BEST WEBSITE HOSTS 2010

How to write a compelling e-mail that will be read for Your Online Business

Today, B2B and online marketers can respond to what is now termed the e-mail marketing challenge by being concise and compelling in their e-mail marketing program. If done correctly, a well-designed email advertising initiative can deliver great results, a powerful message to potentially new clients, improved sales and even boost morale in your sales team.

In this article you will learn a few ways on how this can be achieved, and the right method to use in order to get the maximum results from your marketing efforts.

First, take longer sections of sales copy and hyperlink to them on separate pages. Begin enough of a paragraph to hook your targeted reader and then link to the rest of the story. Some readers will probably be curious and click to read more of your copy. Separating the page visually into sections makes it easier to read as well. Simply try to place yourself in the place of your reader.

Next, design your e-mail message so that the copy is on a single screen, on what is called above the fold. What is meant here is that about 95 percent of people read the first half of a page beginning from the top and lowering their eyes a bit until they can see the center of the page, but without scrolling down! This is called “above the fold”.

Next, have a strong call to action in the e-mail subject line that also shows up in the preview pane. In the content body, also include a hyperlink to the call to action. This last step can be compared to what are called “spur of the moment buying decisions” or what some call “impulse buying”. About 15 to 20 percent of typical people can easily fall into that range.

Finally, include three to five hyperlinks within the body of your e-mail. This will keep the message concise and provides multiple tracking mechanisms to help you determine just how engaged your audience really is.

The key here is a variety to effective hyperlinks. No one wants to see the same message repeatedly, and the same is true for your hyperlinks.

Try linking to different documents, Web sites, social media or other sources. Always work to make the links relevant to the message and make sure they are content-driven to enable qualified leads coming into your site.

The most thoroughly read e-mails are those that are most compelling to your audience. In a perfect world, if your targeted readers read all the e-mail right down to the end, then you can consider yourself a good B2B marketer.

eCommerce sales to return to double-digit growth

eMarketer predicts that eCommerce sales should return to the double-digit growth rates seen prior to last year. The latest time period where online sales were thriving is 2007.

Growth in online sales will come from eCommerce buyers who shift a greater share of their discretionary spending from physical stores to the Internet.

Especially among affluent online shoppers, pent-up consumer demand should also provide an additional sales impetus among eTailers.

In less than three years from now, it is expected that online sales growth will begin to dwindle, resuming another trend seen prior to last year. This will be due to the inevitable maturation of the online sales channel, as growth in new eCommerce buyers approaches a certain level of saturation.

From 2008 to 2013, retail eCommerce sales are expected to grow at a about a 8.8 percent compound annual growth rate.

After year-over-year growth rates of 13.3 percent in Q1 and 8.7 percent in Q2, sales grew only 4.6 percent in Q3 before plummeting almost 5 percent in the important and very busy Q4 holiday season.

When forecasting online sales, eMarketer always benchmarks against the U.S. Department of Commerce.

It estimates that eCommerce sales rose slighly less than 4.7 percent last year, reaching about $133.6 billion in annual sales.

Rules of Engagement – Do’s and Don’ts of Managed Hosting

After you become a seasoned managed hosting customer, you come to know certain key factors and elements that play a big part in whether you stay or go. Choosing a hosting company and staying with them usually means the hosting company is going above and beyond what they are supposed to do, often times with a level of service that is almost impeccable.

Some of the mistakes you don’t want to make in managed hosting can actually improve your profit margin. For example, if you sign up for a hosting account with fewer features than you need, you’ll end up being dissatisfied for the duration of the contract,. If you don’t sign a contract, you could still be wasting money on a less than full featured account. Get what you want out of a hosting account to start with, plan ahead! You can save yourself the trouble of having to back pedal your life into a different hosting account.

Many hosting sites offer discounts, depending on what you purchase. Some offer a percentage off your hosting fees if you sign up on a contract. If your business stays pretty normal, without a lot of fluctuations in the number of customers and hits, signing a contract will be safe. Simply choose the features and options you want and bring on the savings!

If you haven’t already figured it out, business websites always have a “ranking”, so to speak. Whether it be the number of hits they get or customers they pull in, they are charted somewhere. Web hosts use these charts to determine the type of account, bandwidth and amount of data transfer you’ll need. You can usually trust customer service associates from companies which require this kind of data.

You don’t want to spend more than you should, so you should have an idea of what your business needs before you spend. The more popular a managed hosting service is, the better quality you’ll get for your dollar

As far as features go, you’re always going to want a server with the best uptime guarantee. Not only does this ensure your quality of service for your dollar but it also keeps things competitive and moving as they should. You can only offer the best service guarantees if you truly outperform the competition

There are different types of managed hosting you can choose from. Most are all alike, except for a new type of hosting called cloud hosting. Cloud hosting offers the same level of service but through a more reliable configuration structure. You’re safer on a cloud network than a regular one any day.

Managed hosting should be acquired using skill and knowledge. Know how much you are willing to spend on a specific plan and try and stick to that. If you overspend for options you don’t need, it will cut into your profits. You want to run as clean of a ship as possible, with nothing you don’t need. Part of the luxury of owning your own business revolves around you being able to make the right choices.

Automatic scheduling of service renewals is a definite do in managed hosting. It automatically pays your bill from either a credit card or your PayPal account.

If you’re looking to make all the right moves when it comes to your managed hosting efforts, talk to a friend or business associate who has already gone through it. You can learn a lot from someone’s past experiences and even get some help with your own efforts.

Managed hosting is great for keeping your business with a low overhead cost, providing you know how to configure your options. Each option you select, especially in the custom managed hosting market, will cost you an additional amount. Only pay for what you need initially, and then upgrade your account with new features and options. Managed hosting will also allow you to keep your mind on other things, while a portion of your income is set to be made online. This means more time to prepare your business for whatever might happen.

Don’t sign up with the first hosting company that catches your eye. Let them “compete” against each other! Price, performance and reliability are three very important areas you need to be focusing on. If a hosting company lacks these key business ingredients, then move on. More often than not, you will be left with sub-par quality service and less than desirable feature performance. However, if you can match yourself up with a hosting company with everything you need for a great price, what more could you ask for more?

Intel Acquires McAfee for $7.7 Billion

According to reports appearing Thursday, security software firm McAfee (www.mcafee.com) agreed to be acquired by chip-making giant Intel (www.intel.com) for $7.7 billion.

McAfee is well known for its widely used anti-virus, Internet Security and Firewall products, but also produces several enterprise security software products. The company employs more than 6,000 people worldwide.

Both boards unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close after approval from shareholders, and a few other conditions. According to Intel, McAfee will become a wholly-owned subsidiary, under Renee James, Intel’s senior vice president and general manager of its software and services group.

While there isn’t anything in the announcement to explicitly impact the hosting business, statements from both companies show their excitement about the evolving nature of security solutions, and the role of hardware in security services.

In the press release announcing the deal, Intel says it has internally elevated security as a priority to be on par with energy efficient performance and Internet connectivity.

“Hardware-enhanced security will lead to breakthroughs in effectively countering the increasingly sophisticated threats of today and tomorrow,” said James, quoted in the press release. “This acquisition is consistent with our software and services strategy to deliver an outstanding computing experience in fast-growing business areas, especially around the move to wireless mobility.”

Included with the announcement, Intel posted a YouTube clip that includes commentary from Renee James and McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt.

In a blog post made Thursday, DeWalt calls the deal “incredibly exciting,” and refers, like Intel, to the proliferation of mobile devices and their use as a means of interacting with the Internet as a force for change in the world of cyber security.

He suggests that a major change in the nature of security is coming, and that the partnership is a big step toward that future goal.

“The current cyber security model isn’t extensible across the proliferating spectrum of devices – providing protection to a heterogeneous world of connected devices requires a fundamentally new approach to security,” writes DeWalt. “The industry needed a paradigm shift, incremental improvements can’t bridge the opportunity gap.”

Google Not Powering Data Centers with Wind Energy Anytime Soon

Despite the 114MW of wind power capacity that it purchased from an Iowa wind farm for the next 20 years, Google will not be using this renewable energy to power its data centers anytime soon, according to a report by Forrester Research analyst Doug Washburn.

In April, Google revealed it formed its new subsidiary, Google Earth, to purchase and sell power on the wholesale market.

At the time, many industry insiders speculated that Google would use this newfound access to  power its data centers with renewable energy.

However, Google senior vice president of operations Urs Hoelzle told Washburn that Google “cannot use this energy directly,” so it will be “reselling it back to the grid in the regional spot market.”

As Washburn explains, the lack of data centers currently using clean energy can be attributed to issues of uncertainty among data center managers and IT vendors, including uptime and resiliency, return on investment, and priorities such as SLAs.

Fortunately, it looks like things are eventually going to pick up. A recent report published by Pike Research shows that enterprises are starting to invest more in energy efficiency upgrades for their data centers.

The report projects that these investments in upgrading data centers will skyrocket from $7.5 billion this year to $41.4 billion in 2015.

Spam Volume Grows 10 Percent from May to July

After stagnating for the first part of the the year, the volume of spam rose by 10 percent from May to July, according to the latest email security report from German email security specialist eleven (www.eleven.de).

According to the report released Thursday, the increase can be traced mainly to casino spam, which more than doubled its share of total spam in July, rising from 7.2 percent to 16.2 percent. As recently as May, casino spam had accounted for only three percent of the total volume.

In June, eleven first encountered JavaScript spam, which uses code obfuscating to make the destination of links difficult to understand, redirecting the user to the spammer’s target page. This trick can also fool spam filters that check email contents for links to known spam pages.

The volume of malware sent via email also continued to rise. Only accounting for 0.1 percent of the total email volume in May, it rose to 0.4 percent in July. Most of this increase can be traced to the Sasfis Trojan, which spread mostly via email masquerading as messages from package delivery and courier services. Sasfis variants, after all, accounted for 71.8 percent of the total malware volume in July.

Phishing attacks have increasingly been directed at online payment services, with PayPal being the prime target. In June 2010, 96.1 percent of phishing emails identified by eleven were PayPal-related.

With a share of 96.4 percent of the total email volume, however, spam remains at record levels. The top spam originators in July 2010 were the US, followed by Brazil and India. Germany dropped to seventh place.

Last month, eleven reported that a German email recipient falls victim to a phishing attack approximately every 20 seconds. The report was based on data collected via eleven’s eXpurgate managed security service, which also found that the favorite tactic of phishers is to spoof online payment services, followed by social networks.

Google, Verizon Near Agreement on Prioritizing Content

A report from the New York Times has suggested that a possible deal between online services provider Google (www.google.com) and broadband provider Verizon (www.verizon.com) could result in a system where content creators can pay extra for faster content delivery. Other reports, however, suggest that the negotiations are surrounding a pact to ensure ”network neutrality” for Verizon’s broadband services.

Net neutrality is basically the concept that Internet users, not Internet Service Providers or governments, should be in control over what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. To do otherwise, Google has argued, essentially gives those with power over Internet access the ability to discriminate against competing applications or content.

“We are united in our dismay about an agreement reportedly reached by Verizon and Google,” reads a statement signed by the Free Press, the Media Access Project, the Media and Democracy Coalition, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, and The Center for Media Justice. “It is unseemly and inappropriate for two giant companies to decide the future of the Internet and how Internet will work for millions of users.”

The fight between those who want unrestricted online communications and those who would rather regulation be left to the invisible hand of the free market is one that impacts billion-dollar companies, millions of users and even democracy.

The New York Times reports that content providers like Google subsidiary YouTube could pay Verizon, one of largest ISPs in the US, to ensure its content is given priority. The report also notes that this added expense could be passed onto consumers in the form of inflated Internet use charges.

UPDATE: Google has denied that it has discussed such an arrangement with Verizon. Its Twitter post on the subject reads: “@NYTimes is wrong. We’ve not had any convos with VZN about paying for carriage of our traffic. We remain committed to an open internet.”

The sort of agreement suggested by the New York Times, however, is uncharacteristic of Google, which has been a longtime advocate of a neutral Internet. ”Just as telephone companies are not permitted to tell consumers who they can call or what they can say, broadband carriers should not be allowed to use their market power to control activity online,” read one of Google’s statements on net neutrality.

Bloomberg has reported that two anonymous sources briefed by Google and Verizon said the secret meeting involved a compromise in which Verizon may be permitted to selectively slow Internet content delivered to mobile phones, but not to broadband.

In the Summer of 2006, Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt issued an open letter on net neutrality, urging individuals to take action to protect Internet freedom. “Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight,” he stated.

Known as an opponent of Internet regulation, Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg has argued that net neutrality legislation could ruin the Internet’s potential to fuel the economy, and drive societal change. Seidenberg and his supports have also argued that prioritizing online traffic helps broadband speeds remain fast.

Amazon Web Services Could Have Big Impact on Traditional Website Hosting

Following a number of high-profile hosting deals, Amazon Web Services (aws.amazon.com) could be well on its way to successfully tapping into the traditional Web hosting market, according to a top technology blog.

After talking with AWS product management and developer relations vice president Adam Selipsky, influential blogger Om Malik wrote that Amazon may be “suddenly (and perhaps unintentionally) find[ing] itself competing with thousands of Web hosts.”

Founder of the GigaOM Network, where he is currently a senior writer, Malik notes that AWS could very well threaten major web hosts such as RackSpace (www.rackspace.com) and The Planet (www.theplanet.com), which is in the process of merging with Web host SoftLayer (www.softlayer.com).

Selipsky told Malik that AWS in being used by Newsweek and PBS’s network to host their websites. And e-consulting firms such as Digitaria and Razorfish are adding a thousands of sites a year to Amazon.

AWS clearly competes with companies offering dedicated servers, virtual private servers, and other cloud computing platforms, and as such it requires special expertise for organizations to effectively use these services. In its current state, AWS alone is too complex for most small businesses, which simply want to create a site.

The adoption of AWS, Malik notes, is dependent on its relationships with the e-consulting firms that attract corporate clients and create solutions tailored to them. Again, while this may make AWS appealing to larger companies, it limits Amazon’s impact on the hosting services market for smaller businesses, especially those that cannot afford consulting or prefer to take a DIY approach to their Web services.

In a previous post, Malik examined some of the projected revenues of AWS. UBS Investment Research anticipates revenue to be about $500 million by the end of 2010, and to grow to $750 million by 2011, then to approximately $2.54 billion by 2014. This growth appears to be driven by growth in the global cloud market, and in the total servers and storage market.

Benefits of Search Engine Optimization Services and its increased demand

People need a search engine optimization company which offers a refreshingly honest approach to online success through Search Engine Optimization services that produce quantifiable, measurable and dependable results for clients. To optimize a website with the objective of increasing website traffic that will, in turn, increase online enquiries and converting them into sales. SEO expertise will enable companies strategically improve search engine placement. It’s very necessary to opt for a company which use comprehensive, innovative and ethical SEO Techniques so that can stay ahead of competition.

SEO services comprise of Search Engine submission, Monitoring Results, Regular Rank Reporting and Maintenance of Rankings. The improvement of the rankings depends on a number of factors like the competitiveness of industry and selected keywords; whether website is new or considered an authority; how much content is already on the website and whether any search engine optimization has been previously done on the site. Initial improvements in rankings may be noticed roughly within a month of the search engine optimization work being implemented however; reaching first page rankings may take a couple of months based on the above mentioned factors.

SEO Services draw on the experience and expertise of the SEO experts on team and are tailored to suit all businesses from sole traders to large corporations. As competition increases, one needs to ensure that website is satisfying the more than 200 SEO factors that influence how a search engine indexes and rates your pages. As the Internet has evolved to become a major sales channel for businesses, so has SEO evolved into a service offering that leverages years of expertise and experience in the online industry. The value of top search engine rankings has increased over the past 3 years, so people require a company which specializes in SEO to effectively to compete in the new online marketplace. Hiring an SEO company allows people to tap into this expertise without making the investment themselves. This is an ideal way to rejuvenate ones business presence.

SEO services help companies in creating a suitable platform for gaining a brand name and goodwill in the market so as to people get familiar with the company name and create awareness about their product or services. Whenever someone makes a search and finds the same company it creates a trust in the search makers mind about the reliability of the company. After the recent recession in the United States of America the demand of Search Engine Optimization services have increased drastically and even the big “fortune 500 companies” have started to realize the value of SEO and have started to opt for Search Engine Marketing to cut their advertising costs and reduce their budgets in the process. Not only those big fortune 500 companies but many other companies had to reduce their budgets so as to survive the recession and continue to achieve their target sales. The biggest benefit of SEO services is that only the people who are interested make search for those particular products or services in order to fulfill their demand.

A Phishing Attack Happens Every 20 Seconds

Approximately every 20 seconds, a German email recipient falls victim to a phishing attack, based on data collected last month by German email security provider eleven (www.eleven.de).

According to eleven, its eXpurgate managed security service found that the favorite targets of phishers include online payment services, followed by social network user accounts. Users of widely-used payment service PayPal were particularly subjected to massive phishing attacks.

More than 96 percent of phishing emails identified by eleven were aimed at PayPal, misleading recipients into revealing their sensitive data. Subject lines would read, for instance, “Important: *** For the security of your account we require a profile update ***” or “NOTICE: *** For the security of your account we require a profile update ***” An HTML form would be attached to the message in which recipients were asked to enter their personal information, including their PayPal account and credit card information including passwords.

This is the latest report from eleven, which has been closely chronicling recent trends in malware as it has proliferated considerably since the beginning of the year. Presented in June, eleven’s “E-Mail Security Report” reported that spam volumes remain at record levels, accounting for 96.2 percent of all email traffic. Not only is there more spam than ever before, but eleven found that Trojans comprised nearly three-quarters of all malware sent by email.

According to eleven, eXpurgate provides integrated email security, identifying phishing email just as reliably as spam — its recognition rate is more than 99 percent. Further, eXpurgate enables companies to deflect phishing email before it reaches their own email infrastructures, eliminating the threat before it can cause any problems. Private users can also protect themselves from phishing attacks using eleven’s free spam service spamfence (www.spamfence.net). eXpurgate also offers numerous virus protection options and a powerful email firewall.