How much socializing can you do in a day?

Whoa! Is social media eating your day? I've talked to people whose Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In associations have nearly obliterated their time for productive work...

And, I've talked to others who swear their socializing has brought them more business...

What's your take? Is Facebook a help or a hindrance?

Don't Worry. Bee Happy. And we mean it.

Whoa! This morning I got a frantic phone message from a customer who hosts with BeeLine. We also manage this customer's domain name. (Their dot com.) We'd sent her a notification of domain name renewal and she'd misplaced it, so it didn't get paid. She was terribly worried that her domain name would expire and her Web site would go away entirely.

No worries!
If BeeLine is managing your domain name -- which we do for most of our customers -- you never need to worry about the domain expiring. We take expirations very, very seriously. Because if your domain expires, your Web site goes away.

So, we have a system in place that's nearly foolproof:

- When your domain comes up for renewal, we notify you well in advance of expiration dates...usually about two months in advance. Just in case you decide to take a trip to Tahiti for a month without your laptop and cellphone.

- Then, as an added safety net, we automatically renew the name for another year, no matter what.
Let me say that again: Your domain name is set to renew AUTOMATICALLY whether you've paid the fee or not. We know that your domain name is crucial to keeping your site online... and therefore to the process of running your business. So in essence, your domain name doesn't expire unless we haven't heard from you in over a year.

Why do we renew domain names at our own expense? Because we're nice. And, because we know how hectic your life is. We know that running a business and taking care of employees and products and customers can be more than a full time job. We feel it's our job to take all the worry out of your online life while you get on with your offline life.

Do we sometimes get stuck paying for a domain name we can't use? Of course we do. But, we'd rather risk that expense than have our customers' Web sites go offline. Every day that passes more people are looking online for products and services. This means that your Web site becomes more crucial to running your business successfully. . . and your success is ours, too.

So, we mean it when we say Don't Worry. Bee happy.

Are you tossing $100 in the trash?

Many businesses have received a coupon from Google in the mail (the postal mail, that is) worth $100. Most people don't know what to do with the coupon, so lots of people  have been throwing them away.

If you do have one of those coupons and you haven't thrown it away yet, give us a buzz. 262.767.8887. It really is worth a hundred bucks! And, it's an excellent way to push your Web site to a better position in the search results. In other words, using your FREE $100 for some online advertising could ultimately result in more people visiting your Web site.... and finding out what you offer ....and then buying the things you offer.... which is how you make your money!

The Short Story: Google's $100 coupon = money in your pocket.

Don't throw it away. Give us a buzz: 262.767.8887 or email or comment on this posting!

PS: We never lie. There is never a guarantee that your site will be ranked higher in search results. And, if anyone says anything resembling the word "guarantee" when talking about Google rankings, they're not telling the whole truth. Your rank depends on lots of things, including

• your competition


• how savvy they are about online marketing


• your location


• and most of all the quality of your site. It needs to have a great structure, lots of keywords, links and informative content (among other things)

Domain name hijackers -- the nerve!

Here’s a note to us from one of our BeeLine customers. She writes:

Hi, I received notification and an invoice from the Domain Registry of America for a reply to register my website. I don't recall if this is something your company has done for my website or not. Please let me know how I should respond.

Thanks,
Mary

Grrrrrr. This makes me so mad. Domain Registry of America sends you an “invoice” indicating that your domain name is expiring. They ask you to pay immediately to keep your Web site available online. Wow. The nerve of some people.

Trouble is, Domain Registry of America has NOTHING TO DO with your domain name. If they snag you into paying the fake invoice, THEN, they have succeeded in taking control of your domain name. In essence, control of the domain name results in control of your Web site.

You’ve worked hard to promote your business through your Web site by including your Web address on all your printed materials, billboards, and other advertising. If someone nabs your domain name, you may need to start over with a new name. It would be like changing your phone number, which would require you to reprint business cards, brochures, re-letter your vehicle, etc. etc. What a pain.

If you’re a BeeLine customer, in most cases we manage your domain name for you. Or, if you’ve opted to manage it yourself, we’ve given you detailed instructions on how to keep your domain name safe. When we manage names (recommended), we always notify you a couple of months in advance of the expiration. This leaves plenty of time for renewal before there’s any danger of the name expiring. That notification always comes from BeeLine, not from any other company or registrar.

Registrar: the company where your domain name is registered. Registration is always done online. If you manage your own name, you should have a user name and password for accessing your account on that site.

If you ever receive notification from any company claiming to be “renewing” your domain name, be absolutely sure you’re dealing with a legitimate company and that they are really your domain registrar.

If you’re not a BeeLine customer or don’t know who is managing your domain name, give us a buzz. We’ll be glad to tell you the status of your domain name for free. And, if you need help managing your domain or site, we can do that, too. We’ve helped dozens of companies straighten out domain name and hosting problems.

Premium Listing? Baloney.

OK. I just got off the phone with a woman who wanted to “update my information” for the White and Yellow Pages. I have nothing against phone books. They’ve come in quite handy over the years when I’ve needed anything from plumbers to pizza. (Well, I’ve never NEEDED pizza. But it does come in handy now and then, especially when facing a couple of dangerously starved teenagers.) And, phone books are actually still handy for some things. . . although I can’t think of any at the moment.

There are a couple of things wrong with this woman’s approach. First of all, she failed to mention that I would have to pay for my “updated” phone book listing. While she rattled off my address (which was wrong) and phone number, I interrupted to ask if there was a charge. Oh yes. Minor detail of $389. BUT, she continued , you’ll get a bold listing AND (here’s the Grrrr) a “premium listing on major search engines Google, Yahoo,  etc.” (This is a direct quote.) I think she was kind of annoyed when I told her it isn’t true that she can give me a premium listing. In fact, she hung up when I said it was totally absolutely and in all other ways inconceivable that she could give me or anyone else a “premium listing” on any search engine. There’s no such thing.

If it were possible to demand top billing for specific businesses, then they wouldn’t be search engines. They’d be advertising engines. And, the guy with the most money would get the Most Highly Profitable and Pretentious Premium listing. Take the Super Bowl. Who even watches the game anymore with so many clever commercials all stacked up waiting to pay their millions for few seconds’ rent on a bunch of pairs of eyeballs? Well, LOTS of pairs of eyeballs, I guess. (And, sometimes the half-time show has some interesting equipment failures, too.) Only the very, very rich can afford ads on the Super Bowl.

The fact is, it’s the quality of a Web site that determines placement on search pages. Searches are designed to return the most relevant information based on the words typed in by the searcher.  That’s it. If the text on the pages of your Web site is relevant to exactly what’s being sought, that page will be more successful in searches, because the text explains exactly what you do or sell and it matches the searched words.

So buy phone book ads if it helps customers find you and brings in revenue. But be sure to question anyone who guarantees higher (“premium”?) placement in Google or Yahoo! searches. That’s not how search engines work.

Is someone trying to steal your domain name?

Here’s a note to us from one of our BeeLine customers. She writes:

Hi,

I received notification and an invoice from the Domain Registry of America for a reply to register my website. I don't recall if this is something your company has done for my website or not. Please let me know how I should respond.

Thanks,

Mary

Grrrrrr. This makes me so mad. Domain Registry of America sends you an “invoice” indicating that your domain name is expiring. They ask you to pay immediately to avoid interruption in your Web site availability. Wow. The nerve of some people.

Trouble is, Domain Registry of America has NOTHING TO DO with your domain name. If they snag you into paying the fake invoice, THEN, they have succeeded in taking control of your domain name. In essence, control of the domain name results in control of your Web site.

You’ve worked hard to promote your business through your Web site by including your Web site address on all your printed materials, billboards, and other advertising. If someone nabs your domain name, you may need to start over with a new name. Just like changing your phone number, would require you to reprint business cards, print ads, re-letter your vehicle, etc. etc. What a pain.

If you’re a BeeLine customer, in most cases we manage your domain name for you. Or, if you’ve opted to manage it yourself, we’ve given you detailed instructions on how to keep your domain name safe. When we manage names (recommended), we always notify you a couple of months in advance of the expiration. This leaves plenty of time for renewal before there’s any danger of the name expiring. That notification always comes from BeeLine, not from any other company or registrar.

	Registrar: the company where your domain name is registered. Registration is always done online. You should have a user name and password for accessing your account on your registrar's site.

And, if you ever receive notification from any company claiming to be “renewing” your domain name, be absolutely sure you’re dealing with a legitimate company and that they are really your domain registrar.

If you’re not a BeeLine customer or don’t know who is managing your domain name, give us a buzz. We’ll be glad to tell you the status of your domain name and help you manage it. We’ve helped dozens of companies straighten out domain name problems.

Why cheap hosting isn't cheap

 

What's your time worth?

It’s been a long time since I’ve changed the oil in my car. A really long time. Mainly because by the time I slip out of my strappy sandals and crawl under my SUV on the cold garage concrete, the guy down the street can have the oil changed, fluids checked, tires aired and bug kamikazies scrubbed off the windshield. I’d still be looking for the wrench. It’s easy to figure out why he’s so fast. He does it every day. He’s got the right tools. His shop is set up for exactly that function. The most common filters are in stock. Each of these factors brings his oil-change time down. And, if that’s how he makes his living, then time is a really good thing to have on his side. When he’s looking for his wrench, he’s not making money.

And, while you’re on the phone with the Hosting Company from Planet Zune listening to them explain All About DNS Servers (but they were CHEAPER!) you are not making money at what you do best: running your business, selling your product, providing your service. Nor are you enjoying a round of golf, a beer with a buddy or coffee with your friend from college.

 

There’s a bright side: you’ll learn everything you need to know about hosting and domain names and DNS routing, so you don’t have to depend upon someone else to know all that for you. Just like if I changed my own oil, I’d certainly know the part number on my oil filter. But, if you’re like most people who have just one web site, you’re learning something that you’ll likely seldom use again. Or you hope so, because contacting your hosting company means there’s something wrong with your Web site. And, there aren’t too many people who enjoy Musak enough to spend an afternoon on hold with their Web hosting company while they escalate your issue to ever higher levels of tech support. Meanwhile, your Web site languishes in Web limbo displaying the 404 Not Found message. Hard to sell product with that message out there.

Here’s  a thought: If you’re in business, you probably have a phone. It would be kind of odd to be phoneless, I guess. What do you pay for the phone service? If it’s reliable and has voice mail, in case you’re busy and caller id in case you’re trying to avoid someone, then you can justify paying a reasonable fee. After all, without a phone, it would be really difficult to run your business at all. Thank goodness you don’t have to learn all about how each phone call is routed to your business! What a waste of time that would be. Let the phone company take care of the technicalities of fiber optics and routing calls to the right place. You simply buy a phone, plug in the cord and start taking orders.

Here’s another thought: What do you pay for your phone book ad? Or should we say ads, because in this area, there are multiple phone books and guessing which one your potential customer chooses is just that: guessing. Where are those copious phone books anyway? Most people haven’t seen their phone book since it landed on the front steps in the rain last summer. And they’re probably not missing it a whole lot, because it’s a LOT easier to look you up online.  No problem finding Google.. . and from Google you can get just about anywhere, including to your Web site’s front door…if it’s online and functioning correctly.

And another: Have you had a brochure printed lately? Did you do it yourself, spending hours learning Microsoft Publisher and buying perfect paper and matching envelopes? Once again, you’ve learned a new software program, discovered a lot about brochure layout. But, it’s not something that you’ll use again until it’s time for a new brochure. And, while you were in the back room cutting and pasting, who was minding your business and dealing with your customers? So, you're probably better off to have your brochure printed by a professional printing company.

While Bob the Cheap Hosting Guy is in the back room kissing Martina, here at the BeeLine Hive we’re busy learning Google’s methods, discovering better domain names and targeting your site’s content to the right customers (the ones who BUY!). No gimmicks. Just doing our best at what we do best: making your web site work for your business. Cheap Bob doesn’t really care whether you’re successful. He just wants to be sure he gets thousands of customers like you, so HE can spend some time on the golf course while you talk to tech support to get your site working right.

So, let us take the headache out of hosting.  And stay with what you’re really good at: serving YOUR customers.

 

PS  I really did change my own oil when I was a teen. In fact, I even changed out the fuel pump in my first car, a Ford Falcon.