A Warning About Future Fitness!

gym-cat

There’s a local gym chain in South Jersey called Future Fitness. My Dad actually belonged to this gym for a few years before moving to Florida..

Anyway, a good friend of ours has been a member of Future Fitness for over 3 years now. Her husband got laid off last year, and she decided to cancel her membership since money was tight. When she contacted the gym, she was told that there’s a cancellation policy in her contract, requiring her to give 90-days notice!

She explained her situation to the person on the phone, and they asked her to come in and speak with the manager to see if something could be worked out.

They setup an appointment for that weekend. When she got there, the manager wouldn’t listen to her situation – Instead, he tried getting her to pre-pay for 1-year, which would be cheaper than if she had stayed month-to-month. She told him that her husband was unemployed, and that she needs to conserve money, not spend more!

His smart-ass response? “Maybe he’ll get a job soon.. Why don’t we just freeze your account in the meantime?” Freezing your account is another scam, where they charge you $5/mo to keep your account active, instead of the regular $40/mo.

Needless to say, it was a lost cause. She’s now waiting out the 90-days, while trying to get the word out to as many people as she can about the true scumbags these people really are.

She’s not the only one that’s had issues with Future Fitness. Check out the 14 complaints on Ripoff Report about this company!

It’s sad.. If they had let her out of her contract, she would have probably rejoined when their finances got back in order. Instead, she’ll tell EVERYONE she can about this, and lose a bunch of potential customers in the process.

Please help spread the word! Thanks.

Effectively Manage Your Business And Your Life

This is a reprint from an e-mail I received.. It really resonated with me, and I wanted to share it with my readers!

If you’re like most business owners, you have more to do than time to do it.

But too many entrepreneurs get so wrapped up in their companies, they forget to take care of the other aspects of their lives. And the results can be devastating! Families are neglected, friends are lost, and the physical and mental health of the small business owner declines. (Just to name a few.)

So here are some tips for being able to successfully manage your company and your life:

  • Automate your business: This was the topic of an email several weeks ago. If you haven’t taken the time to realize the value of automation, do so soon. With your business on auto-pilot you have more time for other things.
  • Put systems into place: Mistakes are made when processes are not systematized. When processes are consistent, fewer mistakes are made…and there are fewer fires to put out.
  • Take a day off: Despite the temptation to work a 7-day week, take at least one day for yourself. You will see your productivity and your health improve. (Not to mention how happy your family will be to see you.)
  • Go home: Set a time schedule for yourself. Schedule the number of hours you will work and stick to that plan.
  • Set your priorities: There’s always another crisis to solve. So be sure to make special occasions with friends and family a top priority. Don’t allow a business “disaster” to hold you back. After all, there’s bound to be another one tomorrow.

None of the stuff is new to you. You know it all. But unless you are willing to take these suggestions to heart, you will never be able to effectively manage your life.

And remember, nobody ever lay on their deathbed wishing they had spent more time at the office!

Don’t Forget About Your Older Sites!

With a portfolio of over 70 websites, and only so much time in a day, it’s easy for a few of them to slip through the cracks.

Back in 2005, I had a really good idea for a resource website. So I went ahead and created it.. I spent a considerable amount of time building out the site, and it now sits with almost 3000 pages! The problem? I never really thought about monetization, and I eventually lost interest.

Every year, when I’d get the renewal notice from GoDaddy, I’d renew it with the intention of resurrecting the site. But 5 years later, and it’s still in the same state it was back in 2005.

So today, I get an e-mail from a visitor to the site, telling me that one of the pages needs to be updated. The sender was a representive for a rather large company in this niche, and it surprised me that they’d be using my site.

Curiousity got the best of me, and I jumped into cPanel to see how many visitors the site got. According to AWStats, the site had 10986 visitors and 38005 pageviews in 2009!

I have “real” websites that don’t get this much traffic! It’s obvious that this site fills a void in the market, and I can only imagine what kind of results we’d get if the site was updated on a regular basis. So I shot off an e-mail to my developer, and we’re going to get working it once again.

Don’t leave money on the table.. Every few months, go through your list of sites, and make sure you’re not overlooking anything!

Web Hosting Reviews: Best Cloud Hosting Company

Cloud Hosting is the next iteration of hosting. Cloud hosting had been creating quite a buzz around these days. You might be hearing the phrase for the first time, but the technology is not something new.

Generally, websites hosted on a cloud operate on a cluster of servers, where online operations are not limited to a single server. By handling security, load balance and hardware resources virtually, the website has access to the processing power of a number of servers that are distributed in real time.

Cloud hosting benefits the users from various angles. It’s scalability and cost efficient is the commonly known advantages.

As the technology is highly scalable, website expansion can be done without the limitation in server resources. Think about the hassle of migrating your website from a shared server to a dedicated server; think about server crash when your website experienced a sudden surge – with the scalability of cloud hosting, all these problem can be avoided easily.

Cloud hosting companies charge their users based on the quantity of computing power used. It’s like your electricity and water supply bills – it’s pay-per-use. Gone are the days where you need to reserve high server powers in order to avoid website crash, server resources are now used on demand.

So who do I use for my cloud hosting needs?

If you’re a frequent reader of this site, you’ve seen me post about my experiences with Mosso (now known as The Rackspace Cloud). If not, you can look here, here, and here.

Needless to say, I’m happy with them, or I wouldnt still be using them 9 months later! :)

Rackspace offers 3 different options: Cloud Sites, Cloud Servers, and Cloud Files. We use the Cloud Sites offering. Now you might be asking yourself, “Why should I go with Cloud Sites?”

Utter simplicity. Period. I was tired of dealing with our dedicated server, when my time could be better spent doing other things. And it’s actually saving us money, which was an added bonus!

There’s nothing else out there like it. Cloud Sites is an advanced, enterprise-level platform that lets you focus on what you’re good at. All the headache of server administration is their responsibility.

If you’re not 100% satisfied within the first 30 days, cancel and you’ll owe nothing! And if you use the referral code REF-SGN, you’ll get $25 off of your first month’s bill. So what are you waiting for??

>> Sign up today!

Web Hosting Reviews: Best Dedicated Hosting Company

So yesterday I posted about the best shared hosting company. But over time, you’ll eventually outgrow a shared host. That’s when it’s time to start thinking about a dedicated server!

Dedicated Hosting is the exact opposite of the shared variety. Instead of sharing the server with other customers, the hardware is dedicated exclusively to your website needs.

Since you are not forced to share resources, dedicated hosting can provide you with a superior level of control, flexibility and performance. This is an arrangement where you can choose your own operating system, install your own software applications, and incorporate the security mechanisms you feel will provide the server with the best protection.

It also a scenario that requires you to have a certain skill set in order to administer and maintain the server. Unlike shared web hosting, dedicated hosting is not recommended for the inexperienced user.

So who do I use for my dedicated hosting needs?

The Planet is the #1 dedicated hosting provide in the WORLD. They serve more than 20,000 businesses worldwide and more than 15.7 million Web sites.. They must be doing something right. :)

If you get a server through them, I’d recommend getting the Alpha Server Monitoring and Security Bundle option. It gives you some of the features of a managed host, but without the full expense! And you can always get rid of down the line when you’re more comfortable handing the administration and security aspects of your box.

Also, be sure to add the cPanel/WHM option – It’s a $0 cost option, but disabled by default. You’ll thank me later!

Once you get your server up and running, you should setup a firewall. I use CSF (ConfigServer Security & Firewall), and it’s great! Plus, it integrates with cPanel, which makes life that much easier.

So there you have it. If you need a dedicated server, get it through The Planet. It’s a nightmare to move to a different provider down the line, so get it right the first time so you can set it and forget it!

Web Hosting Reviews: Best Shared Hosting Company

The web hosting industry has spawned a broad range of niche markets over the years. Ranging from shared hosting to dedicated hosting, as well as all the hybrids in between, each type of web hosting presents its own set of pros and cons.

Shared Hosting is the most common web hosting service out there. A large majority of the websites you encounter online are running on this type of platform.

As the name implies, shared hosting means that you share bandwidth, disk space capacity and various network resources with other paying customers. The structure of this model equates into a low-cost solution that is typically easy to maintain for even the most inexperienced of users. Although the price is usually reasonable, these packages do not slack on power, as they come loaded with an arsenal of useful features. The economic value, simplicity and hassle-free aspect makes shared hosting a viable option for most individuals and small companies.

Unfortunately, you’ll often find hosts trying to cram too many users on a single server, which results in pages coming up very SLOOOOWLY..

Worse yet, many places skimp on their support staff. Of course, you’ll never notice this when things are working correctly, but when your site goes down and you try to contact support, you’ll soon discover what a hellish experience it really is!

So who should you host your website with?

HostGator is one of the world’s top 10 largest web hosting companies with more than 2,200,000 hosted domains. They have over 260 employees to provide you superior around the clock support.

I’ve been hosting with them for over 3 years now, and I just can’t say enough about how great their service is! With other “budget” shared hosts, I would have to deal with constant outages, and unresponsive support staff. But the guys at HG keep things running smoothly, with a 99.9% updtime guarantee! How many $4.95/mo hosts can say that??

I’ve used over a dozen different shared hosts over the years, and I can say without hesitation that HostGator is the best of the bunch! Give ‘em a shot.. They offer a 45-day money back guarantee, so you’ve got nothing to lose!

>> Sign up with HostGator today!

Building Website Success

You can create the world’s best website, but if no one can find it, it’s useless. Welcome to the world of Search Engine Optimization. Far from an exact science, SEO is a must if you want visitors to find and purchase from your site. There are plenty of companies that are happy to lighten your wallet, while they promise top rankings in the Search Engines. Problem is, there are no quick-fixes to make that happen. Consider yourself warned!

So what do you do to ensure your site will be found? Read, read, and then read some more! There are thousands of books and publications out there that focus on this topic. There are hundreds of message boards and blogs that cover SEO in great detail. You have to keep current on SEO, because the search engines are constantly fine-tuning their algorithms. You may have been on Page 1 yesterday, but a little tweak on their end, and next thing you’re lost on Page 20!

Here are some of my favorite SEO forums:
Digital Point
SitePoint
Webmaster World
WebProWorld
SEO Chat

In addition, you should check out the following magazines:
Website Magazine
Search Marketing Standard Magazine
Revenue Magazine