Retired CEO from Porsche, Peter Schutz, recently came to Western New York to offer advice about success in business. One of his first pearls of wisdom is that extraordinary results come from ordinary people. He asserted that very few of us are extraordinary by nature.

The secret to success is to identify a vision and a culture that leads ordinary people to become extraordinary. Peter told the story about his early days at Porsche. The company had a history of winning auto races but had fallen on bad times due to financial losses and failure to invest in new technology.

His first mission was to revive the winning attitude and to assure everyone involved that Porsche would only enter the race with the intention of winning. That year, it won the prestigious Le Mans race, which restored the winning attitude.

The lesson learned here is about leadership and motivation. Peter used the metaphor of a bicycle, where the back wheel supplies the power and the front wheel gives balance and direction. Leadership comes from the front wheel.

He told a story about three workers at a construction site, each having differing views of their job. When asked, the first worker stated his job was "busting rock." The second worker responded, "I am earning a living." The third said he was "building a temple."

Peter asserted that the first two workers and management are in conflict. These workers’ interests lie in busting less rock for more money. Management wants to bust more rock for less money. He urged his audience to find the temple in their business that will bring everyone together in a common purpose. "This is front wheel," he explained. This is what leaders need to do if they want success.

So you are probably asking; "what does this have to do with medical imaging?" The theme from the newsletter and trade shows where we all get together is about the challenges of the economy. Vendors have retooled by either downsizing or opening up their products to multiple distributors. Our end users have micromanaged every invoice and product we sell to save money. Getting squeezed at both ends had definitely impacted our bottom line. How do leaders react?

At the seminar; Peter cautioned leaders not to become a commodity where price becomes the only consideration for sales. He used Wal-Mart as an example. "If you want to do business with Wal-Mart, you will be continually pressured to lower your price." There may come a time that you will be better off not supplying
Wal-Mart. The secret is to innovate and get your people working together toward a shared objective.

Peter was no stranger to recessions. He believes a poor economy is an opportunity to win new business. It is a time when customers will listen and give you a chance to make your case.

He gave an example from his days at Cummins Engine, which at the time saw sales sharply reduced in a recession. The company was able to win a new customer by offering services that others did not or could not offer.

While competitors had cut way back and could not deliver product, Cummins was able to deliver product, which allowed it to win new business. The lesson here is to step up efforts to win new business.

Peter wrapped up the meeting with a few bits of wisdom on other topics.
"The only way to make money is to print it," he stated with resolve. "People need to earn money." Are we as Vision members doing what it takes to earn new business? Are we maximizing our vendor partners to make money and using their creative, specific solutions to win new business? There has never been a better time to be part of such a large network of x-ray distributors and suppliers as we ride the storm out with new ways to do business. Always take advantage of that opportunity.

The 2010 Vision Imaging Partners National Meeting in Jacksonville, FL began with the opening cocktail reception on Thursday April 29, 2010. The exhibit hall and meeting took place on Friday and concluded on Saturday at 3:00pm.

We had 31 exhibitors showcasing their products, educational speakers, roundtable discussions, great door prizes and a Golf Tournament at Beaver Creek Golf Course. This meeting overall was a great success with a total in combined attendance of 180.

Vision University was held on Thursday, April 29, 2010 and organized by Tim Carrigan, Wolverine X-Ray. We had 4 mini training classes on:

·TECHNOLOGY "DR: The Naked Truth" ·The PACS Market Today
·Vision SALES Workshop
- Personal Selling and the direct Sales experience
- Effectively Handling Objections
- Selling: Techniques for successful value based selling of goods and services.

Those who attended the University all stated that they learned a lot and were happy that they participated. Thank you Tim for making Vision University a huge success.

A Special thank you goes out to the Vendors that helped sponsor our events: AlphaTek Corporation, Medlink Imaging, Pyromet Silver Refiners, Rochester Cassette Sales & Service, SEKO Worldwide, Techno-Aide, The Simon Companies, Ti-Ba Enterprises and United Marketing Group. Also, we want to thank the Round Table Discussion Facilitators : Walter Carrigan, Rob Muzzio, John Olenio and Cheryl DiLanzo

The 2009 Awards were presented at the end of the meeting. The following awards were given:

Top Sales Producer 2009:
Lake Superior X-Ray
Wolverine X-Ray
New Jersey X-Ray Sales & Service

Dealer Compliance Award 2009:
Wolverine X-ray
GXC Imaging

Most Improved Dealer 2009:
Jones X-Ray
Radiology Services, Inc.

Most dealer supported Vendor Award 2009:
Rochester Cassette Sales & Service

"H. Robert Simon Award of Excellence"
Dan Richardson and Glenn Richardson were both given this award for their dedication and support of Vision Imaging Partners and our Membership.

There were a total of 36 Door Prizes given out at the end of the meeting. A total of $4000.00 cash was provided by Vision Imaging Partners, Inc. Other prizes included: Flip Video, Gift Cards, GPS’s, IPods, Silver Plated Mouse & Bars of Silver. These prizes were donated by AlphaTek Corporation, FINANCIAL Corp, Genesis Digital Imaging, HR Simon & Company, Jendee Web Design, Konica Minolta Medical Imaging, Medlink Imaging, Pyromet Silver Refiners,
Rochester Cassette Sales & Service, SimonDR, Soyee Products, The Tape Company, Ti-Ba Enterprises, UMG/ Del Medical. Thank you to the Vendors who provided the door prizes for our National Meeting

This year the Vendor Door Prize was won by Mike Fairchild from Star X-Ray Products.

The Top Cash Prizes were won by:

$1000.00 Cash
Lamont Anderson- US X-Ray Equipment & Supply, Inc.

$750.00 Cash
Kristin McCormick- Advantage Medical Systems

$500.00 Cash
Gary Rossi - Century Medical Systems

First and Second Place Golf trophies were handed out along with $800 in cash prizes. Thank you to Hope X-Ray, HR Simon & Company, Pyromet, SimonDR and Vision for helping in sponsoring this years golf tournament.

A Special thank you goes out to all the Vendors and Members who made our National Meeting a memorable one.

Hope to see all of you again next year at the 2011 National Meeting.

Having trouble with your inkjet printer? There are three common problem types with simple fixes that will get you on your way back to high quality output:

Paper Jams:

The most common problem experienced with inkjet printers is paper jamming. When paper jams aren’t fixed by removing the jammed paper, there are a few more steps to take to resolve the problem. Open the lid on the printer and check for small pieces of paper that may have ripped when removing the paper jam. Be sure to check the rollers. Small pieces frequently hide in them. If you are still having trouble, take the paper out of the paper tray, check the paper guide making sure it is in the proper location for the paper size being used, fan the paper and put it back into the printer. Continued jamming after these steps you may indicate that you have a foreign object in your printer. Take the paper back out of the printer open the covers and start looking for anything that doesn’t belong in the printer. Objects as small as a broken pencil point or a staple may cause your printer to jam. If none of these procedures fixes the jamming issue, your printer may be worn out. It is common for the rubber pickup rollers to wear out and cause paper jam reports. If your printer is under warranty, it is time to call the manufacturer for service. If your printer is out of warranty, it is time to shop for a replacement.

Fuzzy Printing, Streaks and Incorrect Colors:

Ink cartridges are always the culprit when it comes to print quality and color consistency issues. To correct these issues, follow these steps. Check the ink levels in your cartridges. The installer that came with the printer should have installed a print monitor application that displays the ink levels. If you don’t have a monitor application installed, go to your printer manufacturer’s web site, download and install the latest driver software for your printer. Replace the ink cartridges that are almost empty. Next, clean the cartridges. The print monitor utility should have a function for this. Many utilities have several levels of cleaning. Use the deep cleaning function if the normal cleaning doesn’t resolve the issue. Sometime three to four cleanings are needed to clear up print quality. A last chance effort to save your ink cartridges is to manually clean them. Remove one cartridge at a time and rub the small copper colored nozzle end with a dry paper towel. Be very gentle, it is easy to damage the nozzles. If these methods do not do the trick, it is time to replace the cartridges. The nozzles in the cartridge may be malfunctioning or there may be dried ink clogging the nozzles if the printer has not been used for a while.

Unresponsive Printer:

When your printer decides to completely stop working, there may be several issues causing the problem. The simplest fix is to turn the printer off and then back on. When this most basic step fails to revive your printer, follow these troubleshooting steps. Turn off your printer and reboot your computer. Turn the printer back on after the reboot. Rebooting your computer fixes most problems that we experience with our computers. Next unplug the power from your printer, wait ten seconds and plug it back in. This resets your printer hardware. The last and most complex step is to uninstall your printer’s software from the Add/Remove Programs item in your computer’s Control Panel. Once complete, unplug the printer cable, download the latest printer software from your printer manufacturer’s website and install it. Do not plug the printer cable back into the computer until prompted by the installer. If these steps do not resolve the issue, it is time to call the manufacturer for service. If your printer is out of warranty, it is time to shop for a replacement.

Inkjet printers are a cheap option when you are shopping for a printer. Keep in mind that printer manufacturers purposely sell inkjet printers as cheap as possible because they make their money selling expensive ink. As a result, not much investment is made in reliability of the printer. When you shop for your next printer, you may want to consider a laser based device. Over the life of a printing device the cost of supplies plus the device itself is much cheaper for a laser and the reliability is usually much better.

Professional Equipment was started in 1979 and is located on the shoreline in Guilford, CT. Our primary sales area is CT, however, we do have customers in RI, MA and New York State. Our customers encompass the entire spectrum of x-ray users.

We are a small company, by most standards, but compete with the larger
companies on an equal basis. We can help the customer with anything as simple as selecting the proper lead apron to the design of a new x-ray facility. While we continue to service processors, we have transitioned into the 21st century with increasing sales of CR and DR equipment. We were also the first to introduce an Environmental Treatment Plan in the state of CT for our customers.

All of the staff here at Professional are long- term employees; all the people in our service organization have been with us over 20 years, and our inside office staff for nearly as long. Someone is always "on call" to provide emergency service as needed.

I believe that being a small company , for the most part, is a good thing. The people that you work with understand the importance of working together as a team; there can be no " someone else will do it" or " I’ll do it later when I have more time" OR my PERSONAL favorite, " That’s not my job." The facts are that there IS no one else to do it, and there won’t be more time so it must be done NOW, and your job is to do whatever is needed. This philosophy encourages people to be a part of the company, to suggest how to do something better, to explore new products, and easier ways to accomplish the tasks at hand- in short, to behave as if this is their own personal business. Fortunately, for me, these are the type of people with whom I work, and this type of atmosphere has led to whatever success we may enjoy.

Customer satisfaction has been, and will continue to be, our primary focus. This has enabled us to become, and to remain, one of the most respected dealers in CT.

Professional is not just our name, but it’s the way we do business!

Over the last two and a half years TXR has transitioned from a small family owned business that focused on the small private practices, looking for basic, cost effective and reliable equipment, to a manufacturer and supplier of products for the hospital, clinic, orthopaedic, GP, portable, home health, chiropractic and veterinary markets.

Today, TXR continues to manufacture our bread and butter products under the ValuePlus label. The products under the ValuePlus label are true and tried products that have made the company successful over the last 30 years. We continue to make strides in improving the functionality and ease of installation of these products.

Our latest addition to the ValuePlus line is a lower cost alternative for CCD imaging in an upright system for the cardiologist and chiropractic markets.

We have expanded to supply a full line of high end hospital products under the AdvantagePlus label. As our industry continues to evolve, we recognized that the independent distribution network was ready for a supplier that offered a broad range of systems to become their one-stop supplier for all their radiographic equipment needs.

Our AdvantagePlus line offers the most rugged equipment available in the
marketplace. We are striving to become your supplier of choice for very basic to very sophisticated equipment.

Our offerings in the ValuePlus and AdvantagePlus product lines includes film/CR, CCD and a selection of DR equipment offerings that fit the needs of upgrades and complete digital systems.

Recognizing that delivery time is critical, we stock a wide selection of generators, ceiling tube mounts, floor mount tube stands and elevating tables to meet the quick delivery needs of your customers.

Please contact any of our industry veteran sales associates, Paul Kupsco, James Wake, Ruth Schuster or Joyce Peterson for information and pricing on any of our offerings.

The entire team at TXR thanks you for your support and contribution to our success. We truly enjoyed the opportunity to see many of you at the National meeting and look forward to building our
partnership with the Vision family.

• New NiHyD battery that delivers greater than 2,000 measurements per battery charge, a 333% improvement over the current 331

• Takes only 1 hour to fully charge from a discharged state, compared to 14 hours with the old battery

• Uses standard 12VDC battery charger and is considerably more power efficient! The charger is only active when the battery requires charging

• New LED light indicates instrument charging status

• New "Sleep" mode powers down the instrument when not in use to conserve battery power

• Easy to read touch pad

• EnergyStar compliant

For more information, please contact Teena Remington at 866-774-3731.

BRIT Systems introduced a new communications tool for the company’s UrgentWorks Critical Results Reporting application. Fire Drill auto-calls referring clinicians and other users; by selecting a couple options during the call, the referring physician can easily verify their contact information and/or update it.

"The real trick to critical results reporting is getting people to keep their contact information up-to-date," says Shelly Fisher, President, BRIT System. "What could be easier than an auto phone call? With UrgentWorks, we’ve automated many of the manual tasks to increase clinical use and compliance, as well as provide PACS and IT administrators a solution that works within an existing workflow."

UrgentWorks’ Fire Drill includes a tool to schedule the drill and send emails to the users informing them of when to expect the call and the questions that will be asked. It also includes management reports showing which phones numbers were verified or updated, indicated as being wrong, or never answered.

As part of BRIT Systems’ next generation Web-based solutions, UrgentWorks is a 100% browser/AJAX application so all updates to critical results and urgent findings are immediately available across the enterprise. It supports the flagging of urgent findings, critical test results and ER discordance by reporting clinicians, and the immediate communication and on-going tracking of results to the ordering
physician. Critical findings and history of the communications can be viewed and updated by all involved users on the browser interface. Reporting clinicians can use UrgentWorks to effectively  communicate their findings in accordance to ACR guidelines and Joint Commission initiatives. The application requires no installation of a client or download, not even Flash.

Rochester Cassette has recently been awarded the exclusive distributorship in the US for Kiran grids. We are proud to add this high quality line of grids to our repertoire of product offerings. Kiran grids are manufactured in a new, State of the Art facility and adhere to stringent quality and testing parameters to ensure perfection in image contrast and artifact free grids.

Just take a look below at how much clearer your image will look with simply using one of our Kiran branded grids. Call today for your quote, we have hundreds in stock!

Graham Medical products were recently made available to Vision Imaging members. The Graham team attended the most recent Vision Imaging sales meeting – and the products were well received by members. Graham Medical features an array of paper and non-woven medical disposable products ideal for x-ray and imaging applications. Ideal products include – drapes, pillowcases, table paper, and a full line of patient apparel and specialty products. Contact Graham Medical at 800-558-6765 or www.grahammedical.com to view product offering and/or to request a sample.

HISTORY

American Radiographics Inc., was started in 1986. ARI created a niche to remanufacture diagnostic x-ray equipment providing a substantial savings to customers over purchasing new equipment with the same quality diagnostic results. In 1994 Huestis Industrial purchased ARI creating a doing business as Huestis Medical company. In 1996 Huestis Medical/ARI purchased Protronics in Illinois, a remanufacturer of portable x-ray equipment. Renaming Protronics Huestis Medical. Then in 2006 Krish Suthanthiran purchased Huestis.

REMANUFACTURING

Huestis Medical has been remanufacturing diagnostic x-ray equipment for over Twenty-four years. We remanufacture AMX, OEC and Mini-C’s in Gilberts, Illinois and R/F and Rad equipment in Bristol, Rhode Island. Both locations are ISO 9001 Certified and FDA approved. Being ISO certified and FDA approved separates Huestis Medical from other remanufacturers. These certifications require us to follow detailed work
instructions and procedures requiring us to remanufacture our equipment to meet or exceed the original OEM specifications. Each September an outside independent audit is conducted to ensure we do so.

DID YOU KNOW?

-Huestis remanufactures the AMX III and AMX IV/ (+)

-Huestis remanufactures the OEC 9400, 9600 and 9800

-Huestis remanufactures the Fluoroscan Premier Mini-C

-Huestis remanufactures the RFX/SFX , Rad and Urology suites

-Huestis provides a minimum one month rental on all portables

-Huestis accepts trade-ins/ups against its remanufactured equipment

-Huestis has a Parts Division which sells not only GE, but all major brand parts

-Huestis provides a Full One Year Parts Warranty for all portables

-Huestis provides a Full Two Year Parts Warranty for all RF, Rad and Urology suites

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call Dan Bond or Dave Reis

HUESTISMEDICAL making it affordable
Huestis Medical 68 Buttonwood Street Bristol, Rhode Island 02809
Phone: (401) 253-5500
Fax: (401) 253-7350

UMI International
2 E. Union Ave.
East Rutherford, NJ 07073
T 201-804-8044, F 201-804-8046
www.umimedical.com
umimediclausa@yahoo.com

Major X-ray Items
- Grid & Related Items
- Collimator (manual)
- Portable Unit
- Tube & Tube/Housing (disassembled)
- Cassette
- Intensifying Screen (conventional & digital)
- Slim View Box

* FDA 510(k) approved and/or listed

New Equipment Finance tools now available at www.financialcorpleasing.com

Last year FINANCIALCORP made a commitment to Vision Dealers to provide useful sales tools and information to assist and educate X-ray vendors. We are proud to announce we went live this past April!

Useful materials can now be downloaded to assist as sales tools including:

1. A generic equipment tax write-off flyer is available that explains the benefits of buying equipment this year, because this benefit will expire this year. Just download this word document and personalize it with your own company information.

2. Our simple to use payment calculator can be used to assist with providing monthly payments for all equipment quotes presented to your customers.

3.A "Why Lease" flyer can be downloaded to provide the benefits of equipment lease/finance. This flyer is a handout to provide to your customers so they can learn what options and tax benefits are available for how to purchase your equipment.

We suggest you review www.financialcorpleasing.com to see how this website will assist you to be more effective with your customers.

We welcome your feedback and suggestions. After all, this site is specifically for
X-ray vendors!

Vision Members and Vendors:

I would first like to thank all of you and Vision Imaging Partners for making the 2010 National Meeting a huge success. It was great seeing and speaking to all of you again.

SEKO Worldwide of Latham, NY is the preferred transportation company in Vision Imaging Partners. Instead of writing about why I think you should be using SEKO for your shipments, I thought it would be better coming from other Vision Members/Vendors that have been using us:

During the past year Wolverine X-ray has taken advantage of the freight solutions provided by SEKO Worldwide. Like many other X-ray dealers, freight is always of great concern regarding price, dependability, ease of paperwork, service and of course the handling of the ever-dreaded freight claim. Thus far, our experience has been extremely satisfying. The service has been exceptional. Freight is picked and delivered as promised and the BEST part has been the competitive prices which have translated into savings for our company. Wolverine uses SEKO exclusively for delivery of all capital equipment as well as all CR and DR equipment. They have promised air ride service, and have not failed to deliver. We are always pleased to share information with our partners; it has been a real pleasure to deal with SEKO and their entire staff. Vivian Carrigan- Wolverine X-ray

We have been using SEKO Worldwide as our freight carrier for some time now. We are very pleased with the service that we have received. Our freight has always been delivered on time and safely. We take great price in our products and expect our freight companies to be the same. SEKO has proven to be such. I have dealt with Pat Toma and he has been wonderful to work with. If you are looking for a personal, reliable, affordable freight company, I highly recommend SEKO Worldwide. Stephanie McCarty, HR Simon & Company, SimonDR

Call me today to get a quote on your next shipment!!! Please remember, in order to receive the Vision discount, you must call my office to arrange your shipments.

Pat Toma
SEKO Worldwide
800.762.5092

As one of the earliest developers of PACS systems specifically geared to the independent distributor, we are pleased to announce a major version change to the Catella PACS. Catella 5.0 has been redesigned from the ground up to add more features for your clients and to make it easier for your service groups to support.

The last point is particularly important. As digital imaging matures, your dealership is going to make its numbers not by new sales but by service revenues from your installed base. The easier we make it for you to support your PACS installations, the more dollars will fall to the bottom line.

Along with the introduction of Catella 5.0 we are announcing a new web-based service support system. This system, to be rolled out to all dealers by the end of July, allows you to log and track service tickets through any internet browser. Like our current email system, your request will go directly to our service staff for quick response. However, now you can see what is being done, see the complete log of correspondence and communicate directly with the technician assigned to your request.

But the real excitement is what we have done with Catella PACS. Here are just some of the many new features:

· True Internet Browser viewing. Each license is now a "concurrent" user license.

· Completely redesigned viewer that uses almost 90% of the screen for image viewing.

· Complete flexibility on how images are displayed on the screen. This includes a very flexible hanging protocol system. Users can create these hanging protocols "on the fly" and save them for future use.

· "On the fly" design of the layout for printing images, as well as almost unlimited additions of any DICOM or non-DICOM printer.

· Ability to display images from any patient’s image set or across different patients.

· Ability to record CD or DVD’s with almost unlimited flexibility to choice images from a patient or across different patients. Equally important you select "on the fly" whether to burn a viewer or anonymize patient data before recording the CD.

· A complete reporting system is now included.

· …And the list goes on and on….

Hot as the summer sun, Techno-Aide’s
sizzling with a summer product expansion!

NEW Protective Apparel: LIGHTER WEIGHT, LESS COST! In addition to our traditional .5mm protective apparel,
Techno-Aide is now introducing our NEW Super35! Get .35mm Pb equivalency in
Regular Lead, Lightweight Lead and Lead-Free aprons. These .35mm aprons are almost 25% lighter than .5mm aprons and offer excellent protection! Super lightweight, super
comfortable, super fatigue reducing, super value, Super35! Give us a call today for
Super Pricing.

NEW Apron Bag: perfect for mobile environments. These bags allow you to roll up your apron and carry or store it in a convenient, duffle-style nylon bag. Bag comes with two handles, a shoulder strap, rigid insert and zippered closure. Call 800.251.2629 for pricing and information.

FUSION Furniture: this expanded line is going strong with everything your
customers need. Desks, Workstations, Chairs, Monitor Mounts, Laptop
Solutions, Lecterns & Podiums, Conference Tables, Break Room Tables, White Boards and Printer Stands… we have it all! Need help with a quote or want more information on this lucrative line, contact John at jpatterson@techno-aide.com.

Super SPONGE Mania: Thank You to everyone who has stepped up to the plate to try our expanded line of sponges. The response has been overwhelming because of our variety and pricing, and we greatly appreciate your support! If you haven’t tried our standard, coated or bariatric positioning sponges, you’re missing out on a great deal! We now have 10 pages of sponges to meet all your customer’s needs. Call 800.251.2629 for pricing and
information.

UMG/Del Medical takes that responsibility seriously and has a variety of resources that will assist you in making the sale and improve your after sale technical support.

· Other classes for 2010 will cover Del equipment, generators, and R/F systems, as well as application and service specific training for all conventional and digital imaging products

· Technical information is just a click a way! Instant access to installation manuals, room planning guidance, technical specifications and more is available 24/7 on our website dedicated to technical support and service www.delmedicaltechsupport.com. This site can also be accessed from the Technical Support section of the Del Medical site, www.delmedical.com where you will also find pdf versions of all our sales literature.

There are two principles that are required if you want your business to be taken seriously on the internet. First and foremost, NEVER use a free email address such as Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail for business correspondence. Always use an email address associated with your business domain name. The second is credible website hosting, which is what we’ll focus on in this article. Your website consists of files which must be stored on a computer (file server) connected to the internet and website hosting is a service whereby you "rent" space on that file server.

The list of companies vying for your business is an endless one. It can be challenging to decide between the many who claim to be the highest rated and those clamoring to be the least expensive. For most website designers and developers, the decision is easy. We sort fact from fiction, but for those not regularly engaged in the industry the decision can seem almost impossible to make. The best way to select the best host is to follow a simple selection process used by professionals.

1. Assessment. Assess your website and your website hosting requirements. Will your website be of a personal or professional nature? What type of website will you have (i.e. ecommerce, brochure)? What additional features do you plan on having in the future? Do you plan on having a secure section?

2. Reliability. The best website hosting companies guarantee 99% uptime and limited shared website hosting of their servers. It will not help you to have a website that is barely up due to constant maintenance issues or loads slowly because of cramped server conditions.

3. Data. As your website grows in popularity so will your bandwidth requirements. It is far better to pay for an adequate amount of bandwidth ahead of time as part of your monthly bill, than receive a surprise bill for going over a set limit. The same philosophy should be applied to disk space. Whether it’s because your company has expanded or you have decided to utilize your website more, odds are expansion is in your website’s future. The last thing you want is an additional fee for disk space.

4. Tech Support. Like system restore on your computer or regular backups of your files, most people hardly think of this one until they need it. It is very important to be able to not only contact your website hosting company, but also receive a response from them at any time. The best website hosting support is US based and is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The best website hosting companies will offer that support via online chat, email, phone, a support ticketing system and even a members’ only section.

5. Special Features. These come in handy when you’re looking to enhance your website but still lower overall development and maintenance costs. Email addresses are standard, but the ability to check your email online is not. Online forms to acquire visitor data are standard, but the ability to host those forms on a secure server is not. In addition there are a variety of scripts and software that can enhance your website without the need to hire a programmer.

6. Control Panel. Will you have to submit a support ticket every time you need a password changed? Will you have to wait endless days for your website hosting company to add a new email address to your account? The type of Control Panel offered establishes how much control you will actually have of your website and overall account. It also determines the learning curve involved so check to see if they offer a free demo of their Control Panel before you sign up because they aren’t all the same.

7. Rate. While you will be tempted to go for the lowest price you can find, remember you will also be getting what you pay for or as James Goldsmith once said "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys". Companies offering dedicated servers will be substantially higher than those offering limited bandwidth. Competition from overseas is tempting, but there are many negative factors to consider including limited or poor tech support. Free website hosting is fine as long as you realize the advertisements will make your website hosting company money while turning off your visitors.

As you create your list of potential companies keep in mind that, although pricing is important, your website hosting company should never be chosen on price alone. Finding out later on that you selected the wrong company or one which cannot fully support your requirements can be troubling. Transferring your website to another host is not always easy and most of the time it will cost you between several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on the scope of your website.

Regardless of the size of your company or website, your business is just as important as everyone else’s and thus you should receive the most for it. Never sign up with the first company you find. Do your research, ask questions and when in doubt seek experienced assistance. Jendee Web Design Services offers website hosting designed around your website requirements from reputable and cost effective providers. Contact us if you require any assistance. We’re always here to help you.

About the author: Jeanette Iurato is a full-time web developer, freelance writer, and the owner of Jendee Web Design Services, LLC. The www.jendee.net website is dedicated to helping existing small businesses on the Internet and those interested in getting started. You can follow Jeanette and share your thoughts at www.twitter.com/jendeedotnet