The Zend Optimizer is a free application can boost the performance of your PHP sites. It works by going over your code and optimizing it for faster execution. This means your site can load faster for your users while also utilizing less of the server resources.

Zend Optimizer can be enabled on servers with PHP 5.2 or higher (this includes most of our servers). To enable this feature, first add the two lines below to your .htaccess file in order to enable use of custom PHP settings. Be sure to replace [username] with your actual cPanel username.

suphp_configpath /home/[username]/public_html
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php52 .php

Next, you will need to enable the Zend Optimizer extension by adding the following line to your custom php.ini file (read http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/general-server-setup/update-local-php-settings for more information on how to do this). This line can be added anywhere, though we recommend having it at the bottom of the file.

zend_extension=/opt/php52/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20060613/ZendOptimizer.so

If configured correctly, a phpinfo page will then display “with Zend Optimizer v3.3.9″ as one of the available Zend modules. More information about creating a phpinfo page is available at http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/general-server-setup/create-phpinfo-page-to-see-php-settings.

We love search engine optimization. Sometimes it can get a bad reputation because so many people see it as cheating the system. However, honest, content-based search engine optimization guarantees your website will get noticed by the audience best matched with your business. So, that’s what we focus on and what we advise, honest SEO.

Where do I start?

When building your site, SEO should be part of your focus through the whole process. Build your content around your audience. But, before you begin developing content do some keyword research so you know which words to focus your content on. Once you’ve created your list and selected the words that have a high number of searches and are directly relevant to your website, you need to determine the competition level on that keyword.

There are so many factors in search engine optimization; it can make it difficult for a smaller or newer website to compete with certain keywords. So, when selecting keywords for your website, be sure to consider the competitiveness level, meaning the number of other sites with similar keywords.

How do I determine the competition for my chosen keywords?

For the purpose of this article, we are focusing on Google and using its free webmaster tools to determine which keywords to focus your content on. While Google’s webmaster tools will have a description that displays the competition level, an “allintitle” search will give you a more specific explanation of the number of pages that are also optimized for that keyword.

What is an “allintitle” search?

When searching for a keyword via the “allintitle” command, you will be given the number of pages that have that exact keyword in their Title Tag. Because the title tag is an important factor in SEO, this is a great way to determine how many other sites are also using those keywords. The more sites that use those keywords, the more difficult it will be to have page one ranking. Not impossible, but difficult.

How do I perform an “allintitle” search?

Performing an “allintitle” search is very simple:

1. Go to http://google.com
   
2. In the search field type “allintitle: your key words” and run the search. (For this example, our keywords are “chocolate cake” because who doesn’t like chocolate cake?)
3. Google will provide the number of websites with that phrase in the title tags. Chocolate cake has more than 1 million pages with it in the title tags!

*Note: In order to prevent bots from running automatic “allintitle” searches, Google may block you from running too many in quick succession. One way to avoid this temporary block is to take your time between each search. Take a moment to document the results before running the next phrase. If you find that you are blocked, move on to something else for a while and come back to the “allintitle” searches.

Ideally, you would work only with keywords that have less than one thousand results. That is what we would consider “non-competitive”. However, that is not always possible, especially as more and more people are taking to the internet. A general rule to determine the competition level can be seen below:

• Under 1,000 – Non-competitive
• 1,000 – 4,000 – Mildly competitive
• 4,000 – 6,000 – Competitive
• 6,000+ – Highly Competitive

It is not always possible to stay within those ranges, especially if your most relevant keywords are something as popular as chocolate cake. In those cases, use more than one keyword phrase as your focus and balance the competitive with something less competitive. Also, you can use more competitive keywords on your homepage because homepages are usually given more weight by bots.

Another point to keep in mind when doing this research is that each page on your site will have a different focus, so you will want to do this research for each page and come up with 3-5 keywords per page to focus your content around; the more content you have on your pages the more keywords you can use.

Take the results of your “allintitle” searches to create groups of words based on competitiveness and then pick words from each group that will give you a nice balance of non-competitive and highly competitive words.

SEO is an intricate process that takes time. You may find as you write your content that the keywords do not fit the purpose of your site and you will have to perform some more research. You may also find other tricks that help to make your site more successful. Remember, there is no one formula for SEO success. Keep your content strong and relevant and only use the advice that works for you and your site will become successful.

As a foodie, I’m always open to new suggestions and trying new things.  So it’s always great to get a suggestion that you would’ve never thought of to try, especially if it was one of those “whole in the wall” places that turn out amazing!

Just the other day, one of our Marketing team members was looking up new, healthy places to try out in our area (somewhere in between Westchester and Culver City), and came across Aliki’s Greek Taverna, which one of our other coworkers has tried in the past and confirmed that it was good.  I was really skeptical of trying this place because of it’s location, which is connected to a Super 8 Motel!  Not the classiest lol.

So when we got there, I went straight to the front of the restaurant to check out their health department rating, which I was glad to see that it was an A!  Phew!

Well, to my surprise, I was very pleased to have given this place a try.  It’s one of the best Greek restaurants I’ve ever tried!  I was given the recommendation of trying their Gyro Sandwich with a side of Greek Lemon Potatoes.  It was absolutely delicious!  I also had a try of one my coworker’s orders, which was the Moussaka.  It’s basically like a Greek lasagna, and it was AMAZING!

Well now onto our Friday’s lunch order.  I figured I’d try something a little different, so I opted for their Chicken Gyro instead.  This was actually quite a bit of a miss this time.  Definitely not as good as the regular Gyro made of beef and lamb.  Funny thing is that the majority of the IMH office ordered the same, so unfortunately we didn’t have the best experience with the quality of their food with the Chicken Gyro choice.

On the other hand, I also tried another dish that another coworker ordered, which was the Athenian Chicken.  Now this is the quality that I was expecting.  It was another amazing dish!

Well, since the majority of the office didn’t get the best item on the menu, we gave this place 4 stars.  I’m sure if we order the right dishes next time around, we’d give it a 5!  So, yes we WILL be trying this place again and give it another chance because the few people that ordered the regular Gyro Sandwich and other dished gave this place 5 stars.

So in conclusion, definitely check this place out and don’t be quick to judge a book by it’s cover.  We recommend the beef and lamp Gyro over the Chicken Gyro.  And I’m sure the majority of their other entrees are excellent!

How Dropbox is keeping my business.

I’ve had a free Dropbox account for a couple of years now. It’s a very handy way to keep files and information that you need frequently in the cloud. Very straightforward and easy to use. As the name implies, just drop some files into your Dropbox folder, and everything gets synced and stored in the cloud.

But a few weeks ago, a new player ventured into my world. Box.com, a direct competitor to Dropbox, offered me 5GB of free storage. Considering that Dropbox only gives you 2GB to start, I decided to switch my cloud storage provider. It was painless, seamless, and integrated within a matter of minutes with my Android phone. I started to upload some of the files that I had in Dropbox to Box. Consumer perception was that the two services were pretty much identical, but one offered more storage. So who would I go with? No brainer, right?

But what happened next really stuck in my head as an ingenious way to deal with new competitors and threats to your business model; offer a service that’s new and innovative. Now that is easier said than done, but I’m pretty positive that what Dropbox did was planned for months, if not years in advance.

Dropbox knew that competition was inevitable. So how do you keep the customers that you currently have with you? When I was offered the 5GB of storage, I switched without hesitation because there was no difference in the two services. A few days after I had moved everything to my Box account, Dropbox sent me an email letting me know that I could sync my photos on my phone automatically without having to manually upload them. Since pictures and videos are probably one of our most prized assets, backing them up is generally a good idea. Now it was going to do it for me automatically? Awesome. So I clicked through a few buttons, and voilà!…all of my photos on my phone were in the cloud. After I took a picture, it would automatically send the pic to my Dropbox folder. Ingenious. Once again it was painless, seamless, and integrated within minutes. However this time around, it left an impression in my brain. I didn’t switch back to Dropbox because it offered more storage space. It offered me a service that I wanted to use. This simple feature, which could have been available years ago, was strategically launched after Box.com came into the scene, so that it could ward off their threats.

Now with Google Drive, Google is planning to enter the cloud storage scene, where they’ll be offering 5GB of storage to start. (http://techland.time.com/2012/04/17/a-5gb-google-drive-next-week-almost-time-to-leave-dropbox/) But this time around, I won’t be switching unless Google offers some type of added value. Innovation has kept me a happy and now loyal fan of Dropbox.