2 Popular Tools That Have Improved Web Participation And Interaction

The Web is welcoming diverse medium for experimentation and user participation. It is becoming easier and easier to post Web contents, Videos and share comments with other users and stuff.
The idea of the website is still very much alive, but Web participation is taking new forms and being driven by new technologies that foster social interaction. Two of these developing trends are Blogs and Rss (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication).

1. Blogs: A blog is an easy-to-create website that allows users to share their thoughts with the world managed by a lightweight content management system.
The word "blog" comes from "Weblog" because a blog consists of a signed and dated log of individual postings. The topic of the blog can be anything, from the personal to the professional.
 A blog is what you make of it. What is important about blogs is the content management system that manages the content.
 This system can offer a variety of features that can make the blog a useful tool. Examples include a calendar view of postings, organization of postings into categories, archived postings, options to send e-mail notification of new postings,follow ups and so on.
Blogging is and should be an interactive activity. Readers can add comments to posts, others can respond, and a conversation ensues. Lately, bloggers have become well-known commentators on the political scene, but blogging can encompass any topic or no topic at all. If the blogging software allows it, bloggers can use RSS to distribute their postings. You can set up your own blog by visiting these two most popular blogging platforms, these are Blogger.com  and Wordpress.com. 
2. RSS: RSS allows people to place news and other announcement-type items into a simple XML format that can then be pushed to RSS readers and Web pages. The initials RSS can stand for different things, including Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. Users can subscribe to the RSS news feeds of their choice, and then have access to the updated information as it comes in.
RSS is used for all kinds of purposes, including the news itself and announcing new content on Web sites. RSS contents may be read by using an RSS reader or Aggregator. This is usually free software that you can install on your computer that posts new items and stores old ones in a graphical interface.
An RSS reader similar to e-mail software in that it displays incoming items and can store content for offline reading. Subscribing to a news feed is usually as simple as entering the address of the RSS document. A useful list of RSS readers is available on the site of RSS Compendium. It is also possible to subscribe to and read your own collection of RSS feeds on Web sites devoted to this purpose. I use Feedburner.com for this. Feedburner.com is an example. The advantage here is that you can access your RSS feeds from any computer that is connected to the Web.

What You Must Know Before Starting Free Hosting !

Free web hosting is best suited for small sites with low traffic, like family sites or sites about hobbies. It is not recommended for high traffic or for real business. Technical support is often limited, and technical options are few. Very often you cannot use your own domain name at a free site. You have to use a name provided by your host like http://www.freesite/users/~yoursite.htm
This is hard to type, hard to remember, and not very professional.

Good:	Bad:
Low cost. It's free.	No domain names.
Good for family, hobby or personal sites.	Few, limited, or no software options.
Free email is often an option.	Limited security options.
	Limited or no database support.
	Limited technical support.

Shared (Virtual) Hosting

Shared hosting is very common, and very cost effective. With shared hosting, your web site is hosted on a powerful server along with maybe 100 other web sites. On a shared host it is common that each web site have their own domain name. Shared solutions often offer multiple software solutions like email, database, and many different editing options. Technical support tends to be good.

Good:	Bad:
Low cost. Cost is shared with others.	Reduced security due to many sites on one server.
Good for small business and average traffic.	Restrictions on traffic volume.
Multiple software options.	Restricted database support.
Own domain name.	Restricted software support.
Good support

Dedicated Hosting

With dedicated hosting your web site is hosted on a dedicated server. Dedicated hosting is the most expensive form of hosting. The solution is best suited for large web sites with high traffic, and web sites that use special software. You should expect dedicated hosting to be very powerful and secure, with almost unlimited software solutions.

Good:	Bad:
Good for large business.	Expensive.
Good for high traffic.	Requires higher skills.
Multiple domain names.
Powerful email solutions.
Powerful database support.
Strong (unlimited) software support.

Collocated Hosting

Collocation means "co-location". It is a solution that lets you place (locate) your own web server on the premises (locations) of a service provider. This is pretty much the same as running your own server in your own office, only that it is located at a place better designed for it. Most likely a provider will have dedicated resources like high-security against fire and vandalism, regulated backup power, dedicated Internet connections and more.

Good:	Bad:
High bandwidth.	Expensive.
High up-time.	Requires higher skills.
High security.	Harder to configure and debug.
Unlimited software options.

Your Checklist

Before you choose your web host, make sure that:

• The hosting type suits your current needs
• The hosting type is cost effective
• Upgrading to a better server is a possible solution
• If needed, upgrading to a dedicated server is possible

Before you sign up a contract with any hosting provider, surf some other web sites on their servers, and try to get a good feeling about their network speed. Also compare the other sites against yours, to see if it looks like you have the same needs. Contacting some of the other customers is also a valuable option. If you are selling a product or a service, e-commerce might be a smart way to do business.

Internet Commerce

E-Commerce is about selling products or services over the Internet. If you are selling a product or a service, e-commerce might be a smart way to do business. Over the Internet you can reach a large number of customers.

E-Commerce Systems

It is not a very good idea to build your own e-commerce system. Some (larger) companies might do it, but we will not recommend it if you run a smaller business. Building an e-commerce system is a complicated process, with the potential for a lot of errors. You might buy a ready-to-use system and run it on your own server. Many systems are available on the market today, and most of them will cover your basic needs for order management and processing. But again, if you are not familiar with hosting your own web site, starting with an e-commerce site is not the right thing. The best solution, in our opinion, is to find a hosting provider that offers an e-commerce solution.

Hosting Providers

E-commerce covers a very huge range of products. With different hosting providers you will find anything from very simple to very complex solutions. Most providers will offer a simple and inexpensive solution that allow you to run your own "virtual store".

Your Checklist

• How does it handle customers?
• How does it handle product catalogs?
• How does it handle orders?
• How does it handle inventory?
• How does it handle back orders?
• How does it handle shipment?
• How does it handle accounts?
• How does it handle billing?
• How does it handle payment?
• How does it handle foreign currency?
• How does it handle credit cards?
• How does it handle taxes?
• How does it handle security?
• How does it handle integrity (encryption)?

Also check if the most time-consuming tasks are automated. Look for automated billing, invoice handling, accounting, and report generation. Before you sign up a contract with any hosting provider, surf some other e-commerce sites on their servers. Find out how it works.  Actually try some shopping and see if you get a good feeling.  Also compare the other sites against yours, to see if it looks like you have the same needs. Contacting some of the other customers is also a valuable option.

Tax Issues

Taxes are a complex issue for most on-line stores. Especially VAT (Value Added Tax). If you are selling on-line, you will most likely be in the export business. Trading with different countries is easy, but tax issues might be tricky. Exporting goods may not be the subject of VAT in your country, but often your customers will have to pay their local VAT when they pick up the goods. In addition, there will be the issue of income tax for your shop, depending on how you report your income from sales. Before starting an on-line store, be sure to consult your tax adviser. Have a great day.