Author Archive
By now, you’ve hopefully read Jeff Stolarcyk’s article on choosing and researching domain names. If you haven’t, please head over to “What’s in a name?” and read that article first.
Now that you’ve got your list of possible domain names, let’s look at the technical background behind domain names. Managing your domain names is critical to staying on top of your business.
Management and the
Domain Name System (DNS)
I’ll use a tool like SRSPlus.com to manage domains all in one place, as well as modify and update Domain Name System (DNS) records. DNS is like a nickname system for servers on the Internet. Each domain name is assigned a specific numerical set. Rather than having to remember these numbers, DNS translates words (like yourdomain.com) to the appropriate numbers automatically. If you’re using Yahoo! Small Business, you can register domains at http://domains.yahoo.com.
Once you’re done, you can use the built-in control panels to point your domain name to your website. When you register the domain you are registering the TLD (Top-Level-Domain), for example pretzelbloggers.com. You then gain control of sub domains, like store.pretzelbloggers.com or twisted.pretzelbloggers.com.
The WHOIS System
WHOIS is the protocol used to obtain data about domain names. WHOIS provides contact information, expiration date and DNS Name Server information (often used to explain where the domain’s site is hosted). This information is public data, so there are a variety of services out there to “Protect” your WHOIS data by filling it in with masked data. This prevents spammers from combing the WHOIS database for e-mail addresses.
Your Domain Name
is going to Expire!
If you’ve registered your domain name, you’ll eventually receive a letter in the mail from Domain Registry of America, Domain Registration Company, or some other misleading name. These letters are worded in such a way as to trick domain owners into thinking that they were the registrar of the domain and include various phrases and logos that appear to look official. Highly inflated prices are charged to ‘renew’ the domain. But read the fine print and you’ll see that you’re actually transferring control to this company. You’ll then end up paying higher amounts annually, and losing the majority of control from your site. You also may experience downtime during the transfer process.
So, Solid Cactus redesigned your website and now you’re raking in the cash… and the traffic. You’re also considering adding some new media to your website… like Flash, Videos, High-Res Images, PDF downloads. It’s time to look at hosting options. Where do you begin?
There are three main types of hosting that you’ll want to consider: Shared, Dedicated and Virtual-Dedicated.
Shared Hosting – your files are hosted on a server that also is used by other customers. You share the resources which that server provides. The cost of each server is shared with those who cohabitate on it, therefore making the cost-per-seat the lowest of the three types – but the speed of the server can be affected if another tenant is hogging resources or bandwidth. Shared or Grid hosting costs anywhere from $5 to $25 per month. For e-commerce users on the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions platform, shared hosting is included.
Dedicated Hosting – your files are hosted on a server that is all yours. You get all the resources, all the bandwidth and you can customize settings down to the operating system level. You often have full access to the server as an “administrator” and can often resell or partition some of your bandwidth for someone else. This is a practice known as reselling shared space on a dedicated server. With this solution, you get all the benefits, but also pay all the cost, starting around $125 per month.
Virtual-Dedicated Hosting – your files are placed on a shared server, giving you all the benefits (including cost savings) of a shared server, but the resources are provisioned just for you. You are guaranteed a certain amount of system resources and bandwidth. This works as an in-between option if you’ve outgrown shared hosting and are not ready for a dedicated solution.
So, now that you’ve determined which type of server you need… how do you narrow down the hundreds of providers?
Longevity – How long has the company been around? Web hosting companies come and go every day. Check the host’s “About Us” page and make sure they’ve been around at least 3 or 4 years. They also should have specifications for their datacenter. Do they use rack-mounted, high-quality, name-brand servers and are they multi-honed (having multiple Internet connections)?
Contract Terms – If you’re not happy after a month or two, can you get out of it, or are you locked in for a year or longer? SingleHop, the Chicago-based dedicated server provider that hosts eBizInsider.com goes a step further. The first month of hosting is offered at $1. If you’re not happy, you cancel. If you are, you’ll start getting bills after 30 days.
Service – What happens during the peak shopping times and your server is lagging or goes down? Who ya gonna call? “ServerBusters?” No such luck. Check out service companies before buying. Do they have phone numbers or are they just using ticketing systems? Do they outsource their support to another country? Do your own test. Call the number and find out how long you sit on hold before someone answers. If you start to get impatient, imagine how you would feel if something went awry and you couldn’t get in touch. SingleHop co-founder Dan Ushman refuses to outsource support. “Everything is done right here in Chicago. The technician you speak with when you call support is the person who will be working on your server, not a drone in another country at a call center. Your dedicated account manager gets a report of any issues and makes sure you’re happy.”
Customer Reviews – Finally, there are so many hosting providers to choose from, competition is fierce. Hosting review sites like www.WebHostingTalk.com can assist in your decision.
If you’ve spent the time, money and effort to make your site look great for your customers, make sure to finish the job. Make sure your hosting choice matches your site and traffic needs.
Got a tech question or topic suggestion? Ask at the Tech Corner Forum at
http://forum.ebizinsider.com.
When employees leave, it’s always difficult. Whether voluntary or involuntary, the separation of legally-tied entities is like a divorce – lots of paperwork, follow-up and liability involved. This month’s Tech Corner provides a checklist for the IT-related issues involved in separation.
If you’re planning on terminating an employee or if they’ve given notice:
Determine, based on the situation, if immediate separation is preferable to a notice-period.
Immediately clone his/her login account and back up their current data – make sure no data is being deleted.
Monitor their calls and e-mail –to prevent sending of confidential information off-site or conducting unapproved business on company time. If this happens, terminate immediately.
At the exit interview/termination meeting:
Inform employee that non-public access to company information (anything the company has not formally published) has been revoked and if they discover they have company information it should be immediately reported to HR.
Remind employee with a copy of their signed Intellectual Property and Confidentiality Agreements.
Collect all company-owned possessions including:
- Cell Phone
- Corporate Credit Cards
- Laptop or other computer equipment (PDA, etc.)
- A list of passwords
- Non-IT collateral (parking pass, books, keys)
Immediately after the termination meeting:
Deactivate employee ID card.
Cancel employee credit cards, expense accounts and checking account access.
Have employee’s past voice-mail and e-mail archived. Determine dates for call and e-mail forwarding to a manager and eventually account deletion.
Create voice-mail and e-mail auto-responders informing people that the person is no longer with the company and if they require information, direct them to another contact.
Disable remote and VPN access.
If your company has Wi-Fi, change the access keys
Change any passwords the employee formerly accessed. In the case of executives, IT Staff, and senior management, change passwords company-wide.
Cancel cell phone, pager, and other subscription services.
Backup entire computer using archive software and password protect.
Remove employee from phone directory and internal e-mail lists.
Two-weeks following termination (some of these apply only if termination was involuntary):
Review access logs. Has employee attempted to access your network?
Check IM and E-mail logs. Has employee attempted to contact other employees? Have they discussed confidential information or solicited employees?
Losing an employee is never easy. When it happens, try to put sentiment aside. Take the steps necessary to protect your company.
The theme across the board in e-business these days is figuring out ways to streamline operations, cut costs, make better investments and make sure you’re getting what you’re paying for. We’re all taking a closer look, not only at increasing the business coming in and squeezing the most out of the new technology, but also decreasing the expenses we need to operate.
It can start with simple things, like taking a second look at the familiar. For example, a few weeks ago I was having problems with my cable box, so I spent an hour on the phone with the company explaining that it had just stopped working. In the process I went over my bill with the representative and discovered that I had been overcharged about $168 over the past year for services I didn’t have. So, this month, let’s look at some money-saving technology tricks! Now, a couple bucks here and there doesn’t make a difference in the big picture, right? WRONG! Remember “A penny saved is a penny earned.” We’re not dealing in pennies anymore, are we?
1. Telephone Service: A few months back I wrote that Voice-over-IP (VoIP) was the “in” thing for savings and it’s still true. A Vonage line for $25 a month gives you unlimited calls anywhere in the country. It’s loaded up with all the features you’d ever want and sure beats out the traditional plain old telephone service, provided by the phone company and accompanied by its many surcharges and taxes.
2. Cell Phones: If your company issues cell phones for its employees, you might want to look at the option of moving to providing employees with reimbursements and having them use their personal phones instead of the costly company option. In addition, consider moving to a share-plan for multiple phones on your account. You’ll also want to make sure you have a company cell phone usage policy and that all lines that you’re paying for are trimmed of all the bells and whistles. For instance, if your employees want to text, let them pay the extra $20 to have it.
3. Internet Service: Make sure you’re getting what you’re paying for. If you’re on a cable or DSL line, make sure you’re doing speed tests, shopping around and that you’re being very conscious of when your service contract expires. If you’re a home-based business, you probably will get a better rate if you purchase the service under your home, and don’t mention the business side of things. You can then reimburse yourself from the business account.
4. Remote Employees: Back in January I wrote about the virtual office. Now lots of businesses are facing the same issue. With the price of gas up $4.00 a gallon plus, now might be a good time to give your employees’ wallets a break and implement a good work-from-home policy. Remember, you will have to deal with some loss of control over your workforce. Put controls in place to ensure productivity is maintained and that you aren’t actually spending more time and money accommodating the needs of the employee in the long run.
5. Use new and emerging technologies: Now, more than ever, online shoppers are looking for the best deal. They’re actually slowing down and checking prices on multiple sites and searching for the best price. How can you compete?
· Get your products in the
comparison shopping engines (CSEs) using FeedPerfect.com.
· Streamline your workflow and operations with Cactus on Demand Order Management CactusOnDemand.com.
· Know where your shipping costs are going with Solid Cactus Shipping Manager http://www.solidcactus.com/sc-shipping-manager.html .
We’re all in business to succeed, to do better today than we did yesterday. Remember, while we work to increase the income, decreasing the outgo accomplishes the same end.
If you’ve ever had a computer crash, you know it can be a devastating experience, both for you personally and for your business. Keeping your data backed up is vital. This month we’ll examine a few of the most popular methods of data backup.
Tape Backup
Since the early days of computing, magnetic tape has been used as a medium for data storage. Tape drives have come a long way since the early days when cassettes were used in a tape recorder. Entry-level tape backup drives cost around $1,000 and are often installed as internal devices.
The Good? Tape backups can hold 60 to 600 to 1,600 Gb depending on the drive and the media used. You should use a tape backup if you plan on running large-scale backups (servers or multiple computers) on a regular basis. Purchase several sets of data storage and store a copy off-site, too.
The Bad? Tape backups aren’t the latest greatest technology, and require you to set aside a specific time each day/week to maintain them. There’s also the cost of additional tapes (which need to be replaced on a regular basis).
Online Backups
Most online backup services require you to install a tiny application on your computer that works in the background, looking for new and changed files. When a file is found, it is backed up on a remote server. These services are becoming more and more popular. Mozy.com and Carbonite.com are both popular online backup services. Mozy charges a monthly access fee plus a per-gigabyte surcharge. Carbonite charges an unlimited annual fee.
The Good? The benefit to these services is that data is stored online, therefore eliminating the need for additional equipment on your end. Mostly, these services run in the background and are activated and do their thing on a schedule, so you just need to make sure your computer is on with an Internet connection and your backup will run.
The Bad? If you have massive amounts of data that need backing up, you’re going to spend bandwidth and time uploading. Also, if something does happen and your computer crashes, online backups aren’t as convenient to restore as tape backups, simply because you’ll need to re-download and sync your data from the Internet…which can take hours.
Backup Software
Backup software such as Novosoft’s Handy Backup (handybackup.com) is a software application that runs on your PC to backup specific files and directories to a variety of sources, including network storage, external hard drives, tape backups, CDs/DVDs, and remote FTP servers.
The Good? This is especially helpful if you have only a handful of documents and files to backup. You can use this software in conjunction with a tape or online backup. For example, if you have three computers and a server, use backup software to make sure your individual PCs are backed up to the server, then use the tape or online backup to archive the server.
The Bad? I’ve often found this type of software to be bad when it comes to scheduled backups and any sort of FTP/offsite backups. Because it’s a full, bulky software application and not directly integrated into your operating system, it isn’t as reliable.
Summing up
When choosing a backup service, ensure the provider has a good reputation. You don’t want to back up your data with a provider who isn’t around tomorrow. Think long-term. How frequently do you need a backup? Is the backup a total system backup or just what’s changed since the last one (incremental)?
The bottom line is that if you’re a one-person shop with one computer, online backup is often the way to go. On the other hand, if you’ve got multiple computers, you’re looking at some combination of the above three methods.
Wrapping your head around the data backup process is truly an annoyance, but not nearly as annoying or as devastating as losing all your work and having to try and rebuild.
