We posted a poll yesterday which asked if we should relaunch VPS servers. Regardless of the poll results we will be launching several VPS solutions in some niche markets.

Business Hosting Relaunched
Last year we introduced business hosting using a failover DNS solution which required files to be synced between 2 locations. The problem was that databases and and multiple domains were not synced so if your site was dynamic (doesn’t everyone now?) then the failover would not work right. Based on that we scrapped that model at the beginning of this year

To take over for that we will be launching a 100% managed VPS with cPanel. The VPS will be setup, updated and managed by our staff just like a shared server. The customer who purchases this will receive a regular cPanel login to administer there site. There are several advantages to this for businesses…

• 1 IP for your business which is not shared. This will mean you will not need to worry about your domain being flagged as spam.
• Higher reliability because there will be fewer people on the server. A maximum of 30 customers will be on one server.
• More control over how the VPS is setup so that there hosting fits there needs.

The plan will look like this…

vDedicated Business
25 GB Disk Space
1000 GB Monthly Transfer Limit
cPanel with Fantastico
Unmetered emails, add-on domains, MySQL, etc…
$49.95 a month

We will not be providing root access to these servers as we do not wish to dive back into the reseller hosting market. Again this hosting is good for a business that wants a step up from standard shared hosting.

BlueFur Xvps Launch
We announced earlier this year and will be adding VPS Servers. The test with openvz did not go well so we have decided to go with Virtuozzo. This server is good for anyone that would like to sell Canadian VPS server. The server specs are…

BlueFur Xvps
Dual Xeon Quad 2.5GHz
750GB SATA2
15GB RAM
2 TB Monthly Transfer Limit
100 Mbps Uplink
30 Unique IP’s
Rapid Remote Reboot
Virtuozzo – 30VPS
Virtuozzo Control Center
$599.95 a month
cPanel with Fantastico can be added for $20 a month per VPS.

We will be adding this to our server offerings in the coming days.

VPS Development Hosting
I did some quick searching and there are very few VPS developer servers in Canada. My thinking is there is a need for a VPS where you could install software which you would not normally find on a shared host so you can test and build scripts. The server would be unmanaged and not include cPanel. The developer would have access to Virtuozzo Control Center where they can reload the Os anytime they need to. The plan would look something like this…

vDev
25 GB Disk Space
1000 GB Monthly Transfer Limit
512 MB of RAM Guranteed
Virtuozzo Control Center
$19.95 a month

This price is not etched in stone but is where I would like to see these Dev VPS price at the $20 or less mark.

Your Feedback
We really appreciate your feedback on these plans. Your idea’s suggestions will help us become a stronger company. Leave a comment if you have anything to say.

I know  you have seen a lot about twitter on our blog over the last 30 days but this tool continues to be a great resource for traffic and business networking with others online. If you do not use twitter then as I have said before I suggest you sign-up and get started today (you can follow me on twitter once you do).

In most industries there are 2 or more similar services with each having unique features that sets it apart. In the microblogging or cloud communication world the two major players are twitter and FriendFeed. One thing that FriendFeed does well is pull in your outside feeds into one location. On the other hand twitter does not do this by default so pulling in your outside feeds you will have to do manually.

Blog Posts
We have gone over this before but you can pull in your blog posts using Twitter Tools or WordTwit.

YouTube Videos
You can use twitterfeed to pull in your youtube videos. The process is easy, sign-up at twitterfeed and add your youtube feed. To get your youtube feed replace your youtube username in the following link…

http://www.youtube.com/rss/user/[youtube_username]/videos.rss

Delicious Links
Like youtube you can pull in your delicious bookmarks into twitter to share. Again sign-up at twitterfeed (if you have not already) and add your delicious feed. Like before replace your delicious username in the following link…

http://feeds.delicious.com/rss/[delicious_username]

With twitterfeed you can add any RSS feed to your twitter. The trick sometimes is finding the RSS feeds.

Does any one know how to find the Stumble Upon RSS users feeds?

 

Over the past week I have been using twitter in order to see what, if any, benefits it offers to our business.  I have made some great contacts, learned a lot about others and increased traffic by 35%. If you own a business, you really should consider joining twitter and using twhirl to become part of the community.

What is twitter?
twitter is a micro blogging system that allows you to post your ideas, thoughts, questions and links. Think of twitter as a large chat room in which you can correspond with others. Unlike a chat room you can choose who to listen to and who you wish to speak to.

How do I use twitter for my business?
To make use of twitter, you should start by building a group of people you’d like to follow.  For example, if you are a web designer,  you might want to use the search and start following other local web designers.  The designers you are following will post their own tweets which you will see if you have installed twhirl. The best way to make contacts on twitter is to be helpful and reply to others tweets.

Should I use twitter to advertise?
No. If you’re thinking of using twitter as a tool to advertise, not only will it not be effective, you will likely receive an adverse reaction from the community.  The people who are on twitter are very technical and will quickly block you if your only tweets (posts) are advertising or spam.

Can I send my blog posts to twitter?
If you have a blog there are 2 plugins (WordTwit and Twitter Tools) you can use to post your latest posts to your twitter. It is acceptable to post your own blog posts on twitter.

How do I get followers?
The true secret to twitter is not to try and get followers. Followers will find you if you are helpful and post meaningful content.

Do you use twitter for your business?

Today PayPal launched the Storefront Widget. This little Widget is great for adding to your blog sidebar if you are trying to sell something quick and easy. The one below only took me a few minutes to create.

 Here is a step by step on how to make your own Storefront Widget…

1. Go to the PayPal Storefront Widget Page.

2. Login to PayPal if you have an account. If not create one.

3. Click on Create new storefront to begin the customization proccess.

4. Choose a Theme (like a wallpaper) or colour.

5. Enter the Store Name and upload a 60 x 35 logo.

6. Add  your shipping information, contact information and additional information.

7. Add your products. You can have multiple products to sell and it will scroll through them.

8. Choose if your store is open or closed.

9. Publish your storefront. If you have a TypePad blog you can publish to it or just grab the HTML if you do not have a TypePad blog.

10. You can then paste the code into your page where you want it to display.

How do you see yourself using this on your site?

Automattic the company that owns WordPress and Akismet, has purchased blog avatar provider Gravatar. It appears that like most free business models they were not able to afford the servers and bandwidth requirements to stay afloat.

I have added the Gravatar plug-in to this blog and you can now add a little avatar for yourself at Gravatar to represent yourself as long as it is G rated. If you notice a silhouette of our logo on your comment it is because you do not have a Gravatar set. The reason I have added it is because I am sure it will become a more integrated feature in WordPress in the future.

I see this purchase as a good thing for Gravatar users as all the premium features will now be free and because it will be owned by WordPress it will be integrated into wordpress.org.

If you haven’t signed up for Gravatar I suggest you do.

If you have ever been to the UK then you would know that Banges and Mash is the unique way they call sausage served with mashed potatoes. This post really has nothing to do with that but was an attempt at a cleaver way to introduce a new technology called mashup’s.

A mashup is web application that allows you to combine various data streams together to create a new tool. Some of the mashup technology that is being used today are pulling data from craigslist and google maps into one tool. One that I found allows you to enter your city and it displays a map of all the local garage sales.

To create a mashup there are various tools to make them. One of the more popular tools is Yahoo Pipes. Here is a great video that shows how to use Pipes to make your own mashup.

Have you made a mashup? What mashup can you see being created for future use?