Whats Zymic?
Let me introduce you to Zymic’s new free hosting service. Zymic version 5 was a huge success and version 6 was destined to be even bigger and better! Zymic was founded in 2003 by Jack Cator and since then Zymic’s huge reputation has built. Building on the huge success of their free templates & tutorials in version 5, Zymic 6 has new features, a stylish new layout and all new free web hosting!

The website is very web 2.0, it has soft colours, nice fonts and the layout is laid out very well showing the tutorials section and free templates very clearly to the visitor as well as pointing out the free web hosting. The homepage has a news section to notify you of the latest website updates. The navigation is very easy to use as the pages are sectioned very well. There are millions of people on the internet looking for free hosting as sometimes people can not afford to pay for hosting. They have to look around the internet endlessly finding that another host has a draw back like advertisements are placed on your page or they do not provide PHP support, that’s until Zymic comes along…

Hosting
The hosting is really unbelievable. The hosting is packed full of features, you are provided with 2GB Webspace, 35GB Bandwidth, PHP 5/MySQL (5 databases), FTP Access, a range of sub-domains, support… all for free! as well as much more. The hosting is advertisement free, so you have no annoying ads popping up on your site or having to impede your design. That’s why providing as much as they do without advertisements is so good!

A Free .com Domain To!?!

Those are only the minimum requirements that you have to have met to apply for the free .com domain name. If your website is unique, contains content and you’ve let Zymic know that you are not leaving as you have been there for more than 30 days, they are probably more than happy to register you a domain.

Make Use of their Great Control Panel
Zymic have created their own file manager for their users which allows users to easily upload files and manage them (although it is recommended that users use FTP as it is quicker than uploading individual files). The control panel of a hosting account contains all the necessary links as well as providing you a link to phpMyAdmin to manage your mySQL databases. A support forum and hosting tutorials section is clearly presented if you have any problems. You are provided with statistics for your website, so you can keep track of your sites traffic and information you may find interesting. The control panel provides you with links to change your account settings but at the moment finding a button to delete your hosting account is not present. Zymic will be implementing this and new features in the future.

A Place that Answers Your Needs and a Place To Chat
The Zymic webmaster forums are very popular indeed. I’m one of the first 200 to sign up and there are now over 4,700 in a very short time, and still growing daily. The forum has a dedicated section for the web hosting, and being moderated daily you are sure to fix any problems you have very quickly as well as getting advice from other members on finding how to use your account if you are having difficulty. There is a wide range of posts in different sections, like helping you if you need help with coding your website or if you just want to chat about the week’s news for example.

Get Yourself Some Traffic To Go With Your Hosting
Zymic also offers a new option of buying traffic. For a cheap, starting from $3.49 you can buy traffic to get your website going. You have the option where to target your traffic as well as choose the amount of visitors you want to your site.

If you are really looking for that perfect free host, it is Zymic.

As a student, I’ve in the past looked for sites that have cured a little boredom here and there. I’ve looked at Miniclip, Candystand, but I took some time to look around for something new. It came to my attention a site called GamerGeeks had recently been launched (still in BETA) so I thought I’d take the time to review it and actually use it.

Some Key Points
The site layout indeed is very clean, easy to read, nice colours and has a lot of features. There are many different types of games types available on the website with many games in each, so you will not get bored very easily. Displays on the right side of the page include, game sorting options which assist you in finding a game. The site information provides the reader with an insight into the background of the website owner Steven Gibbons.

A list of competitive gamers with the most points gives the user of the website something to reach once they have signed up so a ranking system on ‘gamer points’ is a very good incentive to keep using the site. The 3 latest games are presented to you so you can try them, and the there is also a links section other websites. The website gives you key statistics like total games (2031 currently), Total games played, Total members, Newest Member and Users Online.

User Interaction
There is also a strong focus on the community within the gaming website. This is a feature many people enjoy when they are using this type of website as they can communicate with other fellow users.

There is a profile page where displaying a profile for other users to see, which includes how many ‘gamer points’ someone has. There is also the function for people to leave comments for each other as well as send messages. A friends system is also operative on the website so you can meet new people and discuss the games, or whatever you wish. The website gives you the option to favourite your games and also comment on them how you wish to give other users your impression of the game.

A Preview of the Games
I decided to take a look at some of the games and provide some links to some good ones. You are only allowed 2 game credits as a free user until you sign up so here is two games to try.

CounterStrike Training (Shooting) - http://www.gamergeeks.co.uk/game/1250/CounterStrike_Training/
Hone your shooting skills by playing this shooting game, be quick on locking onto the target.

Turnaus (Action) - http://www.gamergeeks.co.uk/game/538/Turnaus/
Battle to gain access by launching the other player with your sword to the other person’s door to smash it down, play against someone in your house to as you are both on different sides of the keyboard operating different players.

Visit The Arcade and enjoy GamerGeeks.co.uk.

After quite a few years designing, a big part of it was choosing the right domain name for my website. I’ll reveal in a later post on how I choose my domain, but firstly I’ll inform you of whom I think you should really be registering with after my experience. Registering a domain is an important part of the creation of your website as it really adds that professionalism you are looking for instead of a sub-domain or direct link to your site from your host to the file.

When I first came to registering a domain, I well really was confused and intimidated by the fact that I was paying for something I barely knew how to use. There were so many websites out there that I could register my domain with but I was confused on which one I should use. There were a few I came across which really stood out. This is because of a few things I did, and I recommend you do if you are looking for domain registrar.

- Have a look round on webmaster forums, they do hold large amounts of information and experience from other webmasters around the globe.

- Really explore in your search for the past of that company and find out what others think, e.g. “Reviews of GoDaddy.com” ,”Is GoDaddy.com good?” This brings up large amounts of posts of people who have asked the same question as you in the past and these websites usually hold posts (if a forum) or a website review (like this one) for you to read.

So what is GoDaddy?

GoDaddy was founded by Bob Parsons and now is probably the leading domain registration website on the web; well it actually is selling 21,683,746 domains in 2007. Once I had done my research into domain registrars I was ready to make the step in purchasing my first domain. I was happy they had PayPal as an option to pay but you can also pay straight from your card as well as various other options listed here.

The sign up process at GoDaddy is pretty confusing at first and I highly recommend you take your time in registering making sure you are not ticking any offers that you do not need, but once you get the hang of it your up and away! There are so many different things on GoDaddy its hard sometimes to focus on that your buying a domain unless you want something else, as they also provide everything you need for your site to. Hosting, Email, Website builder, the list goes on.

There are a lot of different things I admired about the GoDaddy service when registering my 3 domains that I’ve had from them;

- The prices that are offered are really the best in the market for value; you may find other websites a few dollars or pounds smaller than GoDaddy, but not many. The service that GoDaddy offers is pretty much worth that little extra. For example I did a little research into 1and1.com, when registering in the UK you do not get automatic private registration like the .com 1and1. That’s unless you really do not want private registration, but I wouldn’t see why not.

- The private registration is $6.99 for a year on top to protect your domain name registration information on the WHOIS database.

- The control panel on the GoDaddy website is very easy to use to manage your domains. The very well laid out page outlines each section and doesn’t place to much content in one place.

- The support center is well shown and they were quick to reply when I was in need of a question answering.

- The quickness that the domain is up and registered! It literally takes 5 minutes to register your domain, pay (I used PayPal) and the domain is working extremely quickly in most cases!

Free Extras!,
GoDaddy do not just stop with providing you with the domain you need at a great price they also provide you with free extras with every domain you buy which come in very handy indeed, totalling a value of $96.

- Online Photo filer
- Quick blogcast
- Hosting with Web site builder
- Personalized Email Account
- Starter Web Page
- “For Sale” Page
- Parked Page
- Getting Started Guide
- Domain Forwarding & Masking
- 100-Pack Email Forwarding
- Total DNS Control
- Change of Registration
- Status Alerts
- Domain Locking

I can say from experience that GoDaddy will not let you down and they are the perfect first time company your domain or they are perfect if you are looking to transfer a domain. Enjoy your experience with GoDaddy.