BTW, here are my answers to Anthonycea's original questions: RE: why we started FWT: I had a 2 year break from working on the Internet (ran my restaurant) and recently got back into the business when an old friend and former co-worker asked me if I'd like to start up a hosting business again... after a lot of trial and error, we decided to move forward with FreeWebTown.com. It's actually 2+ year old application that was recently overhauled. There's an offshore development team doing the programming, a graphic designer, some sysadmins, & some other folks all here in Atlanta. I'm responsible for the business/product management and promotion of FWT (my abbreviation of choice for FreeWebTown.com). RE: the need for the concept: Blame Yahoo and Lycos... if they can do it, why not us? :roll: (yeah, I know that's pretty damn cocky, so sue me) Seriously, I've been doing an exhaustive amount of research and have seen it done very well and, more often than not, done VERY poorly. We set out to try and reach critical mass, become self-supporting and are trying to keep an open mind and ear to our users. RE: How can it help folks new to the Internet get online? It's a no-risk proposition (truly, and that's actually rare these days). Anyone can setup a basic website, throw together some photos and experience what the majority of us here take for granted... having a cool spot online to brag to friends and family... it's a bonus for us if people really enjoy the experience and learn from using us. Hopefully they'll remember us when we start adding upgrade options in the not-too-distant future. All we ask is that people don't abuse the resources we have made available by putting up massive files and posting that their MP3/porn gallery is "open for business". Once we spot someone doing this (we're getting very good at it BTW) we shut them down instantly. RE: my own experience, I've been involved with web hosting since 1995. Now, please let's have YOUR questions....
[quote:5192598efa="webmastery"]Have you picked a revenue model? Because giving away service always runs into one main problem: as membership increases due to giving away the service, so do the inherent costs.[/quote:5192598efa] Right now we're working with some amount of flexibility in terms of our revenue requirements... we'd have to, considering we're just starting out "officially". We had an existing datacenter, existing servers, existing expertise and other resources... that's the main reason all this is possible. Revenue is from advertising (obviously) at this point, but it's very challenging to cover costs that way... we're looking at many additional ways to fulfill management's expectations for revenue goals. Re: rising costs, yes, that's true. Time will tell. Right now, and for what we feel is going to be a while, we have ample resources to utilize, but that's assuming legitimate users and personal-type sites. We know this is a roll of the dice... we do however monitor the abusers-- they are the single main factor that will determine how well and how long we can do this as it exists right now. My system guys are grouchy from being paged, and I'm sure you'll sometimes notice it's running a bit slow from time to time... just 10 minutes ago (not kidding) I had to remove an Asian porn site that mysteriously appeared... seems the word is getting out to the wrong folks. :(
Mike, I publish two industry research sites: www.webcenter.squarespace.com www.searchwars.squarespace.com The original idea of the www.squarespace.com concept is this, give someone an opportunity to build a website within a half hour and be online TODAY. These ideas may help you also, what he offers is a complete ASP BLOG/WEBSITE hosting platform with many automatic modules. He offers a free 30 day trial of the most advanced package, after 30 days if the customer is happy with the Squarespace Blog/website they can choose a paid plan or the free trial reverts to the free program that is supported by the ASP's network advertisers. Why not do a similar thing with your program. Go to www.squarespace.com and start a free site of your own to see how his program works. I am not telling you to copy him, but why not look at that sort of concept so you can offer more advanced hosting platforms as a profit center for your program as they do?
Fraud is the main thing you need to concern yourself with. That, and legalities. Restrict access to SMTP, etc, but also you'll end up having to do manual checks for fraudulent account creation daily. That's where the money can add up. If you have any process that makes no revenue and takes up significant man-power, it can kill you. You can ban all the usual IPs, etc, but you still need some way of making sure the really bad illegal stuff doesn't get on your servers, and if it does, you need legal protection and a means to remove it.
Well good luck with the project. I think the interface is well-designed and useful.
That sounds like quite an adventure to embark on. How will you be handling technical support? This is another tricky area that must be accounted when setting up a business like web hosting. If you have needy users, it is sure to tax a small business. Even if you give something away free, there are still a lot of high expectations.
[quote:222c1301b9="Brigid"]That sounds like quite an adventure to embark on. How will you be handling technical support? This is another tricky area that must be accounted when setting up a business like web hosting. If you have needy users, it is sure to tax a small business. Even if you give something away free, there are still a lot of high expectations.[/quote:222c1301b9] Good question Brigid, As we are a free service, technical support is one of the aspects we don't focus on as much as a traditional webhost. As a former webhost divisional founder and general manager (HostAmerica), I truly learned the hard way about the necessary resources and manhours needed to operate an actual tech support help desk. This is something we don't intend to provide at this time. I'm being frank here because it's clearly one of the aspects of service that people should consider when deciding on using a free resource like ours -- there are choices to make and if you require one-on-one support, you should find a fee-based provider to service your needs. On the other hand, if you're comfortable enough with reading instructions and using online resources like our own forums, chat and email support options, then we are more viable as an option.
Mike, have you had a chance to visit Squarespace and what do you think of the questions in my prior post? We are waiting for your response 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
[quote:e5cd1f89d6="anthonycea"]Mike, have you had a chance to visit Squarespace and what do you think of the questions in my prior post? We are waiting for your response 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:[/quote:e5cd1f89d6] Cracking the whip, eh Anthony? :wink: No problem... [quote:e5cd1f89d6="anthonycea"]Why not do a similar thing with your program? Go to www.squarespace.com and start a free site of your own to see how his program works. I am not telling you to copy him, but why not look at that sort of concept so you can offer more advanced hosting platforms as a profit center for your program as they do?[/quote:e5cd1f89d6] It's a great concept. VERY well done, too, I might add. It's a feature-rich site and they have one heck of a nice presentation. Hard to top, but I believe we are coming from a slightly different angle of approach. RE: advanced features - we have more advanced features in the works, but development and testing takes time, as well as implementation and marketing takes a lot of time and effort. All I can say in that regard is to stay tuned. RE: a profit center - I'm already making similar plans. Right now we're focusing on building up our ranks and, frankly speaking, stress-testing our system and fine tuning on a daily basis. We've learned a lot since going "officially live" recently, eventhough we've been online in beta mode for over a year. We had something in mind that was more along the lines of what Yahoo does for upgrading space/transfer and additional options and functionality. For now though, and for the forseeable future, we plan on making nearly all functions available to all free users to attract new members with no time limitations and seeing where that takes us. Once we decide to offer paid plans, we'll integrate the new options into our existing offerings and work thoroughly through the logistics. Still, the squarespace concept is a good one, no denying that. Thanks for the info, btw...
Mike here is the thing I see, anyone can get a 5 page website for $5.00 a month from Godaddy. Is your free plan limited by Pages put up, if so, when someone expands their site, why not make them pay at that point? Next what about bandwidth? Is there a limitation on how much your free accounts can use?
[quote:eb35969fff]Is your free plan limited by Pages put up, if so, when someone expands their site, why not make them pay at that point? [/quote:eb35969fff] No limitations on site content (except for restricting content to actual web-related files - no adult sites, ISO files, copyrighted audio/video or commercial software files/cracks,etc...). Question for you: why penalize/limit someone for expanding their content? Since upsell is not the current revenue model, we rely on advertising and related affiliate programs (coming soon). We just want people to use our site to build their sites (ie. more banner impressions while using our online tools) and hopefully have them link back to our site within their site. Small price to pay for the user and THAT's the value proposition we're focusing on. [quote:eb35969fff]Next what about bandwidth? Is there a limitation on how much your free accounts can use?[/quote:eb35969fff] There's a 1 GB/month general limitation, however, as long as the customer is doing legitimate transfer activities (regular web-related activities - NOT file downloads or bandwidth stealing via remote linking to files on our system) we aren't too worried about individual user traffic. If someone puts up a site that starts bombarding us, we'll work out something with them (co-sponsorship/revenue share on advertising, etc...) to keep them and us happy. It's the abusers who really cause us problems.
Mike, I have invited a man from another forum to come here and discuss his free blog program in this thread, I hope that he decides to join us. The more the better for this thread, if you object to that let me know and I will not give him the link. But it may benefit the forum and yourself also, he runs a free blog service and his members blogs are shown on his ASP, but he runs ADSENSE on the screen to support the service. Are you going to run ads on your members websites like he does in return for the free hosting? The Squarespace free program requires ads to run on the free sites also to support the free hosting. Please respond to each of these questions please.
[quote:5d819f6d8e="anthonycea"]Mike, I have invited a man from another forum to come here and discuss his free blog program in this thread, I hope that he decides to join us. The more the better for this thread, if you object to that let me know and I will not give him the link. [/quote:5d819f6d8e] I appreciate your concern for my preferences in your own forum :wink: but that's fine by me. He's probably not directly competing with us anyway since blogs are just one of the features we offer. [quote:5d819f6d8e] But it may benefit the forum and yourself also, he runs a free blog service and his members blogs are shown on his ASP, but he runs ADSENSE on the screen to support the service. [/quote:5d819f6d8e] Frankly, I'd be surprised if he could truly support all expenses from Adsense revenue alone. Didn't Google recently reduce their payout rates significantly? [quote:5d819f6d8e] Are you going to run ads on your members websites like he does in return for the free hosting? The Squarespace free program requires ads to run on the free sites also to support the free hosting. Please respond to each of these questions please.[/quote:5d819f6d8e] We do something unique (at least so far as I've seen): *- We currently only run ads on our own public pages (the pages we provide the content to - informational/signup/E-mail/faqs/forums/store/auction/etc...) *- We also run ads on our added plug-in features - like photo album, guestbook, tell-a-friend, site vote/rating, weblog (blog), multimedia gallery, etc... That way, users can truly control 99% of their own site content. If they so choose to run our special built-in (if you use our Page Builder interface to develop your pages) or insertable auto-generated SSI code tags, they will have an ad or two integrated on the special feature (in a separate window) only -- not on their site itself. We are optomistic it will be enough of a revenue generator to keep us in business and thriving - assuming this difference will be noticed and appreciated by our users and others through word-of-mouth.
So Mike, by what you are saying the only plans you offer are free plans only :?: Will you form programs for those who want a more robust platform with standard webhosting features for those who are willing to pay :?:
[quote:382d1feb05="anthonycea"]So Mike, by what you are saying the only plans you offer are free plans only? [/quote:382d1feb05] Sorry for the delay in responding... busy weekend with the kids. Right now our focus is to build up users and accounts within our system for two reasons: 1. To demonstrate/stress-test the capabilities of our developed system and hosting solution (we sell a private-labelled commercial version of this system to other companies) 2. To attempt to sustain ourselves at some point from advertising and affiliate marketing revenues Both need/require critical mass to be acheived, so we have created a very good offering and plan to keep it online and active for the forseeable future. [quote:382d1feb05="anthonycea"] Will you form programs for those who want a more robust platform with standard webhosting features for those who are willing to pay? [/quote:382d1feb05] Yes, I've already got plans for this "in the can" and waiting for the time my CEO says "let's move forward". For the immediate future though, we're focusing on a building phase. Good that you picked up on this aspect of our business plans. :wink:
That's the most logical revenue stream. Step ups from free to paid service by people who already use the service.
[quote:b4037576f4="Searchey"]That's the most logical revenue stream. Step ups from free to paid service by people who already use the service.[/quote:b4037576f4] True, it's very commonly done and there's an undeniable validation of this from Yahoo and Lycos using it, but it's not going to happen right away through us. We're focusing all of our efforts on building up a sizeable user base and gaining more critical mass. Any suggestions on what content-focus would truly be valuable at a community free hosting resource? We've got more features in the works (in addition to our existing list on the site) but what about content and/or specific resources? Web hosting-related news/information (specifics?), daily/weekly recommended links/tools/resources?, special events (chats, forum discussions, auctions for charity?), contests, seminars and/or tutorials? Just curious what you think might help us reach the next possible level...
You know Mike that Blogs are the most popular form of webmastering today, everyone seems to have one in addition to their websites. So I would say that BLOGMASTERING/WEBMASTERING are becoming one in a hurry. MODULES can be added to both that make them nearly the same thing anyway. To me it is all the same thing. Folks can call them Blogs or Websites, many are adding Blogs to websites and linking back and forth anyway, so the lines are blurred and they will all become one in the end.
[quote:425a806e69="anthonycea"]You know Mike that Blogs are the most popular form of webmastering today, everyone seems to have one in addition to their websites. So I would say that BLOGMASTERING/WEBMASTERING are becoming one in a hurry. MODULES can be added to both that make them nearly the same thing anyway. To me it is all the same thing. Folks can call them Blogs or Websites, many are adding Blogs to websites and linking back and forth anyway, so the lines are blurred and they will all become one in the end.[/quote:425a806e69] Blogs are definitely gaining in popularity, I can't argue that one! I will say I disagree with your suggestion that they will all become the same in the end. I think Blogs are getting more popular because of more people getting online and gaining better access speeds to the Internet. It's going to be a general result of this increased time online that people will want to be located online themselves (instead of just reading others people's sites). Blogs are one of the easiest ways to get some real content online quickly and painlessly (most of us have written journals before) and it's one of the more unique, easy and interesting things that has come online in a while. But to say that Blogs will converge/replace regular websites in general (if that's what you're saying) is a more narrow focus of content than I'd wager individuals will come up with in the future. RE: blogs in general, I do think it's going to be interesting having more and more unique personal content online and accessible for all to read at their whim. I bet historians will look back on archived Internet data chunks years from now and study and learn from us by what web pages we've created/posted and our rants and raves on blogs. As far as FreeWebTown.com goes, we offer a weblog interface and design option, with templates and a built-in interface for making blog entries or encouraging others to contribute. I think if you DON'T offer blog tools these days, you're missing a huge item that will hurt you in the long run.
Mike, I would say that you should put up a post on how easy it is to get started with a free website, right here, right now. Step # 1 go to www._________.com Step #2 go to xxxxx page Step # 3 put your sub domain or domain here You know, that sort of post :idea:
[quote:7901f04909="anthonycea"]Mike, I would say that you should put up a post on how easy it is to get started with a free website, right here, right now. Step # 1 go to www._________.com Step #2 go to xxxxx page Step # 3 put your sub domain or domain here You know, that sort of post :idea:[/quote:7901f04909] I aim to please! :D Step 1: Visit our home page (http://www.freewebtown.com) Step 2: Click link for sign-up (http://www.freewebtown.com/community/sign_up.php) Step 3: Choose a username/password and fill in a few questions about your site and personal info (fear not - we have a privacy policy - and we don't spam), make sure you fill in all fields and answer all questions Step 4: Specify a domain name if you wish (not required) - URL without a registered external domain will be: http: //www.freewebtown.com/your_site Step 5: After registration, log into our site and begin creating pages using our Page Builder application and browser-enabled on-the-fly editing tools (follow the instructions on the pages that follow) Step 6: Use the PageBuilder to create your site's pages from our available templates or simply ftp (upload) your own website content, html pages, images, etc... to our server (ftp is www.freewebtown.com - with your username/password). Step 6: Enjoy using our services - explore all the options and features we have to offer - many things are built-in and we allow you to build your own site if you wish -- free of forced banner advertising! Anthony, let me know if I did or did not provide enough details. Thanks again for allowing me to describe our services - hope it helps out some new webmasters earn their wings! :wink:
good work
Mike if President Evil Edwin says you do good work then who am I to say otherwise :?: Mike I have domains, hundreds of them, what is the limitation on free websites with your company :?: If someone has their own domain, what exactly do they do to get started :?: Sorry for making you do another step by step, but this can be a short one. 8O :lol: 8O
[quote:84967c5144="anthonycea"] Mike I have domains, hundreds of them, what is the limitation on free websites with your company :?: [/quote:84967c5144] There is no published limit. We prefer that you don't park domains with us. That's a waste of our resources. Hostnames do have an actual effect on the overall system, so it's probably best if you just configure one domain name. I won't go so far as say don't do more than one per user though... especially if your sites are original and have interesting or helpful content. [quote:84967c5144="anthonycea"] If someone has their own domain, what exactly do they do to get started :?: Sorry for making you do another step by step, but this can be a short one. 8O :lol: 8O[/quote:84967c5144] Assuming you've already signed up for an account with us, simply 1. Select the "Host name" option on the "Account Admin" menu. 2. Specify the domain name you want to configure to be your website's address. 3. There is an IP address displayed for configuration of your DNS. You are responsible for handling your DNS settings remotely. 4. Click the "submit" button and you should be able to access your domain name as soon as the propagation has gone through. Any questions?
Thanks Mike, I am going to start a freewebtown site and will post it in this thread when it is up and running. Everyone else put one up too and lets see what we can get going, maybe we can link them together or something. :idea: :idea:
URL? Anthony, any luck yet with setting up a test site? Interested in any honest feedback/constructive comments. TGIF 8) I'll second that!...
Mike it is on my list to start the site at FreeWebTown, I have not started it yet, but I will get around to it once I get away from fighting with other forum members :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: 8O 8O
Priorities, of course :)
Now we have a free host to put up the Brigid & Raven Fan club 8O 8O Raven, Mike wants you to put up a site also, let us know when you have done this, it can be on any subject but me :lol: :lol: :lol:
That will be cool. Don't you think, Raven?
that spyware ad on freewebtown is scary!
[quote:715af7869c="Brigid"]That will be cool. Don't you think, Raven?[/quote:715af7869c] Sure thing :P
the ad started wiggling and then chasing me around!
huh?
the ad. on the page! go look!
Provide a link to this scary ad you Chestnut head :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
LOL yeah, chestnut head :lol:
That ad does not load spyware Edwin, it is just a pop-under after exiting the freewebtown.com site. I ran adaware after leaving the site and the only thing there after the scan were tracking cookies, no spyware loaded at freewebtown.com Mike you will have to do a better job at explaining how to set up your own host name. I entered the domain name in the box and it sent an error message back saying that the DN did not point to server 198.78.81.43 So what do we have to do? Can you post some screen shots on the interface to show exactly what has to be done to use a domain already registered?
[quote:b3f6f8228a="edwin"]the ad started wiggling and then chasing me around![/quote:b3f6f8228a] "Hey Ned, IT'S COMIN' RIGHT FOR US!!!" - Uncle Jimbo (South Park) :lol: LOL... I swear, there are no bad ads that I'm aware of. It's Fastclick, so you can rest assured they won't do a "take-over" or anything that is despicable. Please do let me know though, as I'm not crazy about ads that do anything other than sit there and let me mostly ignore them (hope Fastclick isn't reading this...) Sorry about the pop-unders, btw, but the ad revenue from those alone almost doubles what we do normally, and they are a small fraction of the total ad impressions served by our site. They have a frequency cap of 1 per 12 hours per IP address, so let me know if you see more than one per visit. RE: Anthony's request, I'm working on it... Tropical Storm/Depression Jeanne is hovering over Atlanta making things a nasty soup today. :(
[quote:2ef8b275c6="anthonycea"] Mike you will have to do a better job at explaining how to set up your own host name. I entered the domain name in the box and it sent an error message back saying that the DN did not point to server 198.78.81.43 So what do we have to do? [/quote:2ef8b275c6] JPG screenshot of the control panel interface allowing you to configure your domain name: [img:2ef8b275c6]http://www.mhall.com/adddomain-s.jpg[/img:2ef8b275c6] What happened when Anthony got his error was the FreeWebTown.com server wasn't able to verify the DNS settings as already enabled for the domain in question... you MUST setup the IP address as listed in your own external DNS settings for the domain in order for the server to accept the domain as a virtualhost. It's just a sanity-check thing we do. Go ahead and configure the DNS settings for your desired domain name to the IP address provided. Then, once the information has had some time to propagate throughout the Internet, you should be able to add the domain name to our interface. Afterwards, your hosted site will be almost immediately accessible via your preferred domain name. Pretty cool, eh? :wink:
So I go to my domain name provider and set the name I want to use to what? Then insert that number in your control interface? Give us EXACT instructions :?:
Sorry... I assumed you had experience setting up DNS. I see your point about making this easier. :wink: Prior to using FreeWebTown.com's "Host Name" setup interface: 1. Either request DNS configurations through your domain registrar (some include DNS services -- most do not); or 2. Establish an account through a free or paid DNS controller system (ZoneEdit.com is a good service that is free for the first 5 domains; there's also DynDNS.org - but they require a one-time donation - worth it IMOHO) 3. Once you get a methodology to add a DNS entry to your domain name, create (or request to be created) something called an "A" record for your desired website address (usually "www.your_domain...") to point to the provided IP address (in this case: 198.78.81.43). Syntax: [code:1:257805f215]www A 198.78.81.43[/code:1:257805f215] 4. Once this record/request has been submitted and created, then there is a necessary delay while the new information about your domain gets updated to various Internet DNS servers (up to 24 hours - your mileage may vary). 5. Verify your DNS setting is working manually by doing an NSLOOKUP using Unix or Windows: [code:1:257805f215]nslookup www.anthonys- cool -domain.com [/code:1:257805f215] -- if the "198.78.81.43" IP doesn't show up, then double-check with your DNS service to make sure the configuration setting has taken place 6. Once the DNS setting has been verified to be ALREADY IN PLACE, then you go to our "Host Name" interface option and put in your domain. 7. Do a victory dance and post your new URL on Web-mastery.net for all to see... :P (where's the dancing banana when I need him??!?) For more general info re: how DNS works, please visit a very informative site: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dns1.htm Let me know if you have any more questions.
I can go to my registrar and put any number for the domain to point to. When I pointed a name to Netnation all I did was put their number in, it is NOT that simple with your program?
I'm assuming here, since I'm not familiar with Netnation, but they probably control both the DNS and the hosting. We just do the hosting (and did I mention it was free? :wink: ) and have to rely on individuals to take care of their DNS settings elsewhere. So in direct answer to your question, no, it's not that simple. To route your chosen domain name to our free hosted service, you'd have to get them to add an "a" record for the IP address previously mentioned. Should be as simple as that though, assuming they'll allow it. Does that answer your question?
Mike I will try to follow this step by step when I find the time to try to set this up, thanks for the instructions. If anyone else is successful, please post your story on how you set your own domain up with FreeWebTown. 8O 8O 8O 8O :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: 8O 8O 8O 8O
DarkSat or Edwin, can you figure out how to put up sites with this program using a domain already owned :?: If you can, let me know so we can test some sites out. Also I want someone to start the Brigid and Raven fan club so we can give backlinks to our 25 most active posters here on WM. Do you think you can do something for once Edwin :?: 8O 8O
Jeez Anthony... :o I guess I should thank you for that 2 month old "bump" on this geezer of a thread. :wink: BTW, re: setting up accounts, we're currently doing some system/hardware upgrades and aren't taking new signups over the next 48-72 hours or so. It's discussed on our homepage. We're growing very fast (over 68,000 total signups to date) and we've have to add a lot of storage space to deal with our "growing pains". If anyone wants to put up a backlink to us, be my guest. If your site has anything to do with webmaster-related services or anything our users might find useful, I'll add you to our "Recommended Links" page. Web-mastery.net is there of course. Our current PR is 4 and that's nothing to be real happy about, but I'm working on it (trust me). Still, I'd welcome any help we can get.