We wanted to take the time to post a recap of the year as well as add some insight as to what is coming in the new year.

2011 has been a great year! We built upon the groundwork put into place in 2010 and continued to offer premium web hosting at an exception value. Updates were performed to keep software versions current as well. We have expanded our staff tremendously so that we’re able to serve our clients when they need us!

Towards the end of 2010, we launched our new Affiliate Program! If you haven’t joined yet, jump on over and join today to start earning money!

There will be plenty to look forward to in 2012!

• For starters, we will be launching VPS hosting. This is an often requested service, and we’ll be launching multiple options to choose from.
• Currently, our servers are located in Montreal. We will be expanding to other cities as well – most likely Toronto and Vancouver. This will allow the selection of where a new account is located. Existing customers will be able to move their account to a different location if wanted as well!
• Our engineering team is currently writing a significant update to our billing system. The new version will provide for tighter integration with hosting accounts, add additional features, and more!

We hope 2011 has treated everyone well! We encourage feedback, so if you have any questions or comments, please post them here in the comments and we’ll be happy to answer them!

When it comes to great forum scripts, you have a lot of choices out there.  One forum script that is receiving a lot of great reviews is MyBB.  It is a free and open source alternative to other forum scripts such as vB, IPB, phpBBB, SMF and more.

Here is a little more about MyBB from the developers:

A lot of thought has gone into the MyBB interface to make it easy to use. MyBB uses a standard discussion board structure, so your visitors will feel familiar with the way MyBB works. Your visitors can use the MyBB user control panel to change the way they view discussions. They can also easily start and reply to discussions and markup their posts.

From square one, MyBB does a lot to give you an interface that is not just simply designed but is also familiar to use. You can change things extensively from within the administration panel.  The ability to edit the layout, options and behavior of the script is all located within that area. The MyBB forums are also very extendable.  It has a very advanced plugin system that allows you to tweak almost every aspect of how the forum works and feels to your users.

Already using another forum script?  Their MyBB Merge System will allow you to easily convert your posts from another forum script over to MyBB.  If you need more information, be sure to go check out mybb.com.

Flexible. Elegant. Easy to Use.  These are all phrases people have used to describe TextPatern.  In a day and time where WordPress, Joomla and others get the majority of the love – I am here to introduce you to a script that helps you easily get your content out to the masses.

TextPattern is definitely an easy to use script.  If you have installed any type of script, then you will find the installation process for TextPattern very familiar. If you ever run into any problems, just jump over to their forums – where the dev team is actively posting along with the users.

Getting down to the interface of TextPattern, it is very simple.  You can focus your attention on getting your articles written and edited very easily. You can even quickly convert plain text to valid XHTML with Textile.

Designers will find the TextPattern interface and back end organization very helpful.  There is no real limit to how you can style or layout the TextPattern powered websites.  Everything is standards compliant by default and the forums are also filled with other theme designers that will be willing to give you a helping hand if you get stuck.

TextPattern is a nice alternative to other blogging scripts like WordPress.  BlueFur would be more than happy to host it for you too. If you are looking for something that has a much simpler interface and is more focused on getting your articles and posts out there – TextPattern is well worth checking out.

You can pick it up at textpattern.com.

Everyone is trying to keep up with the Joneses. It’s just human nature and that’s the theme for this week’s tour of the blogosphere.

Darren Barefoot recently attended his 20-year high school reunion and naturally found himself comparing himself to his former classmates. Of the people he chatted up, he was the only one who was both married and childless. Is this indicative of a generation or simply of the people who choose to attend reunions?

Tyler Cruz has completed his $650 weight loss challenge with Paul Piotrowski. At the final weigh-in, both participants were able to reach their goals, but only barely. Along the way, Tyler has significantly adjusted his diet and exercise patterns. Here’s hoping he sticks to the new lifestyle!

LaToya Irby came across the 2nd Annual Freelance Industry Report and has provided us with some highlights. This considers freelancers as an aggregate — including everyone from writers to designers — but it says that the nearly half of the demographic earn between $20 and $59 per hour with 17% earning $100 or more per hour. Where do you fall on this spectrum?

Neil Patel previously wrote about the ROI on dressing well. Now, he’s talking about the ROI of partying. Paying for the overpriced drink at the club might sound like a waste of money, but it can be an investment if you happen to bump into the right people and talk shop. People are more likely to open up when they’ve loosened up with a couple drinks.

Trent Hamm takes a look at the other side of the comparison equation, outlining what you have that other people might want. Your time, skills, equipment and relationships are all of value to other people. You just have to figure out how to best utilize them in your favor.

Marketing can be a very complicated process, especially when your customers know that they are on the receiving end of the advertising. In the modern age of the Internet, fewer people want to be sold on something and more people want to be informed. That’s why while you still want press releases and killer product pages, you also need something more.

That’s why it can be a great idea to invest in creating a stellar white paper or infographic. This works almost like passive marketing, because it helps to establish you (or your company) as an expert in your field. You are providing the audience with useful or interesting information, and then they see that you are the source. This adds value and credibility to your brand.

In the case of infographics, good ones will oftentimes get picked up by popular blogs that report on your niche, whether it is related to automobiles, Internet marketing, the wedding industry, or any number of other areas. This again works as “free” advertising for your company, since your logo or brand name is attached to that infographic.

Best of all, you don’t really need to produce the infographic yourself. There are many freelancers on the Internet who are available to complete the entire process for you, including the background research, layout, typography, and more. Outsource to these professionals, have your name attached to the project as the official sponsor, and enjoy the passive brand awareness building.

Whether you run a blog as part of a bigger business or your blog stands on its own, it’s important that you have an ability to reach out to your audience and they have an ability to reach right back to you. The comment section is one way to do that, but not all communication is intended to be public. That’s why contact forms are so useful.

There are many different contact form plugins available for WordPress, but most require you to create a separate page for the contact form. That’s not the case with the Slick Contact Forms plugin. Instead, it uses jQuery and AJAX so the contact form can be rendered on any page. There is no page refresh needed.

The contact form can simply float or drop down as a tab. If you prefer, it can aslo be a sticky, slide-out tab. In any case, the contact form can be placed as a widget at all kinds of places around the web and includes three text input fields, as well as a text intro. To fight spam, it uses a “honeypot” mechanism with a blank input field hidden to users but visible to spambots. This is more streamlined that a Captcha-style system.

Learn more about the Slick Contact Forms WordPress plugin on Design Chemical, which is the site of the people responsible for the plugin. Screenshots, installation instructions, a live demo, shortcode information, and the free download link can all be accessed from that page.

As a small business owner, you will likely find yourself in the situation where you need to hire an employee or two. The hiring process can seem fairly standard, but things have changed in the age of the Internet.

Yes, you will likely still want to go through the usual process of collecting a resume and a cover letter. Yes, you will likely also want to conduct an interview, ideally in person so that you can get a sense of their demeanor and manner of conducting themselves.

However, you will likely also want to conduct some background checks. Depending on the nature of the job, you may perform a criminal record check, for instance, but the Internet can be a wealth of other information about just about anyone. Do a Google search. Look for the profile on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

The personal decisions of the prospective employee should not carry too much weight, but they will still fall under your consideration. At the same time, be willing to cut some slack, as we all have our moments of indiscretion that inevitably find themselves into Facebook photo albums.

What do you do when you want to get DSLR-like image quality and interchangeable lenses, but you do not want to lug around a camera of that size? There are many more options in this niche with each passing day, from the Olympus E-PL1 and other PEN cameras to the NEX series from Sony. The latest name to join this realm is Nikon.

Nikon is already very well respected when it comes to DSLRs, but the recently announced Nikon V1 and Nikon J1 bring that down to a much smaller scale. The size of these new cameras is comparable to a Panasonic GF1, making them appear like compact point-and-shoots. However, much like the micro four-thirds system, the Nikon 1 Series is equally adaptable with a powerful 10.1-megapixel sensor, ESPEED 3 image processing engine, and interchangeable lenses.

The ISO can go up to 3200 for low-light shooting and there is the ability to add in a flash for even more light capture, in addition to the integrated pop-up flash. It’s also notable that the Nikon V1 is capable of shooting up to 60 images a second if the focus is locked. It will also shoot full HD video and can capture slow-motion at up to 1200fps too.

It has been announced that the Nikon J1 will ship on October 20th for $649.95. That includes the 10-30mm kit lens. The higher end Nikon V1 will ship in the same window with the same kit lens for $899.95.

The professional players in the NFL have hit the gridiron for another grueling season, but what about your own league? Or even if you don’t play in league, you want to get yourself into tip-top shape right?

For that, it might be useful to check out Pro Football Workout, a blog that focuses on improving your play with football workouts and conditioning. Some of the more recent posts cover such topics as preventing dehydration, improving your kicking ability, and choosing the right football equipment.

As you make your way through the extensive collection of posts and articles, you can learn about everything from speed workouts to supplements and nutrition. It’s important to approach your football training from a holistic perspective and that includes what goes into your body before you hit the field!

Do you use BlueFur to host your websites? Let us know and we can feature you in a future blog post. Send an email message to blogfeature@bluefur.com with your name, website URL, and a brief description of what you’d like to see highlighted.

The best option for your WordPress blog is to get a custom theme, but this may not always be practical or affordable. Thankfully, there are literally thousands of free themes for you to consider. Neo Theme is one of the newer ones to hit the block.

Released earlier this year, the Neo WordPress theme is quite clean in its layout, but is very robust in its feature set. Its basic color scheme is silver and grey, but there are some nice spots of light blue too. There is a featured post slider toward the top, as well as several custom social media icons embedded “behind” that.

Below that is the main content area where your blog posts will be shown. The date is highlighted to the left. Just below the post title are your categories and tags, as well as a space for an image or ad placement. The four 125×125 ad blocks in the sidebar provide good monetization opportunities too.

Check out the screenshot of Neo WordPress Theme on Web Design Lessons, which is also where you can find the links for a live demo and a free download.