All you need to do is visit the Submit a Question page, fill the form out, and then tune in to the Web Hosting Show each time a new show is released and your question will be answered and your web site will be plugged!

What can you ask about? I’ll answer anything that is even remotely related to web hosting.  Maybe you could ask about search engine optimization techniques?  Perhaps you need to know how to install WordPress?  You might even want my recipe for poor man’s pigs in a blanket (white bread and Vienna sausages).  Give me your questions, and I will give you the answers.

Since I have both podcast #190 and podcast #200 coming up this month, I would really like to have a slew of questions to go through, so I can help each and every one of you.

Google Sitemap Spits Out Wacky Information!

Google Sitemap Generator doesn’t work. This is something they are quickly working on fixing. Here is a little more information on the issue:

if you’re already using WordPress 2.3, the Google Sitemaps Plugin < Version 3.0b9 will NOT work for you since it tries to access database tables which don't exist anymore. Please help me getting the new version in a stable state prior the WP 2.3 release.

I’d recommend watching this thread for more updates.

Changing Ultimate Tag Warrior Tags to WordPress Tags

I’ve been switching over from Ultimate Tag Warrior to the built-in tagging WordPress 2.3 offers too. The process isn’t very obvious – but this is how you get it done.

Login to the WordPress admin interface, go to:

Manage > Import

Then around the bottom you should see the import option to convert your Ultimate Tag Warrior tags over to the new WordPress tag format. Then once that is done you can clean the tears from your face and say goodbye to Ultimate Tag Warrior. UTW, you will be missed.

Thus far those are the only issues I’ve run into. If I find anymore I’ll be sure to update this thread so others won’t have to search too far for a fix.

Now what can your question cover? Anything! Here are a few topic ideas to get you started:

1. Send me just a friendly hello!
2. Ask me a question about your hosting account of the Web hosting business.
3. Let me know your questions on and about domain names.

Both Web hosts and Web hosting clients are welcome to ask and I promise you I will do my best to get it played on a future episode of the Web Hosting Show. If I can answer it, then I will hook you up with somebody who can via the comments.

Send me your thoughts, my ears and podcast is waiting for you! Also if you know of a service other than Odeo which you would like to use just let me know.

I had the honor to do little interview from Jonathan at Plzhost.com recently. He is yet another young guy that comes from the tech arena into the Web hosting world.

Jonathan, how did you come into the wild and wacky world of Web hosting?

I came into the hosting business because I was looking at the web host I was on with the time with a retail site and how much they provided me with support and help. I looked around at other hosting companies and they wouldn’t even touch what this hosting company did for me. So I started learning the ins and outs of the hosting business.

I came across what got me started by accident really I was working for an auction site named Buyselltrades.com and I was looking around for fraudulent and saw a post that said “start your own web hosting company and work from home” that caught my attention as I was looking into starting a web hosting company. I contacted them to see how much there reseller accounts where.

They told me the way they do things is I have preset plans that I get charged a preset price for which was $1 – $5 per month. I stayed with them for a while and totally forgot that I even owned the domain. I got a notice that it was time to renew the domain and then I started looking into it some more and at that time my friend had a reseller account with Forgehosting.com I started to piggy back off of him and started to really promote that site.

I started looking at other hosting companies to see what was working for them with prices and what kind of awards I could apply for. I new Zen Cart very well and was looking around there site and saw they had Zen Cart Certified hosting. I applied for it and received the certification around the same time I applied for a geek certification. And thats when the business started to take off as I called it within 3 months of getting the certified i went from 0 clients to 40 client and I now have 47 clients and probably close to 100 account hosted on the server.

I recently outgrow the reseller plan so I contacted the my reseller hosting provider and let them know the situation. So they set me up on my own server and gave me root access and also helps with support. And become as what I guess you can call a real hosting company.

Do you have any tips for breaking into the Web hosting buisness?

Breaking into the hosting business is hard. I struggled with many of late nights trying to build my name and keep the name good. There where many nights where I did not get any sleep cause I was looking for ways to promote the site, awards to apply for, hosting directories to list my self in.

It has started to pay off but is has just started I know that I have many more late nights ahead of me to keep my name out there and find new ways to get it out there. It was no easy task to get my name out there and get clients and I still have allot more to do. It was also hard to get my page ranked as well as I do and a PR4.

What is your best tip for success in the Web hosting industry. What has worked best for you thus far?

What has worked for me was that Zen Cart and geek certification. Also supporting and transfering Zen Cart customer. No other web host would seem to help them with there Zen Cart or Oscommerce site. I have heard everything from my host makes me leave a message and then calls me back when its convenient to my host hasn’t responded to emails or phone calls in a week.

Thats where we differed in that most emails are responded to within 1 hour and for example when the Geek Certification company did the support test the response time was 10 minutes. Most issues are resolved within 1-2 hours for minimal down time.

What is the best thing about providing Web hosting for people in your opinion?

What I have learned I have learned more helping people with there issues. Every time something happens I learn something new. For example when I first started it took me about 7-8 hours to do a transfer of a Zen Cart know I can transfer and have up in running in about 2 hours. I love making people happy and to hear the joy and excitement and sense of relief that they get knowing they are supported now and there problem becomes our problem they first time they email us or call us.

What is the most important aspect of your buisness that you want people to walk away from this interview and know about you?

What I want people to know walking away. We believe it four things, great uptime, great support, listen to your customers and keep prices reasonable. We have all the above. We work hard to resolve any issue that comes are way in a fast and timely manner, we listen to our customers and work on getting feedback from them on ways to improve our service.

We have 2 employees that all they do is call clients and see what they think of service and how we can improve service. We give back to the community that supports us. We donate to Zen Cart to help Zen Cart better there shopping cart for everyone and we donate to PACA (peoples anti cruelty association) this is a no kill animal shelter, we have installed web cams and we host it for free. We offer free web hosting to non profit charities.

We have the proper understanding that the customer makes or breaks the business, we also understand that we have to earn your trust its not just given, we have no contracts what so ever we do not believe in them. If you register a domain through us it is your property it does not become property of us.

One thing that I have not done in a while is an interview with somebody. In fact, I think it has possibly been a year or longer since I posted one on any of my Web sites I run.

Well, that is all about to change – but I need your help. I want to write and post up a few interviews (maybe weekly, every two weeks, monthly) right here on Mitchelaneous.com.

So I have the drive, the inspiration and the willingness to get this done. What am I missing? I need somebody to talk to. You see that is where you come into the picture.

I don’t care if you are Bob Parsons from Go Daddy or Jimmy down the street with his new Web project. As long as you have something to say and it is somewhat related to the Web development and Web hosting world I would like to talk with you.

Just drop me an E-mail and let me know what you do and your ideas and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

+ Download and Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Podcast 84!

+ Read the 36 Questions to Ask Your Web Host!

Well I asked for you to send me your questions about the Web hosting industry, and you did just that. Now it is my turn to live up to my side of the deal. Kick your feet back and enjoy yourself, because I’ll be the one working on this special Labor Day “Q and A” edition of the Web Hosting Show.

Plus, as a special addition, you will get to hear me talk about who would win in a fight between Bob Parsons of GoDaddy.com and George Roberts of Hostingcon!

Want a free domain? Learn how to get one by listening to the podcast!

Listen to the Web Hosting Show – Podcast 75!

You can drop me an E-mail at mitch@mitchkeeler.com and leave me your questions there or you can send me an audio voice message via Odeo. No matter which one you pick, I’ll put it and you on the show and give you an answer. Also, don’t be scared to send me your Web site link as well. I would love to check it out and put a cheap plug in the podcast for it.