Archive for February 17th, 2010
Which Web Host Do I Pick?
February 17th, 2010 | 
Author: Which Web Host Do I Pick?
When choosing a web host it is important to determine what your needs are. There are hundreds out there all with similar feature sets and costs so its best to know what exactly you are looking for beforehand. That way youll be able to sift through the strengths and weaknesses of each host and successfully pick a web host which best suits your needs.
The first thing youll want to consider is cost. Can only a few dollars a month go towards hosting or is more money allotted in your budget? The price range is wide when it comes to hosting. Some hosts charge under five dollars a month while others can cost up to thousands. However be wary of going with the cheapest option. Youll want to consider the distance to the server location the amount of bandwidth the space provided and the feature set. With a little planning selecting a new web host for your website can be easy and affordable.
The second factor to consider is the support of the web host. Again there is a wide range in the quality of the support. You may want to try calling the support line yourself at various times of the day to see if it is lacking. How fast did they respond each time? It will also be worth your time to take a quick look on their website for the support hours. 24/7 call centers is becoming the norm but youre in for some long afterhours if that isnt the case. You may also want to consider the knowledge and helpfulness of the personnel. Checking all of these things firsthand will only take a few minutes and are priceless measures to take for your websites future.
Beyond the support it is paramount that you consider what feature set the host supports and if that will meet the needs of your website. Will you need to access a certain database? Will you be heavy on scripting? Although its becoming commonplace for hosts to support the features most websites need supporting every feature does not come with a price that all web hosting companies can meet. The good news is that unless youre managing a website for a big corporation most hosts will provide the feature set that will suit you.
Finally you may want to take a look at the control panel of the web host. What sort of tools are on offer? Some web hosts provide automated management tools for the less techsavvy webmaster. You may want to go with another host if the everyday tasks are not easily managed.
Picking a web host from hundreds can be daunting but now with these guidelines you can be sure to choose a host youll be happy with in the long run.
About the writer: Sonia Day is a writer for Best Web Hosts Online http://www.bestwebhostsonline.com news hosting review and resources for webmasters.
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Make Email Bring You More Booking For Your Vacation Rental
Make Email Bring You More Booking For Your Vacation Rental
Email is a very important part of today’s life. This article is written for vacation rental owners to help them utilize email at its best. I think it will be useful for anyone who does marketing online.
Part 1. Using Autoresponder.
What is the autoresponder or autoreply? It is a function of your email program which automatically emails a prewritten message to any incoming email.
Why do you need it? You know how all portal sites work inquiry is created right on your listing and submitted through portal’s email system to your email address. Up to this point your potential guest does not know about your vacation home other then what he reads on the listing.
Autoresponder will email your potential guest information you want them to see if they would come to your site. Let’s now think what we want to include in the autoresponder email. This is your chance to market your property and you don’t want to miss it!
Studies show that if your email visually has not more then 20 sentences it will be read. People usually want to see photos of your property they are interested in prices and only then they are looking for availability. So your email should be concentrated on these points. If you have a website then you want to place links to appropriate pages.
Small note. There is a big discussion on strategy for disclosing the price to your potential clients. Depending on how you feel about it are you firm on the price? Do you want to negotiate and are you ready to lower the price? How flexible are you? By answering these questions you will be able to create a proper block in your autoresponder for prices.
You also must assure your potential client that you will get back to him within a reasonable time. Don’t wait too long to respond or people will forget about your property. Everyone likes personal attention and
if you want your property to be booked you need to show it quickly.
To summarize here is your points for autoresponder to the inquiry from portal sites:
1. Thank you for your interest
2. Our property is the best choice for you and your family
3. See pictures of the property here: myvr.com/pictures
4. Rates are here but we are flexible: myvr.com/rates
5. You can check on availability we keep it current:
myvr.com/calendar
6.Thank you again and we will contact you shortly
The possibilities with autoreply are endless and this is an excellent tool to make a first step to a renter and show him you care.
Part 2. How to Reduce Spam Email.
Spam on the Internet is one of the widespread problems. If you have had your vacation rental for some time and especially if you have a functioning website there is a strong possibility you will find many spam emails in your inbox. And sometimes it is hard to separate rental inquries from other emails.
One of the solutions is to change your email account. But that’s not always possible especially if you have used an email address for a long time and many people already have your email in their address books.
Here are a few tips that I hope you find useful:
Check the email address on your domain registration. Never ever use your working address when you register a domain name for your vacation rental website. Your registration is available to the public and almost every large site offers a service like WHOIS where your email can be gathered. It is advisable to set your domain information to “private” if you have to use your working email address.
Forms on your site including those that allow your visitors to inquire about your vacation rental can be a big problem. There is a technique called “code injection” that sends your visitors spam email that can harm your credibility. Talk to your webmaster to secure any form you migh have on your site.
You will be surprised that many spam emails offer an option to “unsubscribe” or “optout”. It may sound like nonsense to you to use this option because you never subscribed to any spam emails in the first place but it is strongly recommended that you “unsubscribe.” As a matter of fact if you will diligently do this for some time you will see a decrease in the spam in your inbox.
An email address that is generic such as contactmysite.com or webmastermysite.com will most likely bring a lot of spam. Try to avoid it as much as possible.
Check with your hosting email provider to see if your working email is set to the “Catch all” option. “Catch all” ensures that every email that comes to mysite.com will go to your inbox. Once you remove “Catch all” from your account you will see spam reduction.
I hope all this information will help you to clean your mailbox and only receive booking inquiries for your vacation rentals. Happy booking!
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Yulia Klimov is the owner of Vacation Rentals Listed directory. We representVacation homes around the world book directly from owners and save athttp://vacationrentalslisted.com.
