While the internet performance licensing fight rages on, I've written about it last week and the week before, so its time for a good old website break.

I was in a conference call with a potential web design client when the topic of web hosting came up. This is one of the most fundamental pieces fo a website, but it is rarely discussed or thought about since, like referees, it is only noticed when it messes up.  (Webmasters are often treated the same way.) 

In discussing their web hosting situation, I realized that they didn't really understand the pros and cons of ASP.NET vs. PHP, IIS vs. Apache, and Windows Server vs. Linux.  This conversation didn't even begin to to delve into the differences between databases like MySQL and MS SQL Server.  Wait!  Before your eyes glaze over, I'm not going to break out the technical differences, since for the vast majority of websites every one of those tools is capable of doing the job and their relative costs are similar (except for SQL Server.  That's really expensive)

While the internet performance licensing fight rages on, I've written about it last week and the week before, so it's time for a good old website break.

I was in a conference call with a potential web design client when the topic of web hosting came up. This is one of the most fundamental pieces of a website, but it is rarely discussed or thought about since, like referees, it is only noticed when it messes up. (Webmasters are often treated the same way.)

In discussing their web hosting situation, I realized that they didn't really understand the pros and cons of ASP.NET vs. PHP, IIS vs. Apache, and Windows Server vs. Linux. This conversation didn't even begin to delve into the differences between databases like MySQL and MS SQL Server.

Wait! Before your eyes glaze over, I'm not going to break out the technical differences, since for the vast majority of websites every one of those tools is capable of doing the job and their relative costs are similar (except for SQL Server. That's really expensive - like thousands of dollars.)

Now lets take a look at our choices:

Last week, I wrote how the recent large increase in performance royalty rates for digital streaming music were bad for radio not only because it would make the radio industry's forays into the online sphere slower and more expensive, but also because the rate increase was only the first battle for Sound Exchange and the RIAA. They are increasing rates for online streamers because it's an easier battle to fight since they don't have as much clout as the radio industry. However, once they get that precedent established, they are coming after radio.

I figured that Sound Exchange and the RIAA would at least wait until the debate about internet royalty rates was settled before they started to come after radio. Instead, last week this was reported at CNet :

"Howard Berman, the California Democrat who now heads the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, wonders if it's time for everyone to pay the same fees. 'Is it finally time for a performance right to extend to terrestrial radio?'"

Last week , we looked at keeping your websites fresh with Preppermint . This week, I had planned on continuing with ways to make your website easier to maintain, but the news regarding internet royalties has taken precedence. As you've hopefully read in some of my The Net Untangled Daily Tips or the front page of AllAccess , or even in the mainstream media , the Copyright Royalty Board has created a new rate schedule for digital audio streaming.

This has put the internet streaming community up in arms. Many if not almost all streaming outfits will have to close their doors because their rates have been set so high. However, terrestrial radio to this point has remained unscathed. While internet simulcasts of terrestrial stations are going to be hit by the high rates, some in the radio industry may consider it a small price to pay to cut off the nascent but growing internet radio industry at its knees. From a purely capitalist perspective, if someone is willing to destroy your competitors, it's a win for you. However, these high rates may soon be applied to terrestrial radio as well.

As I wrote last week, the single best way to increase page views for your website, and thus the value of your website, is by providing fresh content on a regular basis. If your site does not change, then you will lose out on repeat visitors. In order to keep up page views, you'd have to keep drawing in new groups of visitors that haven't seen the site before. As it is in sales, it is much harder to draw in new customers than it is to keep return customers.

If your site is updated once a month, then returning visitors will not get value if they check it more frequently than that. Of course, remembering to check on a website monthly is something few people will ever do, so try to establish habits for your visitors. Do that by establishing a habit for yourself of updating your site daily. Sure, it may seem like a chore at first, but with some simple tools like Preppermint, it can be made easy and automatic - just like your visitors' viewing habits.