Technology Toolkit

You”ll have to bear with me during this article, i”m trying to go right back to basics myself to be able to explain this as best as i can. I remember when i first created a few web pages then didn”t have a clue what to do next so i hope this article goes some way to explaining whats involved.

A browser is a piece of software that when clicked enables you to view websites. The most popular web browsers are Internet Explorer and mozilla firefox but there are many other browsers including safari, netscape navigator, google chrome and a few more. It’s a good tip to download different browsers and different release versions of the same browser whilst testing your website as web pages can look different in each one. This is one of the main challenges that face a web designer but it’’s slowly improving.

Anyway back to how you get the website or web pages you”ve created to be viewable by someones web browser half way around the world. First you need a domain name and some web hosting.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is the name you type into a web browsers address bar, an example – www.google.com / www.dragonsdesign.co.uk. Domain names don”t cost much, normally around £8 – £10 per year. The hardest part is thinking of one that isn”t already taken, use you imagination. A good tip if your a registered business and your name has been taken try adding web or online on the end for example if your business is called super plumbers and the domain name is already taken try www.superplumbersweb.com. It is also good to try and include key words in your domain name like plumbers in the previous example, this will help search engines rank you higher in the results pages. Keep reading the hosting part next for where to purchase a domain.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting enables you to have you own bit of space on the web, it’s like renting an office from a big block of offices, obviously there’s big offices that can hold a lot of stuff, have the latest mod cons and there are small offices that are suitable for smaller businesses. Web hosting can range from £1.99 per month to £20 per month. I think the best thing to do is have a look around 2 of the best hosting companies www.1and1.com and www.uk2.net. If your a UK business a UK hosting company is recommended.

So what is web hosting? A web hosting company holds all your web pages on a server (your rented space) somewhere in the world. When someone types your domain name into the web browsers address bar, the server receives the request and sends your page back through the Internet to be displayed on the users browser on their computer, whether they are in Moscow or new york. Pretty cool hey?

I’ll tell you how to put your files on your web hosting space in a mo but first a top tip would be to purchase your domain name from the same place you purchase your web hosting. This is to do with your domain name having the right nameservers to work with your web hosting. Dont worry about what this means, just trust me.

File Transfer Protocol

Don’t worry, we’re not going to get all technical on you, the file transfer protocol (better known as FTP) is exactly what it says, a way of transferring files such as .html files over the Internet to your web hosting space so people are able to request them.

First of all your home page should be called and saved as index.html as this is the default page that is requested when you type in the domain name. So if you type in www.example.com in your browser you are really requesting and receiving www.example.com/index.html or www.example.com/index.php whichever language your website is written in. So to get this important message across i’ll say it again, if you are writing your pages in html remember to save your home (front) page as index.html.

Next we need to transfer your beautifully crafted web pages from your computer to your web hosting space. To do this you need a FTP Client. A great FTP Client is FileZilla, download the client version. Once downloaded you need to log into your web hosting space via the control panel the hosting company sent you and set up a FTP account in there, it should be fairly easy and explained by your hosting company in the frequently asked questions section or somewhere around there.

Anyway once you”ve set the FTP account you will receiver a username and password to enter into the FTP client you. Open the your FTP Client (filezilla) that you downloaded earlier and enter your domain name, username and password and click connect.

You are then presented with a split screen, one side you”ve got all the files on your desktop and on the right hand side you”ve got the folders on your web hosting space. Usually there is a folder called “public html” or “www” on the web host side, this folder is the root folder for all your web pages, your domain name www.example.com points to the contents in this folder, so every file you want to be viewable to people surfing the net goes inside this folder. Select your homepage index.html on the desktop side and either right click and choose the upload option or drag and drop it to the right hand side and do this with every other file or directory your website hyperlinks to. The index.html file you created should be visible as soon as you open the “public html” or “www” folder. All other pages can be in sub directories of there own but the index/home page has to be in visible in the root folder.

There you go, type in your domain name into your browser www.example.com and you will see your home page, walllaaaa!

A web hosting company is a company that does what their name implies, they host your website. There are hundreds, if not thousands of different web hosting companies that you can now choose from and many come and many more go. When it comes to popularity though, you often see the same names crop up all over the place.

Whether right or wrong, most of the more popular web hosting companies are so popular due to their very affordable prices. While it is always great to save some money, you should be sure that you are getting a web hosting company that can give you great service as well. That said, just because something is cheap, doesn’t mean it is no good.

Here are some of the more popular web hosting services that are very affordable, but also offer a good deal of services as well:

•GoDaddy.com: Ok, maybe GoDaddy.com is so popular because of the commercials they do. You know the ones, they feature really good looking women that are famous, like Indy Car Driver Danica Patrick, oh and these women are typically scantily clad. As great as those commercials are, GoDaddy.com actually does offer a good price and great service. Web hosting starts at just $4.74 per month, which is a promotion, and the web hosting company does have the ability to give you more when your business expands. As it turns out the good looking women are just a bonus for you men out there.

•Bluehost.com: No scantily clad women commercials here, just a promotional rate of $3.95 per month and great service to boot. What is truly unique about Bluehost.com is the customer service which is what probably makes them so popular. Instead of handling things by e-mail, they have an 800 number you can call and talk to a real live person 24 hours per day, seven days per week. You can also chat live with someone from their customer service department if you want to.

•HostGator.com: HostGator.com currently hosts over 2 million sites worldwide and that number is rapidly growing. Their services start at just $4.95 per month and they too can be reached toll free 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Host Gator also offers the ability to do dedicated servers so that you can host your web site on your own site if that is your wish.

•Webhostingpad.com: Webhostingpad.com offers web hosting starting at a rock bottom promotional $1.99 per month and also has the ability to grow with your website. They too offer 24/7 support and live chat abilities. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee and also promise 99.9 percent uptime for your website. What this means is that your site will hardly ever go down, which hopefully means more to your bottom line.

This is proof positive that you don’t need to be the most expensive kid on the block in order to be good. All of these popular web hosting companies offer the ability to help you and your website, no matter how big you are and will work side by side with you to ensure your website’s success.

Much has been written about building wind generators at home to offset the cost of power and more notably to decrease the need for power production at utility plants thereby helping the environment. Many of the plans that are offered up show the potential builder how electricity can be produced. The issue however is not how to “make ” electricity for many potential buyers. It is more an issue of how do we use the electricity we have produced? I have seen many articles written on this subject, many claiming wind generators can be built for 100 dollars or less. This type of “marketing” has led to much confusion with consumers in the wind energy community. I would like to make two points with this article.

First there are basically two types of systems. The first is grid tied interactive, these systems allow power to be stored in batteries and then the excess power that is made to flow directly into the home owners power grid thereby offsetting the need for power from the utility company. Another variation of this is the direct grid tie which operates the same as above but does not use batteries. These systems are somewhat limited in that there are currently few products on the market and most of them do not have UL listings. The SMA windy boy is an example of a product that is direct grid tie connected and has UL certifications but they are currently back ordered and very scarce. These systems are great but they are usually quite expensive and in many case are well over one thousand dollars. They use pure sine wave technology and generate power equivalent in quality in most cases to that of the utility company

Second are off grid systems. These systems can be as simple as hooking a power inverter to a battery bank. The banks are usually made with 12 – 24 or 48 volt systems. A 3000 watt power inverter can be purchase for around 250 dollars. The problem with these cheaper power inverters are they utilize modified sine wave technology and may or may not power sensitive electronics. In the case it does it could be bad for the sensitive items and shorten service life. Additionally who wants to run an extension cord out to the cheap power inverter to power the items in the house? Pure sine wave grid ties are available for off grid applications as well but they generally have the higher cost associated with the grid tie interactive.

So while much attention has been given to the creation of cheap wind generators as a practical matter they have limited use. This is not to say that wind generation is not a cost effective means of producing electricity, my point is merely do not get caught up in the prevalent marketing scams on the web today. I truly wonder how a wind generator is constructed for one hundred dollars or less without a power inverter or battery? Anybody bought a battery recently? There is the one hundred dollars depicted for the total budget cost…. Unless attention is given to how the power will be used before building a cheap wind generator you will surely be disappointed. In the next set of articles we will continue to address the fallacy depicted in the mainstream about wind power so stay tuned.

In the past few years much has been made of building wind generators at home. Their was a time when the only wind turbine kits on the market were grossly overpriced which led the average home owner with the decision pay the high price to experiment with alternative energy or to try building one on their own. If you search the internet you will find people that have used a wide range of methods to build a do it yourself wind generator at there home. Brake drums ,washing machine motors, computer tape drive, ceiling fan motors have all been scavenged in the name of wind power. Some being more useful than others.

A few years ago now some enterprising folks put together a booklet describing in general terms how a home made wind generator could be built out of a Ametek 38 servo motor. Interestingly enough that particular motor was not a good wind generator motor at all, but the e books for all estimations had to have been a best seller. The price of components to build wind turbines at home went through the roof. Even today tape drive motors that were not worth twenty dollars three yeas ago are now selling at over two hundred and fifty dollars . The ametek 99 motors has been denoted the most sought after and rarest of finds and now sells for around five hundred dollars. The whole thing has spun out of control. The initial purpose was to save money, that is how the do it yourself wind mill was born. My observation is currently consumers are more willing to spend five hundred dollars on a tape drive motor that was worth twenty dollars three years ago that they are to spend a similar amount on a reputable all inclusive wind turbine kit.

Many of these consumers are sorely disappointed when the discover the brushes on the 20 year old tape drive motor are not made anymore and once they are wore out is worthless. I am not necessarily a proponent of wind turbine kits and paying manufactures prices, I just believe it is unfortunate when I see home owners throwing away money going about wind energy in a way that is not likely to meet there needs. There are other choices now for the home owner inclined toward the do it yourself type of wind generator. Hurricane Wind power has released a series of wind turbine generators that will out perform any of the generators currently sold that cost less and are maintenance free . When building a wind generator it is very important to get the motor to charge with as few RPM as possible. This is the essence of building a good wind turbine as the lower RPM equate to lower wind speed it take to charge batteries . These generators not only produce 12 volts with 40 rpm, they have a dual stator that has a non iron core to decrease magnetic drag and ensure the lowest startup speed on the market. Basically no brushes, super low RPM, and less torque to start up patented technology made in the USA.

A few months ago I was down on the idea of home made wind turbines. I however see promise again as the technology now available to the home builder allow construction of long lasting turbines that are cost effective. While the supply of DC motors that can be used as wind generators has dwindled and the price on the remaining rare items has skyrocketed it is now again possible to make a make this project worthwhile. The Hurricane PMA can produce as much as 200 volts at direct drive speeds with no gearing needed. It is now a fact that not only is it rewarding and a good family project but the home made wind generator will simply out perform the kit from the manufacturers such as Southwest. So yes it is again a good idea to build a home wind generator as long as you stay away from overpriced obsolete generator heads.

Time is money! especially when you are talking about downtime at a vacation rental. Even if you purchased a turnkey rental that is ready for guests, bringing a property onto the rental market takes work. Before your first renter comes through the door, you will need to make important operational decisions for the management of your vacation rental business. And on top of getting the place ready, there’s a laundry list of other tasks that need to be completed before you can start renting.

Pick the Right Time to Make Changes

The best time to make major changes is before you’ve started renting or in the vacancy of the slow season. Use this time to do renovations, deep cleaning, major improvements, and amenity and design changes. Getting the dust-inducing construction out of the way before starting a rental schedule will make life easier in the long run, and you will be able to fetch top dollar for new features and amenities.

If you can’t do it all before peak season, prioritize based on what will keep your guests happy (safety, cleanliness), and you protected (insurance, permits, taxes).

Getting the Rental on the Market Checklist

Cosmetics & Construction

- Perform construction and updates to make the house a better rental.

- Upgrade appliances, if needed.

- Add new amenities.

- Deep clean the entire home including windows and carpeting.

- Paint the ceilings and walls with fresh paint in neutral colors.

Furnish the rental appropriately.

- Decorate the home using a theme and color scheme as a guide.

- Landscape and create “curb appeal”

- Perform a security and safety evaluation.

Rental Turnover & Day-to-Day Maintenance

- Interview and hire cleaning staff.

- Interview and hire maintenance people.

- Establish a backup plan for cleaning and maintenance emergencies.

Financial Planning

- Plan a budget for expenses.

- Research applicable taxes in your area

- Find, learn and use a basic accounting program.

Marketing & Advertising

- Stage and take professional-quality pictures of the rental, inside and out.

- Consider building your own vacation rental website.

Create marketing text.

- List on vacation rental sites.

- Research other online marketing methods.

- Advertise the property offline to reach your targeted market.

Management & Legalities

- Develop the policies and procedures you will follow with your property.

- Set your rates.

- Draw up legal documents such as rental contract and deposit form.

- Seek legal advice on contract and other legally binding documents.

- Research and retain appropriate vacation rental insurance.

- Get proper licenses and permits.

- Decide how to maintain rental records and handle bookkeeping for tax purposes.

- Determine a rental scheduling process and set up a master availability calendar.

- Establish how “family and friend time” will be handled at your rental.

Guest Services

- Stock the home with necessities; like toiletries, paper goods, and cleaning supplies.

- Create welcome packet.

- Make a “Guest Information Binder” of local attractions, menus, maps and information.

- Create an emergency contact sheet.

Conclusion

The tasks necessary to get a new vacation property up and running may sometimes feel never-ending. The foresight to anticipate problems, and plan for them in advance, is the difference between a smooth start in rental vacation property and a rocky one. Planning ahead and being prepared will make being a new vacation rental owner more enjoyable.