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Web Hosting - Do It Yourself Administration, Things to Consider
The choice of whether or not to try to administer your own web site brings with it a host, pun intended, of issues.
For most web site owners, the primary focus is naturally on creating, maintaining and enhancing the site. That often is just part of managing an entire business, for which the web site is just the means to an end.
That implies there will be little interest in or time left over for technical administration like database maintenance (tuning, space management, security, bug fixes), establishing and maintaining backups to ensure they're successful and usable, email administration, disk space management, applying operating system fixes for bugs and security, and other tasks.
But cost is always a factor in any business. Paying for technical help can burden the budget of a new and struggling business.
Consulting fees can range from a few dollars an hour to over $100. On the lower end, the poor skill level and quality of work will make it not worth even that small amount. On the higher end, you can quickly rack up expenses that will bust your business.
Permanent employees are usually somewhere in the middle of that range when you add up salary, employment taxes and more. Often, server and/or web site administration can be paid for as part of the web hosting package. That cost is usually lower than independent contracting help, but those staff are usually tasked with maintaining dozens if not hundreds of servers and sites. They can, therefore, give very little individual attention to yours.
Often, novice web site owners are intimidated by some of the technical requirements for server or site administration. But, as with anything, a little familiarity can show that the knowledge required is more modest than one might expect. Administration in many cases involves fairly elementary, and frequently repetitive, tasks. These can be learned easily. Using a test site or a free hosting service is a good way to practice and learn without risk or cost, other than time invested.
Once that initial hurdle is jumped over, administration can be done quickly and some even find it interesting. It allows the site owner to exercise additional control over the total product, and there's satisfaction in being able to say 'I did that' even if you prefer not to do it forever.
That real-life learning experience also allows the site owner to better judge any consultants or staff that are hired. It's much easier to judge if someone is providing you with an accurate assessment of a problem if you've solved it yourself. Any time-estimate they provide to fix it can also be better calculated if you've had to do it yourself.
Every web site relies on a variety of factors, usually unseen, in order to continue to function properly. But the fact is that they misbehave from time to time. Deciding whether to tackle those problems yourself depends on your available time and skill set, and what it will require to get things back on track. In other words, it's a standard cost-benefit analysis that everyone has to undertake every day in life.
Reduce Employee Turnover and Produce a Great Employee For so many businesses in the United States it is the same picture they see year in and year out. Employees come, get trained, start to be efficient at work and then they leave. The company needs to train somebody new. To reduce employee turnover and produce a great employee, many things need to be established within a company as a support structure. Many companies so often neglect to ask and wonder what their employees might like or think would be helpful to make their work environment and conditions positive ones. Whether owning a small or a large company, your immediate concerns probably lie within making profits to be able to keep the company running and to be able to pay your employees. Of course, running a company takes a lot of effort and work hours spent solely on that. But every time one of your employees leaves, you loose capital--capital you have invested in his or her training and knowledge. The knowledge capital you loose is all the information that the employee has absorbed during his or her employment at your company and all the new skills he or she might have added during the course of his employment. So how can you make your company and working for your company more attractive and also produce great employees? There are many ways that this can be accomplished, most of them are rewards to the employee, but others that are just as important include the atmosphere and conditions at the workplace. This article will discuss just a few of the many possibilities you as an employer have to keep employee turnover low. For most employees, considering that they have an expectation towards the standard of living they have, a competitive salary is an important point. If you only pay minimum wages or never give raises and rewards, it is very unlikely to hold good employees that can make a lot more money somewhere else. To make their time worthwhile after hiring, you need to know what a competitive pay is and pay them either the average pay or slightly more. As for raises, raises together with evaluations will tell the employee that his or her effort and all the hard work he or she put into your company is appreciated. It also tells the employee how good his work is and what you will expect from him in the years to come. To produce a good employee, it is important to give the employee feedback on his work. Some companies reward their employees with bonuses for accomplished tasks or finished projects. Other companies will give their employees an award at the end of the month or year and generally attach a small bonus to that. Also consider a good benefit package. Many employees look for the benefits that companies offer to them and their family to make a decision whether they should work for this company or choose a different one. Often times, vacation is very important to employees. To be a motivated and good worker, employees need to spend time with their families or the things they love, like hobbies or sports. Yes, of course you would like them to work 60 hours for the 40 you pay, but consider this: an overworked overtired employee is most likely not able to work fast and efficient. That person also tends to be more error prone and unmotivated. Time off work to relax or regenerate is very important. Companies that offer ten days are often at the top of the list for employee turnover. Some companies offer flexible work times to accommodate for many different characters and situations at home. The employee that likes to come early and leave early versus the employee that likes to sleep long and then leave somewhat later feels just as welcome in this company or setting. Besides all these added factors, the work environment also plays a great role in producing great employees and reducing turnover. A respectful and good working environment is very important to keep employees happy and motivated. You know that a happy, motivated employee works better, faster and makes fewer mistakes. Copyright infringement insurance coverage Do You Need Copyright Infringement Insurance Coverage? People are creating more content now than ever: eBooks, blogs, web journals, MySpace Pages, Podcasts. Every where, in abundance, you’ll find people sharing their ideas and opinions, and creating entertainment for everyone. However, with all the resources available to us, how can we be sure that we’re not violating copyright law? Should we have copyright infringement insurance coverage? Copyright infringement is the act of using someone else’s copyrighted material – in any form – in our own use without proper allowances. In order to be allowed to use the material, all we may need to do is ask and give the owner royalties, attribution, or some combination thereof. But, occasionally, it’s easy to forget that we need to ask before we use something without rights. You’re allowed to use copyrighted works in a number of forms – educational and instructional uses, parody, commentary, and news are all forms where you don’t need to ask for use – it’s considered fair use under the copyright law. However, even if you’re using the item of copyright in one of these forms, it would still be wise to inform the owner of your intent before using it. Of course, you should contact a copyright lawyer before using anyone else’s work(s), but to keep yourself safe, copyright infringement insurance coverage may be a good bet for you and your colleagues. Should you have copyright infringement insurance coverage? Although this is a new concept, it is one we should look at closely as creators. A well-known adage “there is no completely original idea” comes into play in our current age – while it’s entirely possible for us to have a thought, and act upon the thought – there may be, somewhere, someone who has created close to the same material as we have, without our knowing. Did we create it first? Did they? Would they be able to sue you for copyright infringement? These are the things to ponder as we create our media – should we have copyright infringement insurance coverage? What is copyright infringement insurance coverage? This coverage would be insurance for covering the cost to settle lawsuits brought in regards to copyright infringement – it would be a small amount of coverage. For example, you would only need around $5,000 to cover the court and attorney fees associated with a case, if a suit were brought against a person. Theoretically, you would only pay under $25 per year and would cover up to the five thousand dollar settlement should a case be brought against you. How would you use copyright infringement insurance coverage? Hopefully, you’d never have to use your copyright infringement insurance coverage. But, it would be there in case a charge was ever brought to you on copyright infringement With so many of us – bloggers, columnists, podcasters – creating our own content, it’s in our best interest to consider something such as this. We may not always get the rights we need in order to use a work, either whole or in part. As you can see, it can be critical to have copyright infringement insurance coverage as a blogger, podcaster, columnist, or other content creator. It’s imperative that we know our rights to use something (or to NOT use something) and what we can do to protect yourself. Copyright infringement can carry a serious penalty, and insurance coverage is a good way to insure that you’re protected from hefty fines. Talk to you current insurance provider and copyright lawyer to find out what you need to do, and what you need to know, to get proper insurance for your needs. |