Apex Opportunities

Servers, Domains And You

Administrator — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:42:59 +0000

In order to have your site be seen by anyone, you’ll need to do what we call ‘hosting’ it. The Internet is actually a collection of computers of a type we call servers. They are, of course, connected via a nework that we call the World Wide Web. Connecting to this ‘Internet’ or WWW isn’t a simple as plugging a connector into a wall. It’s all to do with another aspect that we call ‘bandwidth’. Not all connections are equal there are some that can handle vast amounts of data and some that can handle only a relatively small amount. When your PC connects to the Internet, it is on one of the relatively small, slow ‘pipes’. The computers, or servers at your supplier’s end are quite often much more poweful than your PC in some respects, but also connect to much fatter ‘pipes’. These in turn connect to other banks of servers.

One of the other types is that of a hosting company. These firms allow you to store your web pages on their servers and also provide a link from the domain name that you might buy (.com, .net. org, .co.uk, .info etc, etc). Every PC, or server has it’s own, unique IP address, wich looks like 123.231.223.107. The domain name company allows you to link your name to the IP address of the servers at the hosting company. There are special servers called DNS (Domain Name Servers) that translate, for example “MyDomain.com” into the IP address “123.231.223.107″. That’s how it all works!

Hostgator

Administrator — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:35:48 +0000

There are tons of Hosting Companies but we recommend Hostgator. They are well known, reliable and use a back end for the end user (you) called Cpanel. Employing Cpanel has the advantage that most scripts that you will purchase come with instruction based on this popular interface. If you upgrade to what is known as ‘Reseller Hosting’ you also have access to another interface called Web Host Manager (WHM) which is produced by the same people as Cpanel.

I’ve tried many hosting companies, but for the money you pay, I’d say Hostagtor gives the best value and is the easiest to use with many things. Easiest? Well all hosting would be the same, you’d think, but you’ll find that some scripts won’t run properly on the others, whereas Hostagtor runs most scripts without hassles. That’s a big plus.

Rather than go on an on about the pros and cons of Hostgator, I invite you to click on the banner below to go there and see for yourself.

Download Guard

Administrator — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:25:46 +0000

If you are new to marketing online, then the chances are that you will have learned how to maybe create a PayPal order button and add it to your page. If you are very new to the subject, then even that might leave you wondering what is being discussed here.

The simple button will certainly work – it will take your customers through the PayPal gateway, but the page you send them to afterwards and how secure it is, the emails they receive that compliment the PayPal one – in fact the whole ‘customer experience’ should be as smooth for them and as safe for the both of you as possible. You will have to make sure that all these events are seamless, with no errors and if you change something, or add a another product, you’ll need to do it all again, every time.

Download Guard is an application that installs on the server at your web host. It is very easy to do and takes care of all the problems just mentioned. By using Download Guard, your customers will feel much more secure and so will you, as it protects you from people sharing the download page link. And if you wonder why that could be a problem, consider that certain unscrupulous people will advertise your product, take the money and let you deliver it for them without paying. Nice huh?

If you are going to take money from people in exchange for goods and services, then this is an essential tool in your arsenal.

Check Out Dowload Guard Now!

X-SitePro v2.5

Administrator — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:09:16 +0000

The days of bashing out HTML using Windows Notepad (or the Mac equivalent) are actually long gone. Although it is still very important to understand how HTML works its magic, very few people will build a site, or even a page from scratch like that anymore.

There have been WYSIWYG tools like FrontPage and Dreamweaver for many years and they are a quantum leap over the trusty, but fusty old text editor. WordPress is another recent player and it is really good at what it does – that is what is running this site, but when it comes to finding an exact, customised solution, one can spend a lot of time finding ways around things.

Don’t get me wrong, if you want to put up a generic website that is even vaguely blog-like and can accept comments, then don’t bother with X-Site Pro. I can put up a WordPress blog in well under ten minutes and that includes creating the hosting account. No, for the average person, WordPress has really taken over and more power to it. But what if you want more? Yes, there are WordPress ‘plugins’ that do all manner of things and do them well, but you’ll find yourself managing an ever-increasing array of things that need updating and that sometimes don’t stay compatible when other components are upgraded. WordPress is fine for use like this, as long as you know what you are doing. WordPress CAN handle marketing, used correctly, but you are always ‘re-purposing’ a blog tool.

X-Site Pro is on another level again – especially if your focus for building web pages is Marketing. And very recently, the upgrade (free to existing owners) from v2.1 to v2.5 has added some stunning functionality.

If you are serious about a marketing based website, then take the time to watch the video below.

Oh, and another thing, as WordPress is installed online and you add parts to it, in the form of themes and plugins – you’ll need to specifically back it up a lot. X-Site Pro generates the website on your PC and you upload the site to the server. You don’t need to worry, because you can simply wipe the server space clean and start over in minutes.

Explore X-Site Pro!