HostNine Company Blog

4 Great Joomla Tutorials

by GeraudStaton on March 22nd, 2012 Leave a comment

Joomla is a free content management system that has a strong niche community of passionate users. Since we have used this space to talk about WordPress a great deal, we thought we’d mix it up a bit.

If you’re already using Joomla and have some other tutorials that were helpful, put them in the comments section!

Also, if you ever want to see a certain topic covered in the HostNine blog, let us know in the comments as well!

1. Best of Joomla
This site is packed full of information from multiple users. There are blog-style entries and links to video tutorials. And you can see just how hot a particular post is because the site puts the information in large green boxes at the front of each entry. Looking for the most important and useful information, just click on the higher ranked tutorials.

2. Rocket Theme
Rocket Theme has a more basic layout than Best of Joomla, but the information is great, all the same. You can start off by looking at the featured videos and written entries. Once you’ve seen the most popular information you can then open it up to all of the tutorials. And all of the lessons are set up so that you can look at only those things that are relevant to your needs. There is a lot of information here, without all the bells and whistles.

3. Web3Mantra
Web3Mantra has over 30 video tutorials! These videos range from basic installation to managing global configuration. All 31 videos are in a list on the main page. Just click anything you’re interested in.

4. Lynda
This site has a great deal of information from a number of amazing instructors. There are videos and written tutorials, but it’s the video that really wins the day. Lynda is set up so that the tutorials are actually courses in a particular subject. There are a few free courses, but most of the information on Lynda.com must be paid for.

Navigating WordPress Job Sites

by Jim on March 20th, 2012 Leave a comment

Are you a WordPress developer looking to freelance while working from home? Or maybe you are a busy professional who needs a WordPress project completed ASAP? The following sites bring the developers to the demand connects you with solutions. Check these out if you’re a developer looking for work or someone looking for a quality WordPress professional.

Code Poet
If you’re looking for work: Code poet has a couple more barriers to entry than most WordPress sites (you must apply to create a developer profile), but has a big payoff. The user-friendly nature of Code Poet, combined with the fact that it is run by the same company as WordPress, gives you access consistent and well-paying projects.

If you’re looking for a developer: Code poet is a fantastic way to get exactly what you want from a trusted source. Code Poet allows you to search for a developer by geographical location, specialty and budget. One drawback, however, is that you cannot post individual projects on the site.

WPMU Jobs

If you’re looking for work: Again, this is a site that has some level of screening when it comes to posting your professional services. To create a profile on WPMU you must be a WPMU DEV Premium member. Again though, this has obvious payoffs when you have professionals seeking quality developers who are willing to pay top dollar. Also keep in mind that WPMU is strictly freelance – no full-time work here.

If you’re looking for a developer: You must be a WPMU DEV Premium member to post a project for review. This may deter some, but keep in mind that you pay for what you get. When it comes to developing, this is especially true, and shelling out a little more now can go a long way later.

WP Candy Pros

If you’re looking for work: It’s relatively easy to get started with WP Candy, and setting up a profile is fast and free. Because of this, WP Candy is a great place to pick up projects and build your WordPress expertise. On WP Candy, you cannot search projects, rather clients seek out a developer who seems to most meet their needs. Thus, the more detail you put into your profile the better your chances of getting contacted. Bear in mind that this is WP Candy pros only handles freelance work.

If you’re looking for a developer: Keep in mind that developers on this site can easily create a profile for free. Despite this, it is easy to screen people by the amount of detail in their profiles and portfolios. Another potential drawback is that unlike other sites, you cannot post individual projects to be perused by potential developers.

WP Hired
If you’re looking for work: WP Hired is a great place to search for full-time, part-time, freelance work, internships and temp work. Post your resume to get your name out to potential employers, while at the same time browse and search job postings from all around the world. Also sign up for email updates to alert you when a job related to your expertise is posted.

If you’re looking for a developer: WP Hired makes it easy to create a free profile and begin posting jobs. Keep in mind that you can browse detailed resumes of potential developers on the site for free as well. This site is great for people with a variety of needs ranging from full-time to temp-work.

WordPress Freelance
If you’re looking for work: WordPress Freelance lets you browse project postings and bid on them per project or per hour. Build up your reputation on the site through client reviews of your work.

If you’re looking for a developer: This site may not be as easy to use or the professionals as verifiable on other sites, but if you’re willing to take a little risk WordPress Freelance could end up saving you some money. Be sure to check the reviews of developers who bid on your projects to ensure you’re getting reliable service. Also be sure to check developer portfolios if you have a specific look for your project in mind.

What successes have you had as a developer or as a client on these or similar WordPress sites? Let us know in the comments!

Some WordPress Experts To Follow

by Jim on March 19th, 2012 1 Comment

Looking for some day-to-day WordPress inspiration with a personal touch? Check out these great bloggers and development experts to follow on Twitter or add to your RSS feed.

50 WordPress People to Follow on Twitter
This is a good list to stay in touch with what’s going on in the WordPress world through the Twitterverse. We have featured many of these WordPress sites and experts in the past few days, so some of the names may be familiar to you. There will also no doubt be some new resources you should also check out and follow to stay up-to-date on all things WordPress.

Justin Tadlock
Justin is a very talented blogger and WordPress developer that we have featured on our blog several times before. He is a great resources especially for plugin development. Justin also spices up his blog with non-WordPress related content like workout routines and recipe inspiration.

Ben Gillbanks
Ben Gillbanks’ site Binary Moon offers frequent WordPress-related posts. Gillbanks mostly handles theme development, though other topics occasionally surface. In addition to these posts, he also rounds out his blog with movie and game reviews.

Cats Who Code
Cats who Code is the creation of Jean Baptiste Jung of WP Recipes, featured in a recent ASO post. His WordPress posts deal mainly with themes and PHP snippets, though there is some variation. Also note that Jean is not strictly a WordPress expert. He is also a great resources for Java, HTML/CSS, web development and more.

Otto on WordPress
Otto on WordPress has a stockpile of plugin resources that should be helpful to developers of all experience levels. Otto also gives quality updates dealing with all things WordPress on a regular basis. To get a sense of Otto’s personal side, check out the link to his blog, “Nothing to See Here” on the top right corner of the page.

Mark on WordPress
Mark on WordPress also does a good job with keeping his readers informed and entertained. His posts are very detailed and well-thought-out, though he does tend to update less frequently than other the WordPress experts listed.

What WordPress masters fill your RSS feeds and follow lists? We would love to hear about your WordPress people in the comments!

HostNine Weekly Round-Up: March 12-16

by McKinneyBrown on March 16th, 2012 Leave a comment

Hello readers! Here’s a round-up of the links and content we’ve posted on the HostNine blog throughout the week. Want to see us cover a certain topic in the future? Let us know in the comments!

This Week’s HostNine Blog Posts:

6 Ways to Promote Your Reseller Hosting Business

Why Entrepreneurs Should Buy Reseller Hosting

Affiliate Marketing: Is it Right for My Business?

WordPress Hacks

HostNine Social Links From The Week:

Top 10 Premium WordPress Plugins for 2012
SITEPOINT

Using a Content Delivery Network with WordPress
THE HOSTING BLOG

10 Useful Queries to Clean up Your WordPress Database
CATS WHO CODE

The 10 Commandments of Landing Pages That Work
COPYBLOGGER

HostNine Social Outlets:

Like HostNine on Facebook.
Follow us on Twitter.
Visit us on Google+.

To close out, here’s some humor from XKCD:

Papyrus

See you all next week!

WordPress Hacks

by Jim on March 15th, 2012 Leave a comment

Are you a WordPress user? Looking for some WordPress hacks? Check out the resources below.

Any sites you frequent that we didn’t mention? Tell us about them in the comments!

WP Recipes
WP Recipes is a fantastic blog that gives you daily snippets, tips and hacks to keep your developing skills sharp.

WP Engineer
WP Engineers offers code snippets with extremely detailed explanations behind them. A bit more code-heavy than the other resources on this list.

Digging into WP
Lighter on the programming side of things, but still offers some great snippets and tips for a more effective WordPress site.

WP Hacks
WP Hacks gives a long list of resources for themes, stylesheets, posts and comment hacks. These tips tend to be lighter on the code as well, but with very detailed tutorials.

WP Snippets
WP Snippets lets you browse from another long list of WP snippets or sort them into categories, including images, pages, and posts.

New WordPress Power Tips
This post is aimed at developers wanting to get up to speed on the latest WordPress developments.

41 WordPress Tricks and Hacks
This is a long, yet manageable list to help you build your WordPress skill set. These topics are incredibly diverse and run from site efficiency to managing your comments.

Affiliate Marketing: Is it Right for My Business?

by McKinneyBrown on March 14th, 2012 Leave a comment

After working with many types of customers, from big business and small, I often hear, “I don’t know if the size of my business or the type of product or service I sell is right for affiliate marketing. I don’t know if it will work…”

While I can’t guarantee that Affiliate Marketing is right for every business out there, I believe there are a ton of companies that can start using affiliate marketing today to bring in more customers.

So how do you get started? Let’s go over the basics:

Affiliate Marketing 101

The Wikipedia definition of Affiliate Marketing is, “an internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts”. In its most basic form, A “Refer a Friend” campaign is essentially affiliate marketing.

To understand affiliate marketing a little further, you must be equipped with the common types of affiliate payments out there; how you can reward your affiliates for bringing in more customers.

CPA: (Cost per Acquisition)
This is usually done as a flat rate. For example: If an affiliate marketer brings in 1 customer, they get paid a flat rate of $25.

CPS: (Cost Per Sale)
Probably the most common, this model relies on a percentage of the sale referred, as the payout to the affiliate. For example, If a customer was referred by an Affiliate Marketer, and that customer paid $25 for the product or service (Let’s say the CPS is 10%), then the Affiliate Marketer would be paid $2.50.

Credits:
Probably the easiest for small businesses, offering your affiliate program to just your customer base and giving them credits or percentage off your services or goods.

How Do I Get Started?
There are so many tools depending on how much you want to invest in Affiliate Marketing. Let’s assume that you just want to get off the ground with some basics. Here is some starting points to get your program setup:

Join a Network
This is by far, the easiest way to jump right in. Just be cautious; some of these networks have high costs to join. I’d check out ShareASale or LinkShare. These networks expose your program to affiliate marketers in a network and allow you to manage it all from one place.

Site themes or WordPress Plugins
If you’re running your business website off of WordPress, there might be an easy way to add an affiliate program by just installing a plugin. Check out these plugins here.

Coupon Codes or Credits
If starting a whole new affiliate marketing channel scares you, Figure out a way you can hand out unique coupon codes to select customers. Ask those customers to share these with potential leads. A simple form field on your site will allow you to see who used the coupon code and who, as a customer, should be credited for their affiliate marketing.

After getting setup with one of the above solutions, you will want to track your affiliate’s progress. This alone will make sure that your Affiliate Marketing channel is showing a consistent activity of bringing in customers.

What Affiliate Marketing strategies have you used to grow your business? Let us know in the comments!

Why Entrepreneurs Should Buy Reseller Hosting

by Jim on March 13th, 2012 1 Comment

Are you an individual with a burning entrepreneurial spirit but you just don’t know how or where to start when creating your own online business? Reseller hosting may be the start-up business for you! With very little monetary and time investment required up front, reseller hosting affords you the opportunity to start and grow an online business.

What is Reseller Hosting?

Reseller hosting is selling web hosting packages with your own unique brand. Several web hosting companies will not only allow you to resell their hosting products, but will assist you to do so! When you resell web hosting, you will create your own business web presence and promote your own “brand” of web hosting. Of course, your plans must be in line with the plans that are offered by your web hosting provider. In addition, you will be responsible for acting as the support liaison for your own clients. You as the web hosting “middle man” of sorts, may also provide your clients with extras in addition to web hosting plans, such as SEO services, web design and site build-outs.

How Do I Promote My Reseller Web Hosting Business?

Reseller hosting requires that you promote your own brand. You will promote your web hosting brand just like you would promote any other business interest. First, you build a website that showcases the web hosting plans, as well as the other services you offer. Next, you strike a deal with your web hosting provider that allows you to maximize your profits when you sell web hosting services. Most web hosting companies will be happy to have you as a reseller for their product and will work with you in several ways to assist you with your efforts.

Promoting any business online requires that you attain at least a cursory understanding of search engine optimization (SEO). You need to know SEO to effectively promote your brand online. This includes getting your site listed and highly ranked with the major search engines, exchanging links with complementary businesses and getting the word out about the services you offer.

Is Reseller Hosting Scalable?

Many entrepreneurs are concerned with the scalability of reselling web hosting. Fact is, reselling web hosting is no different than any other business in terms of scalability. As long as your web hosting provider is reputable, provides excellent service (up-time, support, etc.) and has been around for a while, you can pretty much rest assured that as your client list grows, your web hosting provider will make sure that your hosting availability grows, too. If you find that you need to switch web hosting companies because or original host is no longer able to accommodate your business’ extreme growth, well, we should all be so fortunate! You can most likely perform a seamless switch to a new web hosting provider, if needed, and your clients be none the wiser.

However, the more clients you resell hosting to, the more your original web hosting provider profits, and the more money you make, as well. Everyone has a vested interest in seeing you succeed in such a venture, including your web hosting provider. In most cases, your web hosting provider will do whatever it takes to keep you as a reseller for their business.

Web Hosting Resales is a Win-Win for Everyone!

As a budding entrepreneur, reselling web hosting is beneficial to you in that you learn valuable skills about promoting your own business, dealing with and keeping clients, managing business procurement and other business-related activities, as well as other skills. You get to start a business without investing a great deal of capital. By starting out small, you are able to provide clients with excellent customer service. You are able to develop and maintain business relationships that may remain for years to come.

For your web hosting provider, they make money because the more web hosting plans you support through your business, the more profit they make as a result. Many web hosting providers actually encourage budding entrepreneurs, as well as web developers, SEO marketers and others in Internet-related endeavors, to resell their hosting products.

As you master the features offered by your web hosting company, you will be able to provide these services to your clients. For example, many web hosting providers offer Linux-based hosting with easy-to-deploy add-ons like Joomla and WordPress. Chances are, an average end user has no desire to master the art of deploying a Joomla site. However, you know about Fantastico! (By the way, Fantistico is a tool offered by several Linux web hosting providers that enable you to deploy add-ons like Joomla within minutes.) Deploying a Joomla site is as easy as pie for you now that you have taken the time to learn about Linux-based hosting services. Why not share this skill with your clients and make money doing it? Reselling web hosting can be a win-win proposition for all involved.

6 Ways to Promote Your Reseller Hosting Business

by Jim on March 12th, 2012 1 Comment

Reselling web hosting services is one way to create a web-based start up that does not require a great deal of capital or effort. The need to maintain hardware and software is the responsibility of the web hosting company whose services are “resold.” The main task of a reseller is to promote the hosting resale business.

Several techniques are available to promote your reseller hosting business. These techniques include:

1.) Guest Blogging

One great way to promote your reseller hosting business is to “guest-blog” on blogging sites. However, do not over-promote your business! Be sure to blog about interesting topics. For hosting resellers, the list of topics are endless. These topics include cloud computing, hosting plans, hosting company reviews, what is a web host, and a myriad of other technical or web-related topics.

Share your expertise with an audience who will be interested in differences in hosting plans, such as Linux-based versus Windows-based hosting. Discuss considerations for selecting the right web hosting company for a small business. Blog about various add-ons and extra features that may or may not be included in web hosting plans. Discuss how important good technical support is when it comes to a web hosting company.

Providing relevant and interesting content that readers can use is one way to make a name for yourself and generate business for your reseller hosting effort. In addition, mild promotion of your business, such as a by-line that includes a URL to your hosting resale site, is usually acceptable practice when you are a guest blogger on another blog.

2.) Create Your Own Blog

As part of your business site, create your own blog. As you guest-blog on other sites and create a name for yourself as a knowledgeable author, you will develop a following and an audience. In addition, search engines tend to list fresh, new content higher in page ranking algorithms. Sites that are stagnant tend to fall in page rank when compared to sites where the content is continually updated. Make a name for yourself as an expert in the field of web hosting and increase your page ranking with major search engines at the same time. It’s a win-win proposition.

Be sure to work a few of your keywords into your content as you blog. As long as you are not “keyword loading,” keywords appearing in your blog will increase your page ranking with major search engines, as well.

3.) List Your Reseller Hosting Business on Location-Driven Directories

One of the most utilized and well-known location-driven directories is Google Places. Google Places will allow you to list your business for free. When someone searches for a term such as “Web Hosting Atlanta GA,” if you are located in Atlanta, your business will appear in the search results! Many business either do not know that this listing is free, or do not know about the service to take advantage of it, but far too many business fail to list their services with location-based directories. True, if you one a reseller hosting company, your clientele need not be based in your area. However, it sure doesn’t hurt to appear at the top of the search results when someone searches for your type of business in your specific area!

4.) Post External Links on Your Business Site and Get Back Links From Those Companies You Promote

Now, you really don’t want to promote another web hosting service, but you could promote SEO and marketing companies that would complement your type of business, rather than initiate competition with you. Try to post links to other businesses that will return the favor by posting links to your site on their site. Google and the other major search engines LOVE external links and back links.

5.) Post Internal Links to Your Interesting Blog Posts and Articles

Google and the other major search engines also LOVE internal links! Make sure to create links on your business home page to new and relevant content that you have recently posted to increase your page ranking.

6.) Provide GREAT Service to Your Customers

Still, one of the best ways to promote your business is word-of-mouth from happy customers to other, potential customers. If a client loves your service, they will share the information with others.

HostNine Company Blog

4 Great Joomla Tutorials

Navigating WordPress Job Sites

Some WordPress Experts To Follow

HostNine Weekly Round-Up: March 12-16

WordPress Hacks

Affiliate Marketing: Is it Right for My Business?

Why Entrepreneurs Should Buy Reseller Hosting

6 Ways to Promote Your Reseller Hosting Business

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