Chances are there are a lot of people out there using Steam right now.  For the rest of you though, you might not know that Steam is a place where you can purchase games on the Web, and then download them via their special desktop client.  The idea here is to eliminate the need of keeping up with game disks and clutter – and it works, as long as you have an internet connection that is fast enough. 

After taking a look at the EA Store Digital Downloads, I was asked by several people to give Steam a shot too – because some say it might even deliver a better experience.  There is a wider selection of games on Steam, but I can’t recommend one over the other.  I think both services are worth checking out.

The process of buying a game through Steam is pretty easy.  You find a game you like, you then purchase the game, you download their client to download the game, and then you can download and install the game.  The Steam desktop application serves as a way to manage the games you have downloaded as well as another gateway into the store interface.

The big thing to love about Steam is they are always putting out great deals or discounts on games or game bundles.  A few week back, I bought both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 for around $10.

Now, I might still rather have the game disk, but as services like Steam get more popular I have faith that I am not tossing money out the window, and if anything bad happens – I can still re-download the games I have paid for.  You too can give Steam a shot (they now support both Mac and Windows) at SteamPowered.com.

You are correct in assuming that coupons alone are not that great of a marketing gimmick.  They are short, gimmicky and only give you a little fulfillment before you remember the stark reality that you have been hooked in. In that way, it is kind of like finding a half eaten chocolate bar on the road. Sure it is half gone, and you don’t know who was eating this last – but hey, at least it is free.

So what makes a coupon or deal an effective marketing tool, and should you be careful of?

I am going to break this down into two parts.  The things that make coupons and deals effective, and the things that make the customers want to sit on their hands and not really act at all.

Effective Coupon Marketing Tactics

These days, especially with the economy the way it is, you need to play with discounts and see where you can get the most signups and still make the most profit.  It is a balancing act that might take a few tries before you find the perfect mix – but just remember, everybody else is trying the even out the scales just like you are.

Also, try swapping out discounts for special deals or services.  You could upgrade the clients to a better service, give them something extra and more.  Get creative and see what you can give away for free (that looks interesting) before you cut into your profits you get for selling this, that or the other.

Not So Effective Coupon Marketing Tactics

Now, you might ask yourself, "How does somebody mess up a coupon?" when it is one of the simplest ways to get a new client or customer to sign up?  Well, I have seen it in action – so let me tell you my tale.  I once worked for a place that would leave a coupon or special up on their front page for four or six months. 

This is a definite disaster. 

The basic idea of a coupon is the expiration date attached.  The thing that draws people in, other than the discount or the deal is the fact that they have a limited time to act. You also can not keep discounting the same customers or clients.  When you offer a discount, you take a bite out of your profits.  So, with that said – if you turn around and give somebody another discount, who has already had a discount, your profits get knawel into a second time around. Offer cuts in prices if you have to, but you also have to know when to draw the line and cut the coupon junkies off.  Overall though, if you have an excellent service you provide, 99.9% of the time, people will be happy to pay for it.

Over all you have to remember that a coupon or deal is something special, something quick, something that gets the attention of the masses, and gets them to act now, while supplies last.

Far from being just another off topic service, in a world filled with them, the new Web Hosting Show Coupons and Deals page will deliver, and impress you.  This was a quick project I cooked up over the weekend, to better serve the public at large by delivering a better way to keep track of the latest coupons, deals and special offers from the entire web hosting world out there.

Point your browser towards: http://www.webhostingshow.com/coupons/

Once you navigate yourself to the web site, you can browse through 15 of the most recent offers that have been featured, as well as get a little description of what the offer is all about.  Then I try to link back to the source, so you can get instant gratification in the quickest way possible.

Want more web hosting coupons and deals? You can follow the Web Hosting Show’s coupons and deals on Twitter @whscoupons too.  The third content delivery method you have is the RSS feed, which you can subscribe to – to have all the deals streamed to you for free, into your favorite news reader of choice.

• Follow @whscoupons on Twitter!
• Subscribe via RSS to our Hosting Coupons!

Are you a web host? Good!  I need your help too.  Just like the Web Hosting Show podcast itself, I am looking to serve both the web hosts and the web hosting clients with this tool. Want to see your own special web hosting coupons and deals listed here? Contact me, with your web hosting special, coupon or offer and I will get it listed with the rest. For more on what went into building this new coupon tool, I would suggest you listen to podcast 198 of the Web Hosting Show where I go into a little more detail.

On the Web Hosting Show podcast, we have done a lot of talking recently about web hosts that use Twitter, and how they use it.  Some use it for support, others use it for marketing, and the best ones use it for both.  Who are the most popular web hosts on Twitter though?

To put that question to the test, I thought I would compile a list of all the web hosts on Twitter that have over 1,000 followers.  Out of nearly 100 web hosts on the Web, here are the 25 that made the cut.

1. WestHost Web Hosting (WestHost) on Twitter = 1,804 followers
2. softlayer_news (softlayer_news) on Twitter = 2,609 followers
3. Sustainable Websites (sustainableweb) on Twitter = 2,946 followers
4. Surpass Web Hosting (surpass) on Twitter = 1,960 followers
5. Slicehost (slicehost) on Twitter = 3,500 followers
6. Six Apart (sixapart) on Twitter = 15,401 followers
7. SiteGround (SiteGround) on Twitter = 1,132 followers
8. Site5 Web Hosting (site5) on Twitter = 1,010 followers
9. PinchHost (PinchHost) on Twitter = 8,891 followers
10. mediatemple (mediatemple) on Twitter = 8,571 followers
11. GoDaddy.com Guy(GoDaddyGuy) on Twitter = 3,060 followers
12. lunarpages (lunarpages) on Twitter = 1,528 followers
13. linode (linode) on Twitter = 1,655 followers
14. LiquidWeb (LiquidWeb) on Twitter = 12,734 followers
15. Laughing Squid (ls_hosting) on Twitter = 1,079 followers
16. Joyent (joyent) on Twitter = 2,350 followers
17. JaguarPC (JaguarPC) on Twitter = 4,637 followers
18. Sunil Saxena (inmotionhosting) on Twitter = 1,259 followers
19. HostGator.com (hostgator) on Twitter = 4,668 followers
20. Hostcats.com (Hostcats) on Twitter = 1,299 followers
21. 123-Reg (123reg) on Twitter = 1,677 followers
22. Gary Jones (bluefur) on Twitter = 46,671 followers
23. dreamhost (DreamHost) on Twitter = 2,934 followers
24. FireHost Inc. (FireHost) on Twitter = 3,783 followers
25. INSANE Deals Only @ (HIVELOCITY) on Twitter = 6,508 followers

There you have it, 25 of the most popular web hosting companies that are on Twitter right now.  You can find a list of nearly 100 web hosts on Twitter on the Web Hosting Show’s web site.  Did your web host make the cut?

• RetailMeNot
• CheapTweet
• Twitsavings
• DealShouter
• Smash Deals
• Cheap Ass Gamer
• SwoopUp
• Discount’d
• Yahoo! Deals
• Amazon Game Deal of the Day

Have another source that is even better?  Don’t be shy – feel free to share!  We all like saving some money!

You should know the basic song and dance by now.  You choose your picture, you upload it and you can share it.  This service is much of the same.  Once you upload the image you are given the option to “edit” it.  Only editing you can do for now is changing the name. 

Once you have done that, you are given the final result as a URL.  You can check out my test one one to see an example of the final product in action:  http://rapidpik.com/show/4406/jd9gf

Some of the nice features here are that you can share the image using a number of social services, you can view the image in all kinds of different sizes and you also get a flash player (which comes in handy if you upload multiple images at one time).  So if your looking for another free image host to add to your favorites – give rapidpik a shot.

Here are some of the benifits they mention on their web site:

• Absolutely free.
• No special software or equipment needed.
• We won’t lose the file and it isn’t going anywhere.
• Allows download of the file at your convenience.
• You can download the file again if you lost it or accidentally deleted it.
• The file can’t be removed or deleted by anyone but filego.net.com or yourself.

With content limitations, looks like they really don’t have any. You could upload anything as long as it isn’t copyrighted material. Well worth a first or second look if your looking for a free file host and you can find them at Filego.net.

Host Color Offers Thanksgiving Deal
Web hosting provider Hostcolor.com announced on Friday it is offering through December 1 a special Thanksgiving promotion that offers a 20 percent discount on shared hosting plans.

Hostway Gives Away Business Makeover
Customers who purchase specific Hostway and ValueWeb products before December 14 will automatically be entered in the draw for $5000 (USD) worth of Hostway services.

Designers – Win a Xbox 360 or $400!
Lunarpages is holding a contest for our new t-shirt design, and you are all invited to submit your designs via our community forums.

AIT Offers Free iPod Nanos
Web hosting provider and domain registrar Advanced Internet Technologies, Inc. is offering free iPod nanos as part of its “Holiday Tunes Promotion”, the company announced recently.

Need a good hosting gimmick? Well take free – and then take one of the hottest web sites out there and I think you have a good mix. The people at Joyent must have had that in mind when they decided they were going to give people working to make Facebook better.

In an article on Information Week’s web site this was said:

“Joyent is offering the “Accelerator,” as the company’s on-demand infrastructure subscription service is known, for Facebook developers in conjunction with Dell, which is supplying the server infrastructure for the program. The Dell servers run Open Solaris.”

Now I don’t think there is anything crooked here, Joyent is a great company run by great people. I think this is a real steal and deal for people working on Facebook applications and if they are looking for hosting they should stand up and take notice.

So will Top Host Deals become the digg of the web hosting world? Well there is a little ‘bit of competition out there in the market – ok, by competition I mean one other hosting deal social site Hostigg.com.

Top Host Deals looks nice and look as if it hit all the major high points to be a leader in this area of the web. You have the highest voted hosting deals. You have upcoming or just submitted deals. You have categories to help you trim down your search.

Now that Top Host Deals is out of the gate, I will be interested in seeing what they do to separate themselves from the crowd.