However, the transition, I must say has been very painful, all thanks to Hostgator support. Our site was down for eight long hours solely due to the complete lack of co-operation from their support staff.

I sincerely apologize to all our visitors, who sent disappointed mails and to all others who may have tried accessing the site during this period. We tried our best, but sometimes things are just not in our hands. Wonder what would have happened if not for the intervention of Chad Bean and Brent Oxley who helped us get back online again.

The good news for our visitors is that the site is loading much, much faster now, which makes all the trouble worth it.

I thank you for your continued support and patience.

Hasan Saleem

With the amazing success they have achieved over the years, Best of the Web intends to take their service one step further with the recent addition of an exciting new feature – Best of the Web Local (BOTW Local).

BOTW Local is aimed at providing the local brick-and-mortar business owners an opportunity to bring their businesses online and gain more visibility. Just about anyone can submit their business to BOTW Local. The best part is that you do not need a website to do that. People who are exceptionally passionate about their businesses can create a high quality website, submit it to BOTW Local and dominate the local marketplace with ease.

If a business wants to pull a large number of customers, it is important to place the business in front of customers who are ready to act, which means the business should show up when people look for businesses in an area. Using BOTW local, customers can locate local businesses. It also helps business owners reach more people in their area. Each business is given its own page where they will be able to list all the information about their business, including the phone numbers, location and other details.

As part of the efforts to encourage brick-and-mortar business owners, Best of the Web offers free basic listings. Only those businesses that wish to maximize their presence will have to pay a fee. Paid listings will get more leeway than free listings, and will be able to provide a detailed business description, pictures of their business and a link to their website, if they have one. One thing that remains constant for both free and paid listings is that businesses need to have a physical address to be able to list their business or site in BOTW Local.

Any offline business on any part of the United States map can be listed in BOTW Local. It can be any type of business; travel and accommodation, restaurant, bank, private doctor, hospital, auto dealer, museum, theater and others.

For convenience, all businesses will be listed under specific related categories and they will be searched either state, city, zip code or adress wise. Google maps are also available, which provide direction through street maps, satellite imagery as well as imagery with street names, making it easier to find a business.

According to Best of the Web, businesses listed in BOTW Local enjoy the benefit of increased relevance, in terms of a highly targeted traffic as opposed to being listed in the general category that brings less targeted visitors.

We cannot deny the power of local search, what with more users coming online instead of using the Yellow Pages, including people new to a place, going online to look for local businesses. Irrespective of whether a business has online presence or not, it helps to be listed in a web directory that has a high PageRank, keeps spam away and has listings of high quality. Best of the Web is a quality-conscious directory that scores well on all accounts and BOTW Local has to be one of the most viable platforms to get a local business listed in.

A Classic Example of Web 2.0 Design

The colors, clean design and simple layout of CNET make it easy to follow and even easier to find what you’re looking for as you navigate the site. Tabs for the different areas of the site are a bright green in contrast to the pale yellow and white of the content and listings sections. The homepage is primarily comprised of listed stories, blog posts and review categories. The site is designed with an emphasis on showcasing a clean list using plenty of white space rather than attempting to cram every article onto the home page. The starkness of the pages is a welcome respite as there is little fluff and virtually no descriptions or teasers for the stories that you often find cluttering up other news related sites.

By keeping the story list to headlines, CNET allows visitors to skim the topics quickly without getting tangled up in related sub stories and photojournalism enhancements. Reading through the latest topics takes just seconds. Most of stories listed CNET’s homepage are breaking news or thoughtful, well-researched discussion of the technology industry happenings, the bottom half of the homepage showcases the almost endless number of CNET blogs covering a wide range of topics and industries.

A Wide Range of Technology Blogs on CNET

The latest blog posts are listed on the bottom of the homepage and featured post titles are pulled and rotate through the homepage list keeping content absolutely up to minute. All CNET blogs are listed on the homepage making it simple to find what you’re looking for in a single step. The CNET homepage also contains special offers and promoted articles on the right and bottom edges of the page, but these don’t make the site feel cluttered. In fact, you almost don’t notice the extra content. The ads and boxes provide a visual border for the crisp white areas which are so effective at showcasing the deceptively simplistic lists of content.

One Stop Technology Stop

CNET.com content leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. The site is one of the most popular on the web with good reason. Need the latest version of WinZip? Try CNET. Want to review handhelds before you buy? Read up on the latest gadgets at CNET. Not only are there reviews for just about everything under the technological sun, the reviews are thorough and detailed enough to be helpful rather than just someone’s rambling opinions on a particular object.

Tabs and lists make it simple to work through reviews and commentary on virtually anything on the site. Many of the review categories are listed on the main menu, but others require a bit more effect to locate. Regardless of how easy the review is to find, and it will be easy enough, the message will be written clearly with pertinent facts and opinion about the object.

CNET.com has collected all areas of Internet and other technology today and organized that information into easily accessed, easily understood offerings. While there is a dazzling amount of information available on the website, you never feel overwhelmed or even confused as to where you want to go next. All content including the new video section is organized within a nuance of category and travel through the site is simple thanks to the clean design. CNET.com is not only the perfect example of the way a modern website should look and operate, it is also the perfect example of the kind of website that keeps the internet simple enough for the rest of us to use.

Overflowing with Information

Forbes.com is a site simply bursting with information. To view the complete homepage you must scroll and read quite a bit, but the sheer volume of insightful articles more than makes up for the required scrolling. At least the most important and most recent of the many articles are listed at the top of the homepage making navigation a bit easier. On the homepage, ads and the many other Forbes business lines compete for space with seemingly every article written on the site in the last month. The homepage is long and saturated with articles and content, but there is not a single wasted area.

The content of the site is divided into related areas of business with new stories being featured each week or sooner for each category. Within each grouping, the feature story and related stories are listed for easy navigation along with teasers for each. Content is divided into sections such as Business, Tech, Markets, Leadership and Personal Finance. The feature story of each section and related stories are provided in boxes on the home page, and again on the sub page for the section. Sub pages are easily accessed from a menu bar at the top of the page.

Within each category on the websites many other subcategories are listed making Forbes.com a truly multifaceted and dizzying design to those uninitiated to complex content sites. Fortunately, while the site is very large, it is organized effectively so that it is easy to navigate so long as you know roughly where you’re trying to go. Start with a featured story or head to a section page to see what’s new in that area. The sheer volume of information makes it virtually impossible to finish reading and researching on the website in less than a day or even a week. Expect to take a few side trips to other stories of interest appearing in sidebars and boxes as you try to focus on a particular topic or story.

Newsworthy and Insightful Content

Content on Forbes.com is definitely interesting. Anyone with even an inkling of business knowledge and economic foundation will find themselves more than curious about the latest Forbes.com headlines. The range of content found on the site is more than considerable, and the fact that seemingly every story is available from the home page or one page into the site within a category makes it very possible to be overloaded with information on a particular topic in a single visit.

The homepage contains collections of stories and articles that not only report the news, but offer deeper analysis than other news related websites. But standard articles are by far only the beginning of what Forbes.com has to offer. The rest of the homepage and website contain video stories, smaller articles, opinion pieces, polls, and breaking news. Banners and ads pepper the page, but they don’t detract from the sheer volume of high-quality articles.

Forbes.com is obviously more than the online component of an obviously excellent magazine. Visiting the website offers you much more than flipping through the newspaper or waiting on news alerts from other websites. With Forbes.com not only do you know what’s happening business-wise in the world at this moment, but you also have experts in the various fields helping to decode and analyze that information on your behalf.

New stories are written and released throughout the day to stay current with market and political conditions and special features are developed to supplement breaking news almost instantaneously. In all, Forbes.com is easily one of the sites all entrepreneurs and professionals should visit on a daily, or at the bare minimum – weekly, basis.

At the very bottom of the homepage is yet another list of links only marginally related to the site purpose. These lists are site wide as well, appearing as a separate list even on the “Other Places to Search” page which does contain quality environmentally related links. If these questionable links were removed leaving only the bona fide categories and related searches, the Environment Wed Directory would be off to a much more authentic start as a quality directory. As it is, one can only hope that the links are providing the financial backing for the site allowing the owners to pull together a terrific collection of environmentally related links.

The Environment Web Directory fills an obvious niche as it seeks to collect authoritative links on various aspects of the environment. According to the information page (also flooded with unrelated links) the staff of the Environment Web Directory numbers twenty-three and comes together in the basement of a music store to search out and list the best environmental sites available.

In the actual directory portion of the homepage, the environmental links are broken down into the same kinds of categories present on most directories. Only with the focus on the environment topics for the categories have a decidedly greener feel. In fact the entire website is green – in every sense of the word. Categories range from weather to energy to pollution with an impressive collection of sub categories under each.

The subcategories are also listed multiple times under various heading, but linked neatly back to the same page ensuring visitors can find what they need no matter where they search. For example, a link to the Waste Management links is found under Pollution and Recycling as it is strongly related and searchable in each category.

The Environment Web Directory began in 1994, and appears to be well updated with current links. All links tested were live although some loaded very slowly. The site is well balanced with all aspects of the environment. It doesn’t show particular favoritism to veganism over animal husbandry, not does it list only websites from a handful of countries. Links are to websites from all over the world and none of the links tested could be called propaganda of any kind.

The developers behind the Environment Web Directory could stand a site redesign sans unrelated links, but the content provided on the site more than makes up for the awkward introduction. The link quality is excellent and it is obvious that the site editors work to ensure only authoritative websites make the list.

While this concept sounds a lot like the overwhelmingly popular Wikipedia, there are critical differences.
Open-site.org is set up on a CMS platform, not a wiki. The open-site framework is much closer to that of a true online encyclopedia, not a wiki. Open-site.org does make it clear that they are neither a dictionary nor an encyclopedia, however. The site considers itself a “informational, volunteer-based web-site”.

Of course, it may not be written by scientists and specialists in the field, but editors must be approved before they can add or change content and even then, that content must be approved by a senior editor. The public can’t modify information at all without applying and being approved as editors. The site is also organized by category, much like a print encyclopedia might be making it simple to browse from one category to another and find related information.

Open-site.org is a sister site of the Open Directory Project and is built on the same framework. That is where the similarities end however. The Open Directly Project, or DMOZ, handles only links. Open Site deals in content. The goal of Open Site is to build “the most comprehensive, informational, volunteer-powered web-site on the Internet.” The same can not be said for DMOZ as it has little or nothing to do with content at all.

Open Site has a long list of categories spanning from Arts to Sports and even has recently begun a Children’s version of the online encyclopedia that is still in production and not readily available through the Open Site website.

The design on Open Site is simple to use and has an adequate amount of information on each topic covered, there aren’t many topics actually discussed on the site in comparison to other Wikis. The popular cultural aspects of the site especially are lacking. For example, while Clint Eastwood is listed under Actors there is no mention of the teenage heartthrob Zac Efron despite his huge popularity online and off in recent years.

The content is written simply in a consistent format which makes it simple to read, although it is often not presented with the depth one would hope to find in an online source. There are also many blank articles throughout the site, a sure sign it is still very much underdevelopment.

It is clear that Open Site is working hard to provide only quality content to visitors, and the site actually goes one step beyond that. All content offered on Open Site is free for use by other websites provided credit is given properly and all terms are met. Overall, Open-Site.org is a website with a great deal of positive material to offer, but with plenty of room for more.

Founded in 1994, Best of the Web was designed to showcase websites that were nominated and then voted as the best of a category. Brandon Plewe, the founder, included many categories, and the site was very successful. Party planning and housing issues were listed along side financial websites and online magazines. However after 1998, the site lay dormant for years until it was sold and refurbished in 2002.

Currently, BOTW is a general paid directory that allows only quality websites and removes spam. It is still as progressive today as it was in 1994, but there are many more directories available to compete with. Of course, there is not actually much competition at all from these other directories as Best of the Web is known to provide quality listings without the garbage that search engines often offer up.

Best of the Web has five office locations with employees at each scouring the internet finding quality locations to list in the directory. Webmasters can submit a site to be included, but they must wait for reviews and admittance before becoming listing.

As Best of the Web is known for its quality, the company can be very selective when it comes to individual website quality. If your site’s not deemed good enough, it won’t get in. It’s as simple as that. But if your site is allowed into the directory, you will be listed among many of the best and most authoritative websites on the internet today.

In 2005, Best of the Web introduced the first blog directory. The blog directory is just as powerful and authoritative as the traditional directory, and takes into consideration the constantly changing elements of a blog.

To be reviewed and possibly included, Best of the Web requires payment from commercial websites. After a site is thoroughly reviewed, it will be listed among the others of that particular category. As BOTW is such as prestigious directory, the fees to be reviewed are rather steep. A one-time fee of $239.95 will get your site included indefinitely, or $79.95 each year will let you take control of your own site, even in the directory.

Overall, Best of the Web is innovative and forward thinking. It has gone from a website that simply listed the best of the web to a website that clearly belongs at the top of the list. BOTW is indispensable for many searchers who are fed up with Google results and want to know that the site they are viewing is quality. And with Best of the Web, that is exactly what they get.

Starting Point was founded in 1995 by early online pioneer Frank Addante, where it was designed to be both a search engine and directory. The two still overlap today. Initially, the Starting Point Directory had a unique feature which had to do with voting links on the pages listed in the site. Websites with high numbers of votes from visitors would receive a hot site award and actually be profiled in the directory.

During the last few years of the twentieth century, the popularity of the site grew until it was one of the largest directories around. Yesmail.com purchased the website in 1997, but did little with it until the site was resold to Techlabs, Inc in 1999. Unfortunately, Techlabs did not have a use for or desire to refurbish the website, so Starting Point languished for a few years. Finally, Starting Point was sold to a new owner who brought back the original polish of the site in 2006.

Today Starting Point is a human –edited directory with paid editors that review every submitted website to ensure it meets the high standard of quality. The listings inside Starting Point are a combination of Google results and paid submissions. The listings are also sprinkled with Adsense offers, but most webmasters and searchers are not phased by these as the ads have become such a natural part of websites today.

To have your site reviewed by Starting Point, you must submit an annual payment of $99. There is no one-time payment option available. The $99 payment will buy a deep review and a listing if your site meets the quality requirements of Starting Point. The $99 fee is recurrent annually, but is well worth every penny for the quality of the traffic and resulting clout in search engines.

Directories have always been a source of traffic and links to websites, but only quality and edited directories such as Starting Point can bring quality traffic. Free directories often are full of spam and junk sites, but by using the services of Starting Point and other popular paid directories, you can ensure that your website is among substantial websites.

As Starting Point has only been redeveloped in the past year, the listings are not yet overwhelming. A webmaster would do well to submit his site now before another few months or years go by and competition for prime directory placement heats up.

Rackspace has successfully crossed an important business milestone of surpassing hundred thousand users with its global messaging portfolio along with its suite of email and messaging tools. It is known for its integrated email accounts portfolio and delivers highly efficient four level enterprise messaging services. It can also provide email or messaging services in response to the specific customer demands.

Very recently, the company has made an awfully significant increase to its bunch of email products with the introduction of the new Microsoft Exchange from Rackspace and it has become the latest rage in the market when it comes to managing the messaging portfolio. The very talked about Rackspace products inculcate the popular noteworthy managed emails, dedicated and managed Microsoft exchange and lastly the Imail server managed by Ipswitch. All these servers can be easily managed by the respective clients and that is in turn hosted by Rackspace. The main office of the Rackspace is located in San Antonio in Texas.

Rackspace works in a very organized environment. It provides you with all the necessary tracking tools that allow you to keep a track on all the web management activities like checking out the bandwidth used. They have come up with the ticketing system that allows you to report problems to the customer care and also provides the finest configuration devices. One very important aspect when it comes to the configuration is that it provides different DNS servers for all the domains you have registered with and makes a very organized DNS management system. Above all, the DNS management system comes completely free with Rackspace. All the queries and their in-depth solutions can be discussed on the forums that operate between the Rackspace staff and their users. No other web hosting company has such an organized model or a better control panel for the dedicated server plans.

Rackspace probably has the one of the finest connectivity on the Internet today and the reason behind that is that it has multiple server lines running into their networks. The multiple lines can help with faster data transfer and moreover if one of the lines fails, they still have other lines working effectively and save their company from down times in the world of web hosting. When it comes to Rackspace, there is hardly any network problem monitored so far.
While other companies struggle to update their workforce with the latest technologies, Rackspace already has an above edge by possessing the best brains when it comes to technical know-how. Their management team has formulated a great security and reliability system on their network that finds out the problems even before they occur and notifies the network if something is running against the scheduled technical activity. Their Linux systems are regularly updated and therefore their security can be characterized as flaw less.

The only drawback that has so far been identified is with the back-up options. Rackspace still used the conventional tape backing up option and it gets really messy at times with the wrong tape inserted at the wrong place and then at the same time it is equally a long process. It takes about three days to fix up the problems with the tape in case the backup is taken in the wrong disk.

It works on the Cpanel environment which is believed to be one of the highly popular web hosting administration panel software package. It is known for its features and ease of use. HostGator offers a number of hosting packages right from the shared hosting plans to dedicated servers to various websites. The shared hosting and the reseller plans come in very good deals but this web hosting company is usually well admired for the dedicated server hosting packages. The reason for that is that dedicated plans are pretty cost effective compared to other services. The lowest plan comes for as low as six dollars per month and it also integrates a web space of about 4GB and a data transfer limit up to 50 GB per month. Therefore it is quite a lot of space with very less price. Along with the regular features like admin panel, email accounts and support for various scripting languages, it also comes up with database supports and anti spam protection. It offers the free script installer called Fantastico as well and with the lowest plan, you can host up to one website per account only. In case you need the web hosting solutions for several websites then you need to opt in for the more expensive plan and it starts with as low as ten dollars a month. The payment options are both- on an annual basis as well as the monthly basis. However, with the shared hosting plans, you can also pick in the add-on domains and you still don’t need to use the separate Cpanel for each different hosted website.

The other kinds of plans include the reseller hosting packages and then it also includes the semi dedicated packages along with the regular dedicated hosting plan. And when it comes to the support, HostGator offers the leveled support. This means that the simple queries are solved at the first level only without any escalations. These kinds of queries include simple “how-to” questions and if the first level fails to answer any of these questions then the call is transferred to the second level. The second level solves problems with have a little technicality in it. And in case the second level is not able to solve the problems, then the call is elevated to the third level of customer service. The third level handles the most intricate technical queries. They are the most advanced tech related issues or permissions and they promise to deal with them at the earliest possible time. Their customer support staff has received an overall rating of 9 marks out of 10.

Another huge benefit with the HostGator hosting services is the flexibility of the payment method. It accepts a wide range of payment alternatives from PayPal to all the major credit cards. If you sit to pen down the overall experience, it can be concluded that it has received positive feedback from all those who have used its hosting solutions. However, there are some minor drawbacks that come in with the technicalities. But as a complete picture, it is a great user experience with some feature-rich services along with friendly and efficient support staff.