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If you haven’t checked out the Aplus.Net Blog lately, now is the time. At our blog you can find stories about issues facing the web hosting and small business world, as well as discussions on the products and services we offer. We depend on our valued customers to help make Aplus.Net the best online partner we can be, and we value your feedback. So check out the Aplus.Net Blog today and let us know what you think!

Let Your Customers Be Your Problem Solvers!

In today’s market, your customers are much more than consumers — they’re resources that can let you know exactly what your company is doing right, and what it’s getting wrong. BNET’s Jennifer Alsever says it’s time to listen to what they’re saying.

Read full Expert Opinion article...

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The Five Pillars of Online Success

You’ve probably heard that Aplus.Net offers “Everything for your business online.” But are you sure exactly what “everything” is?

In 2006, we launched the Five Pillars of Online Success as the ultimate resource to let our customers understand all the tools and products available to them from Aplus.Net. Whether it’s eTraffic or Search Engine placement enhancement, professional web design or customer feedback tools, our Five Pillars walks you through the processes that make your website work. Our business spans two decades — much longer than most of our competitors. That’s a lot of experience, and we’ve developed a lot of tools and techniques along the way. So, think of the Five Pillars as a consumer guide on how to use all of the great products and services at your fingertips.

The Five Pillars has even been mentioned on about.com and TopHosts.com. But, just in case you missed it there, check it out at Aplus.Net today.

Improvements and Upgrades
We’re happy to announce the latest upgrades and enhancements to the family of Aplus.Net services:

File Manager
The Aplus.Net File Manager now offers even more disk space! Integration with HTML editor has also been added.

MediaWiki
To ensure the utmost connectivity and convenience for our customers, we’ve updated our MediaWiki platform to the most recent public version (1.6.9, PHP 4,5 ) (1.9.2, PHP 5 only).

Personal Blog
We’ve also updated our blogging software to the most recent public version (4.9)
 

LiveChat
Aplus.Net has new LiveChat software — now available for both Unix and Windows plans!
 

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TopHosts Names Aplus.Net #1 Web Host for March 2007!
Aplus.Net is very proud to announce that we’ve won the #1 spot on the monthly TopHosts Top 25 for March, 2007. With more than 10,000 listings, TopHosts.com is the largest, most reputable, and longest-running web hosting directory on the Internet. The TopHosts Top 25 is a result of monthly rigorous production testing combined with user feedback from the thousands of webmasters that TopHosts counts among its readership. Their review describes Aplus.Net as "a versatile, dependable and popular one-stop hosting and e-commerce provider, offering everything you need for online success."

Aplus.Net Wins March HostReview Awards!
Aplus.Net is also honored to land on not one but two HostReview Top 10 lists for March 2007, ranking on the Top10 Web Hosting Company list as well as the Top10 Best Dedicated Server Package list.

• The Best Web Hosting Company award is awarded to those companies with the best overall performance in the industry, factoring in prices, uptime, guarantee and customer support, online reviews and overall online presence. Read more about it here.
• The Best Dedicated Server Package award goes to “companies that offer outstanding performance and value for dedicated servers.” Selection of this award is based on price, technology, reliability and overall performance. Read more about it here.  

Here’s a sample of a few other places you can find Aplus.Net in the news:

• TheWHIR reports on Aplus.Net’s new file manager.
• HostSearch.com carries the same story, with some added details.
• And finally, HostReview reports that Aplus.Net is part of a new Tier1 Research study examining the transformation of the mass-market hosting sector into a more consolidated marketplace where “new leaders … are reinvigorating the sector's identity.” Read more here.

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Getting the Most Out of Your Website
Part 1: Web Presence and Online Branding

For most small business owners, your company is more than just your job. It’s what you live, eat, and breathe. It’s your shot at realizing a lifelong dream, and a chance to do what you really want to do. And it’s much, much more than a 9-to-5 job could ever be.

But you already know that. And you also know that, inspirational thoughts aside, running a small business is an enormous amount of work.

So why not let your website handle some of that work for you? After all, your website isn’t just a sign that represents your company — in many ways, and to many people, it is your company. Even if you consider it just an afterthought to your physical, brick-and-mortar store, the reality is that, to millions of people, it’s the only part of your business that exists.

In other words, if you’re just thinking of your website as an extension of your business, it’s time to stop. Your website is your business. And if you chose to get a website just to keep up with the market and
not be left behind, it’s time to be proactive and learn about some of the ways you website can work for you.

Web presence
The key term to remember is web presence. What’s that mean? As important as it is to have one, a website alone often isn’t enough to take your business to the next level. Like any business, it requires effort, originality, and hard work to stand out from the crowd. And like any investment, it requires nurturing to make sure it pays the dividends you’re looking for.

But, unlike a traditional business, your website can do certain things automatically. The trick is to work with a different mindset, to understand that you’re already plugged into the world’s most powerful marketing tool: the Internet.  

Having a spot on the Internet for your business can automatically expose you to millions of people. The sheer number of potential customers out there is hard for many people to grasp. It can be an unfamiliar and intimidating terrain, and many small businesses usually don’t have the time or resources needed to make the most of it.

Secure your brand online.
The big question, then, is: Do people know about your company?

As a small business you may not yet have a brand identity, and you may even think it a bit premature to think along those lines. The reality, however, is that the sooner you start thinking of your company as a brand — no matter how small — the faster people will start to recognize it.  

Your brand is (usually) an extension of your domain name, but it’s also much more than that. It’s the symbol of your entire company, and it’s a shorthand way to get in the minds of customers. Having a strong brand is both offensive (it increases your awareness among potential customers and attracts more new business) and defensive (it helps protect your site from takeovers and from competitors trying to steal your web traffic).

The Tools You Need
Offensively, the best way to get in the public’s awareness is by using Search Engine Booster products or eTraffic services, and also getting out in front of your customers with free tools like the Aplus.Net Directory. Defensively, creating a strong brand means investing your website with protective measures like Domain Guard and Domain Monitor. That’s just the beginning, though — check out our website for a more comprehensive list of what you can do to help get spread the word about you business.

So, taking your business to the next level may require a different kind of thinking than the strategies you’ve used before. To learn more about what your website can do for you, remember to check out Aplus.Net’s Five Pillars of Online Success for more details on what services may be right for you. And remember, you can always call 877.275.8763 to speak to a live Aplus.Net professional.

Stay tuned to the Small Business Center in the coming months, when we’ll explore the other stages of maximizing your website’s value by using web design, traffic-driving tools, customer relations techniques, and more. And don’t forget to use our Five Pillars of Online Success for a complete guide to how Aplus.Net can help build your website and let it stand out from the competition.

You already have an Aplus.Net website. It’s time to make sure you’re getting the most out of it.

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At Aplus.Net, we are committed to providing you with great customer support, 24x7x365.

Knowledge Base -- http://www.apluskb.com/
Technical Support -- http://www.aplus.net/support.html
Control Panel -- https://cp.aplus.net

Keeping your address current is more important than you realize, and the success of your website just might depend on it. For example: “Marty” was a happy and hard-working customer who failed to notify Aplus.Net when his email address changed. Marty didn’t realize that he was missing important emails notifying him that his domain name was about to expire. Because of this simple mistake, Marty lost not only his domain name to a competitor, he also lost countless hours of hard work and months of progress. Don’t make Marty’s mistake—Keep your information current!

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