Merry Christmas to Hostway, the best web hosting company in America

Everyone takes IT for granted. They expect their computers to be running 100% of the time. Rarely, if ever, does anyone contact their support staff just to say "Thanks".

So, as this Holiday Season draws to a close, it is time to for LotteryPowerPicks.com to wish its web hosting company, Hostway, and its staff: "a Very Merry Christmas" and to say "Thank-you" for your continuous services and your committment to excellence.

The Lottery Power Picks Story
Seven years ago, I was developing my website and I planned to launch it during the summer of 2006. Since most of the programming was done on my personal PC, I needed to select a web hosting company to bring this to life.

Although I am an experienced programmer, I had never developed a website. I did not have a budget and did not want to spend a lot of money on this venture. After all, I was not sure if my new site would be a success or not.

The choices of web hosting companies was daunting. My search efforts seemed to always produce the same list of providers. I found that I would need to spend $5 to $50 per month for hosting. The cheaper sites had limits on the number of pages or files I could create and the amount of disk space I could use. Many hosts had a promotional price structure during the first year which would then increase. As I continued my search, I learned that most of the references that ranked web hosting services were only promoting affiliate advertisers. They did not care which of the companies I selected because they would earn a commission on all of them.

I felt somewhat lost. But then I found Hostway!

Hostway was not listed on most of the websites, but it seemed to offer everything that I needed. At the time, they offered a "Super Power Plan". For approximately $150 per year, I could have 150 GB of disk space, email, 25,000 files, unlimited data transfer, PHP, MySQL, Perl, ftp and ssh access, and much more. If my site required more services in the future, I could incrementally purchase what I needed.

So in August 2006, it was time for me to make a final committment. I called Hostway and the person who helped me calmed all my fears. I'll never forget that when I selected my site name, they told me I was lucky, lotterypowerpicks.com was now mine!

Hostway set up the site and I uploaded all my files. Within a day, my site was on the web. They submitted my site's url to the various search engines and soon web surfers were able to find me.

During the past 6 1/2 years that the site has been live, the up-time has been nearly 100%. I have never run out of disk space and the site is always accessable.  Increadibly, they have never raised their fees and I still pay the same $150 per year. In return, I have 24/7 support and the ability to grow my site at will. 

Hostway Staff
I have only needed to contact Hostway a few times.  What impresses me most is that whenever I have a question or problem, I speak to the same people. Their staff has relatively little turnover and is therefore highly skilled and experienced. They are familiar with the company and their services which makes it easy to resolve most problems within a very short time.

Personal Example 
Last winter, two things happened almost at once. First, Mr. John Martis was named President of Hostway. One of the first things he did was to send all of the customers an email introducing himself and asking us for company feedback. He said that he was always available to answer our questions or provide us with help.

Second, I found that my site lost certain functionality within days after his email. Once I restored my website's functionality, I wrote to Mr. Martis and described the problem I experienced. The very next day, I received a telephone call from a second level support person who explained the cause of my problem and its resolution. I was also given his direct support number for future reference. Since that time, I have never had a problem again.

Testimonial Summary
What impresses me most about Hostway is their people. They are very friendly and are always available. They always follow through with all communication and they make their customers feel important. As I told Mr. Martis, I am only one of thousands of customers, and I only pay a relatively small amount for their services. But Mr. Martis's response to my problem and the follow through with his staff illustrated their commitment to their product and dedication to all of their customers.

In summary, Hostway has been an integral partner of LotteryPowerPicks.com. For the past 6.5 years, they have hosted my website and insured that it is available every single day, 24 hours per day. I could not imagine what I would do without them. Their equipment is up to date and their staff second to none. I consider myself lucky to have found them and hope they will continue to be there in all the years to come!

Thank-you Hostway!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

John Lottery

Ode to Adgitize - Goodbye my friend, goodbye

On Tuesday, Ken Brown announced that Adgitize is abruptly closing on January 1st 2012. After three continuous years of service, this World Class Advertising network is calling it quits.  Unfortunately, the costs to operate the service exceed the revenues generated. And, with a 3 year IRS rule that requires small companies to earn a profit else lose the ability to deduct its losses, Adgitize like many, is forced to close.

Compounding the problem is that the Adgitize network required a 24 by 7 support effort. Its owner, Ken seemed to never sleep. He was there to help everyone open an account, approve the ads, answer questions, collect and forward payments and more.  (His wife was probably ready to divorce him).

Yet Adgitize was a great service for all of us bloggers. It brought many of us together and forged many friendships. Being required to click on 51 or 100 blogs a day, many of us became regular visitors of other blogs. We looked forward to reading new articles and watching them grow.

Being awarded points for publishing an article forced most of us to write new posts daily. We learned how to think of new topics, and write concise and interesting articles on short notice.

We are going to miss the organization that Adgitize brought to our blogging lives. There is my:

Ode to Adgitize

There will be No more:

Member's Lounge,

Preferred Publishers,

Leaderboard,

Conversations in the Forum.

We'll miss:

Daily Earnings

Clicks Earned Today

Page Views Today

Ad Views Earned Today.

And Gone are:

Total Points Earned This Month,

Blogs Not Clicked Today.

and More.

But most importantly,

we lose the

Adgitize Portal

and

Ken Brown Administrator.

Although I've only achieved 

Mentor status in the Forum, 

I'm sure the Marketing Masters,

Teachers, Scouts, Tenderfoots, and Students,

will all miss the Forum.

While you may may gone,

You will never be forgotten.

They say the good die young

and we will continue to make you proud.

So until we meet again, 

Goodbye my friend,

Goodbye

Ideas for bloggers to write about and how to find them

Two questions bloggers continually as themselves and others are:

What should I write about today?

and

How do I get ideas for my blog?

After blogging for 5 years and facing these questions myself, I have found that ideas come from a variety of public sources: television, family topics, radio, advertisements, politics, other blogger articles, and more.

Sometimes my topics are planned, and other times they are spontaneous. For example, one morning I listened to a radio tidbit about a Supermoon. So, I decided to research it and wrote an article about Supermoons. This is currently in my top 10 most read posts.

In addition, ideas come from technical tools that many bloggers already use, such as Feedjit and Google Webmaster Tools because both of these sources list search terms that potential readers have used to find your site.  For example, last July I wrote an article about my 4th of July plans which mentions that we have a chicken barbecue. Then earlier this week, a visitor found this post by searching for:

How to cook chicken on an outdoor pit?

Since my article does not discuss this in detail, the question provides an excellent topic for a future discussion.

Unlike many other blogs that are focused on a particular topic, Ask the Blogster is broad enough in scope which allows a variety of topics to be questioned and answered.

Among the many questions and topics that I have for future posts are:

• How much money can I spend?
• Can I buy everything advertised on television and radio?
• Are work at home offers scams?
• How sharing my working experiences with my son helped his education and got him a job.
• What will happen if I lose my job?
• What will I do when my unemployment runs out?
• My favorite zucchini casserole.
• My political opinions about spending and taxes.

My list can  go on and on, but at the beginning of the day,  I must choose a topic and write about it. Since I only write a post once a week, many of these topics will never be addressed. However, having prepared a list of topics makes the process of writing a post much easier and less stressful.

So, whether you have a "money making",  "sports", "cooking", "political", "mommy related", "technical", "biographical", or "a general purpose" blog, I encourage all of you to continually ask yourself: "Is this a good topic for my blog?" whenever you hear, see, or read something (no matter what you are doing).

If you think it possibly is, then write it down for future reference. In time, your list will reward you with a variety of excellent topics.

Our Fourth of July Celebration

Image via Wikipedia

The year of 2011 is half over, and we begin the second half with the Country's 4th of July Celebration. The weather should be good in most parts of the United States this weekend, which will be great for all the parades, barbecues, and firework displays.

Our family will be getting together on the Pennsylvania farm for our annual chicken barbecue. This is usually an all day affair which begins early in the morning. We begin by getting up and preparing the salads: potato, macaroni, beans, and mixed lettuces. The potatoes are peeled, boiled and cut. Then the onions and celery are diced. Eggs are boiled in preparation for deviled eggs.  Then the tables are set up on the porch and the decorations are hung. Afterward, the chicken is cleaned.

Around 10 AM, the men go outside and prepare the charcoal pit. It is cleaned and lined with aluminum foil. A starter fire of kindling wood is made. When a hot bed of coals are ready, we fill the pit with two bags of charcoal.

By 11:30, we are ready to begin cooking our chicken. Each person gets one half of a chicken, which means we will cook about 20 pieces. We sit around the pit drinking beer, soda, and wine. Every 5 to 10 minutes someone flips the chicken and bastes them with a homemade sauce.

Image by Bisayan lady via Flickr

About 12:30 the guests begin to arrive and they join in the grilling. We talk, laugh, and reminisce about all the other good times we've shared.

By 2 PM, the chicken is done and we all go to the porch to begin our feast. Nobody is in a hurry, so we spend a couple of hours eating. After the clean up, we rest for a while and then set up dessert. By 6 or 7 PM, everyone is stuffed and we wait for dark to fall so that we can watch the neighboring town's fireworks illuminate the sky. 

I hope that everyone enjoys their 4th of July Holiday as much as all of us in our family!

Forty Years of Love - An Anniversary Poem

On this Eve of 911, we try to find solace in Remembering our Loved Ones whether living or past. 

---

Background

Several years ago, my parents were celebrating their 40th Anniversary. We were hosting a huge family party and I was asked to give a speech. I tried to find something fitting but could not find the right words. So, I decided to write my own poem.

Then as I visited the CMF site today, I read a Featured Article titled:

2010: Jim and Carol Yates Wilkerson Wed 40 Years

With that good news, I decided that now is the time to publish my Poem. It is dedicated to all parents, grandparents, partners, and loved ones who have reached an important milestone in their lives together here on earth or in heaven.

---

Forty Years of Love

---

Forty Years of Love

Together Hand in Hand

As on the Day They Met So Young

Together Hand in Hand

They Talked of Love

They Talked of Life

Together Hand in Hand

They Had Their Kids

And Raised the Kids

Together Hand in Hand

Yet Through the Years

They Faced their Tears

Together Hand in Hand

Then with a Blink

And with a Flash

Forty Years Has Past

And Here they Stand

Before Us Now

Together Hand in Hand

With Forty Years of Love

---

Note

Two years ago, I modified the poem for my in-laws 50th Wedding Anniversary. You too can do this by substituting the word Forty with the word Fifty. Additionally, I believe that any "..ty" year will work, i.e. Twenty, Thirty, Forty, Fifty, Sixty, Seventy, Eighty, Ninety

Should you use this poem in one of your celebrations, please let us know. All we ask is that you always give us credit as being the author and mean the words.

JL.........

PS: Congratulations Jim and Carol on your 40th Anniversary.

Our Focus, Our Topics

Long before the recent economic downturn hit, many people were lured into starting blogs and websites by people promising to either make you rich or learn the secrets of earning large yearly incomes. All we had to do was to buy a book or video, get a domain name, place some ads, join an affiliate marketing program, hire an SEO, and watch the revenues pour in.

To those of us with similar dreams, we learned the sad and harsh reality that this will probably never occur.

Creating a successful site requires a lot of time, hard work, trials & errors, internet searching, self doubt and wondering.

In our upcoming posts, we will share our experiences. We will let you know what worked for us, and what things were a waste of time. We will provide you a road map for establishing your online presence, inform you of important news, and tell you things you should be doing.

Our future posts will address topics such as :

• Boosting you Visitors Count
• Free Blogging Networks
• Paid Advertising
• Social Marketing
• Free Advertising Vehicles
• Affiliate Marketing
• Website Security
• Noteworthy Programming Tools
• Knowing Your Visitors
• Important News
• How-to's
• and more.

We plan to update our blog 3 times a week, usually on Monday, Tuesday and Friday.

We hope you will: Bookmark our site; Subscribe to our posts; Leave us your comments, Join our communities; and, Feel free to ask us questions.

And, in the end, perhaps one or more of us will realize our dreams and start to become wealthy (or at least pay for our expenses).

JL....

Resuming Service

We have decided to more actively resume "Ask the Blogster" postings and activity.

After more than a year of working on:

• hacker prevention and safeguarding of our website,
• building our core business blogs,
• increasing visitor traffic, and
• creating a social network presence,

we have concluded that it is now time to begin focusing on this blog.

Our original intention of this blog was to provide a vehicle by which we could share many of our programming, advertising, mistakes, and other technical learning experiences with you.

During this past year we have learned a lot and believe this credence remains worthwhile. So now, its time to begin dusting off this old blog and begin to move forward.

JL..........