Well… I am still ‘testing’ hosting companies and am down to comparing two – InMotion Hosting and Blue Host. Each has their own good points, great pricing and great support.
For instance, with InMotion Hosting, I am just getting used to their ‘open communication’. It seems there was a slight ‘burp’ in my affiliate account. I had no idea. Guess I should check these things once in a while. Anyway, one of their very nice staff caught the discrepancy and e-mailed me to let me know that it had been corrected…… who knew??? Naturally they supplied a toll free number for me to contact them if I had any questions – which I did and I did. I was connected to a lovely young lady who was most helpful – all was in good shape, they just wanted to keep me informed. How about that!!!
I realize most companies spout off about how they are into ‘communicating’ with clients, etc., but it is still a little strange when one actually does ! (LOL) And, to be fair, BlueHost is another very ‘open’ company. In fact, each time you call them for support (another toll free), they ask that you ‘rate the call’ when you are finished with their support person. Yep….you stay on the line and rate their tech support…. interesting.
This may or may not be of interest to those visiting my blog, but if you are having problems with your web site hosting company and not getting the attention or open communication you feel you should, you might want to check out these two hosting companies.
Choose either one – both offer really low prices when you consider what you get in return
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Posted by Dale in Software
For some reason, for the past 2 weeks, my browser (FireFox) has been crashing regularly. Things came to a head last week when I was trying to do some research and it kept closing on me every 5 minutes. That is just not acceptable. Sooo……. when hunting for something new. I used to use I.E. until it got ‘improved’ - need I say more…. Changed to FireFox and was absolutely delighted until now. It seems like everyday someone complains to me about FireFox crashing. And, of course, you don’t want me to get started on what I think about ‘Bing’.
The solution ended up being Google Chrome. It downloaded nicely and quickly. It loaded fast and has a very clean look. I love my tabs and I want a few of them available when I open up the program each day. Google Chrome seems to accommodate my needs without hours of configuration. So far, so good. If you are having problems with IE or FireFox, you might want to give Chrome a try – can’t hurt.
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Decided to add this link to my blog so I would always be able to take another look at this page when a client asks me to do something so incredibly dumb that it makes the client in this little saga look smart…. like today…
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
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Have you noticed lately that some web pages are very difficult to read? Some are 3-4 column small ‘print size’ that I’m sure a lot of people have a real problem reading. Some web pages have two or three different sizes and font styles and very, very busy.
Well – would you believe a place called ‘arc90′ came up with a little application that you can put on your browser tool bar to make individual web pages easier to read. I decided to give it a try – very interesting – check it out – I think you will like this little program. It should be noted, however, that I’m using FireFox and it worked beautifully – not sure about the other browsers.
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Well – I finally moved my web site to new hosting. Just couldn’t take the problems at Superb.net. And, wouldn’t you know it, moving was much more painful than it needed to be. Good web hosting is one of the most important things when you use your web site for business. I am now installing clients either at InMotion Hosting or BlueHost – both appear to be very good with great tech support and lots of perks – very reasonably priced. Think I will wait for a few months to make a final recommendation – but… so far…. so good. If you wish to host with either of these companies, you can click through my web site on my services page: http://www.donebydale.com/services.htm
Choose wisely…..
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As most friends and clients know, I have been looking for suitable full-time employment for quite some time. Recently I was requested to submit my resume to become a support rep handling telephone enquiries concerning domains and hosting, etc. What I am amazed at is how little these people get paid and it brought to mind a conversation I had with my boss when I worked at the Bank of Nova Scotia. So here goes…
He began by telling me that at one time, (and I do not know how long ago this was but I’m guessing a century or more) – when you were hired to work at a bank branch, you started in the back office. The new employee was taught about accounts, processing deposits, filing, procedures, rules, regulations – everything about how a branch was run. Only AFTER the employee had been promoted and knew everything about banking procedures was he considered qualified to work as a teller dealing with customers and handling their money. The most important person in the branch was the Head Teller. Obviously customer service was a high priority -they really wanted people to deposit their money.
I find that story fascinating considering how poorly most companies treat and pay their ‘tech support’ people now.
Naturally, because I work on web sites, I get a lot of complaints about ‘everything’ web & computers, which then extends to anything digital – camera, phones, etc. Main complaint is always poor product tech support …. makes one wonder, doesn’t it??
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Earlier this month I had the pleasure of going to see Tony Bennett sing at Casino Rama. Now… I’m more a rock fan than a ‘big band’ fan, but let’s face it – great is great. I found the show very enjoyable and also enlightening – it was almost like taking a ‘music history lesson’. And the experience brought into glaring focus the differences between his ‘time’ and the present and perhaps, a few ‘lessons lost’.
Mr. Bennett gave credit to the exceptional song writers (like Gershwin, etc.) and while listening to these beautiful songs, it occurred to me that those ’song writers’ did not sing the songs – they ‘wrote’ the songs – that was their incredible ‘gift’ or talent. Singers like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, etc., ’sang’ the songs – that was their ‘gift’ or talent. Two different skill sets or talent, each doing what they did best.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some excellent singers who can write songs and sing equally well – but that is extremely rare. I just happened to catch Barbara Streisand on Oprah the other day – I had forgotten how incredible her voice is… and I can guarantee she did not write the amazing song she sang that brought the audience to tears. Her voice and that song – magic.
The point of this dissertation is that for some reason, we seem to have forgotten that different jobs require different abilities and certain types of individuals are better at certain types of jobs. I often see job descriptions in ads which are really a ‘combination’ of two different jobs that would normally require two very different people. I realize that there are ‘cut backs’, but look around – you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that this might not be working out all that well. Wasn’t there a saying ‘jack of all trades, master of none’??
Unless things have really changed in the last couple of years, you can always ‘learn’ to do ‘tasks’, but if you are ‘made for the job’, learning those tasks is easy, you enjoy your job, and succeeding is a given – everyone wins.
This may be one of our ‘lessons lost’.
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Decided to take the plunge and ordered PDF software from Nuance. Adobe is just way over the top in pricing – they must be taking lessons from Microsoft. Anyway, Nuance had a special and I decided to take advantage. It is surprisingly good. I can reduce PDF sizes for the web very nicely. Haven’t had a chance to try out all the features but so far I am very happy with this little program. AND, I even got a project management program thrown in…. nice! I love a good deal. You can check it out at Nuance PDF Converter Professional 6 – info page – or see if the special is still available – special pricing and offer page. Not sure how long the offer will last.
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Posted by Dale in General
So you have a web site and want to register with all the search engines. What you should know is that it can take from 6 weeks to 6 months for your listing to show on a search engine. Now, a web site or two have been known to go to the top within a week, but that is rare. And, unfortunately, some search engines are now charging just to be listed! Google is still free but a few others are at least $50.00. Best to do a little research and talk to your web site designer about this.
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