Product Trends Magazine

About the company: “NetZero offers easy-to-use, reliable Internet service with thousands of access numbers nationwide, fast connections, feature-rich email and Email on the Web, and instant messaging compatible with AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, and Yahoo! All for less than 1/2 the cost of AOL®, EarthLink or MSN!”

The big pitch: Sign up for NetZero Platinum, HiSpeed 3G, or Free Internet Access today!

Netzero.net is an internet service provider that originated as a free ISP, but now also offers low cost premimum internet services such as high-speed dial-up and broadband access. There are several different levels of internet service that you can purchase; you can have access to free internet service, as long as you only use 10 hours per month. A step up from this plan is the unlimited internet access starting at $9.95 per month, which is a heck of a deal. A third internet service option is to go for NetZero’s fastest, cutting edge technology internet service, called NetZero HiSpeed 3G for Broadband.

Netzero.net also offers a range of internet-related add-on services, including pop-up blocker, spam protection, and email virus protection. Additionally, you are allowed up to 1GB of email storage, which is a significant amount of space for most people.

NetZero.net has plans available that are geared towards families as well. For example, NetZero.net offers “NetZero Premium Content Family Pack”, where your family can have access to the Encylopaedia Brittanica, Shockwave.com Gameblast, AmericanGreetings.com, and Clever Island for as little as $4.95/month.

NetZero.net has jumped all over the free internet phone-calling bandwagon with their “NetZero Voice” voice-over internet (VOIP) service. Features of this free voice over internet technology that works over dial-up or broadband include unlimited computer-to-computer minutes, encompass caller ID, call waiting, and call blocking - and you can also send instant messages and email on the web. Voicemail is also free, and there’s an online message center, which is convenient. In short, NetZero is a full-bodied voice-over internet service, and all for just $14.95 per month!

So what’s the downside? Well, if you’re using the free NetZero service, you’re going to have to deal with minimal online time, because ten hours, free or not, is pretty slim pickin’s. Additionally, download speeds can be pretty darn slow, and you lose a portion of your screen to a NetZero ad banner, but hey, you get what you pay for. The NZ folks need to pay their rent somehow, you cheap bastards!

The better deal is the Platinum package, which gives you unlimited dial-up net access for $9.95 per month. You still get the NetZero ad banner, and you’re still on dial-up, but you don’t have to trim you online time with this option, and $9.95 is dirt cheap compared to the prices rip-off merchants like AOL charge for similar services (and it goes down to just $6.95 if you pay for six months at a time!).

The Product Trends rating: NetZero.net is an extremely viable option for free or low cost internet service. It is a perfect internet service option if you have a small budget for computer and internet services. Plus, you can save loads of money by using free calls over the internet. NetZero.net is an affordable way to take advantage of the internet super highway. Four stars. — Reviewed by Jillian Dobbs

To try NetZero for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: “IPOWERWEB, Inc., The Power Behind eBusiness ™, is the worlds leading eBusiness Website Hosting provider. Our Internet based end-to-end solutions enable small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) to build, promote, manage and profit from their online presence.”

The big pitch: Serving over 300,000 members with affordable, reliable web hosting solutions. Completely reloaded! More space! 10,000 MB Hosting, 2,500 Email Accounts, Website Builder, Free Domain, Host 6 Domains in 1!

Ipowerweb.com is a web hosting service that offers a variety of web hosting plans. Each web hosting plan ranges in the levels and variety of features included - for example, the different website hosting services include: domain registration, web hosting, windows hosting, and dedicated server. iPowerWeb reaches out to the average internet surfer that wants their own website, while also serving top level e-commerce businesses that need a dedicated server.

Domain registration starts as low as $2.95 per year, and the web hosting service starts as low as $7.95 per month, both of which are very affordable rates when it comes to web hosting services. There is a $30 set-up fee, but that is waived if you pay for a year of hosting in advance, which is fair enough.

You may think that since the price is so affordable that there aren’t many features available, but you’d be completely wrong. The $7.95 per month web hosting service is called “Business Pro”, which offers the following features: 10,000 Megs of disk-space, 2,000 Email addresses, Secure Socket Layering (SSL), CGI-BIN, MySQL, and unlimited email. Plus you get free setup, dynamic content, and a marketing package. thrown in to the deal You can find more technical details on their website, because frankly there are way too many to list here.

If you aren’t familiar with what is required to create your own website and deal with web hosting issues, then you will be happy to know that iPowerWeb.com has an extensive customer support center. This customer e-service allows you to ask questions, provide feedback, and learn about additional features without racking up big tech support fees. In addition, iPowerWeb offers an interactive tutorial site which demonstrates how to setup and configure your website, so even a dummy can do it.

The Product Trends rating: iPowerWeb can meet your web hosting needs whether you want to create a new web domain or transfer your current domain to their services. You can transfer your domain name for free and take advantage of their content and promotion packages within 24 hours - not a bad deal at all. Five stars! — Reviewed by Jillian Dobbs

To try iPowerWeb for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: "Boingo® provides software technology and roaming services that help bring the wireless Internet to the masses. The company has assembled a large and rapidly growing roaming system with tens of thousands of hot spot locations under contract around the world.”

The big pitch: Unlimited connect time for a low monthly fee on the easiest-to-use worldwide network of wi-fi hotspots.

Boingo was founded in 2001 by Sky Dayton, previously known as the founder of Earthlink, and has since won countless recognitions as one of today’s best startup companies as well as one of the fastest growing electronic companies on the planet. Boingo’s goal from its onset was to create the largest network of highspeed hotspots in the world. They are currently growing quite rapidly to offer extended services such as connection software and internet phoning through its partners.

With over 20,000 hotspots around the world it is clear that Boingo is geared toward travellers. They have set themselves up so that a customer can log on to the internet using their laptop or handheld device while at the airport, hotel and even on the airplane. While at any given destination there will often be Boingo hotspots at local cafes, bookstores and even campgrounds. A subscriber to Boingo will only have to turn on their computer, launch the free software and they’re online.

As for the wi-fi networks themselves, Boingo offers download speeds that are 100s of times faster then dial-up. They are constantly increasing access points making it easier and easier to find locations to connect from. For someone who’s always on the go this is a dream come true.

The software they provide is easy enough, though like any software there are posted reports of bugs or users who can’t seem to get it running. It searches for hotspots around you and makes connection a breeze—even if your using it for a network other then Boingo and even in your home. For Boingo subscribers, the software also contains a directory of worldwide connection points.

For the average internet user though, this is all flash. Windows XP users will find connecting to various hotspots is easy enough already and connecting to the internet from your house is all most people need. Those that venture to local coffee shops on occasion can often find free hotspots with ease and some companies have already launched wi-fi services that use advertising for income. One can even find hotels that offer free internet access to their guests. But if what you want is something more secure, vast and reliable, or you are in a business that sends you travelling a lot, then Boingo is highly worthwhile and will payoff tenfold.

Boingo Wireless has received praise from newspapers and ezines around the world. Their monthy fee of $21.95 is in the ballpark of what regular in-home internet providers charge. They also offer 24hr option for under $10 and have package deals for all sizes of business, which is really where their biggest appeal would come from.

The Product Trends rating: Four stars. An occassional traveler could research their trip and find cheaper alternatives, but if you travel a lot or simply want the best then Boingo Wireless is for you. —Reviewed by Phil Pivnick

To try Boingo for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: Founded in early 2004, SunRocket is changing an industry, bringing you new choices, better value, and ultimate control of your home phone service. Powered by the Internet and designed to replace the overpriced, obsolete services from your old phone company, SunRocket Internet Phone Service harnesses your home high-speed connection to deliver a radically better suite of customized features at an amazing value.”

The big pitch: Turn long distance calls into local calls, with no contracts, no hidden fees, and no gotchas.

Everyone has busy lives filled with daily obstacles; reliable phone service should not be one of them. When you travel, you want to be able to make and receive calls without having to think about it. Sun Rocket seems to understand that, and has created Bottom-Line Pricing, so you pay no more than they say you will, free of hidden charges, add-on fees, and other rude surprises that normally show up on your phone bills monthly.

SunRocket utilizes the new technology of Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), which takes voice conversations and converts them into data that can be transferred across the World Wide Web. The data is then converted into a signal that the telephone system can deliver at the other end, turning your long distance phone call into a local call. After you connect any touchtone phone to your SunRocket gizmo, make and receive calls to any phone in the world, just like you do with a traditional phone, and you won’t be charged any more than a local call. It’s that simple.

Using this technology, SunRocket passed on these savings to customers so they will never be confused with complicated rate plans, or price increases when you’re not looking, or charge outrageous prices whenever you need to place an occasional international call. The concept of local calling zones is removed, so you no longer need to understand confusing boundaries between calls that are free and calls that are not.

Other benefits are also included for customers that you can get with traditional phone services, including:

Enhanced Voicemail: which allows you to manipulate all of your messages and receive instant notification

Call Logs: which keeps track of all your calls from your account

Find Me: which will automatically call various phone numbers in trying to locate you.

These are just a sample of the extensive services that would be available to you with a SunRocket account. The Signature Service includes unlimited calling in the US and Canada, free international minutes, a free extra phone number with the area code of your choice, over 10 enhanced calling features, two free directory assistance calls per month, and a free Uniden cordless phone worth over $100.

If you’re unsure of whether this will work for you or not, SunRocket allows customers to try the service risk-free for 31 days. After that you can cancel the service and receive full credit to your account and never incur a penalty, or you can select your Signature Service; either sign-up for the Annual Edition, or the Monthly Edition. Each option offers the same all-inclusive service, they’re just giving the customer more options.

If you have questions, no problem, a 1-800 number is provided so that you can get you answers from a real human being. The only problem is that they are only around from 8am-Midnight, though they are available seven days a week.

The Product Trends rating: SunRocket was named 2005 DigitalLife Innovator by Ziff Davis Media, and we agree with their assessment: Five stars. If you are looking for the best service and outstanding customer service, with no hidden costs, optional plans and a money back guarantee, then SunRocket is the service for you. —Reviewed by Denise Seegobin

To try SunRocket for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: "Under the McAfee® Protection-in-DepthTM Strategy, we deliver the industry’s only complete set of system and network protection solutions differentiated by our intrusion prevention technology, which can not only detect, but block attacks. The McAfee System Protection Solutions and McAfee Network Protection Solutions portfolios are designed to assure the security and availability of the technology that powers our customers’ businesses - from the desktop to the core of the network and across the servers that our customers rely on to deliver their competitive advantage."

The big pitch: Proven, comprehensive PC protection for home users.

Here’s the thing, you already have enough problems worrying about the possible avian flu pandemic and terrorists and killer bees and hurricanes - why lose additional sleep over computer viruses? McAfee designs computer protection programs for corporate entities as well as home PC systems, and even wireless technology, which are considered the benchmark in the industry.

McAfee’s software can be instantly downloaded from the website or purchased from a retailer, such as Best Buy. Either way, the cost is about the same - the current online price as of the time of writing was $59.99 for the internet bundle (with a $20 mail-in rebate). This provides basic anti-spam, anti-spyware, anti-worm, and anti-pop-up ad protection. All services can also be purchased separately if you prefer, and a handy-dandy checklist allows the website to recommend the level of security you will need depending on your average computer usage.

In addition to filtering that pesky online junk, McAfee also offers automatic system scans and security updates that continually monitor your pc for new threats. When a new outbreak is detected, new security measures are downloaded immediately.

So while you are dozing softly in dreamland, the Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team (AVERT), a dedicated band of technophiles, are on duty 24 hours a day, monitoring potential worldwide viruses that could harm your computer, and sending out software patches to keep them at bay. Additionally, the customer service center provides free around-the-clock technical assistance for any questions you might have, so relative newbies can get the same protection that advanced users can get.

It all sounds great - but what about that new internet software you just received in the mail? Didn’t they say something about FREE protection………?

Yes, AOL 9.0 now offers a security edition that features complimentary McAfee protection (separate activation is required). However, for maximum PC protection, the McAfee internet bundle ($59.99) is definitely the way to go. The AOL/McAFEE software only offers firewall protection on broadband services and their other services are not as extensive as the bundle.

McAfee is a great product and, according to their website, one of the largest subscription providers on the internet. If you store personal records and financial information on your PC, be advised that hackers can access this information even when you are not on the net, and the peace of mind that McAfee brings is well worth the money. The downside is the subscription price. Norton Anti-Virus (a leading competitor) offers the same bundle service for $39.99.

So yeah, you may find virus protection that is cheaper, but you won’t find virus protection that is more comprehensive, more readily updated, and more effective than McAfee.

The Product Trends rating: Both McAfee and Norton websites provide detailed charts that list the services included in each of their packages, but personally, if I am getting the same thing for my money on either option, I would rather save $20 immediately and forget about a mail-in rebate altogether. For this reason only, McAfee gets 3 ½ stars. —Reviewed by Teresa Wentz

To try McAfee for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: GoToMyPC allows you to remotely access your computer from any other Internet-connected computer in the world with almost any operating system through a secure, private connection. Acess files, programs, email and your network, increase flexibility and productivity, work on your office PC from home, and travel and use your PC remotely.

The big pitch: 45-day free trial, and additional $10 discount upon joining.

You’re on the road, you’re staying at some crummy Motel 6 off the interstate somewhere near Lincoln, Iowa, and all hell is breaking loose. Important documents are needed for tomorrow’s meeting, but the templates needed to load them are on your office computer, and it’s now past midnight so there’s nobody in the office to get the files to you… Basically, you’re screwed. This will cost your business thousands.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. GoToMyPC is a piece of remote access software designed to allow you to ‘log in’ to your computer from anywhere in the online world, from any web browser, or any wireless device - with just a 2 minute installation.

Imagine that same situation as mentioned above breaks out - while you’re in the meeting itself - and you tell your client, "Excuse me for a moment, I’m just going to use my cellphone to access that file on my office PC…" - Well, hello Mr Slick!

Here’s how it works: You simply join GoToMyPC at their website, then you install their software on the computers you want to remotely access. Your home computer, your office computer, your laptop, a fax server - in fact, you can install the program up to 20 times on different machines if you use the GoToMyPC Pro option - even more if you use GoToMyPC Corporate.

Once you’ve done that, whenever you’re away from the computer, just go to GoToMyPC.com, log in, then choose the computer you want to work on. GoToMyPC then connects to that computer and lets you access it from your remote desktop, as if you were directly connected to it - which, in essence, you are.

So, let’s understand what this means. It basically means that, from any computer, anywhere on the internet, you can connect to your home or office PC like you connect to Hotmail now. You can access your email, your files, your company intranet, Excel spreadsheets, and you can do all that from a hotel internet connection in Kowloon, or an airport internet cafe in Bangladesh, or your buddy’s home computer that you use to play Halo on.

This is not entirely new as far as concepts go. In fact, traditionally, the remote access market has been dominated by Symantec’s difficult-to-install PC Anywhere program, but the beauty of GoToMyPC is that you don’t need to have two pieces of software loaded on the two computers you’re using. With GoToMyPC, all you need is a web browser and you can connect to home base as if you were hooked up with a USB cable.

with goToMyPC, you can work from home, administer your office systems from the road, get to your office computer after hours, even stop dragging around discs and CDs and flash drives with business documents on them. It’s all there when you need it.

As far as pricing goes, the 1-PC monthly plan runs at $19.95 per month, or 25% off that price if you pay for a full year up front, or you can add a second PC to that plan for just an extra $10 per month. Additional PCs after that are $15 per month, per computer (or $135 per year), so you could conceivably be hooked up to every computer in your office… if you wanted to be. Heck, you can even print a document on your office printer from the Starbucks across the street!

To make calculation of your final price easy, GoToMyPC has a plan calculator on their website, and they offer a free 45-day trial where you can use the product at no cost, with no commitment, if you prefer to try before you buy.

Personally, we say don’t even bother trying things out - just get straight into it. Laptop Magazine gave GoToMyPC an editor’s choice award, and the program isn’t feature heavy, so it’s really easy to use if you’re a bit of a newbie. And if you’re worried about it working with your company firewall - don’t be! It’ll work just fine on the majority of systems and can be tweaked to work with the others.

The Product Trends rating: Without question, this program is awesome. Five stars; well worth the money, well worth your time.

To try GoToMyPC for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: "With nearly three million Internet domains, Dotster, Inc. is one of the largest ICANN-accredited domain name registrars in the world. Launched in 2000, Dotster was among the first to offer long-term registrations and discounted pricing. Customers now turn to Dotster for its ability to deliver creative, marketable, and hard-to-find domain names through its proprietary NameSpin and Namewinner services. Dotster offers superior online account management tools and dedicated support from its customer care team in Washington state. The company’s services include web hosting, DNS management, website development and marketing services, and partner programs."

The big pitch: Transfer your domain to Dotster for $8.95 and get one year of free web hosting. Hosting packages start at $8.95 per month, whois privacy for $2.99 per year.

Dotster has grown pretty damn fast over the last few years, and at first glance it’s hard to see why. They charge a little more per month than other web hosting outfits, they charge for domain transfers, which other companies do for free, they charge you a few bucks to keep your whois details private, again something that others do for free (and Dotster did for free not long ago), and their domain registrations, at $14.95 per year, pale in comparison to the $3 and $2 registrations you can get from hosting chop shops like GoDaddy.

So why are people using Dotster when they’re not scraping the bottom of the barrel on price?

Well, for starters, the company does what it promises. The basic web hosting account brings you 3GB of bandwidth, 100MB of storage, up to 50 email accounts and nifty extras like personal photo albums and web blogs, spam filtering and virus protection. They also offer Linux hosting, which people who are sick of Microsoft’s continual security issues and bug problems seem to think is a big deal.

Dotster domain registrations include free URL forwarding, free domain parking, free SpamShield, free TransferLock, and free ownership transfers, additionally, you can have 25MB of MySQL database space, chat server software, shopping cart scripts, content management scripts, online calendars, blah blah blah.

But, see, here’s the thing… the first rule of picking a web host is to know as much as you can about that webhost up front. Who are they? Where do they come from? What’s their business model? Will I spend money on ten years of domain registration, only to find the company goes bankrupt next June? Will they charge my credit card for all sorts of things I didn’t ask for?

I’m not saying any of that applies to Dotster, but without some detailed company info on their website (and there is none that I could find), it’s hard to tell people to send their money there. What’s the size of Dotster’s pipe? What’s their uptime? Sorry folks, but I have no idea, because they don’t make the info clear.

Clearly lots of people aren’t too concerned about that, since Dotster looks after the hosting of 3 million different accounts, but AOL has millions of users too and you wouldn’t find me recommending them for an ISP.

So where do we go from here? Should you move your website away from GoDaddy to Dotster or not? Well, there are things that work in Dotster’s favor. From consumer reports, we’ve noticed that although the company doesn’t make a phone number available to customers, they do respond to customer service issues in a helpful way (just via email, so hope you’re not in a hurry). Their control panel is a breeze to use, something that GoDaddy could learn some things about, and they deliver what they say they will, unlike the much-maligned Verio web hosting company.

One potential snafu with Dotster is that, if you want to take your website away from them and put it elsewhere, they’ll expect to be paid $25 for the privilege. Though they’re not the only ones that do this kind of thing, it is, to our way of thinking, utter and outright extortion.

So should you use Dotster? Well, we’d lean towards not, at least not right now. Sure, you should move your site away from GoDaddy pronto, but we’re not entirely sure that Dotster is the way to go, unless of course you’re okay with long, long term deals that might be a little bit more expensive than the other guys, but are easy to use and won’t break your website in the meantime.

If you want to leave your website in one place for a few years, definitely go with Dotster. But it you’re one of the many that want the option to leave if things take a negative turn, we’d suggest you keep looking.

The Product Trends rating: A good, solid option, but the lack of company info, lack of support phone number, and sneaky fees that you’re hit with once you’re stuck with them is a definite red light. Be assured, those negatives are minor issues when it comes to your web hosting/domain registration experience, but they’re worth noting. The Product Trends Magazine rating on Dotster is three stars.

To try Dotster for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: Intelliflix is the world’s largest combined online movie and game rental destination, offering more than 40,000 titles of movies and games to customers in all 50 states. In 2004, we surpassed Netflix with the largest number of distribution centers in the continental United States. This allows us to provide our customers with typically 1-2 day delivery to most areas of the country. We are the only online company to provide both unlimited subscription programs and individual pay-per rental (PPR) plans.

The big pitch: 3-out Unlimited Rental subscription plans for just $8.25!3-out Unlimited Rental subscription plans for just $8.25! Pay-per-rental plans are also available, starting at $3.95 per movie/game.

Netflix hit the movie industry like a hurricane, bringing online movie rental into the population’s mindset at such a fast rate that established bricks and mortar chain stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video have seen their profit margins severely slashed.

Intelliflix is just the latest of many upstarts to have entered the market seeking to take back Netflix’s crown, but it’ll be a hard road to hoe if they have any ideas of beating the original - the company that created the industry from scratch. Thankfully, Intelliflix does a lot of things well, and indeed does some things better than Netflix does - and some that Netflix doesn’t do at all.

The way online DVD rental works is simple. You choose the movies you want on Intelliflix’s website, put them in order of preference, and wait. That day, the Intelliflix staff will send the movie you asked for out to you by mail, for you to watch whenever you want. If you watch it right away and stick it straight back in the post (using the free postage-paid return envelopes that they supply you), as soon as they receive your returned movie, they send out the next one on your queue and you receive it the next day.

The best part? Hard to say - it could be that you can keep the movie as long as you want with no late fees. Or it could be that they send you out 3 movies at a time, so you should always have something waiting to be watched. Or it could be that you never have to get to the video store, fighting traffic and queues, to return a movie that sucked. Whatever you think is the best reason to rent online, take it from us, a group of people who are all heavily addicted to online movie rentals - it rules.

Intelliflix is a good option to begin your online rental experience, for several reasons. For starters, their 3-out online DVD rental subscription plan is just $16.95 per month, which is dirt cheap. In fact, at the time of writing, Intelliflix was offering an incredible $8.25 discount price on that plan, and though that can’t last long, it’s the sort of discount that makes people sit up and take notice. If you prefer to pay per rental, which works better for casual renters, you can do so for $3.95 per title, for a five-day-rental, with up to four movies at a time, again with free shipping, which matches any video store that I know of.

To help you decide if Intelliflix is right for you, they’ll give you one free month trial with every new account, and not only will that get you three movies, free of charge, delivered right to your mailbox, but you can also choose from video games as well. In fact, Intelliflix has over 40,000 video games and movies waiting for you to rent, right now - including mature/adult movies. Alternately, Netflix doesn’t offer adult titles OR video games.

Another great forward step for Intelliflix is that they’re integrating their service into actual bricks and mortar stores across the US, which will mean you’ll be able to order your films and pick them up later that day, rather than waiting for the mail, if you choose to do so.

Lastly, Intelliflix processes orders on Saturdays - not just Monday to Friday like Netflix does, which means you’ll get more discs per month, and have your weekend turnaround times slashed by a day. Great stuff.

The Product Trends rating: We didn’t think that anyone could beat Netflix, which is a truly great, innovative, dedicated to customer service kind of company, but Intelliflix gives them a real run for their money. Four and a half stars.

To try Intelliflix for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: Yahoo Search Marketing lists your site in search results across the web, so you connect with customers who are searching for what you sell. Reach over 80% of active Internet users¹. Advertise to people who are already searching for what you sell. And pay only when a customer clicks on your listing. Sponsored Search prominently displays your business in search results on leading sites like Yahoo!, MSN and AltaVista.

The big pitch: Target prospects searching for businesses in your neighborhood. Reach millions of motivated buyers through Yahoo! Shopping.

When people first launch their website, as new entrants into the global online ecommerce industry, most generally assume that thousands od people will beat a path to their door. Sure, Amazon.com might be the biggest bookseller in the world, but if you set up an alternative book website with better prices or better service, surely you’ll be able to take some of Amazon’s market share, right?

Wrong. In fact, just as the real world is dominated by those with deep pockets, so too is the online world. The sort of traffic numbers that would take you three years to build on your site can happen tomorrow if Yahoo decides to point their millions of customers your way, and the upside of that is that Yahoo WILL point customers your way, and be happy to do so…

If you’re prepared to pay them to, that is.

If that sounds like extortion, it isn’t. In reality, there are many options for you to take in generating traffic for your new corporate shop-front website, but the reality is that only Google and Yahoo can instantly send mass traffic to your website, and the mass sales that should follow.

On Yahoo’s side, they do have good service options. First, they offer a localized search option, so that when people from your area search for your industry, your entry is the first one they see. That’s handy if you’re a small business not too concerned with stretching your marketing dollar into areas that you can’t supply. For example, a roofing contractor has no need to spend money on traffic coming from the next state, so Yahoo allows him to only advertise to those in his area.

The next great tool is the Yahoo Sponsored Search, where your site is listed at the very top of certain keyword searches. For example, if someone searches for Canadian online DVD rental, and those keywords are the ones you’ve purchased, then for a few cents a time, your website will be #1 in that search - for potentially millions of people.

Yahoo also offers a ‘product submit‘ service, where you can offer your product for sale in thousands of Yahoo Stores, and Travel Submit, which does much the same thing for the travel industry, and finally, Directory Submit, where your site is listed the old-fashioned way, in Yahoo’s search engine database.

So how much does it cost? Not as much as you’d think, actually. Sure, if you want it all taken care of without any sweat on your end, Yahoo Search Marketing can do that for $199. They’ll handle everything for you, from account set-up to expert assistance with search term selection and titles and descriptions, and they’ll also give you expert advice in budgeting and marketing strategy. While $199 isn’t chump change, for what is offered, it’s not a bad price, and let’s face it, there’s nobody who knows more about what it takes to best exploit the Yahoo search engine than Yahoo themselves.

Handily, if you choose this option through us, Yahoo will knock $50 off the price.

On the other hand, if you prefer to do all the heavy lifting yourself, you can choose the ’self serve’ option, where you choose the keywords, the listing description, the budgeting, the strategy, and simply pay for the clicks themselves.

The way that works if, you decide how much you want to spend each month ($20 minimum), you decide how much you want to spend per click within that total (10c per click minimum), and then you deposit the money into your Yahoo Search Marketing account. A $30 minimum deposit is required, but if you go through us, Yahoo will top that up with another $25 free of charge, which gives you ample time to try the service out.

And what happens if you do? Well, worst case scenario, you get more traffic and it crashes your server. Best case scenario, you get more traffic and you’ve planned ahead to make sure your web hosting can handle the influx of new customers.

If the keywords you want to sponsor are in-demand, you’re going to pay more per click than the minimum - you should know that ahead of time. But rather than competing for ‘car parts‘ and paying $24 per click, we suggest paying $2 for ‘automobile parts‘ or 12c for ‘car seat covers‘. Be clever with your search words, and go for inexpensive niches rather than all-encompassing mega keywords.

The Product Trends rating: This is one of those instances where you definitely get what you pay for, and if you’re smart, you can utilize the Yahoo Search Marketing system to spend not a lot, and get a whole lot back.

To try Yahoo Search Marketing for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: Bluehost has been providing hosting solutions to thousands of business and personal web sites since 1996. Our internet hosting package helps businesses and individuals get high-powered service at a fraction of the cost.

The big pitch: $6.95 p/month web hosting, with free set-up, no hidden fees, and a free domain included.

Finding the right host is like finding the right girl – you can just never tell whether you have the right package until you try it out in person. Thankfully, there are hosting service companies out there that have attained a high level of reputation, while also charging reasonable prices and offering decent packages that will suit most any business. Bluehost is one of those companies.

The standard Bluehost package at the time of writing is a 4gb hosting space upon which you can host up to six domains, receiving 2500 POP/Imap email accounts, 100gb per month of transfer bandwidth, Secure Socket Layering (SSL), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), server stats, CGI, PHP, MySQL, and support for 2000, 2002, and 2003 Microsoft Front Page extensions.

Now, if all of that technospeak is a little confusing to you, we understand – take it from us when we say this is a decent package, for a very nice price, which has enough extra features that you can grow into the account as you get more and more familiar with running a website as a business.

Bluehost also offers new clients a content package, promotional package (search engine submissions etc), a free eCommerce/shopping cart system, free blogs, IRC chat, messageboards, and all of that comes with real life actual toll-free customer support.

They support international domain names, email autoresponders and forwarding, up to 20 subdomains, up to 1000 FTP accounts, web-based email, server side includes, customizable error pages, form–mail scripts, survey/polls, web auctions, Flash support, Real Audio support… Seriously, the more you read about Bluehost’s set-up, the more obvious it becomes that they believe in offering you everything you could ever want, even if you’ll never use it.

Their system uses high performance Xeon servers and a customized Apache web server, and the network is not only hooked up to a UPS Power back-up AND a Diesel back-up generator, but they also have mirrored storage backups and 24/7 network monitoring by trained staff.

Clearly, this is a hosting set-up that leaves nothing to chance, delivers a good-sized account package, and won’t be asking you to ‘upgrade’ your account to get features that should be standard.

If you’re tired of AOL-like systems like GoDaddy that are aimed at the bottom end of the market, and you’re sick of being continually nickel and dimed for features by company’s who offer cheap accounts but cost you plenty on the backend, then Bluehost is for you .

And if you have no idea what the hell we’ve been talking about for the last ten paragraphs but you’re looking for a good, cheap, realiable place to put your new website, then Bluehost is for you .

The Product Trends rating: A big, fat five stars. We have no issue at all with the way Bluehost does business, and in fact we wish others would follow their example. Very inexpensive, very good.

To try Bluehost for yourself, click the image below: