What do I need from my hosting service?
This question is more easily answered when you have considered other questions first.

1. Do you plan to sell online, display a gallery, or have a blog? If so, your hosting provider should include multiple MySQL databases, which make e-commerce, gallery and blog solutions possible and easy to create.

2. Will you need your own domain email? At Aspire, we always advise business owners to use their own domain emails. Consider it a way to advertise your business online every time you send an email.

3. Would you like to advertise your business online? You may want to get a jump start on advertising with sites like Google, Facebook, and Yahoo. Will your Hosting provider provide Advertising credits to get you started?

4. Who will own your domain? No one wants to discover a nasty surprise; the domain you paid for doesn’t even belong to you! Be sure that you are the sole owner when you register a domain with a Hosting provider.

At Aspire Technology Solutions, we believe these are the basic essentials for any company making its mark online, regardless of size or market, and meeting all of these needs with a Hosting provider at a fair and low price is not too much to ask for.

Harness the online presence of your business with Aspire Technology Solutions; we have it all:

Multiple MySQL Databases – Create blogs, galleries, e-commerce sites, CMS sites, forums, web calendars, and more all with the click of a button!

Unlimited Domain Email – Create as many as you need! Set up auto responders, auto forwards, send newsletters, and connect to Outlook with ease!

Jump-Start On Advertising – Facebook Ad Credits, Free YellowPage.com listing, Google AdWords Credits, and Yahoo Search Credits, they’re all included!

Owning a Domain – The terms are clear, when you choose Aspire as your Hosting provider, you are the owner of your domain and retain all rights to your Company’s name online.

Search Engines and Site Results – Automate search engine submissions to increase your site’s visibility in search results and examine real-time site activity data and see who is visiting your web pages and where they are coming from, all from your easy to navigate control panel!

Unbeatable Tech Support – With an intelligent control panel help option that makes finding the answers you need fast and easy as well as our web technicians who are ready to answer your questions and only a phone call or email away, Aspire Technology Solutions provides consistent web services that can’t be topped.

All of this and more for only $60 a Year!
Contact us today to learn why so many people are choosing to host with Aspire!
(716) 200-4479 Option 4

Web Hosting – The smart shopper’s guide is a post from: @ Blog

We receive at least two or three offers a month from companies such as, “Domain Registry of America,” sadly, based right here in Buffalo, attempting to scare our customers into renewing their domain registration immediately because it’s going to expire in about six months.

The rates they demand are usually about 60 to 70% higher than what we would bill our customers for a similar service.  If their instructions are followed, they will end up with registrar control of your domain and your domain will no longer be in the hands of the hosting company you are working with.

If you work with a trusted hosting provider, stick with them and direct questions about these and similar solicitations to them.  If you don’t have a hosting provider or are having trouble getting the answers you need, please call our Web Services help desk at 716-200-4479 Option 4 and we’ll be glad to answer your questions about hosting, domain registration or web site design services.

Domain Registry of America is a post from: @ Blog

What is the CAN-SPAM Act?
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law put into place to set rules and necessities for commercial email. Rest assured that any business with good intentions can easily follow the requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act without sacrificing newsletter content or volume.

1. Clearly identify who you are.
Use an accurate originating domain name and email address that will identify the person or business that is sending the newsletter.

2. Use truthful and accurate e-mail subject lines.
Be sure that the subject of your e-mail reflects the content of the message that is being sent out and doesn’t attempt to trick the recipient into opening the email.

3. Identify the e-mail as an ad or newsletter.
This is pretty straightforward and recipients will appreciate it. Be honest about what you are sending out!

4. Include your valid postal address.
Tell people where you are located. This can be your business street address, a PO Box registered with the U.S. Postal service for your business or a private mailbox that has been registered to receive commercial mail under Postal Service regulations.

5. Provide an option for recipients to opt out of receiving future emails.
It is vital that you and your business respect the wishes of those you are sending e-mail advertisements to and always provide an easy to find explanation of how they may choose to no longer receive e-mails from you.

6. Do not delay in honoring opt-out requests.
If a recipient chooses to no longer receive e-mails from your business, it is imperative that their request be met. Your newsletter manager must be able to process opt-out requests at least 30 days after the newsletter has been sent. An opt-out request must be honored within 10 business days.

You may not charge them a fee, request any personally identifying beyond an email address, or force them to take any other steps other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page to make their opt-out request. You cannot sell or transfer the email addresses of people who have opted out of receiving emails from your business.

7. Be sure to monitor what others are doing on behalf of your business.
If you decide to hire another company to take over your business’ e-mail marketing, your business will still be held responsible for whether or not your advertisements comply with the law.

As I mentioned above, even as you ensure that your e-mail advertisements comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, the receivers of your newsletters may still be less than pleased to see your e-mails in their inbox.

Trust is beyond essential when it comes to the relationship between a business and its clients. Having your newsletter disregarded as spam does a lot to damage that trust.
There are a few guidelines you can apply to your e-mail advertisements to both respect your customers and avoid being labeled as spam senders.

Just as you must provide an “opt-out” option, provide an opt-IN option as well.
Offering a clear option to receive newsletters from you business is arguably the best way to build a list of clients who WANT the information your e-mail advertisements provide.

Be honest about how many e-mails you send out.
A person may be interested in receiving newsletters from you, but not want to receive an e-mail every week. Consider creating different e-mail advertisement campaigns and providing options (weekly or monthly) that people may choose from to ensure that they are receiving exactly what they would like.

Above all, respect the requests you are sent!
If a user asks to be removed from your email list, honor their request. We have all felt the frustration of repeatedly asking to be removed from a call list only to get more calls from the same company. Disregarding requests to opt-out will quickly lead to your business being reported as “a spam sender”

Effective e-mail advertising can be boiled down to one simple rule:

Always provide information to those who want it, and do not bother those who don’t.

Interested in sending out newsletters? Aspire Technology Solutions provides fantastic Newsletter applications included in our Hosting packages. Click here to learn more!

Newsletters or Spam? is a post from: @ Blog