As a girl working in the technology industry, I’ve got a lot of tech-obsessed buddies on my list this year. So, I’ve been paying pretty close attention to what’s new and exciting in the bright and shiny electronics world. At this point, I’m panicking. December is rolling on under me like a breakneck speedster and, well, I am completely overwhelmed by the stunning volume and variety of new tech gadgets: Nanos and Kindles and Androids in The Cloud or something? Not only don’t I know what my friends want, I don’t have time to figure out what everything even is! If you’re feelin’ me right now, then stay tuned, because I have the solutions to all of your tech gift-giving problems:

1) Web Hosting
2) Domain Names

In today’s world, many of us spend more time interacting in cyberspace than we do in originalspace. It’s where we socialize, do business and stay informed. As more and more people all over the world gain reliable, regular access to this global marketplace, online real estate will only become more and more vital and necessary in our everyday lives. What better gift at the holidays than a juicy plot of land in our global village? No matter what gadgets your friends have, they can always use online real estate.

Once you’ve got the house, you need an address. Giving the gift of a domain name, with web hosting or on its own, is a great inexpensive way to help your friends expand their online empires. Tell them to think of picking their domain like naming a band. That always helps me.

Whether your friends are techtastic like mine, or have always wanted a website but haven’t gotten around to setting one up, web hosting and domain names make excellent gifts. And, if you’re really ambitious, install WordPress and build a blog to get them started! Think of it as the ultimate holiday card.

Anneke Rudegeair
Marketing Director

While Cyber Monday has come and gone, all the studies show that the shopping season is far from over. In fact, we’re being told now that consumers will most likely continue to increase their spending through the end of the month. If you’re an online retailer, you will probably be seeing a steady increase in traffic to your website. As a former online retailer myself, I remember my greatest fear around this time of year: website slowdown, or worse! Today, as consumers expect faster and faster shopping experiences, this is an even scarier prospect. When the tiniest glitch during selection or check-out can send customers surfing, making sure your website is running at top speed is just smart business.

Take this snowy day (if you’re in the right half of the country) to have a look at your stats and, if they’re in the red, upgrade your service to handle the extra load. If you don’t have stats to look at, get in touch with your hosting provider and ask if your current plan could handle double the traffic it has now. If not: upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. Doubling your capacity might be overkill, but you only have do it once a year. Besides, the potential lost sales from a slow-down will more than pay for the upgrade.

If you don’t upgrade and your site goes down, I won’t say “I told you so” because I’m not that kind of girl… But I’ll be thinking it!

Anneke Rudegeair
Marketing Director