Whether you run a blog or e-commerce site, staying on top of all the management aspects can be a real challenge.  This is especially true if you are running more than one website.  There are several areas that must be tended to if you truly want your site to be a success.  Lucky for you, there are also a number of software tools that can make your job as a website owner a lot easier.  This article will introduce to a few programs that can help you manage your sites more effectively.

Search Engine Tool

If your site is already up and running, you are probably looking for a way to increase its visibility.  If not, it is very likely that your audience will never even find out what you have to offer.  One tool that can be very helpful at increasing your visibility is called the Cyber Fetch Website Submitter.  This powerful application makes it easy to submit your site to all the major search engines.  It can also aid in the process of managing your ads, that is, if your site is compatible with one of the three template sizes.  You can the use Cyber Fetch Website Submitter tool free for up to 20 sites.  After that you will have to pay for a $35 subscription.  This is a pretty decent trade off when considering that 20 sites will provide you with more than enough time to evaluate the product before you are required to pay to use it.

Website Update Tool

When it comes time to perform some self-updating, you can turn to an efficient tool such as Website Manager.  Now on version 5.3, this software is a powerful web publishing wizard that takes the pain out of updating a website.  Not only does it allow you update individual files, but also the entire contents of your site.  Website Manager is a great tool for owners of busy sites who want to save time when making minor or major adjustments.

Backup Tool

The more content you add to your site, the greater chance you stand of losing everything you worked so hard to build.  Of course we don’t wish any disasters upon you, but web servers crash and get hacked all the time; it’s just the way of the web.  Even if you have invested in what appears to be the most secure web hosting solution, it is still wise to employ a few security measures of your own and it all begins with backing up your website data.  There are a number of tools available for the job, but one of the most user-friendly is Website Ripper Copier.  This tool gives you the power to save individual files or backup your entire website.  You can also choose to perform manual saves or automated backups at intervals of your choosing.

A Word of Advice

When relying on software tools, you should use them to simplify your administrative tasks, not completely replace them.  If you become overly reliant on them, you just may end up with a site that has too much automation and doesn’t appeal to your visitors.  Until computers take over the world, the hardware and its associated software components will never be able to replace humans and perform every single management task.

Microsoft has placed its stamp on the virtualization phenomenon with the launch of Hyper-V, a new technology that adds to the power of the Windows Server 2008 platform.  Hyper-V represents the next era of virtualization, allowing administrators and hosting customers to get the most out of their sever investments and usage.  What sets it apart from other virtualization platforms is the ability to run a number of different operating systems in parallel on a single physical server.  It doesn’t matter if you prefer Windows, Linux or Unix, Hyper-V allows you to take full advantage of 64-bit computing.

Server Consolidation

Today’s businesses are under a lot of pressure to simplify management processes all while reducing costs and maintaining competitive benefits such as flexibility, scalability, reliability and security.  Hyper-V enables organizations to meet these goals by consolidating multiple servers within a single system while maintaining isolation.  Aside from saving money on individual servers, this type of virtualization also provides for lower processing power, cooling and management costs.  Businesses of various sizes can benefit from an asset standpoint as well as capabilities that allow them to effectively balance workloads across multiple resources.  This results in improved flexibility that allows for the integration of 32-bit and 64-bit operations in the same environment.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Business continuity refers to the ability to reduce both scheduled and unscheduled downtime.  This includes time lost due to routine operations such as backup and maintenance as well untimely events caused by failures and outages.  Hyper-V offers extensive business continuity features such as live backup and seamless migration capabilities that enable businesses to meet demanding uptime and response metrics.

Disaster recovery is an essential element of business continuity.  Emergencies, natural disasters, malicious physical attacks and even simple configuration issues such as software conflict all have the power to cripple an organization’s vital data before administrators have a chance to back it up.  Leveraging the clustering features integrated into Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V supports disaster recovery across diverse IT environments and data centers.  Fast, reliable disaster recovery and business continuity tools help to ensure minimal data loss and enhanced remote management capabilities.

Improved Testing and Development

Testing and development are usually the first functions businesses take advantage of with virtualization technology.  The use of virtual machines allows development staff to create and test a wide range of scenarios in a secure, self-contained environment that precisely approximates the operation of physical clients and servers.  Hyper-V enables the maximum utilization of test hardware, helping to reduce costs, improve test coverage and life cycle management.  With support for numerous operating systems and checkpoint features, this virtualization solution makes an excellent platform for test and development environments.

Server virtualization is a hot commodity in the IT world for the potential of benefits that can be weighed on the scales of cost and performance.  Already one of the pioneers in web technology, Microsoft can now be credited for enhancing the virtualization concept and enabling businesses all over the world to enjoy a more dynamic IT infrastructure.