Many online professionals have warned against using free hosting to build your online presence. These warnings come for many reasons including the risk of losing your content.

In a recent sweep, a free WordPress blog hosting website called Blogetery.com that hosted around 73,000 blogs shut down July 9, 2010.

Blogetery was a free blog service hosted by BurstNet, Inc., a company that has been established in the web hosting arena for nearly 14 years.

Explaining the reason why it had to take down Blogetery’s server BurstNet told that it “was a critical matter brought to our [their] attention by law enforcement officials” and in that case they had very little choice but terminate the account. BurstNet further stated that Blogetery was terminated due to “history of abuse and ongoing abuse”.

When you’re looking at making money online, and you are using a free hosting service, in a way you are at the mercy of everyone else using that hosting service too. Don’t run that risk. Put your blog or website on a REAL hosting service that actually manages their business and protects their clients.

(Seattle, WA) April 21, 2010 — Marketwire — Mercent™, a leading provider of on-demand marketing solutions for retailers, , today released results for the Mercent eCommerce Performance Index™ ? a quarterly report that measures year-over-year (YOY) aggregate same-seller gross merchandise value (GMV) across online sales channels supported by the Mercent Retail™ channel management platform.

According to the Q110 Mercent eCommerce Performance Index, same-seller GMV for retailers selling online through Mercent Retail grew by 38% relative to the same period in 2009, representing the highest historical reported GMV growth for the Q109 Mercent eCommerce Performance Index since Mercent initiated the report. Same-seller GMV for merchants participating in Amazon’s “Selling on Amazon” program through Mercent Retail also increased in the first quarter, up approximately 58%.

According to Eric Best, CEO of Mercent, “We continue to see steady upward momentum across all eCommerce channels for clients selling through Mercent Retail. The 38% year-over-year sales growth in the first quarter signals strengthening consumer confidence in the stabilizing economy. More important, we’re seeing growth across all retail categories – from luxury brands to low cost providers. Based on this and Mercent’s historical Index data and trending, we expect the retail segment to continue yielding above average industry growth."

Further hope that working from home and earning full time income is entirely possible!

Full Article @ ecommwire.com

Who says life is over at 83? Certainly not Luise Volta, author of the popular "advice" website, MomResponds.com. In the five years since she started her online column, Volta has garnered more than 150,000 annual site visitors. And she answers questions from 120 countries on topics ranging from sex to shoelaces.

Housebound while caring for her 98-year-old husband, Volta got the idea of starting her blog from family and friends who often would ask her for advice.

Prior to becoming a caregiver, much of Volta’s recent years have been spent volunteering in many different capacities in the retirement facility where she and her husband live. She also wrote for a senior newspaper and occupied a seat on the Snohomish County Council on Aging. Last year she won two awards, one for her senior community service and the other for her web presence. Seattle’s Foss Home and Village Foundation honored her with a "Special Senior Award" and Bank of America Charitable Foundation’s Neighborhood Excellence Initiative recognized her as a "2009 Local Hero."

Volta has worked as a nurse, preschool teacher, interior designer, real estate agent, insurance adjuster, and dairy herd tester. She’s traveled the Northern Hemisphere as a full-time RVer and currently lives in the Pacific Northwest. She bore four children, buried three, and has survived five marriages. She has 60 years’ experience as a wife and mother.

When asked if she finds aging depressing, Volta replied, "No. Life is a series of adventures. Some are difficult, of course. But whenever I feel a void, I wonder, ‘What’s just around the next corner? And I can’t wait to find out!’"

You’re never to old to start a blog!

Full article @ PRWeb

Many times we take things for granted those who pioneered certain aspects of our lives. Never in a million years would I have considered exploring the history of blogging. However, Declan McCullagh has with a complete listing of Blogs: The Evolution. This piece was written when blogs were just a baby at 10.

It seems there are several who are being credited for the actual creation of the web log, when in reality, it was a natural progression and end result of the brain children of several people.

This is a very interesting read. Sometimes it’s just nice to know where we came from — even if it is a blog.

Be sure to check out Carolyn’s Diary – The first known online diary that began when Carolyn created her first entry in January 1995. It’s interesting to see just how far we’ve come.