I will be updating YNot Web’s servers which could affect availability of both the website and email for the next day or so.

I am hoping to have everything re-stabilized before the end of the holiday weekend, but if you need to contact us before Tuesday, calling by phone will have better reliability for the time being.

Thanks for your patience while we upgrade our services.

I’ve been dealing with several clients whose websites have been down or not functioning properly due to server issues at their various web hosts.

No host can provide a 100% uptime, but what DO you look for when shopping for a host?  First, they should publicize some sort of “uptime guarantee.” Without a guarantee, you have no assurances that they are at least trying or providing due diligence in keeping your website available.  I’ve recently seen a popular host REMOVE their guarantee from their sales pages.  Not a good sign of things to come for their clients.

So what kind of uptime guarantee is good enough? This depends on your needs and, honestly, your budget.  Of course, no one wants to have their website DOWN ever, but what do these numbers mean?  Here are some common guarantees in the industry today and the actual amount of downtime per month involved.

• 99.5% uptime = Over 3 HOURS (216 minutes) of downtime in a month
• 99.8% uptime = 86.4 minutes of downtime in a month
• 99.9% uptime = 43.2 minutes of downtime in a month
• 99.99% uptime = 4.32 minutes of downtime in a month
• 99.999% uptime = 0.432 minutes (26 seconds) in a month

Based on these numbers, I would never recommend a host with less than a 99.9% uptime guarantee and I would rather see my clients on a 99.99% uptime server.  I only know one host, Rackspace, that gives a 99.9999% uptime guarantee and they only do managed server hosting and is much more expensive than standard hosting.

So check for an uptime guarantee as one of the necessary elements when shopping for a web host.

Google provides yet another set of valuable educational resources at its Conversion University. On this site (marketed mostly to Google Analytics users), you will find loads of articles about creating a website that converts visitors into customers and helps retain your existing customers.

My favorite article found here was “Monetizing Non-Ecommerce Sites.” No, its not yet another article about how you can Get Rich with Adsense–it is an editorial on how you can measure the value of a non-Ecommerce site, such as a website that promotes a service-oriented business. Not only will the ideas presented help the average business-owner understand the important connection between their website and sales, but it also emphasizes the importance of tracking for determining your ROI (Return on Investment).

If you need a website that includes more conversion techniques, YNot Web can help. We also provide our own article section on Conversions, for those who want to investigate and test out ideas on their own.

I finally had a chance to expand on and input the strategies from two out the three handouts I provided at my presentations on Web Site Content.
The first is titled Must Have Content and the second is How Content Affects Your Search Engine Listings and Ranking.
Check them both out in my Articles section on Creating a Web Site.

Well, after a month of serious issues with my old HP IPAQ, I finally upgraded my phone to a T-Mobile MDA.  It is still a Pocket PC but with the newest version of Windows Mobile.

I’m just happy to have a fully functional phone at last. I am pretty reliant on my technology tools to keep all my tasks and due dates straight and this was really impacted by some of those Ipaq failures. Add feeling under the weather last week, and it became evident I just couldn’t afford to go without my ‘electronic brain’ any longer.

I am trying out a new organizer software, SPB Diary and SPB Pocket Plus. Hopefully they work as well as my old software, tAgenda.

I will add some comments as I get used to the MDA and new software.