Do yourself a favour and download the free version of Web CEO.

Webceo is one of those programs that makes childs play out of sumbitting your site to all the major search engines, as well as keyword ranking reports & research.

Before finding webceo, we would manually submit sites & well of course if you’ve ever done that you know is takes many hours.

We were impressed that webceo included a white label report maker, however we feel it still has a ways to.

We’re not gonna write much more on this one, but qualify webceo as a must have for anyone new or senior in seo.

Alright…one thing that probably won’t change anytime soon is the maximum attachment size on email. Welcome to YouSENDit.com.

YouSENDit allows you to upload a file and forward a download link to the person you want to receive.

The maximum file size attachment on the Free account is 100 MB, which is good if your looking for something for all of the files you want to send that are just over the threshold of maximum allowed attachment size for your email.

You can have a free trial of their paid service that will give you a 2GB file limit…so if your not into FTP..this would be for you. One of the other cool things about their paid service is you can have the option to have this service branded for your company!

We use YouSENDit.com on a regular basis, and ask our customers to use it to send us files as well. We have been using the free version for over a year..so far so good…you can Click here to Visit their website and start their free trial.

If anyone out there has any experience using any of the paid yousendit packages, please comment!

What to do with all those parked domains. Maybe start a blog, maybe start a directory!

phpMyDirectory – Yellow Pages Directory Website Software

After hunting the web we weren’t able to find much in the way of great software to start a Yellow Pages type of web directory listing. That is until we found phpMyDirectory.

For the price of $99.95…you can get started with a full fledged online yellow pages directory website, which is a really good price for what it is your getting.

FYI, W also looked into phpyellow.com but phpMydirectory had more features, and the default directory demo page, and listings page were easier to read & cleaner. Also..we could not find any website links in phpyellow for businesses in the listing.(or if there was one, we couldn’t find it).

phpMyDirectory has built in support for both Google & Yahoo Maps. I could not find advertised on their site whether or not the software was W3C XHTML 1.0 compliant, although i visited the demo site from my htc touch, and it reformatted just fine.

We’re not going to get into all of the features (as you can see them on their site), but apart from what we mentioned, we also like that phpMyDirectory can operate as a directory thats self served. You can checkout our demo of phpMyDirectory at http://signshopsatlanta.com

For the full phpMyDirectory feature listing, please visit their site.

Although phpMyDirectory does offer significant discounts if you want to get setup on more than one domain, I would suggest getting setup on one, as the bulk discount will be available even after purchasing.

Hosting your website with a webhosting company in the same country as where you primarily do business will higher your search engine ranking in Google Search Results & Rankings.

The IP address of the computer that your website is hosted on is a factor in where a search engine sees you geographically. If your a Canadian based business, you would better off having your website hosted on a Canadian Residing Server.

Another thing to consider is also the credibility of your hoster. Some IP address blocks have more credibility with search engines because they have not been tainted. Tainted means they are well known for spamming or have had other sorts of issues. The more you pay for your web hosting, the chances are their IP’s are cleaner.

This one thing can change your businesses online exposure tremendously.

I am not sure what is in the future, but taking the proactive approach, we would recommend that you try to find a webhost that is either in or fairly close to your place of business or city.

If your budget conscious on hosting, we found a good hosting package for $3.95 per month with
CanadianWebHosting.com

We at PostHits classify all our software reviews into to distinct categories; For Sale & Open Source.   X-Cart falls into the For Sale Category, and although the price tag on this starts at a mere $229.00, don’t let this price fool you.  

X-cart is one of the most powerful ecommerce software packages currently available on the market.  It is well made, 100% supported, and the company that has made it also has ISO9001 certification.  It has all of the standards you would expect from a more higher priced piece of software.  Things like W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional compliant code, Multi language capability, integrated search, integrated realtime shipping calculations, an extensive list of payment gateway support, 100% Template based, SEO Friendly, & loads of options to customize; meaning once you decide to go with x-cart, in the long run it will carry. If you are a Canadian or Canadian based business looking for an ecommerce solution, X-Cart has native support for Canada. It has GST and PST already built in, and supports Canada Post’s online Realtime Shipping module.

We won’t get into all of the features of X-cart but you can see a full list on their website at www.x-cart.com .

X-Cart is available in two versions. X-cart Gold ($299.00)  and X-cart Pro ($575.00)

X-Cart Pro extends features of X-Cart Gold by adding specific functionalities:

• Unlimited number of isolated provider/seller accounts
• Sellers/providers can edit only products belonging to them
• Different providers/sellers can set their own shipping rates for pre-defined shipping methods
• Admin account is separated from provider/seller accounts
• Independent tax settings for providers/sellers

X-Cart Pro is ideal for:

• Online store selling products from multiple suppliers.
• Web-supermarket with several departments.
• Online distributor/wholesaler.
• Internet mall with joint catalog.

If your just getting started, we would suggest going with X-Cart Gold and upgrading to the Pro version when your more comfortable with using x-cart or you feel it meets your needs.

Purchasing X-Cart 

There are 3 ways to purchase X-Cart.  

1. Buy the actual X-Cart software directly
2. Go on one of their recently announced hosting packages
3. Purchase X-Cart Software or X-Cart Hosted from an X-Cart Authorized Reseller

Installing X-Cart is a cinch if you use their online step by step guide.

If you want to setup a temp host until your site is ready, we would suggest registering a domain for the temp website at www.GoDaddy.com and signing up for one of their Economy Hosting Plans. It meets X-Cart’s Requirements and starts from $3.99 monthly. 

One of the things we loved about X-Cart was the different options we had for support.  Upon purchase, you will get a login into an exclusive X-Cart owners & users forum.  We found this to be a fabulous resource as a lot of the questions we had in how to customize X-Cart were already asked by several users, and the forum moderators stay on top of things by keeping everything organized neatly.  The forums also gave us an opportunity to find cut & paste code for free X-Cart Modifications, and value words of guidance & wisdom from X-Cart veterans and their doings.

There are many X-Cart add on’s available which are commonly referred to as X-Cart mods.  You’ll see what’s available for X-Cart mods by either Googling or their forum.  If your pressed for time and need your X-Cart website customized asap..you can contact X-Cart via email or US Toll Free as they do provide customization services globally.

One of the must have X-Cart mods we purchased was from a company named TelaFirma.  They have a mod for X-Cart that automatically resizes images for your product pages, and thumbnails (which was a most definite time saver).

The main areas that will require customization on X-Cart after initial purchase are:

Site Layout and Site Theming ( Based on the look your business wants)

The Checkout Process (The default X-Cart Checkout Process takes too long)

Telefirma’s Dynamic Images Module (For Image Formatting)

Alot of people have been very close to buying X-Cart..but because of the checkout process being so cumbersome, people have gone for something else. I was at an SEO meeting a few months back, and some of the people i talked with there said they would have gone for X-Cart as it had everything they were looking for..except the checkout process sucked..and the consensus was oscommerce.  Nevertheless, there is a lot of support for X-Cart available, and there is an X-Cart One Page Checkout Module that (at the time of this writing) is almost near completion.  Given the choice between going with oscommerce and X-Cart with a one page checkout..I would spend the money required and go with X-Cart undeniably.

Being a business owner, I like the idea that X-Cart has been around for a while and is there for me if needed.  If your website guy goes MIA, or something goes wrong…you can always give them a call. X-Cart has been around for a while..and as a result they get their gravy.

After spending a few months using traditional domain parking, we needed something to offer a kickstart; something more creative and something that would justify all the domains we went purchasing.

 Welcome to WhyPark.com – So far WhyPark, is the world’s only domain parking service, that lets you put all of your own ads, while they do the content for you.  Like you..when i first heard about this service, it struck me as one of those kinda “too good to be true” sort of deals.  But after doing a little research, it looks like this service is definitely worth taking advantage of; even moreso if your not making much with your current domain park, this program has lots in store.  As with all with all of our Posts, we will be signing up for this service and will update with a review. 

Domain Registration Comparison Review -
Godaddy.com vs Network Solutions vs 1&1 vs Netfirms

There are many different domain registrars at which you can register a domain which are not in this review. The 4 Domain Registrars that we at PostHits have had much experience with are GoDaddy, Network Solutions, 1&1, and Netfirms.

www.godaddy.com

We have been using GoDaddy for quite sometime…ever since we found out they were charging about $10.00 per domain, while Network Solutions was charging $50.00.

Things have changed for the better since then.( you’ll see as you read on)

As we are writing this, The standard pricing on GoDaddys website for a dot com domain is $9.99.

If you search around the web for “godaddy promo codes” you’ll find all sorts of promo codes that will reduce your prices for various services upon checkout. The best GoDaddy Promo Code we found was oyh3. oyh3 will give you .coms at $6.95 per domain!

We have tried some of godaddy’s other services, such as webhosting, domain auctions and domain aftermarket selling services…but with all said & done, the thing we feel that GoDaddy does best & better than anyone else (right now) is domain management and domain registration. Why?

Their domain control panel is one of the easiest things to figure out. Changing DNS servers, & contact information is a breeze. We have never had a problem with GoDaddy in this respect. Their phone tech support is great!

Network solution only charges $9.00 for dot coms right now. If you only need a to register a couple of domains, then i would suggest Network Solutions is the way to go. For anything more I would recommend godaddy (mainly for .com’s).

Where we find Network Solutions does excel above the rest, is in SSL Certificates for your website or ecommerce based store. Although alot of other registrar companies sell SSL Certificates, we feel that the goal of getting an SSL Certificate for your website is to establish customer confidence, as well as to provide security. Being that Network Solutions is a very well known and recognized organization, we feel getting an SSL Certificate from them delivers on these points. The price as of today for an SSL Certificate at Network Solutions is $89.00 per year.

There are 2 things that we take into consideration for domain registration. First is the price, the second is the usability of the control panel for things such as DNS administration, Domain Transfers & Updates of Service.

When we first registered some domains at 1&1…we did it because their promo said buy one get another domain free. The thing they don’t tell you is that the second domain is one they pick for you..some noname domain like onlinehomes2343.us. I tried calling them and asking “Whats the deal with this” The guy on the phone had a hard time figuring out why i didn’t find the second domain a very great deal.

Secondly..when changing DNS to non 1&1 Servers…it takes alot longer for the DNS changes in propogating. Also..when you change your DNS..you get a message saying that..they will not be able to guarantee that your DNS or website will work if you stop using the 1&1 servers. Along with that, I started to get follow emails saying that my DNS servers where still set to 1&1’s, but after logging in..the control panel showed the new servers I had set.

Thirdly..alot of the services in their control panel cost money…and this isn’t very clear when you are clicking. I started to receive charges on my credit card for an SEO site submission of $14.00 per month..which i never entered my credit card in for, not remember seeing that there was a charge for this when clicking.

Bottom line…although the name 1&1 sound fairly simple..Our experience with them has been nothing less then complicating. We would not recommend 1&1 for any services that they offer.

Netfirms has been our registrar of choice for Canadian .ca domain names. Pricing is $9.95 CAD per domain. Their control panel is not that bad, although one thing Netfirms can improve on is bulk domain registraring. If you are an existing customer, you must log into your netfirms account if you want the domain purchase to show up under your existing netfirms account. At time of purchase, there is no option to log into your account. There is an import feature in your account for this, as I guess they are aware of this problem, but a better solution would be to provide login capabilities when purchasing.

The other thing about their control panel is it only allows you to buy 1 domain at a time when you are logged in.

Other than that, we have no issues with Netfirms.

Conclusion:

If your interested in registering a domain, we would suggest Godaddy.com is the place to start. If your looking for .ca domain names, we recommend Netfirms.ca. SSL Certificates is somewhat of a toss up with us, as Godaddy has pretty good online credibility as well..although we would still recommend Network Solutions for all of your SSL Certificate Needs. 1&1…well..lets just say…maybe another time.

It’s never good to put all your eggs in one basket and the same goes for online advertising. Diversifying your online advertising providers

GoDaddy.com Domain Registration