This is very interesting for folks who are looking for a separate company to do just their e-mail hosting. Webmail.us has added an RSS reader (link via the WHIR) to its platform. In my opinion, having a separate solution for your e-mail hosting seems a little far fetched, but with services like this added to the mix it could make it a little more desirable.

The RSS reader integrates with Web mail and can be accessed via any POP3 or IMAP-based desktop email client, such as Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird.

Webmail.us says the RSS reader caters to small business owners, allowing email administrators to regulate RSS feed subscriptions and pre-subscribe feeds for their users.

Unlike many RSS readers available for download, Webmail.us does not require any downloading or installation. Business users can now use Webmail.us’ email service as their preferred email client to manage content gathered from blogs, news and business-related sources.

Interesting enough, I also found that the folks over at Webmail.us have a blog up and running as well. Kudos to them for thinking outside the box in a hosting world that likes to stay as far into the box as they can get. They also have an RSS ready press room Web page as well where you can get all the latest and greatest information on the services they provide.

Here is only a sample of the wild and wacky Web hosting fun we had on this week’s edition of the Web Hosting Show. Everybody in the Web hosting industry from clients to Web hosts themselves need to get one thing through their heads. Put your lawyers and legal teams away when it comes to conflict. I received an E-mail a few days ago from a guy who listens to the Web Hosting Show. He told me about a horror story that he had with his current Web hosting company. These sorts of things happen every single day.

Remember when you were in grade school and you’d see the bigger kids picking on the smaller ones? Picture yourself on a school ground in any city across America. The insults would be flying, and then one side or the other would bring up the one thing you were not suppose to say. The one thing that little kids feared most.

“I’m going to go tell the teacher!”

At that moment, everybody on the school grounds would freeze. “Did he really say that?” some would mumble. “Wow, he means business,” others would say. Now lets go back to your modern day dispute between a Web hosting company and a Web hosting client. What is the phrase that you hear now that has the same effect as, “I’m going to go tell the teacher”?

“I’m going to go tell my lawyer!”

That is the part of the conversation where things get a little too heated and people start threatening legal action to the other one. As your Mother used to say, “I don’t care who started it!”. It can be started on either side. So what are the after effects? Usually both sides calm down, come to a common ground and go their separate ways. I have no scientific facts in front of me, but I am willing to bet that nine times out of ten nothing of legal terms happens. The moral of the story is, let us all try to settle or differences without bringing our legal counterparts into the discussion. It saves us all a big headache and will probably save you some respect with your peers inside or outside of the Web hosting world.

Now on the subject of Web hosting plans, let us just say that it is more than just a little confusing for the new guy on the street. When you go out and look at some of the plans a Web hosting company has to offer you are usually given the huge table of services in alignment with Web hosting plans, then a whole heck of a lot of little green dots or check marks.

The green marks usually represent the fact that you do or don’t get that option with your plan. Now most people look at this and say, “Wow, I’m sure getting a lot from my Web hosting company!” Truth be told, you should always compare Web hosting services between two or more companies before you let yourself get too impressed. A lot of what they want you to think is new, different or special services are just about standard with any Web hosting plan you buy these days. So don’t buy into the hype, by into the quality of the actual services at hand.

More fun than a bucket of chicken on the Forth of July, the Web Hosting Show is ready for download!

Download Episode 18 of the Web Hosting Show!

If you want to check out the show notes, get past interviews and shows we have done or just let me know what you think, you can do all of those things and more at the Web Hosting Show’s Web site.

Some changes on how I publish my articles, content, podcasts and more is coming!

First things first, I want to apologize to all the folks that are mad that this is posted on both my Mitchelaneous Web site and the Web Hosting Show’s Web site as well. Figured I’d just get everything out of the way in one post instead of trying to write up two separate posts on just about the same information.

Thanks to the tools at del.icio.us and a neat Firefox extension I have made two separate link blogs. This way I can still get things posted to my RSS feeds, even when I might not have the time in the day to write. If you already subscribe to the FeedBurner feeds for either Mitchelaneous, the Web Hosting Show or both then you are good to go. You should start getting updates once a day from there. If you are still using one of my old RSS feeds, please switch over! Here are both the RSS feeds for those of you who might be a little lost.

Web Hosting Show FeedBurner RSS Feed

Mitchelaneous FeedBurner RSS Feed

So add those bad boys to your favorite RSS reader and you should be good to go! Now lets go back into the idea of focus on both Mitchelaneous and the Web Hosting Show. Starting next Monday on the Web Hosting Show’s Web site I will be posting all of my Web hosting related material. Any links, articles and yes, the podcasts of course will be all about Web hosting in one way or another. This way I can spread around some of my content and give more content via the Web Hosting Show’s Web site during the week. Right now there is only one reason to check the Web Hosting Show’s Web site, to get the show every Monday. Now you’ll have to keep checking in to see what is going on in the Web hosting world as well as downloading the best Web hosting podcast Online today.

Where does that leave Mitchelaneous? Is it all alone and out in the cold? Heck no!

Mitchelaneous will go back to being what it was originally planned for. The links and posts made there will be random things about every other aspect of technology and a few personal things about myself thrown in for good measure. What could be covered there? Anything I find interesting, topical, or different.

Now what type of content will be in the RSS feeds? Will it be partial feeds or full feeds? Well, I have decided to include full syndication for now. Why the change of heart? Well as much as I would like for you to keep coming back to the Web site, I realize it might not be the easiest way to distribute my content out there. So there you go, full syndication for all!

Any questions? Ask away! Hopefully this reorganization of content will make things easier for me to put up and easier for you to get.

Who was able to make the most impact in the Web hosting world after HostingCon 2005? Sure there were a lot of booths with a lot of different things to offer. My hat goes off though to the folks at FastServers. They ran an entire casino theme during the event. See, I told you there is nothing boring or dull about the Web hosting world. Check out this write up about the booth and fun FasServers produced at HostingCon 2005.

Since Web Hosting Expo in 2001, the hosting business has been more on the periphery of Internet and telecommunications conferences, somewhat removed form the spotlight. HostingCon 2005, held earlier this month in Chicago, was the first conference in four years to make Web hosting its primary focus, and it presented hosts with a unique marketing opportunity.

The exhibit hall at HostingCon featured nearly 50 booths and included some rather elaborate displays, such as Microsoft’s miniature theatre and EV1Servers’s video bowling simulation. But the booth that drew the largest amount of attention belonged to Chicago-headquartered FastServers.Net. The company set up a makeshift casino, complete with blackjack and poker tables and FastServers employees sitting in as dealers. The company also hosted an after hours party at a posh nightspot on the last night of the event, opening the bar to all its guests.

A growing dedicated server and colocation provider serving roughly 1,000 customers and operating about 1,800 servers, FastServers had employed the casino theme to some success at local trade shows. But it had nearly retired the idea when it heard that a Web hosting industry conference was returning.

“We just couldn’t resist,” says Aaron Phillips, vice president of marketing at FastServers. The large hosting crowd, he says, was perfect for the casino theme. FastServers completely re-designed the booth from scratch, making its branding more prominent.

[Read the Rest of the Article!]

I will get straight to the point. Everybody in the Web hosting industry from clients to Web hosts themselves need to get one thing through their heads. Put your lawyers and legal teams away when it comes to conflict. I received an E-mail a few days ago from a guy who listens to the Web Hosting Show. He told me about a horror story that he had with his current Web hosting company. These sorts of things happen every single day.

Remember when you were in grade school and you’d see the bigger kids picking on the smaller ones? Picture yourself on a school ground in any city across America. The insults would be flying, and then one side or the other would bring up the one thing you were not suppose to say. The one thing that little kids feared most.

“I’m going to go tell the teacher!”

At that moment, everybody on the school grounds would freeze. “Did he really say that?” some would mumble. “Wow, he means business,” others would say. Now lets go back to your modern day dispute between a Web hosting company and a Web hosting client. What is the phrase that you hear now that has the same effect as, “I’m going to go tell the teacher”?

“I’m going to go tell my lawyer!”

That is the part of the conversation where things get a little too heated and people start threatening legal action to the other one. As your Mother used to say, “I don’t care who started it!”. It can be started on either side. So what are the after effects? Usually both sides calm down, come to a common ground and go their separate ways. I have no scientific facts in front of me, but I am willing to bet that nine times out of ten nothing of legal terms happens.

So what is the point in bringing up the lawyer? None at all. If anything, you loose respect in the “school yard” that you are playing in. If the conversation between the two parties is being held on a Web hosting forum, then there are many more eyes to see what you might be doing or might be receiving, due to the situation.

The important thing to remember is to always keep a cool head, never let yourself get all worked up over something like Web hosting and remember that there are too many eyes watching you to start acting like an idiot. Try to stay on the side of the “bigger guy” and see what you can do to come to a conclusion quick. The one thing you should not do is start making legal threats to anybody.

There are hundreds if not thousands of Web hosting companies out there today. Who is the biggest? Who is hosting more Web sites than anybody else out there? It seems like 1&1 is still leading the pack but Go Daddy is close on it’s tail.

Internet research and analysis firm Netcraft released its Web Hosting Provider Switching Analysis, identifying 1&1 Internet as the largest Web host, with more than 5 million Web-facing hostnames, while it shows Go Daddy gaining on the leader, with more than 4 million hostnames. The survey shows Yahoo! and EV1Servers each surpassing the 1 million hostname mark.

1&1 Internet has been the largest host since Netcraft’s switching analysis was launched in 2002, but Go Daddy has lessened the gap, adding a million hostnames since January. 1&1 passed the 4 million site mark in July 2004, but has taken 11 months to register another million hostnames.

[Read the Rest of the Article!]

I agree that the two businesses couldn’t be more different. 1&1 is more of your traditional Web hosting company and Go Daddy is mainly a domain name registration company. However, when you have a brand that people trust, you can go really far in the Web hosting world. I think that is Go Daddy’s main advantage right now. Competition is good for everybody though, and you can’t get more competitive than the Web hosting world, that is for sure.

Now the two words “sexy” and “hosting” do not really mix too much. My first thought is a Web hosting support pin-up calendar, but I highly doubt that anybody would want to see that. If there ever is one, I am totally offering my services at Mr. October though. The real leason to be learned here though is how can you make Web hosting more “sexy” to the average client out there. Could you do it by giving them more control?

From a historical perspective, the hosting industry is an infant of approx. 10-15 years of age. The industry arose from the widespread of the Internet, the graphical browsers, and a bunch of enthuisiastic entrepreneurs with great visions. These entrepreneurs were hardworking innovative crazy nerds with a mindset that set off for the sky. Where are they now? Are they white collar workers employed by Venture Capital, or have they just gone old? I don’t know, but I sure miss them, as the hosting industry has turned out to be just as slow and sexy as a turtle.

Let me explain. Basically, the hosting industry offers exactly the same services today as they did a decade ago. A hardware box, rackspace, power, and connectivity. Over time services like customer support, and control panels has improved, but we have not seen any true progress of pioneer work whatsoever in this century.

Think about this; This exiting, roaring, incredible, heart-beating industry who litterally has changed the world, is now fast asleep. Competition is boring and is powered by two main factors. Enduser prices, and the size of advertising budgets. No wonder that most customers are totally illoyal towards their provider, if the shop across the street offers slightly lower prices. Providers offer identical services, and the industry has emerged into the toilet paper selling business.

What the industry needs is to re-think the concept to make it appealing to customers of today. Yes, customers of today! You did not notice that the customer profiles has changed significantly? Well, they have. And they want something sexy from you in return for their loyalty!

Let’s face it. Most hosting customers are males. What makes a man feel good, and on top of the situation? The answer is simple. Control. The utmost control he can get. Wars is all about control! So is marriage! So, you’d better provide your customer with CONTROL, and you will make him feel like a king!

[Read the Rest of the Article!]

What if you had to pay more for a domain name if you were in Europe than if you were in the United States? What if you had to pay more for a domain name if you were in the United States in comparison with Canada? Well there is no “what if” anymore. It seems like some domain name registration companies are already playing with regional domain name prices.

One and one hardly seemed to describe the strategy of Web hosting firm and domain seller 1&1 Internet (oneandone.co.uk) as customers criticized the significant gap between the company’s pricing of domain names in the US and its prices in the UK, where a .com domain goes for about three times the American price at £10.45.

There is an understanding that different regional markets may require different pricing. And customers and experts agree that a complete and reliable solution ? both in domain services and the accompanying Web hosting services ? is more important than the price across the pond. But the price difference certainly draws its detractors, competitors among them, of course.

US-based domain registrar and hosting player Go Daddy (godaddy.com) says 1&1 is offering domains to Canadian and American buyers for as little as $5.99 because it is pursuing local market share. Certainly the competition is more cut-rate in North America, where Go Daddy itself recently launched a promotion offering domains for $3.99 with the purchase of another product.

“What 1&1 is trying to do is break into the US market,” says GoDaddy founder and president Bob Parsons. “They’re doing it by giving the product away and selling it below cost. They’re taking a beating here and they have to make money somewhere ? so they’re looking to Europe.”

[Read the Rest of the Article!]

More Web hosting fun than you can shake a stick at, the Web Hosting Show is back on the air this week and boy did we have a lot to talk about. Everything from wind powered Web hosting to some of my own media appearances were covered and so much more. Make sure you go check out the show notes and get the MP3 for episode 17 over at the Web Hosting Show’s Web site!

Just as a sampler to get you wanting more, here is this week’s world famous Web hosting tip of the week!

This week’s Web hosting tip is for the Web hosts out there especially. I guess it could be said about any business out there today, but since the inspiration for it came from my article in the current issue of Ping! Zine I want Web hosts to listen extra carefully. The tip is to add a set of forums to your company’s Web site.

Forums are a good way of adding a new way for your customers to communicate with you and other customers about their hosting problems and experiences. You could set up a set of forums to update folks when there will be a problem with one of the servers, so they can follow along as you fix the issue. You could create a set of community forums where people can gather and just talk about their ever day lives. The most important set of forums you’ll need though is a set that offers support. You could do so by having your staff post articles about Web hosting problems that come up most often.

You could have a place where customers can ask other customers about problems with things you can not or will not support. The key thing to remember is to create the forums. I promise you that if you build it, they will indeed come.

You want more? Then come to WebHostingShow.com and see what all the buzz in the Web hosting world is all about. You won’t be sorry!

In a new winning battle to make things easier for me to update, use and distribute things Online I have moved all of my photos to off of my Lockergnome.net account and to Flickr. I have also (hopefully) added it to my Feed Burner RSS feed so that if you are subscribed you should be getting my new pictures sent to you there. Yes, just one more reason to be subscribing to this feed here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/mitchelaneous

For those of you who want to see my Flickr Web page and photos, you can check them out here by themselves:

My Flickr Photos

I’m still playing with Flickr right now, but I am pretty happy with what I have seen so far. Let me know what you think, and I’ll be sure to have more updates on my ever growing organization battle soon.