Blog entries

One-click Scripts Updated like Zen Cart

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:23:03 +0100

We’ve also updated the one-click installs of Zen Cart and Drupal so you can take advantage of the latest releases. The software can be found in the ‘CGI scripts’ area of your hosting control panel, and our one-click install means you can enjoy great ecommerce and content management systems within seconds.

One-click WordPress 3.0.1 and BuddyPress 1.2.5.2 now available

Our web hosting customers can now take advantage of a one-click install of leading blogginRead More...

Announcement: PHP 5 is becoming our default version

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:20:59 +0100

We’re changing our current default version of PHP from 4 to 5 from the 6th September. As many of you will know, to use PHP 5 at the moment you need to enable this in a .htaccess file on the server. From the 6th September, we will swap this around so that PHP 5 is the default and PHP 4 may be called via a .htaccess file in the directory you wish to use PHP 4 from.

This is unlikely to affect many people as nearly all scripts written in PHP now operate on PHP 5 (for example alRead More...

Do It Yourself Search Engine Optimization

Che Cooper — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:00:29 +0100

Keyword Optimization

The first step in a search engine optimization campaign is to choose your keywords or keyphrases for each of your web pages. Keywords are the terms that search engine users type in the search box to conduct a query. The right keywords are those that:

1. clearly describe the purpose and content of your site, and,
2. allow your site to show up as close to the first results page as possible.

A good position doesn't depend only on your choice ofRead More...

13 of the best free Joomla themes for summer

Che Cooper — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:43:39 +0100

Whether you’re looking for a new design or just some summer inspiration, these great Joomla themes will brighten up your website or your ideas. We’ve chosen a range of styles, incorporating everything from professional business looks to soft swirls, so there’s something for everyone.

If you don’t have a Joomla content management system installed, log into your hosting control panel and try out our one-click install. Or take a look at the range of web hostiRead More...

6 Handy WordPress Code Snippets

Che Cooper — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:41:31 +0100

Adding more and more plugins can bloat out your WordPress installation, so try to use straight coding where possible. You can customise your WordPress blog and add new features without worrying about plugins, widgets and themes using these simple code snippets.

Display Random Links

If you have a lot of links to other websites and not very much space, you can show random links in your WordPress sidebar rather than displaying all of them at once. To do this, open up your sideRead More...

6 easy, free and attractive ways to display photos on the web

Che Cooper — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:37:39 +0100

Whether you want to set up a full-blown gallery or simply display a few holiday photos, there are numerous free ways to showcase your images on your website. Here are our top picks:

1.Lightbox 2

If you’re looking for an adaptable and attractive solution, Lightbox is a good choice. It doesn’t matter what (if any) content management system or blogging software you use as it’s compatible with any type of website. Once you’ve installed the software, simpRead More...

Announcement: PHP 5 is becoming our default version

Che Cooper — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:35:45 +0100

This is unlikely to affect many people as nearly all scripts written in PHP now operate on PHP 5 (for example alRead More...

Our top Twitter tools & resources (Part 2)

Che Cooper — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:34:23 +0100

We’ve already put together a list of tips and resources for Twitter beginners, and Part 2 is focused on those who are familiar with Twitter and don’t want to waste time trawling through hundreds of applications which all do the same thing. All resources mentioned were free at time of posting.

Time-saving Twitter tools

Twitter Tools for Wordpress – This handy plugin automatically creates tweets from your blog posts, so your Twitter followers can grab a link tRead More...

bbPress one-click install launched

Che Cooper — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:31:38 +0100

We’re pleased to announce that we’re now offering one-click installs of WordPress’s forum software, bbPress. Message boards are a great way to promote visitor interaction and can be a useful tool to discover what your visitors are interested in, who they are, and what else they want to see from your site.

bbPress is open source and focused on speed and security, meaning you don’t have to worry about slow loading pages or the risk of being hacked. The streaRead More...

5 Reasons to Buy a .co Domain Name!

Che Cooper — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:26:53 +0100

With only five days to go until general release of the .co domain name, here are five top reasons to pre-register your .co domain name before it’s too late!

1. 70% of the world’s top 500 brands have signed up for their .co name already, and WorldTrademarkReview.com has discovered that some big brands intend to provide new services and products just from their .co website, cementing its popularity.

2. It’s a good way to gRead More...

Our top free Twitter resources (Part 1)

Che Cooper — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:53:53 +0100

Twitter in itself can be very overwhelming, and that’s without worrying what tools and resources you need to manage your account properly. So we’ve done the hard work for you and compiled a list of our favourites.

Twitter for Beginners

We’ve divided our list into two parts; this one for fledgling tweeters and one for fully-fledged users (keep an eagle eye out for more advanced tools in Part 2, coming soon), but it’s worth checking them both to make Read More...

Understanding and Exploring the Social Media Jungle: Best Practices

Che Cooper — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:49:00 +0100

With more and more social media sites popping up everywhere, the craze to have the next Facebook or Twitter continues to be relentless. Wikipedia lists ‘some notable, well-known’ active social media sites – ‘some’ being 190 – and even has a separate page for defunct websites, showing that this competitive trend shows no mercy.

So with almost two hundred ‘notable’ options out there, how do you know which to use for your site andRead More...

Domain Price Change For .com

Che Cooper — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 05:23:46 +0100

At the start of the year VeriSign, who operate a number of the Internet's top level domain names (including .com and .net), announced that they would be increasing their domain name registry fees on 1st July 2010.

Due to this change, we are having to increase our prices. Domain prices have been changed effective immediately. The new prices are as follows:

.com, .net, .info, .org, .biz, .name, .eu: (£12.99 Per Year)

We did not want to have to increasRead More...

Selling Web Hosting

Che Cooper — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:34:29 +0100

Selling web hosting is a very lucrative business and the ROI for a successful reseller is an attractive proposition for many entrepreneurs. For only £18.99 a month (with us:)) anyone can resell web hosting packages at prices and specifications of their own choosing. If a reseller creates a package priced at £4.99 per month (which is cheap) they only need 6 customers to break even each month, and then each new customer beyond that becomes a profit.

But this all relies onRead More...

Your Business Needs A Blog

Thu, 27 May 2010 04:44:51 +0100

In this article I will point out a new way of marketing your business website by using a blog. Why should you care about blogging, that’s just something web designers or egotistical teenagers do to look cool in class. If Microsoft believes that business blogging is important then who are we to ignore it?.

Non Compete culture

Companies worldwide, and from my own personal experience especially in the UK, are very scared of giving away the smallest hint of what they aRead More...

.CO now available to pre-order for only £55.99

Wed, 19 May 2010 07:58:05 +0100

You can now pre-order the brand new international domain name .CO with us and for only £55.99! .CO is the new domain extension that offers a truly global, recognizable and credible domain name for individuals and organizations to build their businesses and brands.

The benefits of .CO:

Global: The .CO domain is set to become the new big global domain name
Memorable: .CO iRead More...

7 quick tips to instantly speed up your WordPress site

Che Cooper — Sun, 09 May 2010 13:27:23 +0100

A couple of weeks ago we looked in to Google’s announcement that they are using a page’s load time to rank a sample of sites (1%) and what it meant for your website.

One of the most resource hungry ways of creating a website is WordPress. With its multiple CSS, JavaScript and PHP files and a heavy reliance on calls to databases a WordPress site can easily become bloated and slow. Web masters who use WordPress need to look at how they can decrease their website‘sRead More...

Google and page load speed – what’s it all about?

Che Cooper — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:41:07 +0100

If you keep up to date with the goings on in the SEO world you will have read about Google’s recent announcement regarding their inclusion of page load times in to their search ranking factors. With a lot of companies jumping on the bandwagon to use this to sell their services I wanted to address what this means to your website and what you can do to make improvements.

The full announcement from Google can be found here is well worth a read http://googlewebmastercentrRead More...

How to make your Website Hacker Proof !!!!

Che Cooper — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:35:29 +0100

Modern cars are incredibly difficult to break in to and steal, so much so that thieves often find it easier to break in to a house and steal the car keys to make off with it. Hackers targeting your website are faced with a similar problem when it comes to getting access to your website.

Few hackers target the web host directly, with all the money large web hosts such as ourselves spend on security and monitoring it is simply too difficult to gain access. Instead they go directly Read More...

Essential WordPress Plug-ins & Widgets starter kit

Che Cooper — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:47:26 +0100

There are a select group of WordPress plug-ins & widgets I go about installing as soon as I have set up WordPress, sometimes even before I have activated my theme of choice. In no particular order, below are the plug-ins & widgets I install within the first 24 hours without fail and think you should too…

Contact Form 7

Have your site’s visitors send secure messages to your email inbox with out exposing your email address.

All in one SEO

CRead More...