It’s a website dedicated to Holiday lets called Owner’s Direct that lets owners of different properties around the world advertise holiday villas and apartments available for rental. They currently have a database of over 37,000 properties that you can rent directly from the owner using the website. I had a quick look around, searching through Villas in Lanzarote and there are hundreds of properties to choose from. The search facility lets you zoom in to particular categories of properties, those with swimming pools, or with Wifi access, or ever those with disabled access. There are special categories for skiing and golfing destinations, I suppose as these are probably pretty popular holiday types.

Once you find a property you like, the website has a comprehensive description of the property, the facilities available and even profile information on the owners. The great thing about the website is that each of their properties can house a number of occupants, but you pay a single price to rent the property regardless of how many people are staying. This means that if you’re travelling as a group, staying in rented accommodation is better than getting multiple hotel rooms. Not only is it cheaper, but you get greater flexibility and a host of facilities that you possibly wouldn’t find in a hotel.

So, the next time we’re thinking of that sort of holiday, this site will be one of the first I’ll be looking at!

So, here are some suggestions from the article, called Domain Names 101. The article talks about choosing a domain name, purchasing it and setting it up. Choose domain names that are:

• Short and Catchy – Easier to Remember
• Easy to Spell
• No Complicated characters
• Describes what your business does – although not essential

Common sense you may say, but next time you come across a domain name you can’t recall or recognise, check if it fits these simple rules. You’d be surprised how easy it is to mess up. The reality is that there are millions of websites out there, all with their own name. There are a number of techniques to make people notice your site, but the most basic one is to have the right name, a memorable one and one that people can remember. Have a look at some of the top websites on the web and see how their domain names are formed. There’s lots to learn from the sites out there; however don’t think that all the best names are taken, there are always more!

The site has some other interesting sections too, from listing the best 10 cheap web hosting services to trying to rate the best web site hosting available on the market at the moment. The site also has a great hosting resource centre with a huge collection of articles related to web hosting, domains, security issues and SEO. Check it out if you’re interested in learning more about the subject.

There is an easier way to find a unique gift though. Enter NotOnTheHighStreet.com, a website dedicated to bringing you the best and brightest ideas from dedicated retailers who are dedicated to turning up with some of the most spectacular and unique products around. They work with small independent retailers around the country who provide them with a host of unique products. I had a look at their Christmas Gifts section to see if I can get any ideas that might work for me.

First of all, what about the babies? Well, I’m sure they would love this stripy crocheted bunny:

We’d obviously have to get two of them, the twins have only just turned one and they’re not very good at sharing yet

Then there’s Arthur. I must say I did spend some time perusing the site, until I finally came across world jigsaw puzzle:

Here’s into his countries and continents at the moment and having a puzzle to build and complete will help reinforce what he’s learning.

And what would I get Camille? Well, there’s a huge choice of things that would be just great for her, but the one I loved was this silver starfish charm bracelet:

There are loads of choices and I’ll certainly be back to look at their range of products. Maybe as we get closer to Christmas …

photo credit: kalandrakas

I came across a great article in a magazine that lists a number of free websites that let you do anything you may need to do on your computer without having to install or buy any software packages. Most of you will probably be familiar with some of the sites on the list, but there are some gems that that aren’t so well known, so I thought I’d share with you all. Here they are for your perusal:

Office Tools:

• Google Docs: Word Processor, Spreadsheet and Presentations
• Zoho: Wide range of office applications
• Lovely Charts: From flow charts to family trees, create any chart you like
• PDF to Word: Convert PDFs into documents you can edit and change

Multimedia Tools

• Screen Toaster: Record what’s going on your desktop and turn it into a video
• Animoto: Turn your photos into an awesome slideshow
• Aviary: An online image editor that supports sophisticated features like layers and effects
• Motionbox: A video sharing website that lets you edit your clips

Communication

• Meebo: Let’s you sign into multiple IM accounts through this website, including MSN, Facebook, Yahoo and others
• Google Mail: One of the best email websites on the planet

Security and Safety

• Bitdefender Online Scanner: Online Virus Scanner
• Passpack: A secure website that lets you store passwords for different websites

Storage and Files

• Zamzar: Online file converter. I’ve used this in the past and it’s works just perfectly
• YouSendIt: Ever needed to send a file that’s too big for email. This site lets you do just that
• Humyo: An secure online backup site that gives you 10Gb for free

Miscellaneous

• Remember the Milk: Great to-do list website with a variety of ways to get reminders
• Floorplanner: Create and share interactive floor plans
• Logmein Free: Get remote access to any computer you use. Personally recommended
• Google Maps Distance Calculator: Ever wondered about the distance between two points. Now you can find out exactly how far apart they are

There are loads of other websites out there, but these are some to try if you haven’t been there before.

An interesting post on Web Hosting Geeks blog talks about the importance of having a .COM domain. It makes some interesting points, particularly about how people tend to remember the main part of a domain name and automatically put a .com at the end of it. The main advice the blog post gives is to make sure you examine all alternatives and try all options before you discard the idea of using a .com domain. I would tend to agree if you’re offering a generic service; however if you do have something that is regionalised then having a country based top-level domain is probably more effective. A website aimed at the UK market for example, if better suited with a .co.uk domain; though I’m sure opinions vary on this.

It’s interesting reading this web hosting blog as there are always some good thoughts and even some tips and tricks for people who run their own website. The bulk of their website consists of a comparison service that ranks different hosting providers and the services they offer. It’s a good idea to check it out before signing up for web hosting as you can see what the strengths and weaknesses of a particular host are. The website also includes a number of customer reviews for each host; which can help you understand how existing customers of a particular host perceive the service they are getting. For example, I do know some people running on BlueHost and here is the BlueHost hosting review page for this service.

Here’s how you sign up. Head down to the Registration Page and sign up there. If you’d like to give me credit for referring you, just pop the URL of this blog into the URL field on the signup form (that’s http://www.u-g-h.com). It doesn’t matter if your online shopping experience is about Danze faucets, jazz shoes or grow lamps; if you have a great story .. share it! .. It could make you rich!

Hmmm I just noticed that my car (the Jaguar not the BMW) isn’t taxed at the moment as the tax expired at the end of September. The problem is that I need to show my car insurance to get my new tax disc. And my insurance doesn’t get renewed till next week. Bit silly really, but I think I’ll just wait till next week and tax it properly. I’m sure there’s an easier was to check if I have valid car insurance than having to dig up last year’s certificate (that’s assuming I still have it)

I suppose insurance is a pretty great innovation because it minimises the worry you may have about losing something or having it lost. You can insure practically anything nowadays, the other day I saw an advert by a company that specialises in insuring mens wedding rings, I wonder if that’s because they lose them more often then women do I wonder. Do you reckon you can get insurance quotes for a website? There are quite a few risks you probably would like to mitigate against, including your site getting hacked and any unscheduled downtime you may have. I’m pretty sure you can insure against anything, but does anyone know of any website insurance?

I’ve been really impressed with the way Arthur, our 2-year old has taken to using a computer. His favourite two websites are:

• Sesame Street – well, everyone knows Sesame Street, but they have a number of Flash pages to teach kids evereything from potty training to reading
• Starfall – a collection of Flash pages to help with spelling, letters and phonetics

Both sites have a wealth of things to do, and I was pretty impressed to watch Arthur navigate around and choose what he wanted to do. Well done, lad!

It’s great when you think about how many different types of websites there are. I would have to ty and categorise them in a directory. Sites like the kids sites above are probably quite easy to categories, what what about something like funny t-shirts? Would you put that under clothing or humor?

Here’s an interesting concept: a social network for pets. Well, actually it’s for pet owners to share stories, information and photos about their pets; but if the pets could use it, I’m sure they would. I’m talking about Zootoo, a social network created with animals in mind, where people can sign up, meet other people with similar pets and share advice, get tips and recommendations and even try and even help choose the cutest pet.

This last feature is reminiscent of Hot or Not (which I personally believe was one of the seminal sites which kicked off the whole social phenomenon), but really the whole site is geared around people whose pets are part of their lifestyle. They’re also very active in helping pet shelters by helping to collect money for them and sponsoring pet food.

All in all, it’s interesting to see these vertical niches of social networking websites which spring around real social groupings. This is a pretty valuable idea which can help organisations target their offerings around people who have a defined social pattern. In this case it’s pets, but it really could anything.

If this sounds useful, pop down to: Check For Plagiarism