I got a new website

1. 86

   Dorsiposted 15 years ago

   So I was ordering some business cards from vista print and they had a one month free offer for a website- since I liked the way I was able to build my cards and the templates they had - I figured hey why not check it out?
   I built a nice little clean website in minutes ( nice templates)  www.dorsidiaz.com
   So now my question is since I have my own site can't I now put all my affiliates there too? And can't I add the google search box there too?
   I think I plan to keep the site- it's only $5.00 a month and like HubPages, extremely easy to navigate.
   Any advice on adding affiliates? Pitfalls? Anything?
   Thanks!

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   1. 59

      Mark Knowlesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Dorsi - I have to say, I very much doubt the value of this website template.
      
      I would think you could get a better result by writing a hubpage instead. $5 a month seems like a lot of money when you can get almost any number of sites hosted for very little money.
      
      I prefer wordpress blogs myself, and with a little practice, you can get them looking pretty good. This one is work in progress -
      
      Luxury blogger
      
      Not a lot of content as yet. But every url will be full of keywords.

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      1. 86

         Dorsiposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Very nice Mark! I don't know about this website thing- I'm thinking they are not going to let me do what I want to do on it anyway- but I'll piddle away at it.
         So far I haven't been able to add anything I wanted to with my google account to the site so ????
         And HubPages- I've been very happy here. Out of all the places I've wrote or started writing at HubPages is the best by far!

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      2. 87

         Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         That's true, however I can see that the Vistaprint option could be worthwhile for some people, because:
         
         -  It's easy enough to sign up for hosting but there's a learning curve to setting up the website, even if you get a helpful hosting company who explains it all.  I know I stuffed it up completely first time round (no, I'm not blonde!).
         
         - Then you have to master the software (Wordpress would be easy for most Hubbers, but not for a complete beginner).
         
         For those who only ever want one site, it's not really worth the effort.  I could see the offer of a site to match their business card being very attractive to Vistaprint customers, who just want a simple advertising site without all the hassle.

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   2. 64

      mmillerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Dorsi!
      
      I pretty much agree with everyone here regarding putting adsense on your website because you are already selling your services.  I also agree that Wordpress is where it's at (that's what I use for my blog) and getting your own domain name.  However, it sounds like you're not sure what you want to do yet as a business so you should probably wait.  You wouldn't want to buy a domain name too soon and then find that it doesn't match what you want to do (unless your domain name IS your name).
      
      It looks like you're quite talented and should possibly pursue a decorative artist career!  Perhaps selling your services locally as well as painting on pieces you can sell on eBay (I paint as well and I've done this and it's a ton of fun).  I expand on this on my "What To Sell On eBay" post on my blog.
      
      Getting back to Wordpress....I learned how to use it from internet guru Jeff Johnson.  He gives away his search-engine tweaked Worpress software if you sign up for his free newsletter.  I actually took a more intense class of his, but his website is full of info and instructions on how to use Wordpress.
      
      Good luck to you!

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2. 0

   SirDentposted 15 years ago

   The site looks good to me. You could add some adsense capsules, but don't overdo it. What I like most is it is a simple page without a lot of things jumping in my face. It is now time for you to advertise on forums and such. Get some backlinks and some blog info going.

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   1. 86

      Dorsiposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks SirDent, I was really happy with how easy it was to set up- that was holding me back until now, I used to have a website but paid to have it maintained, and it was nice but not bringing me any traffic. We also had a website through our franchise with all the bells and whistles but for now I just wanted something really simple and easy to read- and your'e right- I don't want to "junk" it up- and yes I need to start advertising it. I just used my name for lack of a better name at this point....lol........
      And Miss G- you can get a website for anything you want! But if it's just to blog you can get a free one at Word Press or Blogger.......then you can even link them to your pages (I linked to mine in my hub profile)

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3. 60

   Miss Gposted 15 years ago

   I wish I could answer your question! I'm sure someone here on hubpages could, I'd like to know the answer as well. Does it have to be for a business? Or can you use it to blog? Cause I'd like to have my own website just to blog.

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      Lissieposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       
      
      If you just want to blog you have logs of options:
      blogger.com
      wordpress.com
      are both free but wordpress doesn't allow advertising
      
      I hubbed recently about starting a successful blog

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4. 86

   Dorsiposted 15 years ago

   Well don't sign up for the free trial until I find out more- I am having trouble putting my adsense code on the website and I'm wondering of they even support doing this through Vista- maybe they won't because it's a free trial or maybe?? Who knows but I'll keep you posted........I'm not going to waste anymore time pulling my hair out right now...eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

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5. 70

   Shirley Andersonposted 15 years ago

   It's such a nice clean format and layout.  Congrats, Dorsi!
   
   If you are able to put your AdSense code on there, you can't put it too close to a pic, and can only have it on 3 (I think it's 2 if you have their search box) different areas of the page.  Part of their TOS.

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6. 83

   SweetiePieposted 15 years ago

   Lucky ducky to only be paying five dollars a month.  I also was only paying five dollars a month with web.com, but then they raised the price of my websites to 20 per month.  I am about to pull the plug on them and go somewhere else for my web hosting.

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7. 84

   jimmythejockposted 15 years ago

   Hi Dorsi, adsense for search is a good idea, you can earn a lot from it because when people type in a search from your site they then usualy click on the first or second result on the search engine which are usually sponsored links and you get your commision from them.....jimmy
   you can also add your other affiliates like commision junction, kontera, amazon ,ebay and yahoo or others that you may prefer.

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8. 76

   Lissieposted 15 years ago

   Dorsi - I wouldn't add Adsense to a commercial site: what to you want a 10c click or real-world commission? Don't give the customer too many options - it just confuses them!

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9. 69

   Em Writesposted 15 years ago

   Very nice, Dorsi! I look forward to reading what you find out about the use of affiliates.

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10. 68

    Ms._Infoposted 15 years ago

    I wouldn't add adsense ads.  You seem to be offering a service on that site.  If you add adsense adds to the site, you will be driving potential customers away from your site.  When you are offering a service and want buyers to buy, you want to keep the buyer's on your site, not drive them away.

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    1. 86

       Dorsiposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Honestly, for right now I just slammed that info up there to pick up a few Christmas windows. I don't plan on the site staying this way- I just thought to utilize the site for something while I work on what I really want to do with it.
       The window painting thing is just for the next few weeks (Christmas season) - it's not even what I want to pursue - but good money for a few weeks time.
       Thanks!

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11. 59

    Eric Graudinsposted 15 years ago

    I've seen lots of people who have been attracted by these type of offers.
    (After all, that's what the copywriting is designed to do).
    
    Almost without exception, they become disatissfied with the limitations and restrictions of the interface as they grow.
    
    Its ESSENTIAL that any business owner gets their own domain name. And retains FULL control of it. (ie YOUR NAME is shown as the Registrant. And YOU get the login details to the domain registrar's control panel.)
    
    Find a good web host. Pay them a few dollars a month (There's lots of good ones available now for less than $10. )
    
    Many hosts have site building packages that are standard, and transferable between hosts.
    But the advice I give almost EVERYONE these days is to use Wordpress.
    It's pretty well a one click install from the industry standard CPanel web hosting control panel.
    
    Learn how to install free templates - there's thousands of them available.
    Or pay one of the loads of competent technical people for an hours or two of their time to set it up for you.
    
    You've got to either pay with your time - or your money.
    Here endeth the rant.
    
    Cheers,
    Eric G.
    
    P.S. And the adsense advice above is dead right.
    It doesn't make sense to put advertising on pages where you are trying to sell something.
    The ads that appear will be for similar things to what you sell - and take potential clients away.
    
    Adsense is great for certain types of web pages - but not on the ones where you're trying to sell something yourself.
    
    P.P.S. Good luck with the site Dorsi.

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    1. 87

       Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       This reminds me of something a financial planner said, when he was recommending I invest in a range of products, whereas I just wanted something set-and-forget.  He said in his experience, clients who went for that option soon became dissatisfied with the limitations.  He assured me that once I started investing, I would find it interesting and want to become more involved.
       
       Guess what, I never did.  I ended up selling out of those products and bunging everything in a couple of managed funds - what a relief.  But I can understand the financial planner - he couldn't imagine someone dipping their toe into investing and not developing an interest. 
       
       There are a lot of people out there who will never go beyond setting up a simple website - they're just not interested. They just want a website because people expect to see one on their ads, or on Yellow Pages.  They don't want to spend time on it and they can't afford to pay $2000 or $3000 for someone else to build it (and they don't know there are people who will do it for less).  The Vistaprint option would work for them, especially as it matches their existing image if they're a Vistaprint business card customer.
       
        
       
       I think Wordpress is great, but I'm not going to tell you how long it took an ignoramus like me to work out how to use CPanel in the first place, then how long it took to work out WHERE to click that once....and now I'm trying to build a sub-domain, I'm in trouble all over again!

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          Lissieposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          
          
          I totally agree Marisa : changed to cpanel about 6 months ago when I changed hosts and I genuinely thought i was looking at the wrong thing because people had told me how easy cpanel was. Speaking as someone who was using unix 15 years cpanel is one of the worst pieces of software on the internet.  Its equally awful for inexperienced and experienced users
          
          I think its popular because developers can extend it but in terms of simple usability its a nightmare and I deeply regretted leaaving dreamhost which doesn't use cpanel is much more user friendly - and does have a one click install for WP - much much easier for the beginner - I mean on cpanel to install WP you have to click fantastico - who would have thought LOL
          
          Everything else you're right on Eric but cpanel sucks big time!

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          Eric Graudinsposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          You're definitely a potential test pilot for a new forum I'm building.
          Expect an email soonish :-)
          Cheers, Eric G.

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          1. 86

             Dorsiposted 15 years agoin reply to this

             There you guys go with that technical stuff....lol.....which drives me nuts! I guess I was looking for an "easy", set it and forget it site like Vista, which I may or may not keep. It's not even how I want it, I just put the window painting stuff on there so it wouldn't be empty ( and hey I might be able to get some good Holiday window customers)
             I don't mind learning new things, but sometimes there is just WAY to much to learn, and I have to figure out what I really what to learn and how far do I want to take it......lol.......
             
             (but I do enjoy your "techie" conversations even though I may not understand half of what you guys are talking about!!)

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       3. 60

          Fixxxerposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          Marissa - I own a web hosting company, and all our servers run cPanel. I would gladly help you with setting up your subdomains, or help you around the cPanel interface. Once you get the hang of it, you will be gratefull for having access to cPanel, trust me.

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12. 59

    Eric Graudinsposted 15 years ago

    @ Marisa - You're probably correct, because my experiences are skewed. The people I talk to generally want to improve their sites, or add a mailing list, or shopping facilities.
    
    @ Lissie: Yes, CPanel can be a pain, and so can it's big brother WHM.
    But these interfaces enable people to largely administer many aspects of their websites themselves - something that would be totally impossible for 99.99% of current webmasters if they had to use a command line prompt.
    
    So while CPanel certainly has its deficiencies, just remember the complex tasks that can be performed by a few clicks of your mouse. I think the advantages far outweigh the problems.
    
    And most hosts have step by step video tutorials for pretty well everything you want to do.
    
    Regards, Eric G.
    
    (P.S. I HATED the Dreamhost interface when I was testing our their hosting services. I guess it all comes down to what you're used to using. Change is difficult sometimes)
    
    P.P.S. Clicking "Fantastico" to install Wordpress makes sense when you know the added bit of information that Fantastico is an installer for many applications, and Wordpress is jusrt one of them.
    Microsoft is worse though - To stop the computer, you have to click on the "Start" button :-)

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    1. 87

       Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, I suppose that's what I was trying to say - the financial planner's experiences were similarly skewed, because the only people who came back to him were those who did develop an interest.  He probably never heard again from the people who wished they hadn't listened to him (like me).
       
       I don't put myself in the "one website" category BTW - just making the point.  I'm reasonably happy with where I've got to with my first attempt (let me know what you think Eric - http://bellydanceoz.com) and am now trying to set up a flamenco one but having trouble for some reason that is frustrating the %%^^*^$%#$%^ out of me.  Hoping someone on the Wordpress forums will sort me out soon!
       
       As for Fantastico - yes Lissie, that was my problem too. Once I worked out that's where I had to go (none of the tutorials told me that little piece of info), it was painless.  Getting to that point wasn't!

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13. 70

    sunforgedposted 15 years ago

    Ive learned a lot over the last year as far as finding free sites and best hosting sites through trial and error.
    
    I see people pushing Wordpress - wordpress does not allow javascript on its free hosting, so no adsense, and no ads that automatically serve new images as your campaigns change.No widgets (including the hubpage widget)
    
    And has limited templates and you have to pay to edit css
    
    In order to open this feature up, you have to either move to your own domain or pay for a wordpress.org site.
    
    So forget that, because for the same price you can have purchased your own domain and be hosting your own site with no limitations, other than your skill.
    
    
    Blogspot actually has the least limitations as far as java and affiliate links go - I kick myself for promoting my wordpress pages first and now that i get 250-500 hits a day, I cant add adsense or any java based widgets like ebay to go.
    
    So if you want to have free fully customizable site - go with a blogspot account/ it also easily links with all your google webmaster tools/ adsense
    
    search for "ad templates blogspot) and you will find free templates taht will allow you to just place your affilaite links in similar to hubpages design.
    
    Out of all the hosts/domain registrars ive tried ...Godaddy has won...because they have excellent customer service easily reached over the phone - they have built in web page builders taht will be just as easy to use as that vistaprint page.
    
    Right now a domain purchase is 7.49 and hosting can be purcahsed for 4.95 a month -- as low as 3.50 if you pay for a year or two at once.
    
    one of my hubs has a link to the 7.49 special (its normally 9.95) its about blog promotion, but im sure you can find the deal easy elsewhere
    
    ANd yes, no competing affiliates or adsense on your own service pages -
    
    Good luck, youll learn quickly as you go, its not hard its just a new vocabulary to learn

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14. 59

    Mark Knowlesposted 15 years ago

    There are two different sorts of wordpress
    
    Wodpress.com free blogs that you van add any affiliate ads you like to except javascript.
    
    And self-hosted wordpress blogs which you can add anything you like to.
    
    Wordpress.com blogs benefit from a community, but the self hosted ones mean you are on your own..
    
    I "push" wordpress blogs because I have had some good results from them, and they are easily customizable.

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15. 70

    sunforgedposted 15 years ago

    me:
    "In order to open this feature up, you have to either move to your own domain or pay for a wordpress.org site."
    
    I should have made that more clear.
    
    I have read your wordpress site and enjoyed the article on urinals -here in nYS the best I have ever seen is newspapers posted on the wall above the urinals, and this luxury is reserved for the State Fair.
    
    I find the wordpress sites seem to rank much higher than my blogspot sites, but I think anyone familiar with the module format here at hubpages would find either page to be easily customized.
    
    The java limitation really killed my plans on my wordpress site and when i finally transfer it over to my domain or purchase .org hosting I will lose my google juice (i think)

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       Lissieposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       
       I think there are ways to avoid it - I just moved from blogger to self-hosted and posted a link to guy who gave me thehowto move your blog with the redirects.  I suspect it might be even easier with a wordpress.com blog.
       Do more of your own research I wasn't worried about google juice (google ranking in the search engine results)- I didn't have any! But it does redirect anyone who clicks on any post or the main old url so I am happy.

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          sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

          It was my understanding that it was the redirects that will kill my "google juice" (I have a sick obsession with researching any question I dont know the answer to) because it is associated with spam pages - apparently if I do a server side redirect I will not suffer, but that is still a little outside my expertise, although I can probably just find the script and copy it in rather easily.
          
          I have great google juice for a myspace related question that draws about 150 visitors a day from google, 50-100 from myspace search and 50 or so from YA. For about 10-12 diff search strings every day
          
          But, Myspace has very little to do with any of my businesses, ( the returns relate to a graphic design question,which does relate to my businesses)
          
          I cant seem to find any ads that attract many clicks by that crowd and most dont have cc nor are interested in sticking around long enough to look at any content. This is why I wish i had adsense on teh site becasue then at least i could get some impressions returns.
          
          ( I do love the wordpress stat counters and search term results!)
          
          anybody have any idea what type of ads might make returns on myspace users (dumb ones considering the question they ask to get to me!)

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    Eric Graudinsposted 15 years ago

    Just a clarification.
    When I mention Wordpress, I almost always mean the standalone version of wordpress which is installed on your own webhosting account, and connected to your own domain name.
    
    Be aware that when you use any of the free services, you have to give up some sort of control, or make some kind of concessions.
    
    To me, this is not acceptable - when for well under $100 per year you can have your own site.
    
    Of course, you may want to use free sites to get exposure, and send visitors to your main site - which should be your own.
    
    Cheers, Eric G.

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17. 87

    Marisa Wrightposted 15 years ago

    Having used Wordpress (the paid version), I couldn't go back to Blogger.  You have so much more freedom and so many more options, there's no comparison. 
    
    I'm sure that if you know how to edit the code, you can do lots of things with Blogger - but I'm not that savvy.   I need Wordpress's plugins and widgets and extensive support forums to do the work for me.
    
    I chose an Australian host (Hightek Hosting) because I wanted a provider in my time zone, whom I could ring up and say "Help!" when I needed it.  That's costing me $6.25 Australian a month and I'm very happy with them.  I suspect if I'd rung the GoDaddy helpdesk (if they have one) I would have got the "that's a hardware/software/user problem not a hosting one" brush-off, not the patient advice I've had from Hightek!

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       sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       No, Godaddy seems to help regardless of whats causing the issue , I was having an issue that was directly related to Dreamweavers ftp connection protocol, I spent hours trying diff variations for entry , ip instead of domain name etc. , the online FAQ was vague at GoDaddy so i didnt call, I saw pages of forums of people with the same problem. I solved the problem on my own.
       
       The next time I called GoDaddy for help with a email account creation , I joked about the issue and said they needed a better FAQ, he said I should have called, he walks people through that problem everyday and would had be up and running in 5 minutes! Plus 24 hour customer service, so time zone not an issue.
       
       They should pay me for this!
       
       My blog suggestions was relating to my understanding that the OP was new to the web hosting/design world (considering she is paying for a VistaPrint website) and would be best suited with something similar to hubpages to start with and free is always nice, while learning.
       
       Of course a paid wordpress site will defeat free services - although now I prefer to just write the code by hand or customize XHTML templates myself depending on the complexity of the site

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18. 59

    Mark Knowlesposted 15 years ago

    Actually, Godaddy is very good and offer  24/7 support
    
    They also do free one click installs (not through fantasticso).
    
    And the software from wordpress.org is also free, although, I pay for a more sophisticated version. Semiologic, which is well worth the $300
    
    I also have about 2 dozen wordpress.com blogs that I use purely for links.
    
    'Tis all good.......
    
    But I agree with Eric - when I talk about wordpress it is the self-hosted version.
    
    Eric - do me a favor and do a google search for luxury real estate, no quotations.
    
    Seems like google is basing your results more on past search history now.......

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       sunforgedposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Google  will show you your past search results as higher ranked.
       
       To see what most users would see on that search , you have to make sure your not signed into any google accounts and clear all private data within your browser.
       
       Ill post what my my browser returns for that google search: ( i think that will work w/o changing to your pref/history)
       
       http://www.google.com/search?q=luxury+r … =firefox-a
       
       here is an article about this phenom:
       
       http://blogs.reseo.com/2008/09/why-my-g … s-are.html

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       Eric Graudinsposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Glad you're all  having a good run with GoDaddy. Lots of people aren't. I wouldn't use them.
       http://nodaddy.com
       
       Here's the Google results for that search term, which Google says gets around 74,000 searches a month. Do you own luxuryrealestate.com Mark? :-)
       (Sorry for polluting this thread Dorsi.
       
       #
       Luxury Homes for Sale - Luxury Real Estate
       www.luxuryrealestate.com/ - 60k - Cached - Similar pages -
       #
       Luxury Real Estate - Million Dollar Home
       www.luxuryrealestate.com/scripts/index.php - 36k - Cached - Similar pages -
       #
       Luxury Real Estate & Homes for Sale | Official Sotheby's ...
       www.sothebysrealty.com/ - 14k - Cached - Similar pages -
       #
       Luxury real estate and properties for sale from Christie's Great ...
       www.christiesgreatestates.com/ - 12k - Cached - Similar pages -
       #
       Luxury Homes and Real Estate from Sotheby's International Realty, Inc.
       www.sothebyshomes.com/ - 25k - Cached - Similar pages -
       #
       Luxury Homes, Real Estate and the Brokers who sell them.
       www.luxuryhomes.com/ - 27k - Cached - Similar pages -
       #
       Luxury Homes – Luxury Real Estate | UniqueHomes.com
       www.uniquehomes.com/ - 39k - Cached - Similar pages -
       #
       Luxury Homes For Sale By Owners And Brokers
       www.luxuryhomesandproperties.com/ - 15k - Cached - Similar pages -
       #
       Luxury Homes for Sale Luxury Real Estate Luxury Property
       www.luxuryportfolio.com/ - 41k - Cached - Similar pages -
       #
       International Real Estate, Luxury Real Estate - Florida, Costa ...
       www.samuelsonguide.com/ - 30k - Cached - Similar pages -

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    Lissieposted 15 years ago

    RE GoDaddy HOSTING
    
    I've heard a few horror stories about godaddy HOSTING (not domain registration which I use and everyone seems to agree they are one of the best).  The stories Ive heard is that if I site gets reported for spam - which can be malicious from a competitor - then godaddy will shut you down and ask questions later.
    
    I use hostgator for hosting and I had great customer support from them. They 24/7 they start at $5/month but I pay more and they transferred all my sites over for me - which was non-trivial.  It was fraught at the time, makes one nervous your corner of cyberspace disappearing :-) but they were very,very, helpful because moving blogs from one host to another is definitly VERY technical if both are running WP - strange but true!
    
    I just hate cpanel and Eric because I have WHM as well it doesn't help LOL

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20. 59

    Mark Knowlesposted 15 years ago

    No
    
    I am looking to see where I am for http://blog.luxuryproperty.com
    
    Middle of the third page for me and I wondered where I was in outer Mongolia or wherever it is you are from........
    
    I have seen that nodaddy, but I have had nothing but helpful fast service.

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21. 69

    Peter Hogganposted 15 years ago

    Hi Dorsi, You may be not have the permissions to move this domain or do anything really usefull with it. The domain is owned by VistaPrint Technologies Ltd.
    
    Domain name: DORSIDIAZ.COM
    
    Registrant:
    VistaPrint Technologies Ltd
    
    Administrative Contact:
    Administrator, Domain  csadmin@vistaprint.com
    
    Technical Contact:
    Administrator, Domain  csadmin@vistaprint.com
    
    Full detail can be found here:
    
    http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=do … mp;tld=com
    
    I would ask them if it's possible to transfer the domain to yourself.

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