It’s New Year’s! A happy time?

A time for reflecting. A time to party. A happy time!

For most of us, it’s a time of making promises to ourselves that get seem to get harder to keep as the year goes by… so instead of that, I resolve to focus on what makes happy times even happier. (Hint: it’s not alcohol.)

It’s gratitude.

I’m not recycling an old “Thanksgiving” email about being thankful here. I will make this new year the happiest it can possibly be and I’m taking you with me.

This new year comes with a bunch of awesome new stuff; new products we’ve worked really hard on like our Domain Club that will save you money, great projects that will continue to improve our hosting services (I even hear whispers of a new hosting control panel, “zzzz…. cPaaahhnellll…. zzzz” in the ice-cold winter breeze), and our new account control panel, which you may have already seen.

So, my ambition for 2013 is to be happier. Happy people make better partners, parents, business owners, thinkers, and well, people. The way to get there is to be grateful for everything you’ve got and to constantly search for things to be happy about. If you can spend your time focusing on the positive around you, you will influence your world to be more positive toward you.

I hope you start searching for all the good in your life until it just becomes obvious on its own and all your struggles appear smaller by comparison. There is a lot to be grateful for, in anyone’s life, and it is all too easy to forget.

We’re incredibly grateful to have you as our customer and partner in doing better things with the Internet.

I hope this year will be a happy one for you.

What’s your New Year’s Resolution? Any specific ones in regards to your business or website?

–
Fathi
Happy IX Leader

PS: I’m really interested to hear what you guys think. Put your answers in the comments and we’ll try and answer each one – especially if you have any confusion about what you can do to reach those goals with your site.

PPS: So, check this out. I got myself this really cool Christmas gift called “prism glasses.” They’re awesome and totally weird, but I love them. Who knows, you might like them too!

Also, if you want to read more about gratitude and happiness – I recommend you check out “The Happiness Advantage” book. I will be using my new prism glasses to read it in bed, but don’t judge the book by that. It’s actually good and has inspired me in many ways!

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This is not a typo. Act fast before we regain our senses!

Right now, we’re offering domain registrations* for a single U.S. dollar. One buck. Which is a very small price to pay. In fact, it’s the lowest price we’ve ever offered for .com, .net, and .org domain registrations.

Have we gone completely bonkers?

Well, yes and no.

So… why so LOW? We want all of our customers to understand and utilize Whois Privacy, a feature that protects your prized contact information from spammers, scammers and phishers. To help you get started, we’re offering .com, .net, and .org domain registrations for the unheard-of low price of one dollar each, when you enable Whois Privacy at the regular price of only $9.95 a year.

One Dollar Domains!

It’s such a great deal, we still can’t believe it!

When you enable Whois Privacy on your new domains, you’ll get your first year’s registration for a single dollar. Whois Privacy is an excellent way to prevent evildoers and other bad guys from getting your contact information from the Whois Directory and causing all kinds of fresh mayhem. In fact, one of our people nearly had a domain stolen by a hacker. How? They used her Whois information to hack an email account and request a domain transfer. Pretty nasty stuff. We even get thinly-veiled attempts to hijack our corporate domains.

So Get Your Feet Wet. Go Overboard.

With one-dollar domains you can beef up your domain portfolio. Protect your dot com branded websites with dot nets and dot orgs. Or, maybe now is the time to find that domain you been dying to get but haven’t gotten around to registering. Maybe you want to buy up some domains for the future. Or find a domain to cash in on current events or trends. The sky’s the limit. It’s easy to do – search and register your new domain names right here.

Start Building Your Domain Empire Today!

$1 .com, .net, and .org domain registrations when you enable Whois Privacy. It’s like having your cake and eating it too! This is a limited time offer! As you can imagine, offering domains for $1 is below our cost, so we’re actually losing money on it. We’re definitely not going to keep this offer up forever; we just want to make a limited offer to people who know a great deal when they see it.

Good Luck and Continued Success,

Fathi Said, Founder
IX Web Hosting

*Offer includes all .com, .net, and .org domain registrations for one dollar each for the first year when you enable Privacy for that domain, for a limited time only.

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So, yesterday my mailman brought me yet another one of those Domain Registry of Amer*** letters. These letters are seriously annoying.  Take a look (click below to see bigger image) :

If you didn’t already know, these letters are a notorious marketing ploy.  They try to convince you to renew your domain name with them by sending you an official-looking notice, by postal mail.  If you follow the directions, not only will you pay an arm and a leg for a year of registration, but you’ll also be transferring your domain registration to another company. I often get letters from customers, who ask me, “How did these scumbags get my snail mail address?”  It’s actually really easy.  And sort of scary, too.

Your domain name’s ownership information (it’s also called the “WHOIS information”) is available in a public database – which can be accessed by anyone.  See for yourself right here.

This is the same reason you usually started getting boatloads of spam to the email address associated with your domain.

Obviously this is bad.  Only for specific reasons would you want to share your info (and I’ll tell you about those in a couple of weeks).  But as a general rule, it’s better to hide your contact information from public view.

So how can you hide your contact information?

Until now, there hasn’t been a lot you can do about it.  But because so many of you have been asking for it, we’ve added a sweet new feature called Domain WHOIS Privacy.  It basically removes your information from the WHOIS database.  You still own your domain, but now you won’t have to deal with all the spam, fake mail, and telemarketing calls.  Of course you always have the option to turn privacy off at any time, but I don’t recommend it.

I’ve got all my personal names, and even some of my business names, protected with Domain WHOIS Privacy.  It works wonders and the spam you get decreases considerably.

So if you want to add it to your existing domain(s), it’s only $6/year (which is like one or two lattes from Starbucks, depending on how complicated of a person you are). And it’s well worth it.  Here are some instructions on turning privacy on.

To make it a no brainer, we’ve bundled domain privacy with new .com domain registrations. For a short time, you can register new .coms for just 4 bucks if you add domain privacy when you order them.

I hope you like this new feature, and that it’ll help you as much as it has helped me.

Yours,

Fathi Said, CEO
IX Web Hosting

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Here’s the details on the five-featured knock-out punch for your domains.  All five fall into the “you’ve been asking for it forever” category.

You would not believe the amount of emails I get from my customers asking about these features.  They’re finally here.  Let’s get right to it:  (Drum roll please…)

Number 1: Domain WHOIS Privacy

When you register a domain, you fill out your name, address, phone, email, etc., right?

I’m not sure if you know, but this information is PUBLIC.  It’s stored in the so called “WHOIS” database, and anyone, including bad guys (like spammers, identify thiefs (or phishers), and other online fraudsters go there to get the goods on domain owners like you and me.)

There’s actually a close-to-home story that I have of how one my colleagues almost got shafted because she didn’t have her domains protected.  I’ll tell you about it later this week.

The only way to solve it:  Domain WHOIS Privacy – it hides your information and tells the trolls that it’s off limits!

 Click here to protect the domains you already have registered.

To honor the release of this feature – for a very, very short time, we’ll offer new .com domain registrations for the crazy low price of $4, when you register them with Domain WHOIS Privacy.

Number 2: .ME and .NAME Domains

Have you ever wanted to grab a personal piece of web real estate for yourself, your children, or grandchildren?

We’re talking .name and .me domain names. Very cool. They’re the perfect way to put your unique, personal stamp on the internet, and get a really sweet email address. Over 14,000 domain names are registered every hour, so act fast if you want to secure your name.

See if yours are available here.

Number 3: Internationalized Domain Names.

Did you know that domain names can be registered in non-English language characters?

If you get traffic from other countries, your should snap up your domain in those languages and redirect the traffic to your site. Right away. Why? Because it will help your site rank higher in Google, and it’s likely that you’ll start getting more traffic.

It’s fast and easy, and now you can do it right in your control panel.

If you don’t know how to spell your domain in the language you’re looking for, simply visit http://translate.google.com. Plus, it’s easier to copy/paste than try to figure out how to make a ¨, Б, or 买 using your keyboard.

Number 4: Premium Domains

I’m sure you’ve run into this problem before.  You think of your perfect domain name.  Alas, it’s not available anymore.  Just like all of the other good domain names – all taken.  But really, a lot of them are for sale!  And with any luck, the name you really want is too.

They’re called “Premium” (or pre-registered) domain names, and they’re a great way to get the exact domain name you want.

But, like all good things, they’re not cheap.  They can get pretty pricey – but you get what you pay for. Premium domains are often a big source of immediate direct traffic, built-in SEO rankings, and a reservoir of pre-existing backlinks (and all that stuff is really good for ranking your site higher on search engines.)

Take a look here to see if there is one you like, or if your perfect name is actually available!

Number 5: Easy Domain Transfer

For years, both my customers and my customer service specialists have been beating me over the head with this little tidbit: It’s a pain in the neck to transfer domains into our system.

So finally, we created something new: An automated tool for domain transfers that lets you extricate your domains from the grip of your former registrar, and transfer them quickly and easily to your account, directly in your control panel.

You can do it fully automated, and it doesn’t require any phone calls to our team.  So transfer away!

That’s it for now. We’re all very excited about these enhancements. I hope you will be too.

Talk soon,

Fathi Said, CEO
IX Web Hosting

PS:  Pesky Disclaimers:  $4 .com domain registrations good for initial registration period only. WHOIS Domain Privacy Protection is available on .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, and .mobi top-level domains only.

PPS:  To get handy screenshots and instructions for all of our new features – check out the online hosting manual.

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We’re starting the first of a series of book reviews.  Today’s book is one that is meant for those that have the desire to start their own revenue generator but have not had that much experience with their own online business before.  It’s meant for people who have the drive to turn an hour a day and every day experiences into six-figures.  Specifically, it’s about creating a profitable information product.

My friend, Jon Rozek, has written a book: The Six-Figure Second Income: How to Start and Grow a Successful Online Business Without Quitting Your Day Job. I’ve known Jon for a while and he’s helped me out quite a bit with my business…this guy is an expert and this book is valuable.

This book hits many points that I started into in my email to you about PayPal last week.  In short summary, this book walks you through the process of creating an “information product” that will solve other people’s problems (as it perhaps solved yours), creating a website around that product and then marketing that website so people know you exist and actually buy from you.

Keep in mind, this book is for the development of a profitable information product, but the process he discusses for marketing to your buyers is critical to any business.  If you’ve never done email campaigns, news and sales letters, autoresponders, “launches,” pay-per-click marketing, etc., this book might just be a very valuable learning tool for your business.

Jon has decided to give a bunch of bonuses to those who purchase his book on Tuesday, September 21^st. The biggest bonus is that they’re giving away a free seminar where he and the co-author, David Lindahl will answer your questions, discuss topics from the book and give you the opportunity to network with other like-minded people.  The seminar is just outside of Boston on Friday-Sunday, November 5-7.  If you’d like more information, just shoot an email over to questions@sixfiguresecondincome.com.

I had my fiancé read it first because she’s a really fast reader and extremely opinionated, but when I saw it was taking her longer than one sitting to read it, I thought something was wrong.  It also always seemed to be opened, face down next to her rather than…well, finished, so I started to worry that Jon and David had produced a dud.

Instead, I saw that she was working on many of the points Jon had written about with her own business ideas and was pausing only to be inspired.  This is exactly what you want out of a book.

We have both read many similar books, but none were as realistic and thorough.  This book literally walks you through the simple process of making money online without working that hard, but doesn’t make the mistake of promising that by the last page, you’ll be a millionaire.

You definitely can become a millionaire following his exact steps and Jon and I know many who have, but it’s not realistic for everybody.  It is, however, important to note that many of the bonuses these guys are offering include audio interviews and advice from the guys who have had 7-figure+ success with this process, so no one wants you to think that it’s impossible.

“I just hope you don’t have some moral or religious aversion to making money without shedding any blood, sweat, or tears. (Page 14)”

Read more about the book and its reviews here: http://www.amazon.com/Six-Figure-Second-Income-Successful-Business/dp/0470633956/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top.

If you have a business-related book that you’d like our staff to check out and talk about, let us know in the comments.

Fathi Said, CEO

IX Web Hosting

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Did you ever think about using Paypal to get paid on your site? It’s strikingly simple and if you’re interested in learning how to do it, keep reading.

When I started IX Web Hosting, Paypal didn’t even exist.  It’s a really good time to be a business (forget the economy!).  The integration of Paypal has already coincided with a sharp increase in sales (let me also give credit to the bustle of the Fall season for that, though) and a warm welcoming from a couple of you who were hoping for this change.  It was easy to integrate and had a big impact.

Being able to accept online payment from your customers is for sure the most essential part of operating your business online.  You lose a lot of business every time you ask a customer to call in or come into the store to make a sale in almost every single business case.  The audience we can reach is bigger now than ever before.  Don’t think people weren’t trying to sell web hosting in stores^[1] at one point.  They were… and they became really irrelevant really fast.

So many of our clients have what is called a “brochure website,” or a website that tells you a bit about the nature of their business or what they do, the history behind it and what kind of services are offered, but isn’t actually selling anything via the site itself.

I personally don’t understand this.  If you have something to sell, why not put your site to work for you? That’s like going through the trouble of having kids and not making them do housework (just kidding Department of Labor!!).  It doesn’t cost much or anything, depending on how you do it.  The payoff is great if you’re willing to put a little effort in… and there’s no reason not to put that effort in especially in today’s economy (which we should have forgotten by now).

Imagine the convenience for your customers and the growth potential for you if you were to start accepting payments online… or even just start making gift certificates for your products or services available on your site! People who were once only visitors to your site are now potentially paying customers and your best salesman is now working 24/7… for free.

The "Good Part"

It’s sad, but I’ve noticed that over the last decade, the power of a website is so seldom harnessed by their owners and instead, business owners dredge through more “traditional” paths that don’t make them much money and more often than not, lead them to giving up before they even get to the good part.

Hopefully, you’re reading this and ready to start getting paid.  Paypal is probably the best, easiest, most painless way to get started accepting payments online. There’s a free plan that allows your visitors to use their credit/debit cards or their Paypal account to purchase your stuff and it’s actually easy to set up.

So how easy is it?

Well, a quick summary would tell you that depending on how you’d like to integrate Paypal, it will either be very simple (about a 15-minute commitment): using Paypal’s shopping cart and easy HTML integration, or semi-simple: installing and integrating into your own shopping cart from our Easy Apps. You’ll also find that it can either be free or cheap ($30/month).

The free solution, “Website Payment Standard,” can be popped right into your existing shopping cart or installed using Paypal’s easy setup.  You don’t have to go through any kind of credit check to get paid and your customer will follow these simple steps to purchase things on your site:

1. Your customer clicks on the “Buy Now!/Subscribe” button that is available on your site via either your shopping cart or an HTML integration of Paypal (“HTML Integration” is literally just using their “Buy Now!” buttons to link to their shopping cart).
2. Your customer is then sent to Paypal’s shopping cart on the Paypal website (with your site’s header and footer still in tact — the process will be seamless to the buyer, but there’s not much you can do with the shopping cart look and design.  This is why many people choose to use their own shopping cart).
3. Your customer is sent back to your site to complete the process (usually to a “thank you for ordering!” page that you’ve created).
4. The cash from the sale goes into a Paypal account that you’ve created at the beginning of this process.  Paypal will issue you a debit card if you want one and you can transfer funds online from your Paypal account to your own bank account.

Paypal has a great in-depth tutorial here, but you can also watch their demo -which is pretty cool- to make sure it’s the right kind of thing for your business.

Also, let me know in the comments if you’re not at the Paypal / “Get Paid” phase with your business. If you’ve read up to here and you’re not selling something now, you’re motivated enough as far as I’m concerned to start making money with your site.  I need to get you to that point because the more successful you are, the closer you are to your goals, the happier you are… and if I can have anything to do with that, well, you know the rest. 

Talk soon,

Fathi Said, CEO

IX Web Hosting

Ok, so have at it! Let me know what you thought of the webinar!

Thanks for your feedback!

Fathi Said, CEO
IX Web Hosting

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When I started my first web hosting company in 1999, I didn’t know much about marketing.

(That’s kind of an understatement, actually. Someday I’ll share a bunch of very embarrassing stories about my early mistakes and missteps, but that’s not what I want to talk about today.)

But I stumbled upon a brand new form of online marketing called “pay per click”, and I kind of figured it out. To my amazement, that one traffic source helped me create a really big hosting business faster than I could have imagined. And I did it profitably.

Fast forward almost 11 years, and you may have heard of “pay per click” by now. In fact, that form of advertising represents about 99% of the revenue of a little company you might recognize: Google.

Google’s pay per click program is called AdWords. The good news is, it’s still one of the best kept secrets in marketing today. I mean, how many of your friends and neighbors have even heard of AdWords?

One of IX Web Hosting’s guest experts is my friend Howie Jacobson, who wrote the book, Google AdWords For Dummies. Not only is he an AdWords expert, but he can explain it to the rest of us

Here’s a short video tutorial by Howie, exclusively for IX Web Hosting customers, on how to use AdWords to bring hungry prospects to your web site.

Watch the video here:

If you find this helpful, make sure to sign up for the zero-cost webinar on January 20, co-hosted by Howie and David Bullock, our resident SEO and Social Media expert. The topic: “How to Develop X-Ray Vision in Your Market.”

You can find details and register just below Howie’s video clip.

The webinar is in just 9 days, and space is limited, so don’t procrastinate and miss out!

Wishing you health, happiness and prosperity,

Fathi Said, CEO
IX Web Hosting

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OK, so I admit it. I’m as confused by “social media” as everyone else.

I can’t figure out how to get millions of followers on Twitter, or how to get hundreds of thousands of Facebook fans, or why I should even try.

But I can read the writing on the wall, and I’m willing to learn.

My friend and IX Web Hosting guest expert David Bullock is a genius about social media. He’s the co-author of “Barack 2.0: Barack Obama’s Social Media Lessons for Business” – and he’s agreed to share his social media chops with me – and you – in a series of video tutorials and live webinars over the next several months.

In this short clip (just 6 minutes and 19 seconds long), he explains just what the heck social media is, why we need to pay attention, and how to start using it to grow our businesses. (I’m taking notes!)

Watch the video here:

If you find it valuable, don’t forget to register for the zero-cost webinar on “How to Develop X-Ray Market Vision” on January 20, 2010 below.

David will be co-presenting with Howie Jacobson, the author of Google AdWords For Dummies. Seats are limited, so please don’t delay and miss out.

Wishing you health, happiness and prosperity,

Fathi Said, CEO
IX Web Hosting

PS: If you can’t make the noon webinar time on January 20, don’t worry! Go ahead and sign up anyway and we’ll send you a video of it afterward so you can watch it whenever you want.

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Ok, I’ve been promising this to you for some time now, and I’m finally able to announce it:

As an IX Web Hosting customer, you’re invited to our first “Online Success” webinar!

The webinar topic is “How to Develop X-Ray Vision in Your Market” and we’ve scheduled it for late January.

Which means I now get to reveal our “secret” presenter, David Bullock, author of the social media study and book titled “Barack 2.0″. David is a well-known expert in the Internet marketing space and I’m really excited to have him share his vast amount of online marketing knowledge with you.

David, together with Howie Jacobson (author of “Google AdWords For Dummies”), will be showing you exactly how they use Google and other tools to discover:

• Whether an online market is worth entering
• How much profit can you expect to make in a market
• What your customers want (and can’t find right now)
• The messages that will attract the right customers to your web site
• What to show visitors on your web site that will predispose them to buy from you

In short, you’ll discover a 45-minute protocol for quick, zero-cost market research that can potentially DOUBLE the effectiveness of your website.

We’re making this webinar available as part of your regular hosting package, so you won’t have to pay a dime to attend. (In fact, you won’t even have to worry about using your phone minutes – you’ll listen in right on your computer.)

Space is limited though, so register now to reserve your seat.

If you can’t make the event, register anyway and we’ll send you a video of the presentation later.

See you on January 20, I hope

Happy New Year!

IX Web Hosting

PS: Remember Howie’s recent video on how to get into Google in my last blog post? Keep an eye out for a post with another video – this time from David Bullock – real soon.

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