Web hosting review site

I have had a number of people interested in setting up their own blog come to me for advise. Most want to have a commercial blog with their own domain names. The the question of web host comes up. This is where I have trouble recommending any suitable host. Most of my blogs are hosted with Blogger and I am not even sure whether the hosts I am presently using are offering me the best value for money but I am stuck with them because of various reasons.

A search on Google for web host will give you thousands of results and it can be really confusing with everyone claiming to be the best. After doing some research I found out about Webhostinggeeks.com, a web hosting review and rating site.

On the main page they have listed the top 10 Web Hosts of 2009. According to the site, the top web host is Inmotion, followed by JustHost and WebHostingPad respectively. All three have been given 5 stars rating.

You might find the various categories useful, if you have some specific requirements in mind - for example, Unix hosting. However, what I really like about this site is beside their own reviews, you can read reviews and ratings given by other independent users which give you a better idea and allows you to make a better informed choice.

First Commentator
bokjae

Fake Halifax site

Scammers are at again. Recently received an email claimed to be from Halifax.

The text went like this:

From: "secure@halifax.co.uk"
To:
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:08:34 -0400
Subject: An unauthorized account activity.
Dear Halifax Member,

An unauthorized account activity claim was recently filed against the following transaction:

Transaction Date: 15 / April / 2009
Transaction Amount: $44,00 USD
Your Transaction ID: 46U64120SC849601T
Buyer's Transaction ID:34A33092GU990703J
Case Number: HH-373-249-603

To complete our investigation, you must provide additional information within the next seven days.

Please log in to your Halifax account and verify your details

You will have the opportunity to enter any details or information regarding this case which will help Halifax investigate the matter fully.

Thanks for your cooperation through this process. We are continuing to work to ensure that Halifax is secure for all users.

Sincerely,
Halifax Review Department

Copyright © 1999-2009 Halifax. All rights reserved.

The thing is I don't have a Halifax account and the link url was so crazy that I had to laugh: http://www.halifax.co.uk.gay-together.nl/update.secure.halifax.online/index.htm
(Note text in bold)

Clicking on the link led me to this:



The actual site looks like this:

First Commentator
Seemu

Bye Project Wonderful

Some of my loyal readers have asked me why I don't have the Project Wonderful ads on my blog any more.

Well, a few days back I received emails from them telling me that my ad boxes on two of my blogs including Adamok.net, have been deleted.

According to them: "During a routine review of our publishers, this ad box was found to be violating our Terms of Service and/or failing to meet our publisher standards, and was therefore removed from our network."

Emailed them back and found out that the reason they deleted my account was because my blogs carried sponsored posts. When I pointed out that this blog had not carried any sponsored posts for ages, they referred to my disclosure policy which states that I'll accept paid reviews on my blog.

They refunded my left over funds ($0.44) and that's the end of it.

Reviewing the performance of the Project Wonderful ads, I have to say it was quite disappointing and it is not a case of sour grapes. The total revenue from the ads on my blogs was negligible. I also tried advertising on a couple of blogs but the result was quite disappointing and this made me think twice before investing more advertising money with them.

Makes me wonder whether the real reason they removed me was due to the fact that I was not a good customer - not spending enough.

Have any of you guys tried Project Wonderful out? Would love to hear your views.

First Commentator
|1f34|-|1r3

Google PR reinstated

It was Kai Lo who first brought it to my attention. I hadn't even realised it but my blog PR is now back to 3 again.

It's been quite sometime since I got Google-slapped and I had recently sent in my reconsideration request to the Google guys.

Really happy that they have reconsidered and that my "evidence of good faith" was enough.

Thanks guys.

Hopefully traffic to my blog will increase now.

First Commentator
|1f34|-|1r3