web hostinfo guide

Being married to man that hates to go shopping can tend to make life unbearable. With the grocery shopping and the housecleaning that needs to be done, how can anyone expect a woman to go out and buy shoes for a man. Her mother had never discussed with her the principles of how to select men’s shoes. Being good at selecting all of the things for the family to eat was not problem, and this task should be relatively simple too.

You consult your husband on the particular type of shoes that he thinks he will be needing and get the response back that it would be just something that is comfortable and would give the foot some breathing space. Then you wonder how to select men’s shoes that do that. You think to yourself, well, does he want just a pair of slippers or is he interested in a pair of flip-flops? You are not really sure what needs replacing, although you do try to keep up with such things.

After a review of the closet, you know how to select men’s shoes. You notice that his yard shoes are a bit tattered and worn, and that your husband could use a new set of church shoes. Flip flops wont work for either of those occasions, and airy feet are no place for church by any means. Then you spy the casual shoes that have been around for years. The heels are worn down and a tilt on one side of each shoe. That must be the ones that he is interested in replacing.

How to select men’s shoes for a casual occasion is one thing that never drifted into your brain growing up. Probably never will again if you have anything to say about it. You will discuss this issue thoroughly with your mother the next time you see her to ask her why she never told you how to select men’s shoes. You were totally unprepared for this experience and you do not like it one bit. This is not as easy an task as you thought it was.

You beckon your husband to please go with you and he firmly declines by saying, “Honey, I know you can handle this all by yourself.” You leave the house, get in the car, and realize you do not even know which store to go to but head to the mall anyway. There are multiple shoe store offering men’s shoes in attractive styles. In one store, you explain your dilemma to the nice sales staff, and give them the impression you made of your husband foot. They bring you back several choices in casual shoes, you pick one and bring it home. Now you truly know how to select men’s shoes and fast always works at home too.

In the first two parts of this series we found out about the weight of the layout and color. In the second part we discussed about the color of the layout. Let us find out more about how to select color for the Halloween layouts?

We found out that the monitor settings of your visitors will decide how they view the layout. Some of us keep very bright settings while others choose very dull setting. So whatever we select it becomes difficult to find out how the viewer will find it. Best is to chose a layout that has a mix of colors. Mono colors layouts do not have a break and look very dull. While multi colored layouts will look more interesting. It also gives us bigger choice in selection of widgets. For example if you select a red colored Halloween Layout, all your widgets must match with red. But if you take a layout that has many colors you can ad d widgets of your choice.

It is important that despite adding all kinds of widgets the layout and the profile does not look crowded and mismatched. a symmetry must be maintained. The over all look should please the eyes.  When you select a layout keep in mind the widgets you will be adding. Some layout designers do not leave area for some widgets. Not every layout has space for adding videos. So when you chose your layout, think about these factors.

So before you decide the layout take into account the factor of weight, color and widgets. It is recommended that you take a tour of other profiles. An observation of these profiles will show you what looks good and what looks bad and how the downloads are taking place. You can also find out about some layouts that you like and go and download them for your use.

In the first article, we learned the basics of choosing a layout for Halloween. The points we discussed were mainly the weight of the page. If the profile is heavy, the page will not get downloaded fast and your friends will move away. What factors make the page heavy?

Any thing on the profile page adds to the weight. To begin with the – layout. Then any other widget that you add. Contact tables, countdowns, music, videos, surveys, and any such widget that we add to our profile adds to the beauty of the profile. But it also adds to the weight of the profile. Therefore it is important that we think about weight right from the day we select the layout.

The next important consideration is color of the layout. The choice is between different colors and the darkness of the colors. Which color should you be looking for Halloween? Black and red are most popular colors. Red signifies blood and black signifies dark night. The layouts are not commonly made in mono colors. You will find many colors in the layout. Choose a color that satisfies one criterion. The text is readable or not. I have seen hundreds of profiles where nothing can be read. Because the font color and the background color are so similar that it is impossible to read the texts. Chose a color that allows the font to be read.

Should the color be shining or mat. This can be tricky because it also depends upon the settings of your friends. You may choose something very bright and your friend may have a monitor with high contrast and low brightness. So you cannot control what they view. Best is to chose what looks good to you. In the next part we will discuss more about the colors and other widgets.

This is time when everybody who is active on social networks is busy putting Halloween layout on their profile. Each one of us wants the profile to look real scary and attention grabbing. Human nature demands praise and accolades and when our friends praise us about our profile, we feel good. .

Layout is the major step that determines the look of the profile. There are thousands of websites offering layouts. How to choose the best layout for Halloween? Here are some quick tips on that.

Design of the layout should reflect the spirit of the festival. Halloween is a festival of innocent joy and fun. Halloween has the spirit of enjoyment that is incomparable. The layout should reflect that joy.

In the quest of making a good profile, the users overload the profile with video, music, colors, surveys, polls, comments, graphics and everything they can get to make the profile unique. The result is that the profile practically becomes unreadable and cannot be understood by most new comers. Choose a layout that looks clean. Let it be understood by your friends.

I have tried to open many profiles and found that it took ages. The weight of the files is simply overwhelming. Do you want a layout that makes it impossible to open your profile? Before you select a layout make sure that it is lightweight. The lighter it is, the better it is. Try any popular website and you will find that the site opens very quickly and pages get downloaded very fast. With a single click people navigate away if the page takes time to download. Do you want something like that page? I believe that you certainly do not want such profile. In the next part we shall discuss more about how to get the best layout for Halloween.

So, you grasp how to establish HTML files (web pages) and necessity to ground a website. You have a realm mention but don’t experience where to keep the files (web host). You gem legion web hosting companies offering a wide range of products but you can’t make heads or tails of all the features to decide which plan is right for you.Does this sound like you?If so, this article was written for you. Hopefully after reading it, you will have a better understanding of all the terms associated with web hosting and find a hosting company that is right for your business.

File Storage Space Usually hosting companies sell different packages centered around storage space. Storage space is specified in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes (GB); a megabyte is 1000 kilobytes and a gigabyte is 1000 megabytes. How much storage space do you need? Well, that depends on what you are planning to do with your website. If you have only a few pages of text and little to no graphics or images, a 25 MB should be more than you will ever need. Most hosting packages start at 25 MB of storage space. When comparing web hosting companies for file storage space, be sure to check their terms and conditions to make sure they do not charge another setup fee for upgrading to a packge with more space.

One way to determine the size of your files in Microsoft Windows, right click the Start button and click Explore. Scroll down and select the file(s) or folder(s) you plan on using for your website. Right click on the selected file(s) or folder(s) and click Properties and you will see the size.Bandwidth Bandwidth is the measure of how much data flows through your site. It is usually expressed in GB transfered per month. If you are expecting a lot of hits (millions of page views) to your site you will need to get the most bandwidth you can afford. For new web sites it may take a while to get up to a significant bandwith. If you find you are approaching the bandwith limit, you can always upgrade to a plan with higher bandwidth. Some plans allow you to increase your monthly bandwidth for an additional monthly charge.

E-Mail Most hosting plans include a significant number of POP e-mail accounts and unlimited e-mail forwarding. POP accounts can be accessed with your current e-mail program and some hosts may include a webmail interface for your POP accounts. If you have several people that work for your web site/business and want them to have their own e-mail address, you will need to select a hosting plan with enough POP accounts. E-mail forwarding is when e-mail that is addressed to your website gets redirected to another e-mail address that you specify. Most plans include unlimited e-mail forwarding.

An example of e-mail forwarding: for one of my websites mail addressed to mike-@-mrgoodbeer.com, sales-@-mrgoodbeer.com, and webmaster-@-mrgoodbeer.com all get redirected to my Gmail address. With e-mail forwarding you can easily track where your e-mails are coming from. Be careful though…the more e-mail addresses you have, the more SPAM you will receive. Shared vs Dedicated When comparing hosting plans, you may notice plans for shared hosting and dedicated hosting.

Shared hosting simply means that your web site will be hosted with other websites on the same server or machine. Shared hosting is good for the average web site where speed is not a priority. A dedicated server is just that, a server that is dedicated to your website. The advantages of a dedicated server are speed and control. The disadvantage is cost, you will usually have to pay a much larger monthly fee for having a dedicated hosting plan. If you know nothing about Unix, Linux, or network administration make sure to get a managed dedicated server.

The hosting company will take care of all the security and software patches/updates that arise over time. Make sure to review the hosting company’s terms and FAQ concerning their dedicated servers to determine if their service is right for you. Support For the companies that do not have 24 hour support, you will have to determine if their phone support hours meet your specific needs. Make sure to note the location of the company and offset the support times for your time zone. If you plan on working on your web site during all hours of the day, make sure to choose a company with 24/7 phone support; otherwise, you will have to wait for them to open before you can get help to solve your problem. CGI Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a program, also know as scripts, that can be run on a website to make the site more dynamic.

CGI programs can be written in PERL, C, Unix shell, and countless other languages. It is best to select a hosting plan that allows CGI because you will undoubtedly run across an application or game that you want to modify or include on your site. There are many resources on the web that list free CGI scirpts and countless companies offering CGI scripts for you to buy.

MySQL MySQL is used for creating and maintaining mesh based databases. If you anticipating having some scoop on your reservation that your users know-how necessity to bunch you leave usual desire to gem a web host that supports MySQL. Some hosting companies specify how many databases you can have on your site and charge an additional monthly fee if you want more. You will have to determine how many databases you will need and select the appropriate web hosting plan. FrontPage FrontPage is a website creation and management what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) tool developed by Microsoft. The files generated by FrontPage may have extentions asscoiated with them. If you are using FrontPage to develop your site, you will need to make sure that the hosting plan you choose supports FrontPage extentions or your web pages may not display properly, if at all.

Server Operating System (OS) For most basic websites you will not have worry about which OS your web hosting company is using. Most plans are running on either Unix or Linux. For some unique web site features, you may need a Windows based server. Setup Fee Some hosting companies charge a setup fee when your account is created. This is usually a one time fee and may be waived, in some cases, when you pre-pay for your service. Check the hosting company’s terms carefully to determine the details of their setup fee. SPAM Filter Most hosting plans include some type of SPAM filter for your e-mail accounts. This feature can come in very handy if you are using POP email accounts. Shopping Cart Some hosting companies provide shopping cart features as part of their hosting plan. You do not have to worry about this featue if your web site is not selling products. Also, there are many different third party shopping cart applications and CGI scripts available on the web that you may choose to implement on your web site such as the ones found at PayPal
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To conduct a successful marketing campaign on the Internet, your website must be hosted by a reliable web hosting company. Selecting the ‘wrong’ provider can prove very costly along the line.

Below I detail a few important aspects of the selection process based purely on my own experiences over the last six years.

Since there are thousands of hosting companies in the web hosting market, naturally during your research you will encounter hundreds of web hosting resource sites loaded with numerous and sometimes bogus reviews and recommendations, consequently your research process must be very thorough.

First and foremost do searches in the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. Simply enter terms like “Complaints about ‘Your Potential Host’s Name’” ‘Hosting Reviews’, etc…..You will find a lot of stuff regarding your potential host. Search for ‘web hosting forums’; there are numerous such forums on the web that contain all kinds of information.

If you consistently find too many complaints about your potential web hosting company…. beware!

A company that offers too many features for too little is also suspect. If they are offering huge amounts of bandwidth and disk space for a very low price, be careful. Here is why: The company will most likely be forced to host numerous websites per server, resulting in congestion and server overload. The result: Your site may be too slow and may experience lots of downtime.

Where is your web host’s datacenter located?

A datacenter located in a natural disaster prone and/or a politically unstable region is undesirable. I wouldn’t host my website in a Kabul, Afghanistan or Kinsasha, Congo based datacenter – these two and many others around the world are politically unstable regions. On the other hand a datacenter based in the state of California, a major earthquake zone may be undesirable, but the fact that California is more than well equipped to handle such disasters and is the world’s nerve center for all that is computer, far outweighs any existing dis-advantages.

A foreign based hosting company may be too far away from your customers. It won’t serve you well if your host is based in Australia and your targeted customers are based in The United States. On the contrary, if your are marketing to customers exclusively in Australia from The United States, a web hosting company in Australia would be OK. If you are marketing worldwide, your choice becomes a little bit more complicated….unless of course you are Google, Yahoo or MSN, big companies who host their websites almost everywhere worldwide. Generally, I prefer web hosting companies located in The United States.

How is your web host connected to the internet?

Your potential host’s data infrastructure – regional and local is of utmost importance.

- How is your potential host connected to the Internet…Do they have multiple connections to the internet backbone, and enough bandwidth to accommodate surges in web traffic?
- What kind of computer equipment is deployed within the datacenter?
- Is the latest network security technologies incorporated?
- Are the hosting servers protected behind firewalls and intrusion monitoring software
- Is the datacenter monitored via CCTV and supervised 24/7

How fast is your web host?

Find a couple of sites that are hosted by your potential web hosting company and test how fast their pages load on your computer. You also may execute the PING and TRACEROUTE commands on these websites to determine their suitability. Executing the ping command is called pinging a website and it determines how quickly a server can receive and send back a piece of data through your connection. When you run ping it sends a small packet of data and calculates the time it takes to get a response from the server. It is executed four times by default and a small report of average, minimum, and maximum response times will be displayed. A ping output typically consists of the packet size used, the host queried, the ICMP sequence number, the time to live, and the latency. All times are given in milliseconds. A ping output indicating large values and/or lost packets consistently over a period of time ….is a red flag! Please note that if you have a bad or restrictive connection (Your ISP), the results may be skewed. Firewalls and proxy servers installed in your system or network can sometimes interfere with the ping operation. Also, some web hosting companies do not allow pinging of their servers, in which case you will get a ‘Request Timed Out message’.

The Traceroute utility displays the connection [path] through the Internet between your computer and the potential web hosting company’s server(s). The path between these two locations has many routers, computers and other devices along it which help move Internet information. Each movement from one device to the other is called a hop. Too many hops is cause for concern ….do several Traceroutes for comparison!

Based on my experiences with different hosting companies over the years, I regard the following Web Hosting companies as the most reliable. I am sure there are many other good hosting companies out there, but it would be unfair to comment about a company that I have never dealt with.

One my websites, TheCertificationHub.com has been hosted by Ipowerweb since 2000. There were problems at first, typical when a web hosting company is experiencing a spurt in growth. In the year 2000, they had a customer base of 15,000. Six years later this number has grown to almost 300,000 and their service level has improved tremendously over these six years. Ipowerweb is one of the best web hosting companies on the Internet. A first class hosting company which I highly recommend.

I moved my other website, ClubAfrika.com from Globat to iPowerWeb beginning April 25, 2005. With Ipowerweb I have experienced much less frequent downtimes, few email delays and failures. The customer service is superb and well coordinated as expected. The only problem we had at the beginning was their inability to transfer our database from Globat. Club Afrika is targeted at users in Africa, most of who are still on dial-up. It therefore makes no sense that these users have to wait for 5+ minutes for pages to load up. In this respect Ipowerweb has delivered. My site is no longer ’snail slow’ and in spite of a few incompetent TIER 1 Techs here and there, overally I am satisfied with their service. Globat may improve in future….I suspect that they are having ‘growth problems’ just like Ipowerweb had when I first started hosting with them. If they do, then they might be worth considering for they offer the most ‘humongous’ features in the web-hosting business. But be cautious, ‘Greed’ almost always translates into poor website performance….some of their offerings are just too good to be true, for lack of appropriate words.

I have been hosting another website, ApondoSystems.com on Lunar Pages servers since 2000. Lunar Pages web hosting plans start at 5000MB of storage and 400GB of transfer for only $7.95. It is my opinion that Lunar Pages is a great web hosting company. Great website uptime and customer service! Very few websites require more than 1000MB of disk space (Apondo Systems has over 300 pages and I haven’t even used one half of the allocated space), so if what you are looking for is quality first, Lunar pages is a good bet. If you are looking for extra databases, humongous disk space and bandwidth, then take a look at iPowerWeb which is a topnotch company too, or even Globat.

StartLogic is a relatively new web hosting company, a reseller of IPowerweb Web Hosting Services. Naturally, you will expect them to follow in the great footsteps of Ipowerweb. Being the #1 reseller of Ipowerweb, StartLogic’s hosting infrastructure is most probably maintained by Ipowerweb, a large and reputable web hosting company. They offer both Windows and Unix Hosting. Due to the ‘newness’ of the company and the fact that I have not used their services, I cannot judge them authoritatively, but based on the comments I have seen so far, all over the Internet and by virtue of their relationship with Ipowerweb, I think this is a good low cost web hosting company.

GoDaddy currently offers one of the cheapest prices for Domain Names and Hosting Services. The pricing on packages is very competitive. With Godaddy website templates you can get a nice-looking Web site with ample storage. Reports indicate that their performance is above average. One thing you may not like is that they do not have an 800 number for Technical Support. They prefer local numbers. I think their pricing especially for Domain Names is very reasonable and is worth giving a shot. Also, if you are looking for just a handful of features, Godaddy offers very flexible packages….they even allow you to pay for your hosting services on a monthly basis! The control panel is kind of ‘tight’, scripting Gurus may not like some of the restrictions but I think Godaddy hosting is worth a try. We hosted AfroArticles.com briefly at GoDaddy but quickly moved it to Hostgator for one and only one reason: Godaddy does not support CRON JOBS, a server feature vital to AfroArticles.com.

Our website, AfroArticles.com is hosted at Hostgator. We were initially attracted by two things: Unlimited Databases and the option of paying monthly and not the usual year long contract. This means that if we are to disapprove of their services during our self imposed trial period, we will be able to opt out with ease. Well, we haven’t because we love the friendly and professional customer service support offered by hostgator and our website has been running exceptionally well. We have yet to experience any unscheduled downtimes. If you are looking to re-sell hosting, then consider Hostgator. Although the pricing is slightly above the average in comparison to other top hosting companies, we feel that the reliability of their services, the bandwidth, storage, unlimited databases and numerous other features included with their packages are well worth it. Hostgator is a topnotch hosting company, at the same level as iPowerweb and Lunar Pages.

One of the best ways to make additional money to have for the extra things you enjoy in life is to become a distributor. Distributors can sell distribute products both on the internet and offline. The key to a sound home business is to think about the products when you read that the words, distributor wanted. Here are some tips for distributor wanted opportunities.

A great market to get into for a home business is the wellness industry. There are so many choices for wellness products and often you will find that a distributor is wanted in this niche. The key is to find out what type of product is going to be distributed. One key factor for distributorship is that the product is consumable. A product that is consumable is going need to be re-ordered and replaced. This means that you can build up a strong repeat customer base when they find out how great the product that you are distributing works for them. There are many, many different consumable products in the wellness industry that use distributors.

Another terrific selling product is anything that has to do with information. Consumers crave information. There are many informational products that compliment major wellness industry products such as fitness videos, diet videos, recipe collections, health books and so forth. For example, if you distribute Pilates’ fitness equipment, there are some terrific Pilates’ fitness instructional videos that can be sold with the equipment. If you distribute health supplements, there are some great books on different health issues and concerns that you can also distribute. Having informational products to go with your main distributorship is an excellent way to grow your small home business.

It is important to select a product that is in the median range in price. This means that the average person will be able to afford the product. If a product is extremely expensive, you automatically limit the number of potential customers because it narrows the market for the product. Another good reason to be a distributor in the wellness industry is because there are so many different product options that are in the median price range. This means that you have a larger potential customer base when you start your home business. You can sell high end products but having something that can fit virtually any budget will help to increase your distributorship.

Another key element in selecting a product to distribute is choosing one that is well known and the majority of people could use if they chose to do so. For example, you will have a very narrow market for pot belly pig collars because the majority of people do not own them as a pet. The wonderful feature of the wellness industry is that people are concerned about their health and wellness. Additionally, there are many different types of products within the industry that the average person can take advantage of using. For example, many people are concerned about looking young. There are many different types of anti-aging products available for

Broadband Internet access is now available to most users and web sites are developing into complex constructs that a short time ago few would believe possible. Cable Internet service is one of the prime drivers in this fast paced growth. With an existing network in place, it was a simple matter to configure the network to handle Internet packets and get users flying down the information superhighway.

The new blazing speeds come with new dangers as well. With “always on” cable internet connections, intruders have more opportunity to access or damage your computer. This means your address is always the same, and you are easier to find. With this in mind, we will look at three products that can make your cable Internet experience a much safer one; NAT, Firewalls, and Anti-Virus Software.

Anti-Virus Software:

Anti-virus software is an application that runs on an individual computer that scans files for threats. How this scanning process works depends on the software you are using, but most can be set to check every file as it arrives on your computer, allowing possible threats to be stopped before they infect your computer.

This software can also be used to scan existing files, as well as boot disks and memory. It is s good idea to schedule your software to check your system periodically in case something got through.

NAT (Network Address Translation):

NAT offers an elegant solution to cable Internet’s static IP issue. Network Address Translation is a process in which IP addresses on a private network are kept hidden. Home users frequently use a method referred to as “masquerading”, and it is an effective method of protecting yourself from anyone attempting to access your computer.

Masquerading allows more than one device to share an IP on a network, and has several uses. Multiple computers can share an Internet connection without purchasing multiple IP addresses from your provider, individual firewalls can be set up in series, and this also keeps the IP of your computer hidden behind the IP of another device such as a modem or router.

Firewalls:

A firewall is a system that imposes access controls between two networks. The purpose of this is too keep out hackers, worms, viruses and other harmful traffic. The name is derived from a very literal process that prevents the spread of actual fires.  When a fire begins to spread through a forest area, firefighters dig trenches and saturate areas with water. These areas are called firewalls.

Firewalls that protect computers work in much the same fashion.  They sit between the computer and the Internet and monitor activity that crosses them. They can be configured in many different ways, offering very little to iron clad protection.  The two types of firewalls readily available to home users are software firewalls and hardware firewalls.

Software firewalls run on individual computers in a network, and only protect the computer that it is installed on. An example is the firewall that comes with Windows XP. Although it is an extremely simplistic firewall, it offers a general protection with ease of use.

Hardware firewalls are devices that sit on your network between all computers and the Internet. These firewalls are very diverse, and offer a myriad of configurations.  Though more complicated than traditional software firewalls, it is generally understood that hardware firewalls afford a greater level of protection.

The three security measures discussed here are not the only methods available to secure your cable connection, and nothing is totally secure. Hackers are finding new ways to exploit weaknesses in security everyday; therefore new measure must be used daily to defend against this. When deciding on what security measures to take, it is usually best to use more than one. A firewall and anti-virus software used together is greatly more effective than if just one or the other is alone. When it comes to security as with many things, more is better.

What comes first? The chicken or the egg? Or more to the point, the website design or the content? While most people think that the most important aspect of their website is the design, in reality its the content. Ever heard the phrase, content is king? Its used for a reason. People engage in your services or buy your products due to the content you provide them, the images that they see of your products etc. But more to the point, the content then drives the design of the site. Try designing a website with no conte…What size should the home page be? Where should the images be placed? What should be included in the navigation bar? Sounds like we have a problem!

I’m not saying design isn’t important. In fact, the opposite is true. However, designing without the end result in mind is a recipe for disaster, resulting in continual site design redevelopment (a costly exercise if someone is designing the site for you)  or the modification of content to fit the design (a definite no-no!) .

So what content do we need to provide before we can start with the design? I would definitely have a plan for each page of the website that you plan to build. Then, for each page, outline the objectives that you are trying to achieve for the page -  that will help you identify what content should be on the page. Finally, write the content and determine which images need to go with the content. What I haven’t mentioned so far is determining what the overall objective is for the site…what are you trying to achieve…what would you like the visitor to do on the site once they have arrived? Sign-up for a newsletter? Buy a product? Email the sales team?

Once the pages have been determined and the content is written, we can now add the other missing elements required to design the website. What branding exists within the company (ie. Logos, corporate colours etc). Do you have any pre-existing ideas regarding the look and feel of the site? Are there any sites you have seen that reflect these ideas? Will contact forms, shopping carts or email lists be required?

Once you have gone through this process, you will have dramatically reduced the cost and headaches of site design…resulting in a website that will meet your objectives and be something that you are proud of and willing to recommend to your clients.

The Problem with Freight Shipping
According to both UPS and FedEx, anything exceeding seventy pounds is considered freight. The price for shipping anything that falls into that “freight” category often exceeds the value of the item itself. For this reason, most E-Biz owners don’t deal in large or heavy items. And most consumers walk away when the shipping for their online purchase exceeds twenty percent of the item’s cost.

If you do ship sizeable items — cars, boats, pianos — you have to deal with other logistical problems with freight companies:

•They’re set up to deliver business to business — most freight companies have their goods palletized. Their drivers are used to having loading docks to load and unload their goods. They can’t exactly back their freight truck up to your apartment.

•They usually charge extra to deliver your goods beyond the curb. If you want them to put the item in your customer’s living room, for example, that extra service may cost you several hundred dollars.

•They’re used to dealing with big boxes all day, not high-end furniture or fragile antiques: therefore, your packages may get less-than-optimum treatment.

Ship Big, Pay Little
What you may not know is that a great number of small to medium sized moving companies can deliver your items for significantly less than what you’d pay for freight shipping. They’re always moving people cross-country and are usually driving back empty. So they’re more than happy to go a little out of their way to pick up your item and make their return trip profitable.

How Do I Find the Best Deal?
Rather than contact every moving company in your area to get a dozen rate quotes, you can simply list your items with an alternative freight quote company, such as http://uShip.com:

•In anywhere from minutes to, at most, a few days, you can expect to receive bids from any number of more than 20,000 moving companies.

•You can compare bids until you find one you’re happy with. Unlike eBay, there’s no expiration on the bidding; it isn’t over ‘til you’re satisfied.

•Matt Chasen, founder and CEO of uShip says, “Generally, the process takes about seven days from the time you list the item. It’s kind of like a reverse auction process.” You should plan accordingly and let your customer know what to expect.

Sellers can also offer an alternative freight shipper as an option to their buyers and allow the buyers to make those choices. The best part is the listing service comes at no charge to the customer — the moving company whose bid is accepted pays the transaction fee.

Rumor Has It…
Chasen believes having a feedback system is a big part of the high customer satisfaction rate that alternative freight quote companies achieve. When considering a moving company, a customer can see what kind of experience other customers have had with them. Says Chasen, “I think moving companies tend to go above and beyond the call of duty for our customers because they know they can leave feedback. I think people are getting even better service than if they’d gone with the same moving company offline.”