You could hope that people will see your website address on your marketing materials and type it into their browser, which is infinitely more likely than them remembering it from your radio or television commercials and typing it into their browser, but neither are going to drive very many people to your website. The fact is, most people are just too busy (or too lazy) to put in that much effort.

But what if there was an easy way to get them there, maybe even just by clicking a button? That’s simple enough and even the most distracted person could manage to stay focused long enough to do that, right?

That’s where QR codes come in. Anyone with a smartphone can simply use an app to snap a picture of the QR code on your marketing materials, and your website will pop up right on their screen!

An inexpensive way to start using QR codes is on your business cards, but there’s no reason to stop there. You can use them on all of your printed marketing materials, like brochures, car wraps and even billboards. You’re only limited by your imagination!

That means you can get the same professional grade web hosting that we use starting at as little as $0.99/month!

We’ve been using Hostgator for several years now, and love everything about them. Their service and support has always been exceptional, and the already low prices are just insane during this one day only sale.

So if you’ve been thinking of setting up a hosting account for your new website, or even switching web hosts, now is the time to do it! Visit Hostgator to set up your account today, and save 50%.

Was she right? You be the judge. During that time, we launched well over a dozen test sites and called Hostgator’s support team with a variety of technical issues (all intentionally caused by us). We were surprised at how much effort it took to actually make something go wrong, but even more surprised at how quickly they fixed it. If you’ve ever had to call technical support for a web hosting company, you know how much of a nightmare that can be.

They are a reliable hosting company with courteous and knowledgeable staff, and their prices are outstanding. Also, it’s worth mentioning that they even offer a 45 day money back guarantee and 99.9% uptime guarantee, so if you’re in the market for a web host, we recommend that you give them a try.

They do have a unique advantage, though; the massive amounts of data that they collect through the many services that they offer. And much to the dismay of privacy advocates everywhere, they are leveraging this more and more every day.

If you’ve ever used searched for something using Google, they have that search stored away in their massive data centers, along with a history of any sites that you visited as a result. Do you use their handy toolbar or browser? Did you know that allows them to monitor every single thing you do online? But that’s just scratching the surface though, because they are also collecting data from Gmail, Google analytics, Google Docs, and their new mobile phone and operating system, to name just a few.

Eric Schmidt recently told Maria Bartiromo during an interview that “Judgment is important…If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” Ironically, this statement is coming from the CEO of a company shrouded in secrecy.

So while Google has been enjoying an increasing market share year after year, that may change before long. The early-adopters (people on the cutting edge of technology) who Google has always focused on, are rapidly changing their opinion of the search giant. More significant is the fact that long-time partners, such as Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler, are telling people to steer clear of Google. As Microsft’s Bing steadily gains market share and their partnership with Yahoo! gives them even more traction, they will become a greater threat to Google, forcing them to either change their practices or be knocked from their lofty throne.

If there is anything to be learned from Microsoft’s history, it’s that while people love to see a passionate company grow from a tiny start-up to become an industry leader, they are just as eager to watch them fall when they become greedy, hypocritical and arrogant. Time will tell whether Google payed attention in class.

The good news is that Donna Fontenot has come up with a pretty solid solution that notifies you when any files on your server are modified in any way. Her tool won’t stop hackers, but it will notify you if they change any of your files so that you can fix the problem before it has any impact on you.

I highly recommend that you download and install MonitorHackdFiles and if you can, help her spread the word about it too.

You may ask yourself why a company would resort to these types of extortion tactics. The answer is quite simple – they are selling the same exact thing as their competitors at three times the price. Congratulations Network Solutions, you’ve won the dirtiest registrar ever award!