Dear JerusaHost Community,

Shana Tova - to a year of health, happiness, and prosperity!

On September 15th, 2011, OMC Computers & Communications, Ltd. acquired JerusaHost.

OMC, headed by Yohay and Asaf Azulay, has been at the forefront of Israeli computer sales since 1995 with 3 branches in northern Israel and a staff of more than 40. The main office is located on Derech Akko 58 in Kiryat Bialik. In addition to retail computer sales, OMC also has a business division as well as an internet services division. Of the number of potential candidates we interviewed, we felt OMC was the best match to take over operations based on their excellent track record, their success in web hosting, their broad server infrastructure and multi-lingual personalized customer service. As a JerusaHost customer, you can expect the same level of reliability and service with the benefit of a larger server network. Yohay has informed me that he plans to add Europe & Asia shared hosting locations, just a couple of perks that lie in store.

The JerusaHost brand will remain intact and the hosting services will continue to operate as usual. This means that any plans that have already been paid for will continue to receive service for the entire duration of the service period. As before, if you need hosting-related technical support, you can open a support ticket through the client area at https://secure.jerusahost.com/clientarea.php or send email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it from your primary email address you signed up with.

On a personal note, I am going to be moving away from the internet to pursue some of my offline interests. For the last 14 years, I have been online and web hosting has been my primary focus since 2003. In fewer than two and a half years, JerusaHost went from a hobby host to a full-service international host with a clientele spanning 18 countries. It became clear that JerusaHost needed more personnel involved to continue to grow and that I would not be the one to lead it, so please welcome OMC. Yohay & Asaf are extremely capable and likable. They care about you and want to make sure you are completely satisfied. If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach OMC's hosting department directly by phone at (074) 730-0010 from within Israel, +972 (74) 730-0010 from outside of Israel, or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Thank you to each and every one of our customers for helping to put JerusaHost on the map. I really appreciate that you chose us from among the many companies out there. I am JerusaHost's biggest fan and sad to leave but I sincerely hope it continues to serve you and others.

With lots of blessings for 5772,

Adam Neril

Dror Gliksman is an Internet dinosaur. Having established one of the first website development firms in Israel in 1996, he went on to become a high-tech VP and later established Tranzila, a widely-used solution for online transactions. Today, Dror is the co-founder and lead consultant at WebWhile. WebWhile's unique approach synthesizes a solid understanding of internet technology, online marketing tactics with good old down-to-earth business skills that bring results.

What trends do you see emerging in internet marketing? Are there any Israel-specific trends you see?

In the past several years, after almost a decade of stagnation, The Internet Marketing world is going through some rapid and significant changes. In fact we don't call ourselves "Internet Marketers" anymore but "online marketers". In late 2010 there was a controversial article on Wired magazine that stated the web is dead. While I think that the death statement is too harsh and premature, I tend to agree that the real action is happening on the layers that are on top of the web, namely the application layer and the social layer.

I work with companies around the globe but in Israel I find an open minded climate in many companies, especially tech companies, that are willing to embrace the change, be daring and experiment. This often pays off and gives them an edge in their market. Sometimes I feel we should put a giant Beta sign above the country, and this is not a political statement!

On the other hand, I still run into some organizations that think that if they build a website, their online marketing job is complete and they fail to budget and commit for real ongoing online activity. As a result, their marketing is simply stuck.
 

What are the common mistakes small business owners are making with regard to ecommerce?

Ecommerce is one area of marketing that is closer to science than art. There is very little room for guessing. Almost every aspect of ecommerce can and should be measured and constantly optimized. Some of the sharpest ventures and minds I've met in the industry are working day and night on the optimization of their offerings, prices, promotions and increasing conversion rates. Too many small and medium sized ecommerce businesses who need this process the most, fail to act methodically and sometimes fail to do it at all. Another issue to keep in mind is the backoffice and the smooth integration to fulfilment and the real world which are no less important.
 

What are the most affordable ways for small business owners to market themselves on the web? Why?

I think that the key issue here is about being responsive and timely. The way we manage web development, content and applications is evolving quickly. The SPEC is dying. These days, by the time you manage to write it down, it may likely already be too late. We saw this just recently with a company we met that wasted several months of precious marketing time only to see their Facebook app included as a feature in Google Plus. Marketers need to act in real time and small businesses are in a better position to be on time. I call this approach Agile marketing. For example, less than 30 hours after Google + on websites came out, a guy from Indonesia developed an open source plugin for it. The plugin was downloaded over 10,000 times the next day and that developer was hired for tons of paid followup work as a result. 3 hours later, we added the plugin to nonews.co.il, one of our sites, after some security checks, and got users attention and early adapter engagement while the brand enjoyed some brownie points. So my tip is use your small size as an advantage to quickly adapt.
 

How should businesses go about creating the most appropriate or relevant affiliate program (that will bring them the most traffic?)

The future of affiliate marketing is in the fog. Affiliates are collectively punished for the spammy practices of many affiliate marketers. For years affiliate marketers filled up the web with junk. Lead by Google and it's famous Panda algorithm changes, the search engines have made their attempt to be more relevant in the results they deliver and are engaging in an all out war against the spam practices. The result is that affiliate websites are tumbling to the bottom of search results. There is also a lot of collateral damage that hurt the visibility of good sites and this is quite problematic. The affiliate industry is in the process of reinventing itself and exploring new models for online channel marketing. But all in all, I'd have to say that this is not a good time to enter the traditional affiliate marketing business.
 

Tell us more about why you emphasize creativity as so essential to online business strategy?

When search engines today execute search, they are asking what is a good and relevant website. In essence they try to reverse engineer human likes and passions. Until they'll be able to actually physically scan our brains, they settle for examining a wide set of measurable parameters. Looking at parameters such as time spent on site, depth of visit, bounce rate and returning visits, they determine which sites human visitors prefer. This goes hand in hand with social media stickiness and circulation and the need for brands to stand out. The ultimate answer for this challenge is creativity -- the kind that makes people want to be on your website, come back to it, share it, like it, Tweet it, Plus it, link to it, etc.. Creativity must to have a place at the core of your online marketing strategy.
 

What are the common SEO myths that small business owners could end up following?

The most common SEO myths relate to Google Page Rank and back links. Many Internet marketers are still practicing the same black hat tactics of buying junk back links by the pound in order to see their page rank go up. While Page Rank was central to actual search results in the late 90's, times have changed and these old practices are very likely to hurt your rankings and search engine visibility. There was a story about this with the US department store - JC Penney, just a few months ago covered by the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. JC Penney got kicked off the search engine results for these types of practices. People also tend to forget that there is a search ecosystem beyond Google. The Facebook search algorithm is an interesting challenge. App discovery and YouTube placements are also hot topics.
 

www.webwhile.com - Internet Marketing, Ecommerce, SEO Israel

As quoted in AOL News, Arnie Draiman is "a travel guide with a difference. Draiman takes tourists off the beaten track to show millionaires and other would-be donors... where [their charities] will have the most effect." Best-selling author Danny Siegel says "Arnie is a master at 'Making Miracles Happen' - how money can change individual lives - and the better you are at it, the better your money can stretch to do it."

How did you get into the business of financial and fundraising consulting?

I had been involved with business and with non-profits for years - as owner and management. Upon my return to Israel from shlichut, I decided to add consulting to my skill set, and it eventually became my full time business.
 

How did Danny Siegel influence you in this line of work?

Danny Siegel was my biggest influence for the non-profit world. Danny's unique approach to giving, to fund-spending, to overseeing non-profits, and creating relationships with them have all become part of what I do. (And what is appreciated by my clients!)
 

How do you go about deciding whether or not donating to a particular charity is appropriate for a given donor?

Donating precious sacred Tzedakah shekels is, when done right, a very personal thing. I try to match donors to the best Mitzvah heroes (those Tzedakah giants doing great things and doing them efficiently and effectively).
 

What techniques do you use to persuade donors to give more, or to give to places you deem more worthy?

I do not persuade donors to give or to give more; only to give to appropriate places. I show them the facts and that is usually enough to convince anyone. If people knew that their Tzedakah shekels were being wasted and not used properly, they would immediately stop giving to that place. My job is to make sure that the people and places I endorse are 110% "kosher".
 

How do you decide where to take donors who are looking for places to donate?

I match people and places of interest to the interests of the donors. It could be by subject matter (immigrants, youth at risk, elderly, etc.) or geographical location (border towns, development towns, Jerusalem, not Jerusalem, etc.) or even something as simple as 'where my shekels will make the most difference'.
 

What kind of organisations are most large donations going to?

Most large donations (and small ones too) wind up with poorly run organizations. I would estimate that 85% of all donations are given to poorly run organizations. Most donors just don't care enough to check. If a businessperson wanted to buy an existing restaurant, would s/he go at lunch time and see how many people are eating there? Would that be sufficient? Or would they check the finances to be sure that everything is being done right, and being done efficiently and effectively? When you give Tzedakah money, you are buying Mitzvahs. Why do it poorly?
 

How do you determine the most appropriate social media strategy for a given charity?

I think the basic package is appropriate for all - Facebook presence, Twitter account, a blog, and perhaps a Wikipedia page.  Some need more intense work and need it more often. It depends on their budget and their needs.
 

What are common SEO mistakes you find charities making?

Assigning an intern to do anything internet related; not taking their website seriously - not updating it, not using it as a calling card, not making it easy for donors to donate, etc.
 

Do you use usability testing as part of your website development process?

I have been in web development since 1995 and before there was a name for it, I always made sure that others could see what I did AND use what I did. I learned from my web mentor, Ken Zwiebel, that it had to be intuitive, easy to use, user friendly, cool, and most importantly, tested - tested on different types of computers with different browser windows and software versions and by different people. If you are going to do it, do it right.
 

RANKED #1 ON GOOGLE:  Arnie's Tzedakah Adventures - http://www.draimanconsulting.com/draiman_tzedakah_adventures.htm

With a positive, easy-to-work-with personality and more than 10 years in the field, Sigal is an expert in how to build a website that visitors will remember. The design process is based on the concept that one's website is the window to his/her business and so it must be clear, catchy, and in full working order. In keeping with the latest trends, Sigal also offers Facebook "mini sites". She caters to a mostly Israeli clientelle with the moto "אתרי אינטרנט שפשוט עובדים" - Websites that simply work. Attend one of Sigal's web design workshops to find out more about what makes her websites work.

You write about rel="author" (a tag used in header code of websites to tell information about the author of the site). What are your favorite sites for keeping up with search engine news?

That's an excellent question. I really do keep up all of the time. Every day I read an article or two, whatever I come across. I am a member of the WordPress Web Designers Group in LinkedIn, which I highly recommend, and I get the TemplateMonster Newsletter, which is also excellent. I'm always seeing links to interesting articles in all kinds of blogs, and there are a lot of these. In our field, as soon as something important happens, there's a lot of buzz, so it's fairly easy to stay updated.
 

As a designer of websites for small and medium businesses, what percentage of clients would you say are aware of SEO?  What are your clients' most common requests?

You are right that not all of my clients are aware of the significance of SEO – at least, not when they first contact me. However, after their website is constructed and we reach the stage of updating the content, I teach them how to conduct a survey of key words and where to place their emphasis, so they learn which words and expressions to link, how to select a title for their pages, which tags to choose and which alt texts to provide their images with.
 

What tips would you suggest to other web designers to make their clients happy?

I'm glad you asked that. I love to give out tips. So here we go:

a) First of all, listen to your clients. Nobody knows their businesses better than they do, and if you listen to them patiently, you'll find it easier to identify their needs and provide them with good service.

b) Show them you care about their website: look for new promotion channels for them. For example, recently I discovered a really good website called c-israel, which promotes the field of tourism coming into Israel and offers six month's registration for free. I immediately recommended the site to all kinds of B&B accommodations and tourist attractions among my customers, and told them to register, and they were very grateful
 

You recently enjoyed a nice bit of press coverage with Galit Harel. Many SMB's don't know how to go about obtaining press attention. How did you achieve that?

Galit Harel is a good friend of mine, and I can tell you that she has excellent contacts with the magazine Haim BaEmek (Living in the Valley), where this article was published. However, for the sake of accuracy, this is a totally promotional activity where you purchase advertising space. Unfortunately, this advertisement didn't bring the desired results.

Actually, the best investment I've ever made in marketing has been to join BNI. I recommend this to everyone who has a business and is committed to its success, although I am aware that it might not suit everyone, and not everyone will automatically be accepted as a member.
 

Your friend Ruthka recently shared a video with you on design that sells. Where did you first learn about designing for conversion?

Even before people began using the expression "conversion rate", I constructed websites that are directed to bringing results. Twelve years ago, these expressions weren't yet in use, but my approach was the same.

An internet website shouldn't exist if it doesn't work. If you aren't getting enough hits, if your website doesn't earn you money, you should look into it and determine what you need to change and improve.
 

www.sigal.co.il

Ron Spinner, CEO of AIMS Internet Marketing in Israel has been in the industry since 1998. Moving fast with the market is one of AIMS' hallmarks and Ron has the Google hat to prove it. He received it in the mail from Google because he was one of the first 100 people worldwide to pass the Adwords Professional test. 

Multi-lingual SEO is another strategy AIMS has years of experience in.  However, what really sets AIMS apart is creative thinking. Linking, social media campaigns, conversion optimization and Adwords all need creativity to ensure success.

You ran an AdWords ad writing contest a little while ago. How did you come up with the idea?

We came up with the idea of the Adwords creative writing contest in one of our weekly meetings because we see this as the most important part of running a campaign. Any good company can do all the technical aspects of keyword research, organization, implementation, etc. It is very time consuming and you need to know the system very well but it is not rocket science. 

However, we have seen in the campaigns that we run that a great ad can improve a campaign exponentially. Coming up with great ads is the most challenging aspect of any campaign.
 

What benefits did you get from the campaign besides seeing great ads and getting inspired? For example, did you hire new staff from it?

We had a lot of fun reading all the entries. There are a lot of creative writers out there -- not necessarily in the ad business. The most important thing we learnt is that it is worthwhile to approach different sources for new ad ideas.
 

What were the first two hires you made in your business and why?
If you had to do it over, would you hire for those two positions again? Why/why not?

Since we have been in business for 29 years this question is a memory test. Back then we were a traditional marketing company as it was before the Internet started so it is not that relevant. We started designing websites in 1995 and did on site SEO optimization free as it was fun to do. In 1998 one of our clients came to our office to update his website. He told us 2 important things:

1. "There is a new search engine you should try---it's called Google.
2. "By the way, we are getting a lot of leads through our web site"

That is when I realized that search engine marketing was important. I decided to phase out our traditional marketing activities and focus on Internet marketing. I even changed our name from Vista to AIMS - Advanced Internet Marketing Strategies.
 

You recently tweeted that mobile usage was on the rise - how much mobile business does AIMS do?

This varies greatly by client. Some clients have as much as 15% of their visitors from mobile and others only have 3%. However it is on the rise for everyone. Conversion also very greatly depends on how the website renders on the smartphones. We are encouraging all our clients to update their sites for mobile.
 

What trends do you see emerging in internet marketing? Are there any Israel-specific trends you see?

As major economic trends continue, multi-lingual websites will become more important. For example we have been marketing in mainland China for the last few years and it is a totally different marketing environment, to say the least. Here in Israel we are probably more adept at marketing multi-lingual sites since our local market is so small. 

Social aspects to marketing is going to get stronger. Google just came out with the +1 button for SEO and Adwords. Many Google innovations don't catch on but I believe that this one will. Google says that it will use the SEO button as a ranking factor. If it is an important factor we will all be adding this button to our websites.

For Adwords it is a little trickier. Since the person clicks on the button before seeing the landing page it may encourage people to write more entertaining ads which are not necessarily good for ROI. This seems to go against the original intent of search engine ads. We will just have to see how this plays out. 

Israel SEO trends come a little later even in this digital age.  But they sometimes play out differently. We are on social media sites (http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000652763) more than other countries. I expect we will get more group actions like the cottage cheese boycott in the future.
 

What can internet marketers do to take advantage of them?

Optimize your website for different languages and countries.

Become more social. But be aware of the pitfalls.

Go mobile.

What specs do you look for in hosts for your customers?

A good host is very important:

• Reliability is not trivial. Many people don't realize that 99% uptime means your site is down 7 hours every month.
• Support is also extremely important. That is where the big companies usually fail.
• We also like to have access to raw log files. Although Google Analytics is now the de facto analytics package, it has many shortcomings. It can't easily show you actual keywords used by Adwords visitors, comparison of ads with the same title, pdf file downloads, etc. We run the log files through our analytics program to fill in these important metrics.

The cloud, when referring to virtualization of servers, saves energy and cost while increasing performance & reliability. You take one server and split it up "vertically" into multiple virtual machines instead of the traditional system of scaling "horizontally" by adding additional physical machines . Each one of those virtual servers has completely separate resources from the next and functions independently like a dedicated server. Each has dedicated CPU and dedicated RAM that no other machine can use, they just happen to be housed in the same physical unit. But today that is not a problem with more powerful servers that are able to accomodate multiple cloud servers. It is no wonder clients are retiring their dedicated server outfits in favor of JerusaHost's vps equivalents .

JerusaHost wants to wish you a happy holiday and a healthy Spring! We thank you for choosing us as your web hosting provider and look forward to continuing to serve you.

If you are a newcomer, welcome to our website.  JerusaHost offers reliable shared hosting, reseller hosting, vps hosting, and dedicated servers on 4 continents. We have top-tier hosting solutions for most outfits: from the professional blogger to the corporate network and almost everyone in between. Gives us a try and be pleasantly surprised! Experience the difference in performance and service; and with our flexible "no commitment" billing there is nothing to lose.  We are here ready to assist you.

New Hebrew Domains With Israeli Extensions

Registration has officially opened for the new Hebrew domain names on Israeli extensions co.il and org.il. This is different from the Hebrew domain registration on universal TLDs .com and .net that has been available until now. An example of the latter type of Hebrew domain would be דומייןבעברית.com whereas the new type would read דומייןבערית.co.il (the difference is bolded- one ends in .com and the the other ends in co.il).

Now try this- enter a Hebrew domain in your browser. If you don't have Hebrew enabled on your keyboard, copy and paste the following אניאובהחברתהאחסוןשלי.co.il ("I love my hosting company" in Hebrew :). If your browser is IDN-aware, meaning it knows what to do with internationlized domain names, then you should have gotten the following result: xn--4dbaadarbefqdpk5b6be1a6jzan.co.il. Did you ever think your browser was so smart? Neat, huh?! This mixture of alphanumeric latin characters beginning with xn-- is how a browser translates a Hebrew domain into readable characters that the system that manages domain names across the internet can recognize. This Domain Name System (commonly referred to as DNS), among other tasks, identifies the numeric address associated with each domain name on the global map of addresses. That's right, each domain that you can pronouced has a number associated with it and that number corresponds to a geographic location. To simplify it one step further, take away the domain name and you are left with a network address. That's how some websites know where in the world you are logging in from and, in some cases, if you are out of their service area (say you are trying to listen to Pandora or access your U.S. PayPal account from outside of the U.S.) will restrict access to certain content that is subject to copyright regulations.

Domains All In Hebrew Clarified:

"What about a domain completely in Hebrew?", you might ask. Well, in addition to the half -Hebrew half-English options there is an option to have just that- a Hebrew name with a Hebrew extension. While there is as of yet no official TLD for Israel in Hebrew,  it is possible to register domains in Hebrew with the following extensions: ארג, .נט, .קום. These are Hebrew transliterations of .com, .net, and .org. Rumor has it that once the Israeli Internet Association known as ISOC standardizes an extension in Hebrew, it will be given free to all current owners of the parallel Hebrew domain ending in co.il / org.il, etc.

Benefits of owning a Hebrew domain:

• Helps to increase search engine ranking
• Worthwhile investment for the future- rumor has it that all Hebrew domain owners will automatically receive the related Hebrew TLD when it becomes available.
• Another entry way for people to access your business online
• Easier to spell for native Hebrew-speakers. For instance, it would be easier for an Israeli to write אתרשמח.co.il than atarsameach.co.il- "happy site" in English :)

To register a Hebrew domain name ending in .com, .net, .co.il, or .org.il, simply:

1. Type the name you would like to register in Hebrew into a modern browser and press enter
2. Copy and paste the resulting internationalized spelling into the JerusaHost domain registration box
3. Follow the directions on your screen to checkout and your domain will be active within 24 hours

To register a Hebrew domain name ending in ארג, .נט, .קום:

 please email your domain request to info (AT) jerusahost.com or fill out the contact form here

For questions about registering domain names in Hebrew:

please contact us.

Have you noticed the twitter search engine (http://search.twitter.com/)? It lets you search the latest activity in Twitter and has some advanced search features as well. Have you noticed google's new real-time search option? It let's you search the latest activity from by and large- Twitter. Wait, aren't those the same thing? Now take a look at the social media search tool "Who's Talkin'". It let's search the latest activity across an aggregate of indexes with a high percentage of results from- yes, that's right- twitter. You can be sure there are more social search engines out there and a whole lot more on the way. And you can be sure that if there is one index each one is not going to exclude it will be that of twitter.

Now what is the Twitter-Facebook duo without Facebook?  Well, Facebook also lists user activity in real-time; real-time news feed from friends is at the application's foundation and it has been doing this since 2004, 2 years longer than Twitter which launched in 2006. As far as usage, Facebook users seem to interact more closely with posts than Twitter users interact with tweets. With a face next to each post, the Facebook interface lends itself naturally to more personal interaction. It might be that users feel more comfortable sharing because they are sharing with a closed network of friends rather than the whole world (assuming privacy settings are in place). The language of Twitter, on the other hand, is more stand-offish. You have to learn what replies and retweets are used for along with a less-defined etiquette. There are plenty of conversations in Twitter and although this seems to be catching on, this is not the conventional use of Twitter.

Back to the search element, once those posts clear the first page on Facebook, it seems that users do not go searching for them in the same way that users searching in google tend not to look past several pages. In Facebook's case it could be that a revised search tool would encourage recycling of older posts by making them accessible  At present it, the search box is in the right spot at the top of the page but it is geared towards finding people and pages rather than individual pieces of information. In that sense, Twitter has an advantage for someone wanting to connect to certain topics.

The bottom line is that there is clear new command for internet search- that results tell what is happening at that moment,  i.e. real-time resuls, and all the better if they are from real, established social media sources.