With Auto responder, there was a spam check program. I’d never used that before, but I ran a few sample newsletters through spam check. Boy, was I in for a shock. Every single one failed to pass test. My auto responder is probably like most others, it has a scoring system and once it passes 5 it flags up that your newsletter would trigger spam filters.

What I found most disturbing was that it was my domain name of martinsoffers.com that was scoring most, 4.3 points each time it was mentioned. And 2.3 points because my email address was @martinsoffers.com.

Even a single word newsletter with just www.martinsoffers.com scored 6.6. Way above threshold.

The cost to me, as a result of this has not just been to register a new domain name. I have had to completely redesign my website with my new name on it. Cancel and reopen a new account with my auto responder. And start again with my Reciprocal Links Exchange.

I have also had to start again from scratch with Google Ranking. And I have a domain name that is next to useless to me or to anyone for that matter. I only use it now to direct traffic meant for martinsoffers.com to my new website.

So, that’s my story, and my warning to you.

Before you go and register a new domain name, run it through a spam check. If you are going to use your web site for marketing last thing you want is for spam filters to stop your email getting through.

Martin Wood’s newest report “What’s in a Name? and many other articles, written by experts, are available to read on his website http://www.twahs.com . Don’t forget to subscribe to his weekly ezine “Home Business Tips.”

5. Up-Time Guarantee

Another very important issue in determining value of a hosting company is how often and for how long their servers "go down". No matter how good a deal you get on server space or bandwidht allowance, or how wonderfully company's tech support takes care of you, your site can't receive visitors or produce revenue if machine on which it is hosted is not up and running. Naturally you want a company who can guarantee highest up-time percentage possible. Servers are taken down briefly from time to time for maintenance or upgrading, so no company can ensure 100% up-time, but you want your site to be hosted on dependable, well managed machines that are not constantly having problems which require them to be down for long periods of time.

6. Email Accounts

Again, like data transfer allowance and server space, some companies will offer you loads more email accounts than you will ever use. Some offer hundreds or even unlimited email accounts as a selling point. This is an important factor if you are Bill Gates and have thousands of employees, each who need their own email box, but not such a big deal if you're just one person or a small company. You should be okay with 10 or 15.

7. Reputation

This is probably most important factor to consider when choosing a web host. Do your homework. Pay attention to any negative feedback you may hear or read about a particular hosting company. There are several sites arount Web that feature discussion forums that allow people to discuss and critique various hosting companies. Ask specific questions about any company you might be interested in using to see if anyone else has had any negative experiences with them. As a beginning webmaster, I had initially contracted services of a particular web hosting company to host my first site, who promised very good, dependable service for a very cheap price. Then one day, for no apparent reason, decided to delete my entire site without warning or explanation. Only then did I visit some hosting forums and find that many others had similar negative experiences with that company. Don't make same mistake I did, find out for sure from start that your hosting company is not going to let you down.

Webmaster: http://www.verybesthosting.com Looking for a web host? Start here. Compare plans, features, and pricing from several of the Web's most reputable hosting companies all in one place.