25 billion downloads later…

The app store has collected the accolade of 25 billion app downloads.

To put this into perspective, according too http://www.worldometers.info the worlds current population is 7,025,991,749. So if we say that 25% of the world’s population (1,756,497,937) have an iPad or iPhone then on average people have downloaded at least 4 app each. That is nothing is it? I myself have owned and iPhone and currently have both and iMac and iPad with around 5/6 apps from the app store on each, so personally I have downloaded between 10/12 apps.

So is the app store doing as well as we think? I personally think that Apple think we should be downloading many more apps per person, on average they take 30% of the money from every app store download, so surely if every Apple customer only download say 5 apps, they are going to make around £10 from that customer. It’s nothing really considering the potential.

Look at the iOS family, to get any application (program) on these the only way is to purchase them from the Apple App Store, this means the App Store has a real potential to make money, especially if user downloaded more than 5 applications each.

A light introduction to the world of Web Hosting

So lets begin, there is not fancy introduction to set the scene or gently introduce you to the principals of domain names and hosting. This guide will just through it at you straight. Without the sugar coating some guides give you.

Lets begin with differentiating the two; a domain name is the address to your website. The web hosting is where you website is stored. Yes your website is stored on a server, normally located in a datacentre – this ensures your site is online for everyone to see twenty four seven, three hundred and sixty five days a year.

When you look at the domain names there are two main parts – the domain name and the TLD (Top level domain) – lets look at Google for an example - google.com is their domain name it is made of the two parts name. In there case, their domain name is google and the TLD is .com (they have however implemented there domain name using other TLD’s like; co.uk and .net etc.)

There are a whole range of TLD’s available, from industry and country specific – ranging from .com, .in, .co.uk, .aero, .net  the list is huge.

You can purchase domain names for time based periods, normally at least one year, on in the case of .co.uk you must register the domain name for at least two years. You can purchase (register) a domain name with a registrar, one of the most well-known and popular registrars is a U.S company called GoDaddy.

Now the basics of a domain name have been explained we can talk about the basics of web hosting – the space where you site is going to be stored.

Websites are stored on a webserver, there are different types and levels of server, for example – shared hosting where you site sites with possibly hundreds of others on a shared server, you have no control over things like the operating system and security setup.

The next level of hosting is reseller hosting, this is where you can control multiple share accounts under one master account – this is more aimed at people wanting to make money from selling shared accounts.

After reseller hosting the next level would be virtual dedicated servers (V.P.S) this is where a server is split into smaller “slices”, on these “slices” each owner can create there own separate server. You have control over the operating system, security, and control panel setups – one downside to this type of server is you are sharing resources (RAM and CPU) with other “slice” owners.

The next level of hosting is dedicated servers – with a dedicated server you have your own piece of hardware located in a datacentre – similar to a V.P.S you have full control over things like the operating system and system setup, however unlike a V.P.S you are the only owner of the server, so you can utilise its full hardware benefits.

Now you are wondering what a datacentre is? Well a data centre is a large warehouse full of servers; data centres are connected on major networks to the backbone of the Internet, providing contestant speeds of around 150 Megabits per second to each server. Data centres have fully resilient power supplies, thanks to batteries and large generators. Data centre temperatures are constantly kept cool to an optimal temperature for server performance. Of course if you own a server, you located it in a datacentre for a fee – but the speed benefits far out weigh the cost. Under no circumstances should you consider creating a server out of an old machine at home to run business critical websites on, save the hassle and just get high quality shared hosting from a well known provider.

Once you have some web space on a server, and you have purchased a domain name, you need to link the two together. To do this you will login to the domain registrar where you registered your domain name and setup the domains name servers to point to your hosting provider.

What are name servers? The name servers are like telephone switchboards, when someone types in your domain name to visit your site, the name servers tell the computer what server your site is stored on and then connects them to this server.

This sums up this simple guide.

An introduction to affiliate marketing

It was not so long ago that we connected to the Internet through dial-up modems, the web was slow, and the quality of content was poor, when you went online you got what you wanted done, then logged off.

These days we all have wireless devices, connected to superfast broadband connections, and spend increasingly more time online.

The Internet is no longer a tool for sharing information between educational establishments, nowadays the Internet is the forefront of any modern business and with users spending more time online, and there is an increase in the need to capture the audience of these users.

I myself run a few websites, along with the cost of my time, these sites cost money to run – web hosting and domain costs are two of the big<span style=”color: #333333; font-style: normal; line-height: 24px;”> c</span>osts when running a website. When you personally run a website or online community, you need to the website to subsidise these costs, one-way of doing this is to use affiliate marketing.

When talking about the sites that I run, and the income they generate I regularly refer to affiliate marketing schemes, and nine times out of ten people ask me; “What is affiliate marketing?”

Affiliate marketing is a marketing practise, more well known for being an online practise opposed to offline affiliate marketing, in which a business rewards the affiliate for each customer or purchase that has been brought about thanks to the affiliates efforts.

In short, this means as an affiliate you refer customer to a certain company or product and get rewarded for this, maybe with account credits, or even in some cases you can earn cash.

There are many big schemes around the Internet, from many top retailers, for example <a href=”https://affiliate-program.amazon.co.uk/”>Amazon Associates</a>. With their affiliate scheme you have the option to display banner adverts on your site linking to the latest products and allow you to receive 10% of the purchase value in return (as like a commission).

Just think of that, if you linked to the £999 Apple iMac, Amazon would reward you with £99 if someone purchased that through your referral.

Online advertising is big, and you cannot have the impression that online advertising would ruin the appeal and usability of your website. Look at Facebook, they are one of the most popular websites on the Internet, and almost 20% of there desktop website is advertising.

So if you’re thinking of joining an affiliate program, start with Amazon, and remember not to go overboard with advertising, a page full of adverts is hard to navigate and not very usable, but some adverts in your sidebar will monetise your site and the user probably will not even be bothered by them, unless something catches there eye.