Lately, I have been developping webstores based on the now very popular Magento open source 100% free e-commerce platform.

Because Magento relies heavily on database inquiries, the load speed of the websites was very slow. The kind of speed that makes people leaves your website before the first page.

I reasearched and found Simplehelix to be the best deal in terms of speed and price. You can check it live here: www.sexystrippergear.com

Until the end of September 2008, you may use the promo code “PROMO” and get 25% off on your order.

Last week, the company I work for needed a quality and affordable web hosting company for their launching website. 1 and 1 would be my initial choice since I have used their services for many years. Their price was affordable and I did not have any bad experience when dealing their customer service or tech support. Being a pragmatic person, I went on Google and search for the right provider with keyword phrases such as “best web hosting” “top web hosting” “web hosting reviews.” You know as well as me that it is going to be a tedious tasks.

I read the rankings, I read the blogs, I read the reviews… and here is my top five hosting pick:

• BlueHost Plan starts at $6.95 a month - Free domain name - Great customer service
• HostGator Plan starts at $6.95 a month - Great uptime - Great customer service
• HostMonster Plan starts at $5.95 a month - Lots of features - Bluehost sister’s company
• IXWebhosting Plan starts at $3.95 a month - Award winner - Broad selection of services
• LunarPages Plan starts at $6.95 a month - Well established - Great customer service

I ended up selecting BlueHost. Their unique hosting offer, the quality of their customer service, and the high number of positive reviews were essential in my final choice.

Note: ClicFire was an excellent source for detailed and quality reviews. Check it for :  BlueHost HostGator HostMonster 1and1 LunarPages

It sounds like a cheesy add from some obscure SEO companies! But it’s really not. Based on my own observations and experience with “Not a SEO Expert” and one other blog, here is the way to have your site or your new content listed quickly in Google:

• write a good content page either for your site or your blog
• create accounts with social bookmarking such as Del.icio.us, Digg, or Reddit (you can have a full list by clicking on the bookmark link at the bottom of this post)
• submit your page with those services

In most of the time, you site or new content will show in Google within a day. You will slowly but surely see traffic coming from organic searches and also from social bookmarking referrals.