Ok, I was having some pretty strong sugar cravings and finally broke down. My girlfriend and I took a trip to our local WinCo and after getting some groceries we grabbed one dozen sweet, delicious, sugary donuts…. I felt a strange need to share this with the rest of the world and here we are now. Of course I had to snap a few pictures. Ahh…pure donut xtasy!

I don’t get to eat much sugar because I have a pretty strict diet. I am trying to gain another 10-15lbs of lean muscle so it’s mostly all very clean food. I caved this time though!

After I had my fill of sugar I thought i’d find out a little more about these sugary treats. From a quick google search I found this: http://www.krispykreme.com.au/doughnuts/facts/fun/

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When you’re looking for a web host for the first time it’s very easy to get lost and overwhelmed, not to mention mislead and misinformed. It’s a bit tricky to find a web host that has everything you need now and in the future. Here are the five steps I used in finding my web hosting match made in heaven!

Step 1: First we’ll need to establish exactly what your needs are plus some extra. So we’ll need to find the data bandwidth and data storage needs of the site. In a more complex situation we’d have to figure out CPU processing and RAM needs. We’ll assume the hosting needed is just for a single website without lots of video or large image downloads. You won’t need a whole lot of storage space and most any host you’ll find will provide more than enough storage. To calculate the bandwidth necessary for hosting your site use the below formula (courtesy of the article at findmyhosting.com).

Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size x 31 x Fudge Factor

31 is for the number of days in the month and the fudge factor is to compensate for how far off your actual needs may vary. For instance, 1.5 as the fudge factor will assume you’re off by %50. This sounds high but when you’re determining how much bandwidth you’ll need, it’s better to have too much than to go over your allotment and get overage charges. If you’re very positive that your daily visits will not change dramatically this is a good number. If you don’t really have any idea as to your bandwidth requirements, you could increase the fudge factor to 2 or higher.

So we’ll say that we have approximately 1000 daily visitors on average. They view 3 pages on average and your average page size is approximately 50kb.

1000 x 3 x 50 x 31 x 1.5 = 6975000 Kb or 6.652Gb per month (this allows for 50% above your actual needs, which you may end up needing).

Step 2: Now that we’ve established bandwidth requirements we should establish what hosting characteristics are most important to you. To most people the price is most important but once you’ve had a terrible web host, you’ll realize that you get what you pay for. So from my experiences I’ll list what I look for.

1. Uptime and positive reviews from customers (Reputation)
2. Customer service and availability of technical support (Availability)
3. What level of services they can provide (Range of Services and Scalability)
4. How much it will cost per month for the services I will need (Price)

As you can see, price is at the bottom of my list. That is not because I have money to spend. I am looking for the cheapest deal just like everyone else BUT it’s more important to me that the company has a solid reputation, is available whenever I need them, and can provide the full range of services that I will need.

Step 3: We know what the site’s bandwidth requirements are, we know what we are looking for in a host, so what’s next? I would say, build a list of the companies that are potential candidates. This is the tricky part so pay attention!

Whatever you do, do not search for “Top 10 web hosts” or something similar to that. The majority of lists and sites that rate web hosts and have a top 10, 20, 100, etc. list are bogus and are usually an advertising ploy to get more customers….and it works! So don’t fall prey to those companies. It’s easy, very easy, i’ve done it twice now

Find reputable websites such as Web Hosting Talk that have lots of web host feedback, ask around and do your research. You should be able to quickly find countless hosts to fill your list. I would usually build a list of 5 or so and go from there. Post your list at a forum like Web Hosting Talk and get feedback from as many people as you can. Get a solid list of 5 or so candidates then call each one and talk to technical support or someone similar and get a feel for how helpful they are, how easily and often they are available, and how well they will be able to help you in a time of need.

Step 4: Make your decision. It may be difficult to decide between the 3-5 hosts on your list but it will come down to who you feel will do the best job for you. I would narrow the decision down to 2 hosts and make a list of any pros and cons for each. Usually that will help you weigh and balance each one to make your final decision. Once you have made your decision, get signed up.

Step 5: IT’S NOT FINAL! Just because you have signed up and have gotten things setup doesn’t mean you’re all done. It would be best to test things out and make sure you aren’t running into any problems. If problems arise and you discover the company isn’t right for you, switch to another. It’s a pain but in the long run you’ll want to make sure you’re hosting with someone that’s right for you now instead of finding out later that they can’t provide what you need.

Conclusion: The steps provided here are for a simple, singular web site. If you plan on hosting multiple sites, multimedia web site(s), or high traffic site(s) you will want to look into shared reseller accounts, VPS, or even a dedicated server. For the average beginner a shared hosting account will do just fine for all your needs but be sure you go with someone who can allow you to grow. Hopefully this helps anyone just starting out!

Did you like this post or have an opinion? Please leave a comment! Thanks!

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These days it seems like everyone and their dog (or cat(s)) are on the internet. People that don’t know a thing about HTML or any other web language are putting up blogs and personal websites. Domain names are being sucked up left and right and people are grabbing their piece of the pie while it’s still available. Although the rest of the world is becoming more and more tech savvy, I must be on another planet or something because the majority of people I know either don’t care, don’t know, think it’s a nerd thing, or think it’s stupid. Ok, i’ll admit, it is a bit more of a nerd thing BUT, in today’s world, having a personal website is beneficial in many ways. As is running a non-personal website (uhh…money? duh ).

In my opinion, nearly everyone could benefit from having a “portfolio” available online. It gives you an edge on those other job applicants you are trying to beat out for the job. It lets your potential future boss (or client) know more about you and what you have done (things you can’t fit into a resume). People generally think you’re more “tech savvy”, intelligent, open, etc.

So why is it that everyone I know can’t see the potential opportunities and advantages of getting themselves, their work, or anything else they want on the internet. I tell most people that they should register their name dot com (yourname.com) whether or not you’ll use it right away. Some people’s names are very common, some are very unique, that doesn’t mean someone else in the world won’t take it before you. Sure, you could grab something similar but you don’t want to put myrandomdomain.com on your resume or try verbalizing it in a noisy environment. It’s easy to repeat your name dot com to someone though.

Most people feel intimidated by the web. They’re intimidated to have to learn in order to do something they don’t really care about. Who wants to build a resume when you aren’t applying for a job? - It’s called being prepared people! Besides, the way the web is these days, it’s simple to put up a website for free without any previous knowledge. Heck, I offer to host websites for my friends and family for FREE and will even buy the domain name for them in most cases.

Stop being tardo’s people! Although you will most likely have a place online in the future, you may not have the place you want. First come, first serve. If you can’t see the advantages of setting up a website of your own, tell me what you do for a living and for fun and i’ll tell you how a website can help you, maybe even make you money.

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For those of you who haven’t heard of JohnCow.com you should check it out. STOP Before you go checking it out, keep an open mind. The guy who setup and runs the website uses it to make money by blogging about making money from blogging.

My first reaction to the site was “ADVERTISEMENTS= ” and was inclined to immediately leave the site. Something about it got me to stay the extra few seconds it took for me to read one of the blog titles and I’ve been a subscriber since. There are lots of advertisements on his website and he does paid reviews, which I’m not a fan of, but his blogs can actually have good content and information. Thats what keeps me reading his feed and checking out his site. Although he does paid reviews I actually find new places that could be useful for me so I even find myself reading those.

He just posted a competition for $500 worth of coding. Thats not something I really need but, like he mentions in the blog, you could just sell it. So this blog entry is my entry into that competition BUT I figured at the same time I could provide my opinion and thoughts.

The place that will be doing the coding is CSSRockstars. I’ve seen sites like it here and there and have considered getting some work done with them. I’m learning to do it myself though so I haven’t had the need. I went and checked out their site and they are very affordable. In the last couple months I have come up with tons of new ideas for the internet but just don’t have time for all those projects. I can design the look but the coding takes me awhile. For less than $160 they will take your design and do the XHTML/CSS coding for you. I think they may have some business in the near future as I am going to need the work quickly.

John Cow’s blog is worth subscribing to. His blogs do have valuable information and he essentially tells you how to make money online with your blog. I’ve read lots of tips and found new ideas from there as well as discovering new services (like cssrockstars). If you have a blog of your own and you’re in need of some coding, check out his blog and enter into the competition yourself. Good luck!

Oh yeah, John, I like the new site design!

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If you haven’t read the blog “living in svensworld - surfing and creativity” yet, you should check it out. It’s a pretty interesting blog and the latest post (are you a quitter?) really grabbed my attention. It’s essentially about the addictions to today’s digital world. I think it applies to me but at the same time I like to think I have a pretty good balance between the digital world and reality.

In the blog there are five things you could be guilty of. I am guilty of three of them. I’m also guilty of many other things like watching tv shows or movies while web programming or designing while at the same time blogging or browsing the internet. I have even watched tv or movies while listening to music and playing Battlefield 2142. Thats a lot of noise and visual activity going on at the same time. Is that addiction or is it addiction when I am away from the computer and hear the chime of a new email arriving and I must check it?

My weekends are spent working on the computer or while i’m away from the computer i’m thinking about what else I need to get done or what else I want to do on the computer. After work the first place I go is to the computer….yet I work on a computer for a living. So I must be addicted to it but 4 days out of the week I spend 1 1/2 hours in the gym and have spent the last 2 years making the most radical physical change to my body ever. That is gaining 50lbs of pure, lean, muscle. I don’t have many friends (although that is mostly due to moving frequently within the last 2 years) so I spend almost all of my free time in the digital world. Is that so bad? Is that an addiction? I’m not a social networking whore and I don’t have to update my status online every 10 minutes but I do think I am addicted to the technologies of the world today.

Excellent blog Mr. Sven! It definitely got me to take a step back and look at who I am and what I do. I am an addict and i’m proud of what I do. At the same time I take care of my body, have a beautiful relationship with an amazing girl developing into a marriage one day, and I don’t have social communication issues. So no, I’m not a quitter but I still manage to have a balance between my addiction and the real world.

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I recently ran across a product called Black Hole. It’s an appetite enhancement supplement. Which sounds kind of interesting to me since I always have a hard time eating as much as I need in order to gain weight. I’ve always been skinny since high school (5′ 10″ 130-135lbs in high school, max 150lbs in college). After my motorcycle accident I weighed 127lbs when I realized I needed to change the way I was and never be skinny like that again. I gained 45lbs over a period of about 1 1/2 years. Now i’m averaging about 165lbs. It seems to be too hard to break far enough past the 170lb barrier. That is mostly because I find it very difficult to eat a lot. I don’t like taking the time to make food and then eat it nor am I a big fan of eating in general (I know, i’m weird). I have ups and downs though where I can manage eating a decent amount, but my downs cut me back to 165lbs. Perusing the forums over at bodybuilding.com I ran across a mention of Black Hole so I checked it out.

I figured i’d give it a go and see if it did anything to help. I expected it would make me hungry but I was wrong. It essentially turned me into a food disposal. I wasn’t hungry really, I was more like “not full”. When you’re trying to gain weight (for muscle of course) you eat until you’re full. It was a very strange feeling eating my normal quantities of food but not feeling full. I loved it! lol I just kept eating every 15-30 min. until I went to sleep one night and even my girlfriend noticed that my stomach was so full it was sticking out noticeably. This is the product I’ve been waiting for!

It has been 6 days now and I really have to say, it works. (wow, that sounds like an advertisement, lol) It’s a 30 day supply so we’ll have to see how the next 24 days turn out but it’s off to a good start. So if you’re like me and you have troubles eating enough food for sports or bodybuilding check this stuff out. I buy all my supplements from bodybuilding.com but i’m sure there are many other places to get it from. In no way is this a paid blog or anything of the like. I’m simply a happy customer sharing my opinion.

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