ping! zine web hosting magazine - issue 41
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The Art of Reseller Hosting One of the most popular business trends in the lucrative web hosting market is called reseller hosting. It is a cost effective way to generate income from a multi-billion dollar industry by employing solid business practices. There are no huge costs associated with this endeavor, and one can even bypass the technical issues that are part of web hosting. So what exactly is reseller hosting?TRANSCRIPT
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How do i Install Joomla Add-ons?
Bad Redesigns: Don’t Let This Happen to You
Basic Checklist for Blog Hosting
The CEO is responsible for everything.
Case Study: Interview With LinMin
cPanel Bootcamp 2010 Lightning Rounds
Boost Accountability at Your Organization
3 Free Blog Hosting Solutions
Ping! Zine Service Directory
Interview: The Elderly Cinnamon Guy
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Google to Digitize Dead Sea Scrolls
Less Than 5% of IPv4 Address Space Remaining
Two Billion People Expected Online by End 2010
ICANN Changes Web Address Rules
GoDaddy announces the GoDaddy.com Bowl
Asian SMB’s Expected to Adopt Cloud Services
Cybernautic Acquires CSM Hosting
Hosting Metro Acquires Bizwala Hosting
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the Art of reseller hostingOne of the most popular business trends in the lucrative web hosting market is called reseller hosting. It is a cost effective way to generate income from a multi-billion dollar industry by employing solid business practices. There are no huge costs associated with this endeavor, and one can even bypass the technical issues that are part of web hosting. So what exactly is reseller hosting?
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PING! ZINE
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Your business needs e�cient, reliable server solutions to support a wide range of applications—multimedia, database, or high-volume transactions—on multiple platforms. Need maximum uptime? Live U.S.-based 24/7/365 customer care has you covered. Our Solution Advisors can help you put together a dedicated or managed hosting solution allowing you to focus on what’s important, your business.
Interested in our reseller program?Contact sales today!
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Server Solutions
Now that’s a bright idea!Focus on your business, not your servers.
Codero 2010. All Rights Reserved. 10.PZ.10
How do i Install Joomla Add-ons?
Bad Redesigns: Don’t Let This Happen to You
Basic Checklist for Blog Hosting
The CEO is responsible for everything.
Case Study: Interview With LinMin
cPanel Bootcamp 2010 Lightning Rounds
Boost Accountability at Your Organization
3 Free Blog Hosting Solutions
Ping! Zine Service Directory
Interview: The Elderly Cinnamon Guy
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Publisher Keith DuncanManaging Editor/Art Director Derek MorrisExecutive Editor Dave YoungSenior Editor David DunlapMarketing Director Daniel Hembree
editoriAl stAffTechnical Editor John Burmeister
Commentary Editor Gary Crossland
Marketing Editor Trey Gardner
Headlines Editor Derek Vaughan
contributing WritersRay Bryant
Dottie DeHartTravis J. Hampton
Cheryl Hanna
Mitch Keeler
Robert Lang
Derek Vaughan
contAct informAtionPing! Zine, LLC
Post Office Box 516
Denham Springs, LA 70726
Phone (225) 791-3963
Website www.pingzine.com
General Info [email protected]
Sales [email protected]
Editor [email protected]
Design [email protected]
Ping! Zine Web Hosting Magazine © October-November 2010, Published and Copyrighted 2010 by Ping! Zine, LLC, P.O. Box 516, Denham Springs, LA 70726. All rights reserved.Permission to reproduce part or all of this issue must be secured in writing from the publisher. Complementary subscriptions are at the discretion of the publisher and may be cancelled or modified at any time. Unsolicited submissions are welcome. We assume no liability for lost or damage of submissions. We assume no liability for the content of this issue and all points and ideas are strictly that of the writers involved and not that of the publisher, publishing company, printing company or editors.This issue is brought to you by The Rent Is Too Damn High Party. We swear its really a political party!
002 Black Lotus
005 Codero
007 Server Sitters
008 CDG Commerce
011 Lionfire Solutions
013 The Hosting News
014 1&1 Internet
017 ISP System
019 Assistanz
019 Server Sitters
021 Hexagrid
024 Turnkey Internet
027 Rackmounts Etc
030 Lagniappe Internet
035 SingleHop
036 Parallels
038 Purity Networks
039 Atlantic Metro
040 Parallels
042 Young Copy
044 Versaweb
045 Hexagrid 045 LinMin 047 Host4Yourself
051 Unity Mobile 055 R1Soft
056 VegasNAP
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Recent reports from cnet claim that the Israel Antiquities Authority have asked Google to digitize one of the earliest known documents, the Dead Sea Scrolls.
As per the deal, Google will scan all 900 manuscripts, which are comprised of over 30,000 pieces.
Google will use infrared and spectral scanning to digitize the scrolls, alleviating concerns that the famous documents will have to endure more light and air exposure, which causes irreversable damage to the paper.
Once the scanning is completed, Google plans to make the scanned document available to the public online, according to our reports.
leSS than 5% of iPv4 aDDreSS SPace remaininGThe Number Resource Organization (NRO) announced that less than five percent of the world’s IPv4 addresses remain unallocated. APNIC, the Regional Internet Registry for the Asia Pacific region, has been assigned two blocks of IPv4 addresses by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). This latest allocation means that the IPv4 free pool dipped below 10% in January, just nine months ago. Since then, over 200 million IPv4 addresses have been allocated from IANA to the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs).
“This is a major milestone in the life of the Internet, and means that allocation of the last blocks of IPv4 to the RIRs is imminent,” states Axel Pawlik, Chairman of the Number Resource Organization (NRO), the official representative of the five RIRs. “It is critical that all Internet stakeholders take definitive action now to ensure the timely adoption of IPv6.”
IPv6 is the “next generation” of the Internet Protocol, providing a hugely expanded address space, which will allow the Internet to grow into the future. In 2010, the five RIRs are expected to allocate over 2,000 IPv6 address blocks, representing an increase of over 70% on the number of IPv6 allocations in 2009. In contrast, the number of IPv4 allocations is expected to grow by only 8% in 2010. These statistics indicate an absence of any last minute ”rush” on IPv4 addresses, and a strong momentum behind the adoption of IPv6.
“The allocation of Internet number resources by the five RIRs enables every region in the world to benefit from fair and equitable distribution of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. We are also actively collaborating with stakeholders at the local, regional, and global level to offer training and advice to public and private sector organisations on IPv6 adoption to ensure that everyone is prepared for IPv4 depletion and IPv6 deployment,” added Pawlik.
The IANA assigns IPv4 addresses to the RIRs in blocks that equate to 1/256th of the entire IPv4 address space (each block is referred to as a “/8” or “slash-8”). The most recent assignment means that there are now only 12 of these blocks available, which is less than five percent of the entire IPv4 address pool.
The final five blocks of IPv4 addresses will be distributed simultaneously to the five RIRs, leaving only seven blocks to be handed out under the normal distribution method.
According to current depletion rates, the last five IPv4 address blocks will be allocated to the RIRs in early 2011. The pressure to adopt IPv6 is mounting. Many worry that without adequate preparation and action, there will be a chaotic scramble for IPv6, which could increase Internet costs and threaten the stability and security of the global network.
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ITU’s latest statistics published recently in The World in 2010: ICT facts and figures reveal that the number of Internet users worldwide doubled in the past five years and will surpass the two billion mark in 2010. The number of people having access to the Internet at home has increased from 1.4 billion in 2009 to almost 1.6 billion in 2010. The new data were released on the eve of World Statistics Day, which was celebrated worldwide on October 2010.
162 million of the 226 million new Internet users in 2010 will be from developing countries, where Internet users grow at a higher rate. By the end of 2010, 71% of the population in developed countries will be online compared to 21% of the population in developing countries. While in developed countries 65% of people have access to the Internet at home, this is the case for only 13.5% of people in developing countries where Internet access in schools, at work and public locations is critical. Regional differences are significant: 65% of Europeans are on the Internet, compared to only 9.6% of Africans.
With the rapidly increasing high-bandwidth content and applications on the Internet, there is a growing demand for higher-speed broadband connections.
ITU considers broadband as a catalyst for growth. Recently, ITU and UNESCO launched the Broadband Commission for Digital Development that aims to promote the adoption of broadband-friendly practices and policies worldwide. ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré says, “Broadband is the next tipping point, the next truly transformational technology. It can generate jobs, drive growth and productivity, and underpin long-term economic competitiveness. It is also the most powerful tool that we have at our disposal in our race to meet the Millennium Development Goals, the deadline for which is now just five years away.”
Over the past year, there has been strong growth in fixed broadband subscriptions. By the end of 2010, fixed broadband penetration will reach 8% globally. But penetration levels in developing countries remain low: 4.4 subscriptions per 100 people compared to 24.6 in developed countries.
While high-speed Internet is still out of reach for many people in low-income countries, mobile telephony is becoming ubiquitous, with access to mobile networks now available to over 90% of the global population. ITU’s new data indicates that among the estimated 5.3 billion mobile
two Billion PeoPle exPecteD online By the enD of 2010
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subscriptions by the end of 2010, 3.8 billion will be in the developing world.
The Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, Sami Al Basheer said, “Mobile phone penetration in developing countries now stands at 68% — higher than any other technology before. These countries have been innovative in adapting mobile technology to their particular needs and will be able to draw even greater benefits from broadband once adequate and affordable access is available.”
In developed countries, growth in mobile subscriptions has slowed considerably during the past five years, with a year-on-year growth from 2009-2010 of only 1.6%. In those countries, the mobile market is reaching saturation levels with on average 116 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
At the same time, subscriptions to IMT2000/3G services have increased from 72 million in 2005 to 940 million in 2010. As many as 143 countries are offering IMT2000/3G services commercially, up from 95 countries in 2007. Over the past year, mobile broadband has experienced steep growth, especially in Europe and the United States, and some countries have started to offer commercial services at even higher broadband speeds, moving to next generation wireless platforms.
The trend from voice to (mobile) data applications is reflected in the growing number of SMS, or text messages sent, which tripled over the past three years to reach a staggering 6.1 trillion in 2010. In other words, close to 200,000 text messages are sent every second.
Overall, the price of ICT services is falling, but high-speed Internet access remains prohibitively expensive, especially in low-income developing countries. In 2009, an entry-level fixed (wired) broadband connection cost on average 190 PPP$ (Purchasing power parity in USD) per month in developing countries, compared to only 28 PPP$ in developed countries. Mobile cellular services are much more affordable, with an average monthly cost of 15 PPP$ in developing countries compared to around 18 PPP$ in developed countries. The relative price for ICT services (especially broadband) is highest in Africa, the region with the lowest income levels. The region lags behind when it comes to broadband access. Although subscriptions are increasing, a penetration rate of less than 1 per cent for fixed broadband illustrates the huge challenges that persist to increase access to high-speed, high-capacity Internet.
The United Nations designated 20 October 2010 (20-10-2010) as World Statistics Day. The celebration of World Statistics Day acknowledges the importance of national and international statistics and aims to strengthen the awareness and trust of the public in official statistics.
Within the UN system, ITU is the main source of internationally comparable data and statistics on ICT. The Market Information and Statistics Division of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) collects, harmonizes and disseminates more than 100 telecommunication and ICT indicators from over 200 economies worldwide. Data are accessible online through the ICT Eye portal, on CD and in print publications. The Division regularly publishes analytical reports illustrating the latest trends in the sector. It monitors the development of the digital divide and has developed widely used benchmarking tools, such as the ICT Development Index (IDI). It also provides statistical training and capacity building to developing countries to improve internationally comparable data.
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icann chanGeS weB aDDreSS ruleSThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is currently planning on making dramatic changes to the rules for Web addresses for 2012, a move that could make .com’s irrevelent, according to reports from cnet.
ICANN is looking to allow potentially thousands of new generic top-level domains to be created, a huge shift from the current few GTLDs of today – .com, .net, .org, .biz, .edu.
ICANN’s new GTLD expansion will also allow companies to protect their brand by purchasing generic domains such as .hotel or .bank and branded domains such as .apple or .mcdonalds. This will allow companies to secure a branded domain name and have complete control over it by not allowing others to own it. The move could also potentially lead to new branding and marketing strategies.
So now you may be asking yourself, “How do I get one?” Unlike the current registration process of current GTLDs through domain registrars, those who are looking to create their own must register through ICANN, and it doesn’t come cheap. The application fee will cost you $185,000 and $25,000 a year to run the registry. If others apply for the same domain, it will go to the highest bidder.
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announceS theGoDaDDy.com Bowl Go Daddy annouced that it is sponsoring its very own college football bowl game, the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
Go Daddy is jumping in as title sponsor of what had been known as the GMAC Bowl for the last decade. The GoDaddy.com Bowl pits Mid-American and Sun Belt Conference teams against each other in Mobile, Ala., and will be broadcast live on ESPN January 6, 2011.
“We thought it was about time Go Daddy had its own bowl game – the GoDaddy.com Bowl has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?” asked Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “Football is one of America’s favorite pastimes and if college football fans are anything, they are passionate and loyal. We like that!”
Forty thousand passionate fans are expected to rock Ladd-Peebles Stadium for this year’s first GoDaddy.com Bowl. Last year, Central Michigan beat Troy by just three points, in what was an exciting double overtime classic.
“We’re excited to have a powerhouse like Go Daddy behind Mobile’s biggest event of the year,” said GoDaddy.com Bowl President Jerry Silverstein. “Go Daddy stepped up big time for this sponsorship, which is good for all of us. Our bowl holds the record for the highest-scoring game in college football bowl game history. We are looking forward to another marquee matchup.”
aSian SmB’S exPecteD to aDoPt clouD ServiceSParallels has released the results of recent research that indicates over eight in ten (84%) respondents believe APAC small businesses are likely to adopt Cloud computing services in the next three years. The research was conducted amongst delegates at the recent Parallels APAC Summit in Singapore. Attendees unanimously agreed that Cloud computing is set to transform IT operations for small businesses in APAC. Almost three quarters of those surveyed (68%) agreed that Cloud computing will be an influential factor in driving efficiency and profitability amongst small businesses in APAC in the next 12 months. When asked about the specific benefits that the Cloud has to offer, 69% agreed that scalable flexibility is the biggest advantage that Cloud services can bring to small business IT, while 60% cite cost reduction as a key factor in the uptake of Cloud computing. While the focus fell on driving efficiency through service automation at the vendor level, participants of the Summit were keen to discuss which Cloud services are likely to take off fastest amongst small businesses in APAC. While over half (52%) of respondents agreed that Virtualised Infrastructure services will fuel adoption of Cloud computing, 44% believed that Shared Web Hosting services will also prove a hit with small businesses in the region. Messaging and collaboration applications are also likely to gain traction in coming months, according to 42% of delegates. “We were absolutely thrilled to welcome some of the region’s brightest minds to participate in this year’s APAC Summit, and with over 300 delegates in attendance from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia, India and Japan, we felt a huge buzz of excitement regarding the future of the Cloud services industry in Asia,” said Jan-Jaap Jager, Vice President and General Manager APAC, Parallels. He continues: “All signs point towards the expansion of the market in this region. For example, Go Daddy took an important step by underscoring its expansion into Asia with the announcement of a new data centre in Singapore, and analysts from Tier1 Research, IDC and Springboard pointed to evolving market models including the entrance of telcos into the Cloud space.” In accordance with the speakers and panelists at the Summit, seven out of ten respondents (70%) agreed
that small businesses should choose the public Cloud over private Cloud because it reduces the need for dedicated IT support, and 40% reiterated the benefits of cost savings that the public Cloud can bring to the small business sector. In addition, over one third (36%) of respondents believed that there is a much wider range of applications available in the public Cloud. Speakers at the Summit included executives from Microsoft, Go Daddy, VeriSign and Open-Xchange, covering topics as diverse as the standardisation of Cloud services across markets, security, and growth strategies for Cloud Service Providers targeting the small business market that will help them profit from the Cloud. The Saturday panel discussion featuring speakers from PacHosting, Webvisions, Directi, AussieHQ and Tsukaeru.net further explored Cloud strategy including the need to compete in a niche market versus the advantages of providing a full service portfolio. “The networking sessions were also a great success. We cannot underestimate the need for Cloud service providers to partner with one another to foster industry innovation. Since Parallels is the leader of Cloud services enablement, our value lies in connecting people and ideas, and I believe that we were really able to move boundaries with the quality of discussion generated by the attendees of the APAC Summit this year,” added John Eng, Vice President of Marketing & Alliances APAC, Parallels. Daryl Webb, Executive Director, Webvisions (Singapore) says: “We come to the Parallels APAC Summit for networking with other Cloud Service Providers from markets around Asia, to learn how we can help each other to come up with new ideas, and to create new partnerships. Parallels is open to creating dialogue; they are not talking to us, they’re talking with us, and we find that extremely valuable, I would definitely recommend that others in the Cloud industry attend the event next year!” “This is the best event for the hosting industry in Asia. It was definitely worth the trip for our team. If you have any part to play in the Asian hosting market, from the perspective of networking and understanding the dynamics of the market, it’s very necessary to be at the event”, concludes Sandeep Ramchandani of Logic Boxes (India).
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cyBernautic acquireS cSm hoStinGCybernautic Inc announced that it is acquiring CSM Hosting, a company specializing in web hosting for small-medium sized business websites.
“The combination of Cybernautic’s cloud hosting platform and personalized customer support will provide CSM’s clients with outstanding web hosting and website management services,” said Chad Parker, President & CEO of Cybernautic. “The acquisition is also expected to result in greater efficiencies and will increase our market share specifically in Illinois and California,” added Parker.
“This acquisition will benefit our clients through all of the features that Cybernautic’s cloud hosting platform provides as well as a significant improvement in customer service,” commented Mark Lockett, Owner of CSM Hosting.
Customers of CSM Hosting have already had their websites migrated to Cybernautic’s cloud network. “The integration of both companies has happened quickly. The process began on September 6, 2010 and was completed by September 30, 2010. CSM’s clients will continue to receive the same high-quality, personalized service which they have come to expect, with the added benefits of the powerful Cybernautic cloud hosting platform,” stated Lockett.
hoStinG metro acquireS Bizwala hoStinGHosting Metro, Inc. announced that it has reached an agreement with long-time Las vegas web host company Bizwala Hosting. With the agreement in place, Hosting Metro will migrate their existing services and marketing to its own operations. In doing so, Hosting Metro will be able to offer expanded customer support through a dedicated 24/7 support line, as well as additional hosting features previously unavailable to Bizwala Hosting customers including expanded vPS options, Dedicated Servers and shared web hosting. As part of the transition, Hosting Metro is also expanding its colocation capabilities by expanding its Western u.S. operations and giving their customers the ability to colocate in Dallas or Las vegas.
Tony Chu, CEO of Hosting Metro stated, “By acquiring Bizwala Hosting, we looked to increase our hosting options on the west coast and improve our dedicated server management capabilities by integrating the knowledge of Bizwala’s support team and technology into our already reliable infrastructure. As a hosting company who specializes in business-class web hosting and support, these added capabilities are something that our customers have been asking for. We want to give our customers every edge to compete in today’s market and with Bizwala onboard we believe that we have done just that.”
Jon Remund, former CEO of Bizwala Hosting has agreed to stay on with the new company and will continue to provide development and design services dedicated to the Hosting Metro community. “Hosting Metro is an outstanding company, and I am very confident that they will not only exceed the needs of Bizwala’s’ customers but surpass them by leveraging their outstanding support team, consultative services and delivery of an already solid infrastructure that is focused on being the industry’s most web host. From our very first meeting, I have been impressed by their customer-centric approach, and am confident that this acquisition is a win-win for their customers.”
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Cheryl Hannafeature
One of the most popular business trends in the lucrative web hosting market is called reseller hosting. It is a cost effective way to generate
income from a multi-billion dollar industry by employing solid business practices. There are no huge costs associated with this endeavor, and one can even bypass the technical issues that are part of web hosting. So what exactly is reseller hosting?
Reseller hosting allows a person to sell a web hosting company’s service as their own. Popularly called private labeling, the person is offered a discount rate on their web hosting services, and from there the services are sold again at whatever price can be set. Reseller hosting can start as low as $20 a month, enabling a person to have a fully featured web hosting business with no major start-up costs. For instance, a reseller
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web hosting package could be 1000 MB disk space, and 1,000 MB bandwidth. The reseller hosting owner can break it into ten separate accounts; 100 MB disk space and 100 MB bandwidth; sell it to a customer for $10 a month. At the end of the month, the profit is $80 from the ten accounts.
For the aspiring web hosts, and a person with limited finances and
assets, reseller hosting is a great way to get one’s feet wet especially for those who have a background in web and graphic design. They can start out offering basic web hosting services as part of a package offer to their clients, and there are no large investments to purchase computers, network equipment or the need to pay highly skilled IT personnel. g
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WHO IS GOING TO BuY?Small businesses and personal websites will probably have little use for a reseller account, however it is very useful to those who have a number of websites and want to save money. Reseller accounts can be less expensive than buying multiple shared hosting accounts. Not only does it save someone money, reseller hosting can allow you to create new accounts when needed and share the resources between websites. There’s no maintenance of the server to worry about or technical support since the web host will have the responsibility included with the account.
Just think of how many hundreds of thousands of web sites are on the Internet and all exist on a server somewhere that holds codes, texts, and graphics in a computer hard drive. Web sites vary from educational, hobbies, shopping, pets, etc. and as a reseller, you can offer hosting services to a customer without having to endure the cost of maintenance or technical problems. Having a particular niche to focus on will place reseller hosting in quick demand. Individual resellers are in prime position to pull in more clients within their own regions in less time making for faster sales.
START WITH A BuSINESS PLANDefine your business goals and research how much capital would probably be needed. The only equipment needed for a basic reselling
business is a computer (from which to manage the accounts) and a redundant connection to an internet backbone. The typical minimum investment to start a serious web hosting reselling operation is between $1500 and $2000 and that includes some initial money for marketing, having a website made up, and so on. If you have any of those skills, you can start the business for just the cost of a reseller hosting account.
One main problem for some new business owners is spending too much money, and the lack of sound financial planning at startup. Expect growth to be slow at the beginning, so one doesn’t need high end reseller plans. Start small. For instance, one doesn’t have to begin with an online accounts billing system since there will only be a few clients. Why not save the money and use a simple order script? When there are at least 20 clients, progress to the billing system and so on.
Growth may be slow, but continual if the business plan is sound. At the beginning there might only be four clients a month being charged $10, which adds up to $40 a month. Using a moderate estimation of four new clients a month; at 12 months there will be 48 clients, and the monthly revenue will be $480.
The most basic step is to register a domain name, and all of its major extensions such as .com, .net. ,.info, and .biz to avoid domain hijacking. Be creative and make the domain name unique.
Establish a proper company as “Do Business As,” Corporation, or LLC. However, how an owner decides to set up their business will depend on tax and other relevant criteria; but having a properly documented company puts a positive spin on a customer’s future business impression and protects you as you do business.
LET’S GET STARTEDThe next step is to purchase a good service from a hosting provider that has reseller hosting. With it, a person can resell a certain amount of resources with the usual features but at a lower price. Packages usually come with resources that have plenty of disk space and bandwidth allocated. Choose a
reseller host provider with a good reputation. Check the background on hosting companies and search the internet for multiple reviews. Also research how long the hosting company has been around, how many resellers they have, if they offer reseller hosting plans with a quality control panel.
Make sure the hosting company has 24X7 support, 99.9 % uptime guarantee, and a long history of reliability.
Now the new owner must perform the necessary marketing to attract
Growth may be slow, but continual if the business plan is sound.
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customers to your packages. The hosting company still earns the lion’s share regardless if the middleman or agent doesn’t get customers to sign up. While the middleman may be out of business, the hosting company will not be affected. You can’t compete with large hosting companies, so what you want to do is to offer mid-level plans and target your own niche. In reality it’s not that hard to make enough to cover hosting fees since the fees are usually discounted. With just a few new accounts, your website is being hosted for free.
For the web and graphic designer, marketing might be a bit more creative. Sales can be generated by creating turnkey businesses which are businesses built to resell to people. eBay sells any number of small businesses for just a few dollars, but charge people a flat monthly fee to host the site they bought on the web. Usually there is a contract for hosting for a designated period of time. Sometimes there isn’t even a charge for the new business; as long as the buyer continues with the web hosting service. If a web designer could sell 10 small websites a day on eBay, that’s 50 websites a week at $10 each a month or 200 websites a month earning $2000 a month as long as they stay with your hosting service. If you can meet their needs continuously, chances are they will stay with you.
Another great market for reselling hosting is blogging. Statistically, there are more than 40,000 new blogs created every day. Most blogs are hosted for free, but there are thousands upon thousands of bloggers who want control of their own web hosting. Others want to have a domain name. The best thing about blogs is they use very little disk space and bandwidth so reselling hosting can host many blogs and charge accordingly. Most top bloggers have multiple blog sites and need little technical assistance, which leaves the reseller host with more time to develop more business.
It would be remiss not to mention having a professional website complete with an impressive business presence. Now
what does that mean? There should be no words misspelled, no broken links, and the site should be easy to navigate. The web site should clearly explain what you are selling, how to contact you, and your history. Remember that users will be researching you much the same as when you researched the hosting company you are using.
MARkETING RESELLING HOSTINGFor promotion of the website, use marketing tools such as Adwords, which can provide instant traffic. It can take months to promote a website. Write articles, and submit the website and products to free classifieds and directories.
Use forums to blog about web hosting services. Pay special attention to those around you and reach out to your local community and social networks. You can target forums that you might have an interest in and research them so you can attract new customers by posting helpful answers and interesting information.
Offer something no one else does, or give advice about niche blogging and have unique information available to clients who sign up for your hosting services for six to twelve months. For instance, genealogy blogging has become very popular, and these bloggers rarely need to have many PHP scripts installed so technical knowledge isn’t crucial. Many times data is uploaded and the blog is left idle for months. Those clients who are inactive, but pay are the best customers. Focus on making reseller hosting easy; have a “one-click WordPress installer” on your website. Make it clear on your front page that you cater to WordPress bloggers. Get interested in genealogy, and share your family history and what you have done in genealogy research. In other words, niche marketing appeals to your own interests which in turn will make you an expert in your field.
You don’t need to be an expert in all fields; why not deal locally? You don’t have to think about accepting random customers who have somehow found your website, liked your information, and liked your prices. Target your own
hometown. Every business needs a website, and it’s easy to convince any business nowadays to get online. You can go visit them with a few examples of what you have done, or simply take the Yellow Book and start sending emails. For those businesses who already have a website, figure out if you can lower their costs, or contact them and explain that you are local also, and should anything go wrong with their site, you can provide superior customer service instead of sitting on the telephone for an hour waiting for a solution when their site is down.
For those businesses that do not have a website, educate owners how they are losing business since more people today use the web to search instead of the Yellow Pages. Visit the company with some sample websites, and if you can design one yourself, you will have that market, plus they will pay you a monthly fee for web hosting services. Become the expert a large web host can not compete with. Take care of your customers, which is the fastest vehicle to success regardless of the type of business you operate. BuILDING CLIENT CONFIDENCEHave a 1-800 phone number for prospective clients. It builds trust for people, and it is imperative to have a live person answer the phone. On your web site, state the hours of operation and the 1-800 number can then be forwarded to your home phone or cell during the stated hours of operation.
Provide support to hosting clients even though you probably do not manage the server; you still should offer customer support through an online help desk support, or through email and phone. Add tutorials and a knowledge base for general information.
Learn how to be a good middle person and offer world class service. Throw in a few extras and do the best at everything you do. Don’t give up… success doesn’t just happen overnight.
Writer’s Bio: Cheryl Hanna is a freelance writer who lives in South Florida. She blogs about customer service at serviceuntitled.com.
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How do i Install Joomla add-ons?
travis Hamptongurus
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Joomla is a free and open source content management system, which uses PHP and an SQL
database. All Linux servers and many Windows servers will run Joomla, and several web hosts offer free automated Joomla installation, along with many other scripts.One of the benefits of Joomla is its extensibility. Like web browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, Joomla allows users to easily install add-on extensions, which include modules, components, and templates. Add-ons are packaged in zip files, and users can upload them directly into the administration interface, without having to use FTP.
How do i Install Joomla add-ons?
EXTENSIONSAnyone with PHP programming experience can create Joomla extensions, so you can find them all over the web. Additionally, Joomla's website has a convenient extension directory, which nearly all extension developers use to distribute their extensions. The site currently lists over 5,000 extensions.
Each extension listed on the website displays information regarding compatibility (support for 1.0 or 1.5), type (commercial or non-commercial), and license (such as GPL). All extensions also include ratings from the user community. Additionally, many of the extensions provide live demos, support links, and documentation.
To download a non-commercial extension, click the "Download" button and follow whatever necessary steps the developer requires. Non-commercial downloads are free but may require registration on the developer's website.
INSTALLING EXTENSIONSJoomla extensions should come in ready-to-install ZIP files, unless otherwise specified by the developer. To install an extension:
1. Open the administrator page in your web browser: http://www.yoursite.tld/administrator 2. Hover your mouse pointer over the "Extensions" menu item. 3. Select "Install/Uninstall" from the menu. 4. In the first section labeled "Upload Package File", click "browse" or "choose file" and find the file on your computer. 5. Once you have selected the file, click "Upload File & Install"
MODULES AND COMPONENTSJoomla extensions may take the form of modules or extensions. Modules are blocks of content displayed on your site in one of Joomla's module content sections, which vary in placement according to your template structure.
To configure modules, select the "Extensions" menu, and click "Module Manager". From there you can reorder modules, or edit a specific module by clicking on the module's name.
Components are add-ons that add some type of functionality to Joomla. For example, a forms component gives the user the ability to create custom content forms for applications, contact, etc. The usage and configuration of components varies greatly depending on the developer's setup. To configure components, hover over "Components" in the menu and select the component you want to configure.
Add-on developers may include several extensions as part of their software packages. For example, a component may be accompanied by a module and language file, making a total of three extensions that you need to install. Those extensions will then interact with each other.
TEMPLATESAnother powerful feature in Joomla is the ability to install templates. The template used by your Joomla installation determines how your site looks and, in some cases, can even add functionality. Because of Joomla's popularity, there are thousands of commercial and free templates available on the web. You can also customize templates or even build your own using only HTML and CSS skills.
Installing a downloaded template is the same as installing extensions. Navigate to the Extension Manager and browse for the zip file. Once you find it, upload the template as you normally would. To select a template as your new default:
1. Hover "Extensions" in the Joomla menu. 2. Click "Template Manager" 3. Check the radio next to the template you want to choose. 4. Click "Default"
CREATING YOUR OWNCreating Joomla extensions normally involves a combination of PHP, HTML, and XML coding, and you can create templates with simple HTML and CSS.
For more information, see the Joomla documentation on creating modules, components, and templates.
For basic modules containing only HTML and Javascript, you can create them from within Joomla. To create a new module:
1. Hover your mouse pointer over "Extensions" 2. Click "Module Manager" 3. At the top right, select "New" 4. Select "Custom HTML"
The new module page will present you with an editor similar to the Article Manager WYSIWYG editor. You can also click the "HTML" button on the editor to paste code directly into it. The "Module Class Suffix" allows you to assign a specific CSS class to the module, so that you can change the style of it in your CSS file.
EASY EXTENSIBILITYExtending Joomla is fast and usually painless. Whether you need a free basic lightbox image component or a commercial shopping cart, you will probably find it in the Joomla extension directory. With support for custom extensions and templates, you can customize your Joomla site to be unique and captivating.
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Writer’s Bio: Tavis J. Hampton is a librarian and writer with a decade of experience in information technology, web hosting, and Linux system administration. He currently works for LanternTorch.Net, which offers writing, editing, tech training, and information architecture services.
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David Dunlapgurus
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I was asked about the refresh on Digg’s site as opposed to Facebook. Both had redesigns that people hated, but differ in that Facebook users are not leaving whereas Digg has lost about a quarter of their users in the US and roughly a third of their users in Europe. What went wrong and will it last?
On a broad sense there are a few things that makes a website a website. Handling these elements are essential to web development. A site has an audience, a core, and a supporting cast.
An audience happens regardless of what the developer does. However, the developer has to figure out what their audience wants and to either cater to that audience and adapt the site accordingly or find a new audience. Most websites do not actively try to figure out who their audience is and what that audience wants. This is unfortunate because most sites have multiple forms of audiences and the developer may understand one of those audience types, but may fail to recognize the audience viewers that really matter. It’s no different than identifying marketing messages, you may have banners that get a great deal of visitors but they may not convert. Conversely you might get very few visitors from a banner, but have a high conversion rate.
In order to master the audience aspect of a site, the website first needs a way to track the audience, determine what they want, where they go, where they come from, and lastly how to tune the site to better help that audience. Sometimes you can help every aspect of each audience and
sometimes you have to sacrifice one audience's comfort for the comforts of another.
By core, I refer to the handful or less things that makes a site unique. The core is the reason why that site is around. For Facebook, the core would be getting in touch with other people. The purposes of this outreach differ from person to person (for instance, for business you may want to get in touch with people to extend your contact list or provide a line of communication, whereas for personal reasons you may just want to stay up to date with friends). Digg's core centered on a site that provides alternative informative and even entertaining.
The supporting cast is essentially everything else. The trick however is identifying what is the core features and what things are merely supporting and ensuring that your support elements don't end up removing your core features. For the purposes of the Digg to Facebook comparison however, supporting features are not relevant.
I think you might be already seeing where I am going with this.
Through each new version and addition of each new feature, Facebook's core never changed. They preserved the ability to find people and in fact a lot of the newer features brought traffic to the site to ensure that there would be plenty of people to find. Also Facebook understands that there is very little in the form of alternatives. When it comes to a user base, nothing rivals Facebook. So people may grumble and complain, but at the end of the day, the changes
are not so bad that the reason for using Facebook is removed, nor are the changes unlivable. To Facebook's credit, most of the changes have happened fairly pain free considering the massive havoc that could have taken place.
The Digg redesign on the other hand has none of these traits. First off, Digg's redesign flew in opposition to their core. The new site serves as a personalized news aggregate as opposed to a site where you can find the most popular things (news, video, blog, silly saying, whatever)on the Internet. By changing its core, Digg lost the thing that made it unique and entertaining.
Then Digg's new version did something even worse, it alienated a faction of the audience. All things considered, it looked like Digg was going for some major changes with the audience. I imagine a lot of the changes were to give it much broader appeal, more open moderation, and a chance to get more mainstream players involved in order to broadcast the site to newer audiences. Instead of merely increasing the audience appeal, Digg traded the old audience (especially the power users) for the possibility of a larger, newer audience.
If Digg was a rock band, this sort of strategy could work. Rock bands sell out all the time but can still manage to keep or expand their audience. Digg is however a social site and as such is based on trust. After what they did to a very loyal audience, it will be hard for people to trust them. Digg will probably gather an audience, but I seriously doubt they will ever be a loyal audience and I really don't think the size of the new audience will match what the designers had wanted.
If there is anything to take away from this it is this. Never alienate your current audience, even if you have to do a radical change do so with as much user involvement as possible. That way, even if the new site falls flat, you audience may still applaud your efforts. If you have a good niche or a powerful feature (or features) that is better than comparable sites, do not change or water down your core. This is a basic rule of marketing really, just in that instance, you never want to water down your brand.
bad redesigns dont let this happen to you
Writer’s Bio: David Dunlap has been both a Web host industry analyst and commentator for the past ten years. Prior to his active writing career, David was a network and communications technician for four years. He currently is the Editor in Chief for WebHostMagazine.com
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Search for “blog hosting” and you will get millions of pages and thousands of web hosts that would love to have your business. What features, scripts and more should you be looking for when it comes to moving your blog to a new web host or starting one from scratch? Here is my own personal must-have list when it comes to blog hosting that I hope comes in handy next time your searching for real blog hosting help.
Here are some things you need to take into consideration when it comes to finding the right blog hosting provider for the website you run or the website you want to run:
Blog Hosting CPu and RAM NeedsThe first thing you need to be able to narrow down is what is the size of your audience, and how often are they going to be hitting up your blog – looking at posts. Many web hosts still sell on the promise of unlimited disk space and bandwidth, but these days, those two features are not the most important ones. As soon as a blog really takes off – you want to know how many server resources you are using. If you are starting a new blog, this is a little harder to figure out, but if you are currently hosted some where, your web host should be able to hand over this information. This would be the amount of the CPU power and memory (RAM) you are using on the server.
If it is too high, changing to a new shared hosting plan somewhere else might not be enough. You might want to start looking into virtual private server hosting.
Free Blog Migrations from Host to HostAnother feature I like to have when moving a blog or starting a new one would be free migrations. Web hosts that will help you move your website from an old provider to themselves, as the new hosting provider are priceless. Moving websites from host to host can be a pain – so anybody who will do this for you is providing you a really valuable service.
One-click Install Blogging ScriptsWhat scripts will the web host provide you with? If you are not sure which blogging script to use – make sure you see which ones are available first, and then do your homework and see if you like any of the blogging scripts they provide. These days though, you can’t throw a rock in the hosting universe without hitting a hosting service that will provide WordPress installs with “one-click”, so this should be less of an issue these days.
Blog Hosting upgrade OptionsBlogs have a way of growing on you, so no matter if you are moving your current blog or starting up a new one – you should always see what your upgrade options are for the future. You might need to upgrade in a month or you might need to upgrade three years from now. It is always better to plan in advance – so be sure to see what the costs and advantages are when it comes to upgrading your blog hosting.
That just about covers what I would consider to be the most important features you should look at when it comes to blog hosting. If you have any others not on the list, that you feel are important – be sure to contact me about them.
BasiC CHeCklist for Blog Hosting
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Pingzine_full_page_Partnership copy.pdf 1 9/30/10 5:05 PM
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The Buck Stops Here!Why the CEO
is responsible for everything.
Ray Bryant, CEO of
idappcom, explains why the big chair
in most organizations
can carry a lot more
responsibility than you
might think....
ray BryantBusiness
W hilst the popular media perception is that IT security defenses are there to protect an organization's digital assets from external attack, the reality is that a large
number of incidents are the result of internal threats compromising the firm's data. More and more cases revolve around a hacker gaining entry through ‘back doors’ into your computer, they could be anywhere on the net certainly outside your jurisdiction even if you ‘caught’ them.
But it gets worse, as an increasingly common hacker methodology is to crack the security of one company and use that system as a launch pad to hack into other systems. The liability for all attacks including ‘secondary’ attacks lies with the CEO who has allowed - either directly or indirectly - his/her company systems to be misused in this manner.
The problem of inter-linked computer systems is a growing one, as the larger the company, the more reliance it places on computers and connections. These connections are the lifeblood of the cybercriminals, who tap into the fact that the privilege
levels of user IDs that interconnect with third-party systems invariably tend to be higher than direct external accounts.
We often find that following a data breach, it becomes apparent that not only was the organization's security lacking and poorly configured, but there is often a lack of understanding amongst senior management as to what the role of IT security is within the business.
The reality, as our research team has discovered, is that fraud normally comes from the inside!
One of the most interesting aspects of dissecting a given security breach is how often, apart from the breach itself, the hacker has been able to get inside the company's IT systems. This has the potential to be even more damaging because in the build up to the data breach, most cybercriminals operate in `stealth mode' and can therefore milk the company's finances for a lengthy period before they are rumbled. This means that, for almost all organizations, enhancing the IT security of the company - by ensuring it is maintained as up-to-date as automatically possible - is an absolute necessity.
Of course, the degree to which protection is needed is a matter of balancing risk and cost, and this equation is a unique business decision as with any other senior management process. The next step on the road to deploying effective IT security is to ensure it is working properly, and stays that way. This is a stumbling block that many companies fall at, as frequent verification checks on the efficiency - and efficacy - of an IT security platform need to be made. Whatever the system there is only one way to validate against KNOWN threats, and that is to play those threats in a controlled way, through the company's actual live prevention set-up.
In an ideal world, it would be possible to remediate all threats, but in the real world, this would significantly slow the IT system down, meaning that a compromise between threat checking and system performance is usually required. By using an optimum configuration validation system, you can get the best of both worlds.
CEOs are not only responsible for the effect of attacks to their own IT systems, but they are responsible for hackers who use their system to attack others. Your defenses need to be up at all times, not just when audited or it will be the audit that shows you where you may have been slowly bleeding to death!!
Your defenses need to be up at all times,
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The Cloud and Small Business are meant for each other. Hosting service providers like you are the critical connection point.
February 22 – 24, 2011
™
Much of the $500 Billion in small business IT spend is moving to the Cloud—an unmistakable opportunity for those willing to adapt their business.
Whether you’re exploring Cloud services for the small business market or are already delivering them, Parallels Summit 2011 is the event to propel you forward.
Parallels Summit 2011 is the premier conference for Hosters looking to rapidly and profitably deliver the widest range of Cloud services that small businesses want and need. Come learn strategies that help you:
• Quickly deploy and launch new Cloud services • Reduce operational cost and run your business with minimal staff• Grow your revenue and profit-per-user by capturing the highest share of small business
IT spend
Plus, hear from industry experts and expand your network while enjoying the warmth and hospitality of sunny Florida.
To learn more or register now, visit www.parallels.com/summit/global
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The Cloud and Small Business are meant for each other. Hosting service providers like you are the critical connection point.
February 22 – 24, 2011
™
Much of the $500 Billion in small business IT spend is moving to the Cloud—an unmistakable opportunity for those willing to adapt their business.
Whether you’re exploring Cloud services for the small business market or are already delivering them, Parallels Summit 2011 is the event to propel you forward.
Parallels Summit 2011 is the premier conference for Hosters looking to rapidly and profitably deliver the widest range of Cloud services that small businesses want and need. Come learn strategies that help you:
• Quickly deploy and launch new Cloud services • Reduce operational cost and run your business with minimal staff• Grow your revenue and profit-per-user by capturing the highest share of small business
IT spend
Plus, hear from industry experts and expand your network while enjoying the warmth and hospitality of sunny Florida.
To learn more or register now, visit www.parallels.com/summit/global
043
robert langCase stuDy
case Study
If you could implement a solution that can quickly provision servers, blades, PCs, and
virtual machines or backup and restore images faster than conventional methods
while saving money, would you? We sat down with Laurent Gharda, CEO and
Founder of LinMin Corp., to discuss LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning™, the company’s award-winning IT automation software for
provisioning and imaging systems.
Gharda has over 25 years of management experience at tech companies ranging in size
from startups to Fortune 500 multinationals. LinMin, a Redwood City, California based
software firm, has been helping hosting companies, data centers, and organizations
provision and restore Linux and Windows based systems since 2007.
Interview with
LinMin Bare Metal
Provisioning Software
What does LinMin do?“LinMin gives administrators the power to quickly install LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning™ in minutes and immediately start provisioning dozens, even hundreds of servers from an intuitive web-based interface,” says Gharda. LinMin offers four main functions that help administrators quickly deploy, backup, and restore systems remotely.
· Bare Metal Provisioning · Bare Metal Imaging · Provisioning Rollback · Remote System Rescue Gharda says using LinMin can save hours, reduce errors, and increase efficiency for server administrators with its innovative bare metal provisioning technology. And LinMin can also deploy rescue system CDs for easily repairing systems remotely. What is bare metal provisioning? “Bare Metal” provisioning refers to the process of installing an operating system (and often applications, data, configurations, scripts) onto a system that does not have an operating system installed on its hard disk. Bare metal provisioning can also mean over-writing a hard disk with a different operating system (and other files), in which case you lose everything that had been installed on the drive previously. Push and Pull ProvisioningLinMin offers two types of provisioning methods: Push and Pull. Here are some examples of LinMin’s business rules. · Take no action (steady state): boot to disk · Never Provision (fail safe) · Provision just once, then switch to “Never” · Provision every time (e.g., Sandbox) · Perform full system (disk image) backup · Perform full system restore (“roll back”) “LinMin administrators can create roles for Push and Pull bare metal provisioning and deploy to physical and virtual machines,” says Gharda. “Additionally, you can upload your choice of operating system, packages, files, applications, configurations, scripts, and images.”
Disk ImagingAdministrators can create imaging rules to backup, restore, and clone. For example, a user can configure “Next Network Boot” snapshot/rollback profiles through the Browser-based GUI. Profiles can be easily copied to reduce configuration time and possible errors. Systems can be restored to a fully “known-good” point in time upon IT request. LinMin complements (does not replace) file-based backup/restore solutions. Inside the LinMin APILinMin’s API (Application Programming Interface) makes it easy to integrate provisioning and imaging functionality into IT apps. For example, hosting companies can connect their control panel to LinMin so customers can provision servers based on specific selections including operating system. The LinMin API also has a built-in “teaching mode” that generates working API code for easy implementation. Inside the web based interfaceGharda showed us a demonstration of the software and interface. The system is easy to use, intuitive, and contains all the necessary features an administrator needs to provision and image systems. Once logged in, the interface is easy to navigate. Additionally, LinMin automatically detects if the operating system media is missing and issues warnings, reducing errors before provisioning images.
case Study
LinMin in a virtual environmentLinMin can provision bare-metal hypervisors, VMs, and physical systems. Users can create, maintain, and refine configurations for both physical and virtual systems and use LinMin to create, fine-tune, and test “that first VM” for a given role. Once you have deployed “that first VM” for a given role into your virtualized environment using LinMin, use your native virtualization tools to snapshot, clone and deploy VMs. Why should you use LinMin?“LinMin remotely installs Linux and Windows operating systems, applications, scripts, and files on servers, blades, virtual machines and personal computers (PCs) through an intuitive interface,” says Gharda. Companies like AT&T, Coreix, Fiber Hosting, Fluid Hosting, KVH, Kodak, Metro 911, PowerFile, Prudential, and Source Code use LinMin to easily manage their provisioning and imaging. Getting started with LinMinTo learn more about LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning and Imaging, visit http://www.linmin.com.
“LinMin remotely installs Linux and Windows operating systems, applications, scripts, and files on servers, blades, virtual machines and PCs through an intuitive interface.”
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First coined in June of 2000, Lightning Talks were meant to be short and concise presentations lasting only a handful of minutes. In this manner a typical hour session could have many speakers, rotating through giving talks that would hopefully excite and engage the audience. At this year's cPanel Bootcamp, Lightning Talks made their debut to the web hosting industry.
The cPanel Conferences normally center on education and training and this year's was no exception. Rules for the Lightning Talks continued the educational theme by greatly limiting marketing messages time wise. As a new form of session for the hosting industry, some of the lightning sessions needed a bit of fine tuning, while others simply needed more experience from the presenters. However, several sessions stood out as inspirations for future lightning discussions.
They include:Dan Muey, cPanel: Dan Muey gave a Lightning Talk on lightning talks. The session was light and filled with both mirth and information. Some would say it was so good no one wanted to follow it. Indeed the next four presenters called to the floor failed to show up.
Joost Zuurbier, Dot TK Registry: Joost's talk on the Tokelau islands proved to be the best of the evening. It balanced an interesting storyline with humor and wit and managed to tie several topics together in a very tidy package. In the mind of this writer, Joost has great skill when it comes to Lightning Talks and hopefully he will be able to give many more.
John Lightsey, cPanel: John discussed LDD (listing dynamic dependencies) and the dangers of running it. John
demonstrates how to give a Lightning Talk that was chalk full of information and not using a great deal of humor and yet still managing to make a very dry topic like using LDDs entertaining.
Troy McCasland, Attracta: Troy receives an honorable mention. The information side of his Lightning Talk was somewhat lost and difficult to follow. However, the joke he finished with received some of the most laughs of any session for the 2010 cPanel conference.
Like a software package released for the first time, the Lightning Talks had a few problems to work out. However, it is safe to say that they were quite successful and hopefully they will catch on with the rest of the industry conferences.
David Dunlapevents
cPanel Bootcamp 2010: There was Lightning, But Did it Reach 1.21 Jigawatts?
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Got an accountability problem at your organization? There are two main ways to tackle it. First, you need to forestall excuse-generating problems upfront by creating conditions that make it more likely people will follow through. Second, you need to help and encourage people to take responsibility after mistakes have already been made—without making them feel worse than they already do.
Here, excerpted from Rick Lepsinger's Closing the Execution Gap, are a few before and after accountability boosting suggestions to help keep you, your team, and your projects on track:
Before-the-Fact Accountability Booster: Set People up for Success The best way to manage accountability is to ensure that people follow through in the first place. Three techniques can help you dramatically increase the chances that people will follow through and keep their commitments: 1) clarifying actions and expectations, 2) agreeing on due dates for deliverables, and 3) establishing checkpoints. The acronym ATC can help you remember the techniques.
Action. This is the starting point for both setting people up for success and being able to hold them accountable after the fact, so it is critical to get it right. This is where you clarify expectations (what "good looks like") and identify who is accountable for which parts of the work. Regardless of how good an idea someone has or how sincere his intentions, nothing happens until someone commits to taking some action to produce a specific deliverable.
Timetable. Just as important as clarifying actions and expectations, establishing an agreed upon due date is critical to ensuring everyone is on the same page. Due dates like "as soon as possible" and "by next week" lay the foundation for misunderstandings, because your "as soon as possible" may not be anywhere near theirs. (Does "by next week" mean before next week? Does it mean Monday of next week or Friday of next week?) In addition, commitments that don't have a time frame frequently do not get attention and usually fall by the wayside.
Checkpoints. One of the biggest mistakes people make is waiting to check in until the action or deliverable is due. Although the pitfall seems obvious—waiting until the due date to check in does not leave time for problem solving—it is surprising how many people stumble into it. One explanation leaders offer for this self-defeating behavior is that they're afraid of communicating a lack of trust in the other person's ability—or of being labeled a micro-manager.
The simple, yet powerful, solution is to establish periodic progress checkpoints before the due date. The frequency of the checkpoints will depend on the difficulty of the task and the experience of the person. This technique simultaneously solves both problems: the implied lack of trust and the micro-managing.
Agreeing on checkpoints with the other person makes follow-up and progress checks a shared and mutually endorsed activity. The check-ins are now part of project management, and they also provide opportunities for you to coach if there is a problem and recognize and reinforce behavior when things are going well.
In addition, because you've outlined the milestones you are comfortable with and built in time to get things back on track if you discover there is a problem, you don't have to give in to the temptation to make spontaneous or surprise visits or to call when you get nervous about whether the project is on track.
After-the-Fact Accountability Booster: Three Accountability Questions Sure, prevention is better than an after-the-fact remedy. But in the real world, people will drop the ball from time to time. Rather than berating a person for her failure to deliver results, reinforce her accountability and focus on problem solving.
Three questions will encourage the person to think about how she contributed to the current situation, what she can do to get things back on track, and what she can do to prevent it from happening again. In addition to asking these questions directly yourself (which might come across as accusatory), you should coach the person to pose them to herself as a way to manage her own accountability. The three questions are: Present: "What can I do now to get on track?"Future: "What can I do to prevent this problem from happening again in the future?"Past: "What could I have done to prevent the problem? What, if anything, did I do that might have possibly contributed to the problem?" The first two questions are less likely to evoke a defensive response, but the third one might very well push that button. Be prepared to deal with defensive behaviors. One way to do so is to show empathy. Try something like: "I know you're as concerned as I am about this and I realize it's not the way you wanted things to turn out. This conversation is not about assigning blame. It's about solving the problem and ensuring that we keep it from happening again."
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How to Boost Accountability at Your Organization
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About the Author: Richard Lepsinger is president of OnPoint Consulting and has a 25-year track record of success as an organizational consultant and executive. In addition to writing Closing the Execution Gap, he has coauthored four books on leadership, including Flexible Leadership: Creating Value by Balancing Multiple Challenges and
Choices, The Art and Science of 360° Feedback, The Art and Science of Competency Models: Pinpointing Critical Success Factors in Organizations, and Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance, all published by Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. For more information, please visit www.onpointconsultingllc.com.
About the Book: Closing the Execution Gap: How Great Leaders and Their Companies Get Results (Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint, June 2010, ISBN: 978-0-4705313-0-3, $45.00, www.onpointconsultingllc.com) is available at bookstores nationwide and from major online booksellers.
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Posterous is a product i have not used much yet, but i have heard a lot of good things about. Here, you can make a post by simply sending in an e-mail. if WYsiWYg editors, HtMl and all that stuff just confuses you, Posterous really makes publishing pretty straight forward and easy. so if you know email, and how to send a message and send attachments, you can use Posterous to get a blog started instantly.
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For legal reasons we are unable to use our next guest's true identity, but do not let that one little detail get in the way of enjoying our question and answer period with that role model, kitchen making, horse riding, cake baking, who smells like a dried seed, fruit, root,
bark or other vegetable substance that adds preservative properties to food without adding significant nutritional value such as cinnamon, star anise, and/or pumpkin pie. I give you…
Derek: The old spi-Dave: Not out loud remember... legal.Derek: Aw yes what are we calling him again?Dave: The Elderly Cinnamon Guy.Derek: Cinnamon isn't really a manly spice is it?Dave: What would you have called him?Cinnamon Guy: Gentlemen look at me, now look at each other, now look at me. What do you see? Something is missing. What could that be? Look up, now look down I am on a horse.Derek: How about Senile Annoying Dude.Dave: Whoa where did that horse come from?Senile Annoying Dude: Now look at me, I am sitting here in your studio answering your stupid questions.Dave: Not sure we asked anything non-rhetorical yet.Annoying Dude: Now look to the left now look to the right and up at the sky. YOU ARE ON THE BEACH!Derek: Dude that really needs to stop.Annoying Dude: You two fine gentlemen should be like me without a shirt. Where are your shirts? They are in my hands.Dave: I thought I detected a draft.Annoying Dude: AND NOW THEY ARE BOTH DIAMONDS!Derek: That was my favorite shirt!Dave: Oooo shinies!
I have interviewed people from all walks of life, from heads of state to giants of
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An Interview with...THE ELDERLY CINNAMON GuY
or what it would be like if we actually did interview him. But really, we didn’t.
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