You may have no idea what that means, so let me explain: My current favorite internet platform, Wordpress, has just been made more friendly for Real Estate Agents and Brokers with a product created by a company out of California. A new App/Widget/Add-on (insert the term you prefer) has been created [...]]]> By Marisa Moleiro

You may have no idea what that means, so let me explain: My current favorite internet platform, Wordpress, has just been made more friendly for Real Estate Agents and Brokers with a product created by a company out of California. A new App/Widget/Add-on (insert the term you prefer) has been created which will now allow all of your listings to feed to your self-hosted Wordpress site or blog!!

Prior to this new product, there was no way to feed your listings from the MLS system to your Wordpress site or blog. All properties would have to have been entered manually – and we all know what a drag that is!!

Of course, Wordpress is a wonderful platform to run many different kinds of websites, not just real estate sites. They can be easily optimized for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), are easily maintained and updated, and offer hundreds if not thousands of add-ons to customize your site’s interface and user interaction.

If you don’t currently have a site powered by Wordpress and would like to know more about getting one set up for you, contact me. Or, if you do currently have a Wordpress site and would like maintenance help, or to find out more about the new IDX plugin, contact me! (Wordpress is my specialty – my site, VIPAssisting.com, is powered by it.)

There are many things to consider when choosing a new web host. And with so many providers out there, some may think “Where do I begin?”, so I thought I would help by giving a short list of some important criteria to help narrow down your options. In my experiences not only with [...]]]> by Marisa Moleiro

There are many things to consider when choosing a new web host. And with so many providers out there, some may think “Where do I begin?”, so I thought I would help by giving a short list of some important criteria to help narrow down your options. In my experiences not only with my own websites, but in assisting others, these seem to be the most important things to consider when shopping around.

• 24-7 Phone support When something goes wrong and you don’t know how to fix it, this is crucial! E-mail support could take forever, that is if someone even answers you in the first place!
• Automatic Backups It is always good practice (if not mandatory) to back up your site in its entirety before installing any kind of update, but not many people remember to do so. I have known too many people who could have easily resolved a site problem by restoring a back up copy, but none was available either because they didn’t manually back up or their host didn’t provide automatic backups. This is why I prefer to use a web host that offers automatic backing up. Every day, my host creates a snapshot of my site which can be restored by a few clicks of the mouse if something were to go wrong. I love it!
• Simple Website Software Installation I am a big fan of Wordpress, and have built my site on its platform. I was able to install it in only a few clicks, rather than having to go to the Wordpress site and download it to my hard drive, then unzip it and install it to the server the right way. It was up and running within minutes and I was able to start creating my site! Besides Wordpress, my host also offers easy installs for Joomla!, Drupal, and many other add-ons and applications to make your site cutting-edge.
• Bandwith and Storage Many hosts nowadays offer adequate storage and bandwidth to accommodate even the largest of business websites. So, unless you are planning on launching something like a community site or social networking site where you will allow people to upload and share files, you will be fine with almost any commercial web host. However, your level of need will depend on your site’s content. If you don’t know what level of storage/bandwidth you should be looking at, contact me.
• Hosting Company’s Reputation/Server Stability I have used all types of hosts–from small companies to large companies, well-known and obscure–and ended up with my current host, GoDaddy which is a large, well known brand. Now, I never usually let a big brand influence me solely because of their market share because a lot of times there can be a “little guy/gal” out there who offers service just as good. But with web hosting what I found out is that a lot of “little guys/gals” are re-sellers, or middle-men if you will, who sign up to sell hosting service to make a few extra buck$ but then don’t pay attention to customer service after they make the money off of you. So what I ended up with was site outages and no one to get in contact with, (I even looked up the WHOIS information and it was erroneous) and I was left dead in the water–with a down website! I also tried Yahoo! web hosting–another big name–however, my site went down on a monthly basis and even though they had 24-7 tech support, it didn’t matter because there was nothing the tech support staff could do but tell you to wait it out. I was shocked at their lack of server stability. So, I finally ended up at Godaddy (after resisting because I didn’t want to conform to mainstream popularity–silly, I know) and have been ecstatic with their reliability and customer service. I would recommend them to anyone and everyone.

That just about sums up my top 5 crucial things to think about when choosing your next web hosting company.  Also remember that based on the kind of site you’re planning to build, there may be other factors which will influence your decision as well.

If you need a new website, or have an existing site that needs maintenance or updating, contact me… I can help!