Singapore Web Hosting Blog

met a university classmate this afternoon, very good friend that time as well.

when i mentioned i’m running web hosting business now, he’s rather surprised! “hmmm, i thought the dotcom stuff has collapsed already…? how do you guys survive, i know price of web hosting is a few bucks only…”

well, yes, web hosting is dirty cheap nowadays. but it does not mean a profitable business cannot be built on web hosting. if the business model is right, i believe any business can be very profitable. obviously we can’t make much from web hosting itself, server hardware, bandwidth, control panel software, technical support, customer support, manpower… many web hosting companies are still struggling to break even.

we don’t make money from web hosting either. web design and SEO service is how we make our livings.

in fact, i have many business ideas that can be successfully and profitably run online.

software is selling fast and easily on the web, and will remain hot for quite long time. i buy software online all the while. what about coming out with a software idea that is usefull and in demand, and get a programmer from india or china to get it done, then sell it online for 40 or 50 buckes.

yoga is very interesting, my wife is exercising now. how about selling yoga tutorial video, streaming video or downloadable video, on a web site?

have experience in stock market, shares, bonds, options, etc? how about start a membership service to give tips and instructions?

not sure if this i’s legal to run in singapore, but anyway, how about running adult toys web site and get a drop shipping service in US to handle delivery?

the biggest problem is, i don’t have enough time!

very often, we receive email from clients asking for help: my email is not working properly, please solve it asap. that’s all in the email.

not much we can do about it sometimes, except for replying and ask:

1)what’s your domain name? sometimes we can search for the email address in our record and find out who is asking for help. sometimes, the client uses another email address, we don’t know which account to check out if you don’t tell us who you are. dumb huh? it happens.

2)which email account you are using? you have problem with all email accounts undr your domain? or just one account?

3)you have problem with webmail or email client software? what email client you use?

4)what error message you get? what would happen on the screen when you try send/receive emails? please describe the problem in more detail.

in short, we won’t be able to know where the problem is without further information. saying there is problem does not tell us much. we need to know what problem in order to solve it. of course, if it’s server down, we would know already

and i have to say, 95% of all those “email problems” are not problem on server. most likely it’s something at client’s end.

a few things i would like to address:

1)make sure your account is not over quota. 50% of all email problems goes here.

2)make sure you enter the correct username and password. the username is entire email address. another 30%.

3)disable firewall, anti-virus, reset router, restart computer, clear computer cache. another 10% solved.

4)if you upgrade your Windows OS recently and you use latest version of Outlook or Outlook Express, switch to Mac. or switch back to original OS. 5%.

doesn’t help? open a support ticket and remember to describe the problem in detail.

what’s the difference between .com domain name and .com.sg domain name? which should i go for? very often i’m asked this question.

well, technically, they work exactly the same way. ftp, email, web pages, scripts, dns… there’s no difference in how a web site is run no matter what domain name it is.

however, you may prefer one over the other for some reason:

1)price is different, very different. cost of .com .net .org domains is US$7-15, while .com.sg domain name costs S$60-80. so if there’s no special reason, stick with .com names, it won’t hurt most likely.

2)where is your target market? unless you want really strong local identity, .com domain name is generally acceptable. if you run a shopping mall, or yours is neighbourhood community web site, you may want .sg domain names as people can tell immediately who you are.

3)you are singapore branch of an international company? then you may want to register .com.sg domain and put localized content.

4)short, crispy .com version domain is taken while .com.sg name is still available. nowadays almost all the short, eye catching, 1 or 2 word .com domain names are taken by someone, it’s really hard to get a good .com name. however, there are still many good .com.sg names available.

5).com domain name is open to anyone, .com.sg is available to singapore registered companies only.

the same applies to .net .org and other country domain names.