternative
The box model hack is used to fix a rendering problem in pre-IE 6 browsers on PC, where by the border and padding are included in the width of an element, as opposed to added on. For example, when specifying the dimensions of a container you might use the following CSS rule:

#box
{
width: 100px;
border: 5px;
padding: 20px
}

This CSS rule would be applied to:

...


This means that the total width of the box is 150px (100px width + two 5px borders + two 20px paddings) in all browsers except pre-IE 6 versions on PC. In these browsers the total width would be just 100px, with the padding and border widths being incorporated into this width. The box model hack can be used to fix this, but this can get really messy.

A simple alternative is to use this CSS:
#box
{
width: 150px
}

#box div
{
border: 5px;
padding: 20px
}

And the new HTML would be:
..


Perfect! Now the box width will always be 150px, regardless of the browser!


7. Centre aligning a block element
Say you wanted to have a fixed width layout website, and the content floated in the middle of the screen. You can use the following CSS command:

#content
{
width: 700px;
margin: 0 auto
}

You would then enclose
around every item in the body of the HTML document and it'll be given an automatic margin on both its left and right, ensuring that it's always placed in the centre of the screen. Simple... well not quite - we've still got the pre-IE 6 versions on PC to worry about, as these browsers won't centre align the element with this CSS command. You'll have to change the CSS rules:
body
{
text-align: center
}

#content
{
text-align: left;
width: 700px;
margin: 0 auto
}

This will then centre align the main content, but it'll also centre align the text! To offset the second, probably undesired, effect we inserted text-align: left into the content div.


8. Vertically aligning with CSS

Vertically aligning with tables was a doddle. To make cell content line up in the middle of a cell you would use vertical-align: middle. This doesn't really work with a CSS layout. Say you have a navigation menu item whose height is assigned 2em and you insert this vertical align command into the CSS rule. It basically won't make a difference and the text will be pushed to the top of the box.

Hmmm... not the desired effect. The solution? Specify the line height to be the same as the height of the box itself in the CSS. In this instance, the box is 2em high, so we would insert line-height: 2em into the CSS rule and the text now floats in the middle of the box - perfect!


9. CSS positioning within a container

One of the best things about CSS is that you can position an object absolutely anywhere you want in the document. It's also possible (and often desirable) to position objects within a container. It's simple to do too. Simply assign the following CSS rule to the container:
#container
{
position: relative
}

Now any element within this container will be positioned relative to it. Say you had this HTML structure:


To position the navigation exactly 30px from the left and 5px from the top of the container box, you could use these CSS commands:
#navigation
{
position: absolute;
left: 30px;
top: 5px
}

Perfect! In this particular example, you could of course also use margin: 5px 0 0 30px, but there are some cases where it's preferable to use positioning.


10. Background colour running to the screen bottom

One of the disadvantages of CSS is its inability to be controlled vertically, causing one particular problem which a table layout doesn't suffer from. Say you have a column running down the left side of the page, which contains site navigation. The page has a white background, but you want this left column to have a blue background. Simple, you assign it the appropriate CSS rule:
#navigation
{
background: blue;
width: 150px
}

Just one problem though: Because the navigation items don't continue all the way to the bottom of the screen, neither does the background colour. The blue background colour is being cut off half way down the page, ruining your great design. What can you do!?

Unfortunately one of the only solutions to this is to cheat, and assign the body a background image of exactly the same colour and width as the left column. You would use this CSS command:
body
{
background: url(blue-image.gif) 0 0 repeat-y
}

This image that you place in the background should be exactly 150px wide and the same blue colour as the background of the left column. The disadvantage of using this method is that you can't express the left column in terms of em, as if the user resizes text and the column expands, it's background colour won't.

Using this method the left column will have to be expressed in px if you want it to have a different background colour to the rest of the page.


We really hope that you found these CSS tips helpful, and if you ever have any questions with regards to your website - please do not forget to Contact Us.

What is a Cron Job

As you are probably aware, at iPowerWeb we offer award winning web hosting services. We have been recognized as the world's best web hosting provider for over 5 years and we are always working to please all of our customers. We like to provide our users with helpful information regarding their web site and the Internet in general. A question that our customer service department receives on a regular basis is what is a Cron Job?
Cron is a time based scheduling service for Unix and Unix-like based operating systems. As you are probably aware, the award-winning iPowerWeb BusinessPro supports Crons and runs on a Unix based platform. Crons are a set of commands on which operate on Unix based systems that are set to run automatically. A person can specify commands to run on a specific minute, hour, day, week, year, or weekday. We do our best to provide our users with the best services and products available. As an iPowerWeb user you can be sure that you are receiving the best hosting services and the best pricing for what you get in the entire web hosting industry. This is just one more reason that you should host your web site with iPowerWeb and experience the feeling knowing that your website is with the best.

ColdFusion Hosting

A common question that we get over here at iPowerWeb is regarding ColdFusion and whether or not or shared web hosting plans support it. If you are new to web hosting you may not even know what ColdFusion is, ColdFusion is a scripting language similar to ASP, CGI, or PHP. Macromedia has a program called ColdFusion that allows you to easily create ColdFusion files using a graphical interface. You may be wondering if you really need ColdFusion for your website and whether or not our servers support ColdFusion. In most cases if you are building a generally basic web site, you will not need ColdfFusion. Mainly due to security reasons our BusinessPro web hosting plan and other shared hosting solutions do not come with ColdFusion support. In many cases you should be fine and your website will not be hurt due to the lack of ColdFusion support, but if for some reason you need Coldfusion for you website(s), you may want to look at getting a dedicated server with us. Our dedicated server hosting solution allows you to do almost whatever you want with the server. You will have full control of your server and you have the ability to do whatever you wish it. The dedicated server will be hosted in our award-winning data centers and are made of the latest dedicated server technology. Therefore if you are in need of a Coldfusion you should consider moving to a dedicated server with iPowerWeb.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

A Few Reasons Why To Get a Desktop Computer

Here we explain why you should consider purchasing a desktop computer rather than purchasing a laptop computer for your college student. If for some reason you do not agree with this information, maybe you could get both. Desktops and laptops are both very useful and popular. A common question people ask is in regards to whether choosing a laptop or desktop computer. Here we will speak about desktop and laptop computers with regards to college students. Desktop Advantages

You’ll find fewer students lugging their PC Towers or iMacs into their dorm room on move in day. You may see a particularly tech-savvy college student with a huge computer that looks like something from the Sci-Fi Channel. Desktop computers do have a few advantages though.

1. Power - Those cute little laptops are nice and all, but they cannot compare to the power that the desktop can wield. For college students in engineering, architecture, computer sciences, business, or science (just to name a few), you should consider what types of programs your computer will have to run. I’ve seen some pretty robust student programs out there. You don’t want to be stuck going to the computer lab every day because your laptop can’t handle the demands of your architecture program. Talk to the dean of the college, your professors, other students, or your academic advisor to find out what types of programs you’ll need. If they are sizable programs, I’d suggest going with a stronger, more powerful PC.

2. Memory - Yes, a desktop computer can have more memory too. You can also put more memory in it than laptops. Not only is this helpful for people running robust programs, but it’s also helpful for those students who like to play games and listen to music. You may not know this, but college students LOVE their music. They also love free stuff. I’m not one to rat anyone out, and I don’t want to alarm you, but some people even use programs (that may or may not be legal) to download movies, TV shows, albums, and a load of other stuff. Having a desktop can allow you significantly more room to hold all of the data you need and love. I, for one, have over 6000 songs on iTunes. That’s a lot of Gigs of music. My laptop couldn’t handle that, or it could, but then I wouldn’t have any room for anything else. Also, many students are gamers. I’ve seen countless students in dorms playing WoW (World of Warcraft) at all hours of the night. I suggest a desktop if you’re going to be running demanding games. Remember to consider what things you’ll be downloading or putting on your computer before buying.

3. You Can’t Steal Them As Easily - There, I said it. No offense to laptops, but they’re pretty easy to steal. Crime is an issue on many college campuses around the country. People leave their dorm room doors unlocked or wide open all the time, and so it can be quite easy to sneak in and take something. Laptops are just a lot easier to take than desktops. Of course I realize there are laptop locks, but in my experience, less than 50% of students actually use them. In any case, laptop locks can still be cut. Most just let their laptops sit out in the open. Desktops are bigger, have more parts, and just not as easy to take. I have an iMac G5, and let me tell you, that thing is pretty heavy. If I were a burglar, I wouldn’t want to have to run away lugging that behind me. So, consider how safe your campus may be, and thing of the extra security offered by having a desktop.

4. Your Desktop Won’t Distract You in Class - I love students who think they are going to take their laptops to every class and take extensive notes and be the best student possible. This never happens. What actually happens is students take their laptops to class, talk on AIM and use Facebook the whole time. If you have a desktop, you won’t be able to take it to class with you, so it won’t be a distraction. Trust me, there’s no substitute for pen and paper when taking notes.

5. It Will Probably Last Longer - For any student strapped for cash, the life of their computer investment is of utmost importance. I have found that desktops last significantly longer than laptops do in college. The fact remains, while laptops are great to carry around to the Quad, or the cafeteria, or anywhere else on campus, this puts them in much greater danger. I can tell you countless stories of students dropping their laptops, having their laptops fall out of their bags, knocking them off tables during rambunctious dorm parties, spilling drinks on them in the cafeteria, knocking them off desks in class, and much more. You’d have to really try to shove a desktop off your desk. Case and point, I’ve had my desktop for over two years now. My girlfriend had her laptop for under a year. Guess what happened; she went to put her printer away and it was still attached to the laptop. YANK; there went the laptop smashing on the floor. It was funny, because that same thing happened to me a few weeks later, but because my printer was connected to a heavier machine, all I did was move it a little and I was able to realize what was wrong.

6. Cheaper - Laptops can get pretty expensive, especially considering the amount of danger they’re placed in on a daily basis. For the college student who cannot afford much, desktops should really be considered. You can get a decent desktop for $600 (sometimes even less). I’ve never seen a laptop for less than $1,000. That’s a big price difference, especially considering tuitions that will have to be paid and all the other expenses college students have to deal with. FAFSA awards are great, but I doubt they will leave you with enough money to get the top of the line laptop and pay all the other expenses you may have.

7. Customization - For the more tech savvy person, customization is key. You can’t customize laptops nearly as much as you can desktops. Dell offers the whole “build your own computer” thing. Many other PC makers allow you to add different kinds of monitors, ram, towers, etc. Laptops are generally, “pick which one you like and how much memory you want in it.” You also can make minimal changes to laptops after you’ve purchased them. Desktops can have graphics cards changed, RAM added, motherboards, soundcards, monitors, and much more modified. If you are a fan of customization, look no further than a desktop.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Another Way To Increase Traffic

If you have your own web site you probably know the importance of traffic. Probably over 99% of web site owners want as much traffic as possible to their website. Getting traffic is just one part of a much larger equation and typically you would want the right traffic. What we mean by the right traffic is that you want to have people interested in your web site browsing your pages. For example if you sell children's clothing you probably would not want people interested in hair products visiting your site. Because the Internet is wide open people can pretty much visit any site they want, so if a person wants to visit your web site they can. Back to the point...we all are always looking to increase traffic to our web site which in turn would hopefully lead to greater sales. Nowadays many people are using search engines such as Google to find their way around the Internet. But by putting everything aside one method of gaining traffic is by having a great web site. For example if you publish great articles, interesting photos, or helpful guides people would generally want to visit your site on a regular basis. One perfect example of this is the NASA web site which published a very interesting photo and since then the website has gained a great amount of traffic. This is a link to the NASA site. Click Here.
We posted this in order to provide you with an example of how anyone can gain popularity on the Internet very fast. So if you have something useful, cool, and/or different - put it on your web site and hopefully it would naturally gain buzz without you having to pay any money on marketing. If you don't have a web site, please visit iPowerWeb.com for web hosting products and services.

Sleep

This post is not related to web hosting or iPowerWeb which seems somewhat weird, particularly when you consider that this is the iPowerWeb Web Hosting Blog. Anyways - this is just a quick post about sleep. I'm not sure you really appreciate sleeping until you start losing it - so if you sleep eight or more hours each night, keep it up and you are very lucky.
If you are on the other side of this story and only receive a few hours of sleep per night (or maybe even none)... try to get more. Of course people get used to different sleeping habits although it is proven that the better rested you are the better you will function during the day. It is not good to fall asleep while you are working during the day, so if you are able to - please try to sleep some more.
Writing this makes me somewhat tired and I will try to go to sleep soon too. iPowerWeb is a uniques web hosting company because we are open 24 hours a day, so if for some reason you cannot go to sleep - why not give us a call. We love to help all of our customers, so if you ever need anything for you web site...don't forget to call us at 888-511-HOST. It is getting quite late, so I will try to go to sleep as well.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Best Careers in 2007

Career Median Pay Job Market Outlook Quality of Life Attainability Prestige Typical Degree Required
Actuary
$75,062 - Bachelors
Architect
$46,840 - Bachelors + 1 year
Audiologist
$62,112 - Doctorate
Clergy
$78,690 - Masters
Dentist
$120,864 - Doctorate
Editor
$52,443 - Bachelors or Masters
Engineer
$72,156 - Bachelors
Fundraiser

$78,902 - Bachelors
Higher Ed. Administrator
$109,557 - Masters or Doctorate
Landscape Architect
$49,974 - Bachelors
Librarian
$49,708 - Masters
Management Consultant
$96,245 - Bachelors or Masters
Medical Scientist
$88,344 - Doctorate
Occupational Therapist
$60,855 - Masters
Optometrist
$98,458 - Doctorate
Pharmacist
$98,828 - Doctorate
Physician
$151,159 - Doctorate
Physician Assistant
$77,863 - Bachelors
Politician/Elected Office
NA - Bachelors or Masters
Professor
$73,666 - Doctorate
Registered Nurse
$59,046 - Bachelors
School Psychologist
$63,029 - Bachelors
Speech-Lang Therapist
$58,475 - Masters
Systems Analyst
$70,438 - Bachelors
Urban/Regional Planner
$38,465 - Masters

What is ICANN

This information regarding ICANN is directly from their site:

--- Begin ---

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address.

ICANN is also responsible for accrediting the domain name registrars. "Accredit" means to identify and set minimum standards for the performance of registration functions, to recognize persons or entities meeting those standards, and to enter into an accreditation agreement that sets forth the rules and procedures applicable to the provision of Registrar Services.

--- End ---

If you wish to register a domain name with iPowerWeb, please visit our Domain Name Section on iPowerWeb.com

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The Best Web Hosting

iPowerWeb's Business Pro package is the #1 selling web hosting solution on the Internet for over five years in a row. It is a complete and all-inclusive solution for everyone - beginners, professionals and businesses.
We've consolidated over 3 different packages into one powerful solution - Business Pro. Our Business Pro integrated web hosting solution will accommodate all of your eBusiness needs.
iPowerWeb is one of the world's largest web hosting companies, currently hosting over 700,000 websites. iPowerWeb is proud to have ranked #121 in the 2006 Inc. 500 list. Inc. Magazine's annual list of the 500 fastest-growing independent, privately held companies in the United States.

Reseller Program Pricing

If you regularly read this blog you are probably aware that iPowerWeb has many popular and unique web hosting products and services. One of our most popular programs is our Reseller Program, which enables anyone in the world to become their own web hosting provider. Seriously, you are able to start your own web hosting company with absolutely no money to start. Each time you get a new customer all you have to do is setup a new hosting account through your own private-labeled reseller control panel. If this sounds complicated, it is not. Our Reseller Program is very easy to join and there are never any start-up or hidden fees. Please visit our Reseller Program web site for more information. In this post we will explain the special pricing levels for all of our resellers.
By the way yes it is true, you can purchase iPowerWeb hosting for as low as $60/year. That is a great discount and the best part is you can set your own prices to resell your hosting services. Meaning that you can purchase hosting from us for just $60/year and resell it for $400/year (this is just an example). Please continue to read in order to learn more about our Reseller Program pricing levels.

*Individual accounts are billed for the full rate of the service term at the time of purchase.

*30 Day money back guarantee applies to all purchases.

*Please note that as we lower our prices on the 1 & 2 year accounts we do have to charge for domain name registrations as that is a fixed cost to us.


Rates For your 1st - 3rd Purchased Web Hosting Accounts
( regular iPowerWeb rate )
1 Year Accounts $7.95/mo ( $95.40 ) *Includes free Domain Name & Free Setup

2 Year Accounts $6.95/mo ( $166.80 ) * Includes Free Domain Name & Free Setup

3 Month Accounts $7.95/mo ( $23.85 ) + One Time $15 Setup Fee & Domain Name Registration Fee

6 Month Accounts $7.95/mo ( $47.70 ) + One Time $15 Setup Fee & Domain Name Registration Fee


Rates for your 4th - 10th Purchased Web Hosting Accounts

1 Year Accounts $6.00/mo ( $72.00 ) Free Setup + Domain name registration Fee

2 Year Accounts $5.25/mo ( $126.00 ) Free Setup + Domain Name Registration Fee

3 Month Accounts $6.00/mo ( $18.00 ) + One Time $15 Setup Fee & Domain Name Registration Fee

6 Month Accounts $6.00/mo ( $36.00 ) + One Time $15 Setup Fee & Domain Name Registration Fee


Rates for your 11th + Purchased Web Hosting Accounts ( includes the renewals of the 1st - 10th accounts, after you have reached your 11th account )

1 Year Accounts $5.00/mo ( $60.00 ) Free Setup + Domain Name Registration Fee

2 Year Accounts $4.50/mo ( $108.00 ) Free Setup + Domain Name Registration fee

3 Month Accounts $5.00/mo ( $15.00 ) + One Time $15 Setup Fee & Domain Name Registration Fee

6 Month Accounts $5.00/mo ( $30.00 ) + One Time $15 Setup Fee & Domain Name Registration Fee


**Remember that our Reseller Program is free to join. Once you join our Reseller Program you will immediately receive access to your own reseller control panel which allows to manage all of your web hosting accounts and clients from one area. Best of all your customers will not know that iPowerWeb is hosting your web site, rather they will think that their web site is hosting by you or your company. In order to learn more about our reseller pricing levels please visit our website. Also remember that as a Reseller you will have special dedicated reseller customer service representatives in order to help you with all your hosting needs.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Domain Name Check

It is very important to get the domain name you want. Generally the way people get to your web site is by knowing your domain name, so if you have a domain name that you are interested in, make sure to register it. At iPowerWeb we understand the importance of domain name availability, this is why you could search domain name availability via this link - Domain Name Check. This is a very helpful tool because you want to know which domain names are available fast. Our domain name checker is very fast and you can always use this to find the domain names that are right for you.

Hosting Over 700,000 Websites

iPowerWeb may not be the largest web hosting provider in the world, but we are very close and when you consider our rate of growth we are on the way to be the largest web hosting provider in the world. We started hosting websites in October of 2001 and in less than 6 years we are now hosting over 700,000 websites. This is a wonderful accomplishment and we are very proud of what we have done as well as what we looking forward to doing. If you are trying to find a web hosting provider to host your site, iPowerWeb may be the right place for you. The Internet is filled with review sites of hosting providers and many of them rank iPowerWeb at position #1, although if the reviews are not enough for you - just look at how many sites we host. We have to be doing something right if 700,000 web sites from many different countries trust us when it comes to web hosting. Hundreds of people come to iPowerWeb every day and have us host their web site. Our marketing department is not large like many other hosting providers, we have great confidence in our products and services and understand that they sell themselves. Rather than spending huge amounts of money on ads that don't convert well, we invest our money in data center technology and strengthen our call center. Some hosting providers operate with only one concern and objective, bring more money at the end of the month. This may be a good thing for some, although they do not reinvest into their own company - rather the money just sits in their bank accounts. At iPowerWeb we take pride in the fact that we have one of the best data centers in the web hosting industry and we are always a step ahead when it comes to technology. Long story short, if you are not sure if iPowerWeb is the best hosting provider for you, just look at how many sites we are hosting at the moment....700,000 (and growing fast). Visit our web hosting products page for more information on our top-selling hosting plans.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Feedback

Customer satisfaction always comes first at iPowerWeb, we are always working to please our users. It does not matter if you are paying under $100 year for our BusinessPro Plan or over $129 per month for a Dedicated Server - everything we do is to please our users. It does not matter how much you pay us, how long you have been hosting with us for, or even how many sites you have with us; we treat all of our users the same way...Great. We love to hear from our users on how we are doing. In our Help Center we have a section dedicated to user feedback - and we love to see it being used. We hope that you will use the feedback section in order to provide us with tips on how we could better serve our users. It is true that we are always working to please our clients, but we are always looking to better ourselves as well. So if you ever have any concerns or recommendations please do not hesitate, we would love to hear from you. If for some reason you do not want to use our web site in order to provide us with feedback, you could always call us.

Call Us At Anytime

One thing that makes iPowerWeb a unique web hosting provider, even a unique company, is that we love to hear from our customers. If you ever have any questions, concerns, or comments please call us. We have people available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week sitting by the telephone waiting to hear from you. If you ever have anything on your mind regarding your website and hosting service make sure to give us a call. All you have to do is visit our web site and you will see that we love to have our users and potential users give us a call, our phone number is listed on the top of every page in large letters. Not only are you able to speak with an iPowerWeb representative over the phone, you can contact us via live chat and email as well. So if for some reason you do not have access to a phone, you have two other options when wanting to contact iPowerWeb. We are always available via both live chat and email, meaning that if you decide not to call us and still want to talk to us - you can. We have been recognized many times for the high quality of our customer support and one reason that we are so respected is due to the fact that we have extremely fast response times. But please not that having fast response times are just one part of the entire equation. Not only to we answer our users requests fast, but we answer them correctly and make sure that you are satisfied. Many hosting providers and companies can answer their customers requests fast, but what good does it do if they don't do it right? We strive to answer all of your requests fast and make sure that you are satisfied. So if you ever want to talk to us, please visit our Contact Us page for more information on the different ways to reach us - or just call us at 888-511-HOST(4678).

Friday, June 8, 2007

Google As a Web Host

On May 26, 2007 we generally spoke about Google and its opportunities as a web hosting provider. It is difficult to predict but from what it seems it would be quite difficult for Google to enter the shared web hosting business. If you are familiar with Google's services you probably know that you could register domain names via Google and even use design templates provided by Google, but this is nothing like be a web hosting company. From experience we could tell you that the web hosting business in not like many others and for one it takes lots of customer attention. If you are a web hosting provider and do not put the customer first, you will be in lots of trouble. In order to for Google to get into web hosting they would need to open a large call center and be prepared for a large amount of people coming in to host their web sites with them. Many people will naturally choose Google to host their web site because of Google's reputation and success (people may even be willing to pay more in order to host their site with Google). So from a sales and marketing aspect Google should not have too much trouble becoming one of the largest hosts overnight, plus they probably won't have to spend a penny on marketing. But it is the issue of marketing that could hurt Google as a web hosting provider. This may not make sense when first reading this, but we will explain.
A majority of Google's revenue comes from people advertising on their search engine and network in order to gain traffic to their own web site. For example if you do a Google search for "web hosting" you will find ads all over the page. If you are a new Google user you may not realize that some of the web site listings are actually advertisements, but they are. This means that each time a person clicks on an ad served by Google, the advertiser must pay for the click. This is known as pay-per-click advertising, a form of advertising that has made Google very rich. If you are having trouble finding the ads located on a Google search page, the ads are either in a highlighted box or surrounded with the words "Sponsored Links". So if you click on an ad in the Sponsored Links section you will be directed to a web site that is advertising on Google. Just a quick note, this is a very popular method of Internet advertising and if you have a web site you may want to consider advertising on Google. Every iPowerWeb web hosting account comes with a free $30 Google Advertising credit. This means that you can begin advertising on Google risk-free.
So getting back to the subject of Google as a web host, if Google was to provide web hosting services they would most likely promote their services via ads on their search pages meaning that if you were to search for "web hosting" on Google there will be a good chance that you will see Google promoting its own web hosting services. This will force Google's advertisers in the web hosting market to leave, this will be due to the reason that Google will control the entire web hosting genre and leave little room for its competitors to succeed. A great example of this is Yahoo!, who for a while was making a great amount of money from web hosting companies who would advertise their services on Yahoo's web site and search engine. Yahoo was making a great amount money from these hosting companies until they started providing hosting services themselves. Today, very few web hosting companies advertise on Yahoo's search engine due to poor conversion rates. This is mainly due to the fact that Yahoo controls their entire search landscape, so if you were to search for hosting services on the Yahoo! web site - you will definitely see ads for Yahoo's own web hosting services. As we know Yahoo is fa more than just a search engine and is out there to make money. If Google were to get into web hosting it would be out of their business model (in most cases) and they may end up with results like Yahoo! - many new hosting accounts but a significant loss in advertising dollars. This is a very tough subject, but it does not look like Google will start offering shared hosting services any time soon. It would make sense for them to stick to their core business (search engine services) and remain the world leader and continue to gain market share. Although no one will know the answer except for Google and you could be sure they will study the actions of many web hosting companies, including Yahoo! before they ever make the move into the business.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Some Tips For Searching on Google

Millions of people around the world use Google regularly in order to search web pages on the Internet. Google is the most popular search engine in the world and arguably provides the best quality of search results. Here we plan on providing you with some tips on how to search on Google more efficiently. Most people around the world just type the keyword or phrase when they are searching on Google although in some cases just typing in a phrase and wading through page after page of results may not be the most efficient way to use Google. There may be some obvious commands in order to make your search on Google more efficient, but there are some lesser known commands and tools that we would like to share with you.

Either/or. Google normally searches for pages that contain all the words you type in the search box, but if you want pages that have one term or another (or both), use the OR operator -- or use the "|" symbol (pipe symbol) to save you a keystroke. [dumb | little | man]

Quotes. If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. ["dumb little man"] will only find that exact phrase. [dumb "little man"] will find pages that contain the word dumb and the exact phrase "little man".

Not. If you don't want a term or phrase, use the "-" symbol. [-dumb little man] will return pages that contain "little" and "man" but that don't contain "dumb".

Similar terms. Use the "~" symbol to return similar terms. [~dumb little man -dumb] will get you pages that contain "funny little man" and "stupid little man" but not "dumb little man".

Wildcard. The "*" symbol is a wildcard. This is useful if you're trying to find the lyrics to a song, but can't remember the exact lyrics. [can't * me love lyrics] will return the Beatles song you're looking for. It's also useful for finding stuff only in certain domains, such as
educational information: ["dumb little man" research *.edu].

Advanced search. If you can't remember any of these operators, you can always use Google's advanced search.

Definitions. Use the "define:" operator to get a quick definition. [define:dumb] will give you a whole host of definitions from different sources, with links.

Calculator. One of the handiest uses of Google, type in a quick calculation in the search box and get an answer. It's faster than calling up your computer's calculator in most cases. Use the +, -, *, / symbols and parentheses to do a simple equation.

Numrange. This little-known feature searches for a range of numbers. For example, ["best books 2002..2007] will return lists of best books for each of the years from 2002 to 2007 (note the two periods between the two numbers).

Site-specific. Use the "site:" operator to search only within a certain website. [site:ipowerweb.com hosting] will search for the term "hosting" only within this blog.

Backlinks. The "link:" operator will find pages that link to a specific URL. You can use this not only for a main URL but even to a specific page. Not all links to an URL are listed, however.

Movies. Use the "movie:" operator to search for a movie title along with either a zip code or U.S. city and state to get a list of movie theaters in the area and show times.

Music. The "music:" operator returns content related to music only.

Unit converter. Use Google for a quick conversion, from yards to meters for example, or different currency: [12 meters in yards]

Types of numbers
: Google algorithms can recognize patterns in numbers you enter, so you can search for:

Telephone area codes

Vehicle ID number (US only)

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) equipment numbers (US only)

UPC codes

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airplane registration number (US only)

Patent numbers (US only)

Even stock quotes (using the stock symbol) or a weather forecast regarding the next five days


File types. If you just want to search for .PDF files, or Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets, for example, use the "filetype:" operator.

Location of term. By default, Google searches for your term throughout a web page. But if you just want it to search certain locations, you can use operators such as "inurl:", "intitle:", "intext:", and "inanchor:". Those search for a term only within the URL, the title,
the body text, and the anchor text (the text used to describe a link).

Cached pages. Looking for a version of a page the Google stores on its own servers? This can help with outdated or update pages. Use the "cached:" operator.

Hopefully these tools and commands will help you when you are searching on Google. This was not supposed to be related to iPowerWeb or web hosting rather we just want to provide you with some tips when you are looking for something on the Internet. Please make sure to use this guide in order to learn more about, or be reminded of, some of the best ways to get exactly what you're looking for, and quickly through Google.

Monday, June 4, 2007

News Sites

The Internet is filled with sites providing news on virtually all subjects. There are web sites dedicated to providing you Internet users with the latest business, political, and religious news. This post is not really concerned with providing users with information, rather we would like to know which sites on the Internet you use for the latest news. Personally I am a big fan of Digg but there are thousands of news sites out there - so let us know what you like. We love to hear what our readers and web hosting customers think of Internet news sites.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

A Great Clock

Some web site has developed a very useful and interesting clock called The Polar Clock. In no way is this post related to web hosting or iPowerWeb but it teaches a great lesson about the Internet. We are not sure how long this clock has been available to the public, but since its inception it has gained great coverage and this is largely due to the fact that this clock is very unique. So here is a tip, if you are creating a web site or already have a web site - think outside the box. The Polar Clock has helped this mentioned web site a great deal and if you are able to use your creativity and innovation skills - you could do the same. The Internet could make you successful very quickly so make sure you take advantage of all the opportunities.

Website Templates

Once you have decided on your domain name and have registered it along with purchasing your web hosting account, what is next? Following the setup of your hosting account, which typically takes a few hours following your purchase (that is if you are an iPowerWeb customer), web site owners begin to think about the design element of their web site. Similar to choosing the right web host, selecting the design for your web site is quite difficult. There is so much that goes into the design of a web site that it becomes a very difficult process to design a website and from experience web design is always an ongoing process. What we mean by this is that your web site will never truly be done, this is largely due to the fact that you will need to make changes and updates down the line. At iPowerWeb we understand the importance of web design that is why every BusinessPro package comes with a free web builder which gives you the ability to design your own professional web site very fast. Our template web design solution gives you the ability to choose from hundreds of different professional templates and you can change and update the design of your web site as much as you want. In some cases our templates may not replace the need for a professional designer but undoubtedly they will help with the design of your web site right when your hosting account has been setup. It is never good to have an empty web page so even if you do want to have a professional web design create your website, make sure you utilize our wonderful professional design templates while your site is being designed. Also don't forget that iPowerWeb offers affordable and professional web design services for all of its hosting customers, for more information please visit contact us at 888-511-HOST.

Domain Name Redemption Period

Hopefully you never have to worry about your domain name going into the redemption period and generally if you are an iPowerWeb customer this should not be an issue. If you registered your domain name with us when you first purchased your hosting account, we will automatically renew your domain name as long as you keep your web hosting plan, therefore you will never have to worry about the redemption period. Some of you may be asking what is the redemption period? Well, the redemption period is a status that a domain name can be set to. A domain name is set to the redemption period status following the registrar-hold status. Once the domain name is in the redemption period, it will cost a lot more to reinstate (renew) the domain name. This is not because iPowerWeb wants to charge you more, but it is a fee that we incur when we work to reinstate the domain name. Generally all companies which register domain names will charge you an additional fee in order to bring your domain name out of the redemption period and this is not because they are trying to take money out of the pockets of its users, rather it is a standard fee that all registrars incur when they want to take a domain name out of the redemption period. It is not fun to have your domain name in redemption period especially if you use or need the name. Your web site will not load properly if the domain name is in the redemption period so always make sure that your domain names are in good standing and if your domain name is part of a web hosting account with iPowerWeb, we will take care of the work for you - just make sure to always renew your account(s).

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Stores

I think we all know the future of web based stores, they are definitely going to continue to grow. Everyday people setup web sites with capabilities to sell products over the Internet. So with so many people coming to the Internet to setup businesses what will happen to your local market, shoe store, pharmacy? This is a quite complicated question but to put it simply there will most likely always be a demand for these physical stores and this is due to one simple reason. We want to see what we buy before we buy it and we want to whatever we buy now. Until a web based store is able to accomplish this, we will always have a need for physical and local stores. Therefore if you are a business owner with a store or work for one, you should not worry too much about the impact the Internet will have on your business. Although if you are reading this right now and have not made the Internet your friend and the friend of your business, we recommend you do this. What we mean by this is that if you have a physical store, make sure you start a web site at least explaining your business. If you own a restaurant, you should create a menu with your contact information and a menu. But do not take the Internet lightly, it is a very useful tool that can propel your business. All in all, we don't think that your local ice cream shop, restaurant or mall will go out of business due to the rise and popularity of Internet based stores but we think it would be wise for every business around the world to have a web site. iPowerWeb is renowned for its web hosting services for business and if you are not ready to setup a web site, at least register a domain name. This is largely due to the fact that anyone could register a domain name and if someone wanted to they could register the domain name that would be ideal for your own business. This is just a thought on a very interesting and large subject. Please remember that if you ever need help with your web site or have some questions, please contact our Support Department at 888-511-HOST.

Switching Hosts

Lately we have been providing answers to common questions which we receive by both iPowerWeb users and potential users. So as long as we keep addressing these common questions, why not continue? Another common question we receive is "Do you charge any additional fees if I want to transfer my web site from my current host to iPowerWeb?" To answer this question using just one word - NO. Why would we charge you to come host your web site with iPowerWeb. By the way, it should be understood that if any hosting company tries to charge you extra for transferring your site over, do not make them your hosting company. You should never have to face hidden fees or "odd" rules, at iPowerWeb we try to be clear and fair at all times. If you are tired of your hosting company and/or just want to switch over to iPowerWeb, you should not feel worried at all. We could transfer your domain name registration services over to us and even setup your hosting account in just a few hours. The transfer process is not complicated and hundreds of people transfer to iPowerWeb each day. To learn more about how to transfer your website to iPowerWeb, please call us at 888-511-HOST or email us at Sales@iPowerWeb.com - we look forward to hosting your web site(s).

Difference Between Design and Hosting

People call us all the time thinking that web hosting and web design are the same. Or if you want a web site all you need is a designer. We also get people asking us if we are an ISP, Internet Service Provider. Lets try to clear some things up here.
iPowerWeb is highly respected for its web hosting and domain name registration services. The job of a web hosting company is to house, serve and maintain files for the web sites if it customers. This is really what iPowerWeb does; we started off as a web hosting provider with just one plan, our BusinessPro and over time as we realized that as our customers were growing, their product demands grew as well. Therefore we launched a WindowsPro plan, which is the Windows version of our popular BusinessPro package. The we launched dedicated servers for our customers wanting their own web site and/or for the people that the BusinessPro plan was no longer enough. If you need to run a web site with ASP and/or .NET support, the WindowsPro plan is the right hosting package for your. We could explain the history of our products forever but lets talk about what this post is all about. iPowerWeb is a web hosting provider and web hosting is not the same thing as web design. We do offer web design services and if you wish to receive more information, please contact our Sales Department at 888-511-HOST(4678).
If you want to have a web site on the Internet, first you will need a domain name. Domain name registration is a service provided by iPowerWeb. Once your domain name has been registered and you are ready to have a web site, you will need a web hosting provider - such as iPowerWeb. Then once your web hosting account has been setup you could look to have it designed by a web site designer or a company that specializes in design - or you could even design your web site using our easy to use and professional web builder which is free and comes with every single shared web hosting account with iPowerWeb. So if your site is not hosted by us, switch over soon. But to make it clear, the core of our business is to provide web hosting services and there is a great difference between web hosting and web design. But at the same time do not forget that we do offer web design services.

Whole New World After 19 Years

Jan Grzebski, a Polish man who was in a coma since being hit by a train in 1988 has woken up to a whole new world. Grzebski will have to adapt to a country which is no longer controlled by communists and to a world that is living on computer technology. Grzebski was a railywayman who fell into a coma after being hit by a train, Grzebski said that he owed his survival to his wife Gertruda. "She's the one who always took care of me. She saved my life," he said. At the time of the accident Grzebski was a father of four, today he has 11 grandchildren. Grzebski's doctore did not expect his survival, let along his emergence from the coma and return to daily life. "I cried a lot, and I prayed a lot. Those who came to see us kept asking: 'When is he going to die?' But he's not dead," said Getruda. This is a truly amazing story that we wanted to share with you and there are many important lessons learned from this situation, although one that stands out in particular is that we should never give up. Both Jan and Gertruda kept fighting and never gave up, due to this Jan Grzebski is alive and well.

iPowerWeb in Business

A common question we receive is "How long has iPowerWeb been in business?"
This is a very important question to ask when you are selecting your new web hosting. You definitely do not want to host your web site with a company that just started, this is largely due to the fact that they don't have a reputation and may leave you hanging at any time. Once they get some money the new web host may disappear. Now this is not always true, every web hosting company has to start somewhere and if a new host does not get any customers due to this reason...they would go out of business. It is also possible for a host with a long history to just disappear one day as well. Therefore this belief does not apply to just small web hosting companies, rather it could be done by any - and there is really no way a consumer could fight this off or know about it before hand. iPowerWeb is one of the largest hosting providers in the world yet we operate and treat our customers as if we are one of the smallest. Customer satisfaction is taken very seriously at iPowerWeb and we strive to please all of our customers, every day. We are proud to be one of the largest hosting companies in the world and at the same time be one of the youngest. Naturally this means that we are one of the fastest growing hosts in the world. iPowerWeb has been in business since October of 2001 and has been providing the highest quality hosting products and services to satisfied customers around the world. To learn more about our history and what make iPowerWeb so unique and different from all other hosts, please visit our About Us page.

Friday, June 1, 2007

10 Signs That You May Be a Blog Addict

Are you a blog addict? Here are ten signs that may indicate that you have an addiction...

  1. Bloglines, Google Reader or some other RSS reader is constantly open on your computer's desktop.

  2. You tell customers that you missed a project deadline because "some things" came up but in reality, you were blogging.

  3. You periodically dream that you are blogging.

  4. You get inspiration for new blog posts at the strangest times - in the Jacuzzi, sitting on the toilet, during marital activities (cough, cough)... you get the picture.

  5. Before blogs, you used to tuck the kids into bed at night. Now you check for unapproved blog comments before heading to bed yourself.

  6. In order for your family to keep up with what's going on in your life, they have to read your blog. Furthermore, if they want to communicate with you, they have to comment on your blog.

  7. You have actually considered setting up a blog for your pet of which you would post the entries pretending you are your pet (weirdo).

  8. You can't remember dates for your wedding anniversary, kids birthdays, etc., but you know what your Technorati rank is.

  9. You blog about anything and everything including bad meals, your pets, getting your car stuck in snow, conversations you have in the bathroom, etc.

  10. Keeping a blog is no longer enough but you now have to record your every move on Twitter.
Originally posted on Search Rank 4/27/07