Sadly, the boys in the red shirts are out of the World Cup. While there is no doubt that Germany played great, there is one item that still really hurts – that goal that the officials didn’t see.
You know the one. It hit the crossbar and landed – clearly – inside the goal. However, for reasons that escape even the most adroit football fans – the goal was not counted. Now we’re not going to say that England would have won the match if it had been counted, but it surely would have changed the character of the match.
As you probably know by now, 34SP.com has been running a World Cup 2010 web hosting promotion. This special promotion awards an additional 10 percent off your first month of web hosting for each goal that England score in the World Cup. Even though the official goal count is three goals scored, we all saw with our own eyes that England scored that goal and it wasn’t counted. See below.
So therefore, 34SP.com is awarding England a full 4 goals – which makes your discount 40% off web hosting accounts for the first month. So even though England will now wait another four years to again strive for World Cup glory, you can benefit from their efforts – and each real goal scored – through the end of the World Cup final on July 11, 2010.
If you’ve made the decision to use WordPress hosting here at 34SP.com – then you’ve made a sound choice. So, now you have WordPress and you want to get the most out of it and want lots of visitors to your site? Well you may know there are various ways in which you can improve your website, but did you know that WordPress has literally hundreds of plugins that can help?
Below are my pick of essential plugins for your WordPress web hosting site ranging from security features to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) improvements. To find these: simply log into your admin area and select ‘add new’ under the ‘Plugins’ option.
Google Analytics
I’m really hoping if your reading this you kind of know a bit about Google. This tool helps you monitor who, what, where and when people actually visit your website. The Google Analytics plugin for WordPress is one of the most popular tools available and allows you to trace every visitor to every page.
Google Sitemaps Generator
Yes, yes, I know your saying “What? Google again!?” but this is yet another brilliant plugin available for WordPress. The sitemaps generator for WordPress creates a sitemap on your site allowing all major search engines to discover each and every post within your blog. This is very handy in regards to Google search listings and helps Google properly crawl the site.
SEO Title Tag
With the SEO title tag plugin you can change the title tags assigned to each of your blog posts. You may be wondering why you need this. Here’s why – WordPress attempts to set the title tags automatically based on the name and content of the post. You can now edit this to make your title tags more relevant improve your search rankings!
CAPTCHA
Spamming for blog owners these days is on the increase. These are usually added as comments on the blog itself. The best way around this is to use some sort of robust verification. This is where Captcha comes into it. You may have notice we also using this on our 34SP.com formail script. When a comment is added to your blog, the user will need to enter a series of letters and numbers in order to validate themselves. A handy tool if you ask me!
Twitter
You may also have noticed that there is something called Twitter which is getting rather a big following on the Internet these days. With all these “tweets” going round, it’s only right you can implement this into your site. There are a fair few Twitter plugins also but the one I personally use is called: “Twitter for WordPress” – This shows all your tweets (or a particular users’ tweets) on your site.
In case you’re not currently following us here at 34SP.com – you may want to. We alert you to special offers and things you may want to know about your website and hosting as well. You can find us and follow us at: http://twitter.com/34SP or simply follow @34SP.
These are just a small selection of the thousands of plugins available. Have a search and above all have fun!
While this blog usually covers topics related to technology and web hosting, we thought to give our own Olly a shot at offering up a few alternatives to watching the World Cup all month. (But don’t forget you can still get great discounts on hosting with our World Cup hosting promo!) Enjoy.
Soooo – World Cup fever has seemingly hit the nation. For those of us who couldn’t give two hoots about the event, however, the last month of TV, radio and newspapers have already become a barrage of sentimentalist flag waving. Here, then, for those of you in the same boat, is my summary of several things I’d rather be doing. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get around to completing more than a handful of them over the coming weeks!
1. Take the dogs for a walk
There are literally hundreds of places to visit with our two loveable mutts, Monty and Sisqi. Here they are enjoying the sunshine on Brean Sands, Somerset on a recent break:
We found this to be a perfect day out for both the dogs and us, as recommended by Dog Friendly Britain – don’t have a dog? No problem, adopt one!
2. Visit Scotland. Or Wales. Or Ireland.
I’m reliably informed that none of these teams qualified for the World Cup, so in a move of solidarity, I think it’d be only polite to join them in ignoring how well or badly England are doing. The only choice is, should it be Scotland, Wales, or Ireland?
3. Build a Lego Printer
It’s silly, but I love it and want one:
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4. Build an Orrery
An Orrery is a mechanical model of our Solar System. Despite hunting high and low on the internet, I’ve not been able to find a set of plans that I can use to build a full model from scratch (plenty abound for smaller sun/earth/moon versions, but I can’t find any trace of plans for building a full version!). Something like this would be AWESOME if anyone knows where I can get the plans!
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5. Dig out an old board game
I was 9 years old when Battlecars was released. The accompanying blurb opens with the description :
A futuristic game of deadly driving. Have you ever pressed the imaginary button on the dashboard of your car to vaporize the idiot driver’s car in front ?
No? Well you didn’t get to in this game either. Battlecars gave players the opportunity to be given an imaginary sum of money and build their own car (on paper, of course) armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, then to pit their creations against their friends. Sadly, as this was pre-digital communication era, I never got past the designing stage. Think I’ll need to “encourage” the wife to give it a try.
6. Get to know my chickens
After spending several weeks erecting a chicken coop and installing chicken wire fencing, Mabel, Doris and Betty moved in on Saturday. They’re respectively speckledy, rhode rock and columbine breeds, so are giving us three different colours of egg shells. Welcome to the gang, girls!
For some reason my bay tree is covered in brittle brown leaves and it’s really beginning to worry me! Can’t find much at herbexpert.co.uk so if anyone has any clues, let me know! It’s had plenty of water and feed (though not over-watered) but still refuses to flourish.
9. Buy and listen to the “The Intriguer”
The Intriguer is the new album from my favourite band, Crowded House. Woodface is probably my favourite album of all time, so this one should while away a couple of hours at least!
10. Celebrate my wife’s birthday
She officially becomes another year older on Midsummer’s Day, but as she reads this blog, I can’t tell you what we’ll be up to. Just use your imagination.
The company is a rapidly growing web hosting company based in central Manchester. Founded in 2000, the company now employs thirteen full time staff and is a Limited, VAT registered company.
Salary
Negotiable, based on applicants skill set.
Salary reviews are conducted every 12 months.
Position
The successful applicant’s role will be to offer level 2 support to 34SP.com’s client base. Level 2 support is classified as advanced troubleshooting. Support is offered via email, live chat and telephone. The successful applicant will also be required to assist with systems maintenance from time to time.
Hours
8.30am to 5.30pm weekdays.
Required Skills and Experience
Excellent technical skills, specifically in hosting related areas e.g. DNS, PHP, MySQL, Perl, FTP, POP3/IMAP, SMTP etc.
A thorough working knowledge of the *nix environment
Good communication and interpersonal skills
Experience with the Plesk control panel a definite advantage
Interviews will begin the week starting June 28th. Please submit your application and CV to stu@34sp.com with subject ‘Advanced support position’.
Manchester, United Kingdom – Customer focused website hosting company 34SP.com has embraced the excitement surrounding the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup by creating a special promotion which is determined by the outcome of the matches. The FIFA World Cup is the worldwide championship for the sport of football – also known as soccer in the United States. The championship is held every four years, and has been a worldwide institution since the first tournament was held in in 1930. This year’s tournament is being held in South Africa beginning on June 11, 2010 and continuing through to the final on July 11, 2010. The World Cup is the most popular single sporting event in the world, with more than 1.5 billion people viewing a single popular match. That’s more than 20% of the world’s population viewing an event at once.
Being based in Manchester, UK (which is incidentally home to both Manchester United and Manchester City football clubs) the staff at 34SP.com contains numerous football fans. The web hosting company therefore created a special promotional offer for the duration of the World Cup which bases its discounts on the performance of England in the matches. Here is how the promotion works: For every goal that England score, customers receive an additional 10% off any of the following 34SP.com web hosting products – Professional Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Business Hosting, or VPS Hosting. The special offer applies to new accounts only, and is cumulative for the duration of the World Cup tournament.
As an example, if England score 2 goals – customers will receive 20% off their web hosting order. If England score 5 goals – the discount is 50% off. If England accumulate 10 or more goals during the World Cup tournament, the first month of hosting is free (100% off).
Stuart Melling, co-founder of 34SP.com explained the motivation for creating a web hosting promotion around the World Cup, ”England has a longstanding tradition of embracing the World Cup and all the fanfare that surrounds it. While England has only won the World Cup final once, every tournament is another chance to bring home the trophy to the true home of football. We have some great attacking options in this year’s squad, so I expect plenty of goals and some fantastic discounts for our our customers!”.
To keep customers apprised of the current scoring totals, discounts, and upcoming matches, 34SP.com has created a special website page that presents the current data for easy viewing.
To learn more about the World Cup web hosting promotion at 34SP.com and to view the current discounts please visit: http://www.34sp.com/world-cup-promo.
About 34SP.com
34SP.com offers professional website hosting services for cost conscious web developers, designers and small businesses. The 34SP.com team of technical experts offers industry leading support and service coupled with a money back guarantee to ensure client satisfaction. Website hosting services offered include: reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. The company is headquartered in central Manchester, England.
Within our offices here at 34SP.com there are some who casually follow the World Cup and some football crazed maniacs. Being in the latter group, I shall give you my thoughts and hopes for next month’s World Cup, a tournament that rivals the Olympics with the amount of press coverage, television viewership figures and prestige to the host nation as well as the eventual winners.
Being a British host, we are backing England to win the World Cup out of ritualistic unashamed national pride, but we know that there are others that are:-
A – not English
B – not interested in Football.
With this in mind, we will still be offering our usual great customer support as well as competitive rates on pricing for web hosting and domain names.
As part of the celebration of the World Cup, 34SP.com will soon be launching a special promotional offer tied to the results of the matches. It works like this: for every goal that England scores, you save an additional 10% off any of the following 34SP.com hosting products – Professional Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Business Hosting, or VPS Hosting. This special offer is for new orders only, and is cumulative for the duration of the World Cup tournament.
For those that do like a bit of 22 men running about all over a field kicking one ball, then read on for Motti’s World Cup Guide.
JOE MOTT’S GUIDE TO THE WORLD CUP
This tournament only comes around every 4 years, meaning the world’s best players only have a select few chances to shine on the biggest stage of Football.
Only 4 years ago, one of the greatest players in recent times, Zinedine Zidane made his mark on the World Cup Final, but for the wrong reasons, by headbutting Marco Materazzi during the closing part of the final.
From an England point of view, this was meant to be David Beckham’s last hurrah before international retirement, however an unfortunate Achilles injury has prevented him from playing in South Africa, but he shall still be part of the team set up by going as a Coach for Fabio Capello (or as the press have suggested, a team cheerleader and “voice of the dressing room”).
England still have a good chance, with the likes of Rooney, Gerrard, Ferdinand and Heskey, they are sure to at least reach the Quarter Finals.
For other teams that are likely winners, you only need to check out the past winners. They include Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, France. The only other winners of the World Cup are Uruguay but they won the tournament twice in the 1930′s.
Brazil are always favourites due to their attacking style, their excellent technique and team full of European-based superstars that regularly play in the top leagues give them an edge that few overcome. They are no means guaranteed to win, but the bookies love to give them short odds. My player to watch out for is Luis Fabiano who plays up front for Sevilla. I expect Brazil to be in the semi finals as a minimum, as will most neutrals be.
Argentina, Brazil’s bothersome arch rivals also possess similar style and roster of world class players, look no further than Barcelona’s Leo Messi. They also have a World Cup winner as their coach as well, the infamous Diego Maradona. A man who has won the World Cup, beaten England with what it considered one of the finest solo efforts ever witnessed, and the goal that he shall ever be known for in the same match, “The Hand Of God”. Will this team of precocious talent be able to shine beyond their most famous footballing export, we shall soon see.
Next up are Germany, a nation and team ethic that seems to bleed match winners. Many times in the past, they have been written off for not containing enough individually brilliant players but on their day, the competitive team seems to gel together and defy their critics time and again. A late injury to their captain, Chelsea’s Michael Ballack, has been a blow, but nothing that won’t stop the German team marching through the Group Stages with Bastian Schweinsteiger being the one to watch out for.
2006′s winners Italy will have the focus set on them from their first game. Winning the tournament in Germany projected them into the glory, but can the same team play as well as they did 4 years ago? The same core of the team, expertly linked up with Andrea Pirlo and the crew-cut of Fabio Cannavaro captaining his team from the back will know what it takes to win it, but I feel that they will be found wanting in the knockout stages.
Finally we have France, having lost the Final 4 years ago will want to strike back with vengeance. Only a controversial Thierry Henry winner with use of his hand against Ireland booked them a place to South Africa, so the pressure will be on them to top their group. They face the host nation South Africa, backed by the home crowd, I suspect it will be a battle between France, Mexico and Uruguay all the way to win their group. With an ageing group of superstars that last won back in 1998, I don’t believe they can attain the heady heights of the final of 2006 once more. We’ll just have to see what happens come kick off time.
From all of us here at 34SP.com – no matter who you support during the matches – enjoy the World Cup 2010!
