Considered to be the most important part of the internet industry today, shared web hosting has evolved over the years experiencing a number of changes since the late 1990’s. Some changes are highlighted below:

• The insurgence of shared web hosting industry with hosts like ValueWeb, Verio and Interland that led the industry in the late 1990’s.
• The emergence of free web hosts such as Bizland and other prior to the dotcom bubble burst.
• The creation of major platforms, OEM’s and resellers such as Alabanza, InQuent, viaVerio, Histopia and others.
• The emergence of hosts such as GoDaddy, HostGator, Endurance, Network Solutions, and Deluxe, the entrance of 1&1 and the conception of mega hosts present today.
• The arrival of new hosting providers like LunarPages, Dream Host, Bluehost and many more.

Although, these changes have been fundamental in their occurrence, yet, in 2011, some drastic changes are believed to occur changing the course of hosting landscape.

Firstly, Intuit, the most popular SMB software company performing heavy promotions for client websites and hosting for small business has caught everyone’s attention. The company has a huge market share in the SMB space and has connected Qucikbooks to not only ecommerce but also CRM. This move has turned the heads of professional companies providing them with services and consultancy in their direction. This third attempt of Intuit in providing shared hosting services has gained them popularity in the market.

Next, Telco has gained some impetus to its offerings and Verizon FIOS for Business has also been offering hosting services mainly provided by Intuit. Comcast Business Class and other such companies have also joined their league.

CMS based hosting has also witnessed speedy growth evident from the success of Acquia (Drupal Gardens) and Volusion (ecommerce) that have won the hearts and minds of web designing and developing organizations. Nevertheless, WordPress leads the competition in CMS based hosting.

Current modifications to the AWS offers are favorable. Also, OfficeLive for Small Businesses by Microsoft did not witness much success and many new resellers and platforms created on Amazon’s cloud are believed to emerge. Also, Google App Engine was chosen to host the Royal Wedding website through Accenture.

2011 is considered to change the shared hosting industry. 1 million new and emerging small businesses will change the hosting landscape depending on where they are hosted. The hosting industry is vulnerable to these upcoming options, yet, those with good client relationship and those serving niche markets might remain safe from this threat.

One of the greatest keys to a successful website is having the right tools and resources at your fingertips. If you are operating a small business, consider the Alfresco open source content management system for improved organization, document sharing and communication. For instance, if one document needs to be edited by two employees, Alfresco allows for access to that document by anyone at the company.

Alfresco is an excellent choice for small businesses because it supports the following functions:

• Document storing
• Collaboration
• Workflows
• Serves as a publishing platform
• Storage

Since Alfresco is open-source, there is no cost to begin using and testing it with your business. The company has also released an enterprise version that is not completely open source and provides many features not found in the open source variant. For instance, the enterprise version is compatible with SQL Server and Oracle. It also assists with setting up enterprise extensions, clustering and Service Level Agreements.

If your company is larger than 100 employees, then you most likely need more of these additional functions. The community or fully open source version is typically for small to medium-sized businesses while the enterprise or partially open source edition was developed with the medium to large-sized company in mind.

To begin using the free version of Alfresco without having to fiddle with installation, it is recommended to use BitNami Stack. This program produces all the “stacks” of software needed to successfully run complicated applications like Alfresco. BitNami Stack even configures programs like MySQL, Tomcat and Java for you to make installation a breeze.

There are many options for installation including an installer for Windows, Mac OS and Linux which will add the necessary files to a server without interrupting desktop software. For instance, if you already have MySQL installed, BitNami Stack’s Alfresco installer will not reinstall MySQL. Instead, the installer creates a directory for Alfresco allowing you to manage the program.

Another popular option is virtual machine images which creates VMware Images and can run on any version of VMware. BitNami Stack is fully compatible with this software and if you increase the allocated disk space and RAM, the virtual machine will run perfectly. Alfresco is an excellent choice for all business sizes. The program offers many features that are needed by all forms of business today to help them organize and properly manage their content.

Whether you’re a web developer, blogger, novice web designer, or just a web visitor enjoying reading online content, then you’re probably not surprised to see WordPress as a popular content management system used to deliver an increasingly majority of online content.

From easy to use web design features, to optimal security provisions, many companies are enthralled with the options WordPress offers.  Although many are attracted by the free content management system, numerous online business owners claim that after working with WordPress for only a brief time, most say that they would continue implementing WordPress, even if a fee was to be incurred in the future.

What is WordPress Hosting?

WordPress is a user-friendly and unique programming content management system that offers so many options that it’s widely acclaimed as an all-inclusive CMS, especially for e-Commerce entrepreneurs.  WordPress is an open source system available for download on the Internet at no cost to users.

Other advanced website developers consider WordPress the Rolls-Royce of content management system.  The cliché “you get what you pay for” doesn’t apply to WordPress.  Even as a free content management system, it offers an innovative and cutting-edge platform with a primary focus on usability and web-related principles.  WordPress is so simple that even beginner web designers are capable of creating an impressive website and getting their own blog up and running in no time.  The only requirement needed is a valid e-mail address!

Advantages of WordPress

While all the exciting perks of WordPress far out exceed the limit of the scope of the article, consider the top 5 advantages:

• Cost Effectiveness – A WordPress blog is free to download – enough said!  WordPress is a unique programming system that offers so many options that it’s considered the perfect option for e-Commerce ventures.  If you decide you wish to upgrade your WordPress features, then there’s lots of information available about upgrading features.

• User Friendly – The WordPress content management system platform is runs smoothly with simple GUI, or a graphical user interface.  The user-friendliness is optimal for blog and e-Commerce exposure.

• Better Search Engine Optimization – WordPress provides better search engine results through careful coding and programming of domain names and tags, which potentially can land your website on top of Google’s rankings.  With WordPress’ ability to automatically upgrade, online businesses are guaranteed the most current SEO to help their business be successful in maintaining a strong web presence.

• One Step Installation – WordPress is a one-click installation.  For beginning web designers, nothing is simpler!  Many online businesses no longer need to hire professionals or technical specialists charging ridiculous prices per hour to do the same thing you can do yourself using WordPress with a one-click set-up installation process.  In addition, WordPress requires minimal maintenance efforts.

• Good-bye Spam!

WordPress utilizes pre-installed Akismet to thwart spam. Akismet is web host service that saves valuable time and resources by detecting spam comment and trackbacking the spam’s source automatically that it doesn’t clutter up your blog!  It basic terms – it blocks spammers from posting annoying ads to your site or blog.

While these are just a few of the favorable advantages of WordPress, with all the combined features, it’s easy to see why WordPress is so popular, and how the co tent management system is revolutionizing the world of  e-Commerce and the blog-o-sphere.

Many online businesses develop their own content management tools which meet their specific needs. However, over the past few years, there are a few companies that have released excellent content management software. This allows businesses to spend less money by hiring professionals to create proprietary content management systems. The commercial software can be tweaked to fit the needs of most organizations.

There are six exceptional content management tools that have been released by third-party software vendors. These include:

• DynaBase
• Egrail
• Interwoven TeamSite
• RedDot Web Content Management System
• Typo3
• Vignette Content Management

DynaBase is an advanced XML content management system featuring a user-friendly and file-based environment. The indexing is lightning fast and search capabilities are endless. DynaBase allows you to manage, use and reuse large amounts of new and old content from all areas of your organization. The software is designed to the specific needs of you company in an affordable manner.

Egrail is a server-side content management system that interacts with automated data delivery software such as news feeds. Also, this solution will allow you to write the HTML for improved flexibility. The best aspect of the Egrail software is it is open-source and thus free to use.

TeamSite by Interwoven is a formidable enterprise content management system. As a result, the software is extremely expensive. This is considered to be one of the top content management tools due to the many features offered and the overall price.

RedDot Web Content Management System is an innovative tool as it allows you to edit documents directly to the internet. Therefore, no difficult coding of HTML or other web languages is needed. The program is excellent for access control.

Typo3 is another open-source program that is free but powerful. It offers many of the same features as TeamSite without the cost. Typo3 offers extendibility and full flexibility packed with a plethora of premade functions, interfaces and modules.

Finally, Vignette Content Management system is enterprise software created for the organization of large companies. The software engages the capabilities of website content contributors as well as administrators regardless of skill level.

Each of these tools provides various features, some at a price; others are open-source mainly for large organizations. However, due to the cost, anyone can use the open-source software to complement their business. If you are considering improving your business, look to one of these six content management solutions.

In 2011, many unemployed individuals are looking to open-source content management system development as a source for employment. The information technology industry is slowly recuperating from the global economic recession. Unfortunately, many companies are hesitant to invest in new projects, technology and staff. However, on the Internet, there are many opportunities to develop and implement content management systems like Joomla, WordPress and Drupal.

Open source content management systems typically have the advantage of being user-friendly. However, to create that advantage, programmers must have a highly skilled technical resource. Industry professionals have seen a 40 percent increase in demand for open source content management system work like Drupal. The good news for those with Drupal technical training is the demand is there but the supply is lacking.

There are multiple roles to implementing a content management system platform which include:

• Programmer
• Front end designers/themers
• System administrators
• Site builders

Programmers create the code that powers content management systems. Most use programming languages like Ruby, Java and PHP to create components, plug-ins and modules for the content platform. Front end designers and themers center their efforts on the aesthetic features of the site. They use tools like CSS, JavaScript and HTML to improve the look and feel of the platform.

System administrators put their effort into infrastructure and platform maintenance. Typical administrators have web server skills and knowledge of the platform. Finally, site builders are experienced with the features of the system as well as the architecture. The main focus of site builders is the site configuration.

Further developing skills in these fields or any of the aforementioned programming languages will not only help you in many information technology fields, but also with the growing open source content management system industry. It is feasible to develop these skills through training and certificate programs in six months to a year. There are plenty of online courses that fulfill this need.

Another option is to focus on independent study which is of fairly low cost. Online tutorials, books and conferences that offer intensive training can be effective. All you need is time, a small amount of money and extreme discipline.

The growing open source content management system field is an excellent way to make a part-time (through freelancing) or full-time paycheck once the necessary knowledge is obtained. These types of jobs could significantly decrease the unemployment rate in the coming years.