• Planning your website : The first steps to building your website are to figure out what it about, how it’s going to work, and how you want it to look.
• Creating your website : A brief overview on finding a web host, coding and a list of supplies.
• Text Coding or WYSIWYG : The Pro’s and Con’s of Text Coding and WYSIWYG editors.
• WYSIWYG Editors : Descriptions of the major WYSIWYG editors, including Dreamweaver and Go Live!
• Text Code Editors : I recommend using Arachnophilia 4.0 to edit HTML and CSS files.
• Learning HTML : This is practically a required step to becoming a webmaster of any worth. Even if you plan on using Dreamweaver or Frontpage, you should still learn some HTML.
• Build a Website’s HTML Tutorial : My very own HTML tutorial. It covers most of the basic commands as well as frames and tables.
• Other HTML Tutorials : A mini-directory to other HTML tutorials that I find useful.
• CSS Tutorials : Another mini-directory, this one of CSS tutorials and resources that are useful.
• Finding a Web host : A guide to finding a web host.
• Free or Paid : An article outlining a few of the differences between free and paid web hosting.
• Finding a Free Host : Explains how to choose an acceptable free host.
• Finding a Paid Host : An article on how to choose a good host; includes links to helpful resources.
• Vitural, Dedicated or Reseller : A simple guide explaining the differences between those kinds of web hosting accounts.
• Features : Explains what many of the features that your web host offers accually do.
• Domain Names : Explains how to register a domain name.
• Short URLS : Features information about Short URLs and free domains as well as a glossary of useful terms regarding the subject.
• Short URLS/Free Domain names : Includes a guide to learning how to use short URLs, and information about Short URLs.
• URL Snippers : A short article on what URL snippers do, and how to use them best.
• Uploading your website : A guide with introductions to uploading files via your browser and via FTP to the internet.
• FTP Clients : Short reviews of various FTP clients.
• How to FTP : A guide to using a FTP client (program) to upload a website to the internet. I used SmartFTP in this tutorial.
• Getting Visitors : Information about getting people to go to your website.
• Search Engines : Information about the major and minor seach engines.
• Major Directories : Brief descriptions of the major web directories.
• Basic SEO : Just some basic information about search engine optimization (SEO)
• Submitting to Directories : A guide to efficently submitting to directories.
• Forums : Forums and websites to learn about SEO.
• Making Money
• Publishing Banner Ads : Information about putting banner advertisements on your website to make money.
• Google Adsense: An informational article about Google Adsense.

Skip to Descriptions of…
  The ODP
  LookSmart-Zeal
  Yahoo
  Bluefind
  GoGuides
  JoeAnt
  WoW Directory

The Open Directory Project, aka The ODP or DMOZ, is an open source project to build a comprehensive directory. Anyone is allowed to download and use the directory through RDF dumps that DMOZ puts out every now and then. The ODP relies on volunteers to add and manage parts of the directory. You are can add your website to the queue, without becoming a member; a DMOZ editor must review submissions in the queue before it gets included into their directory.Go to the DMOZ

LookSmart is a publicly traded company under the symbols LOOK. A couple years ago LookSmart bought Zeal, a volunteer powered web directory similar to the ODP. Zeal handles all of the non-profit/information sites while LookSmart handles commercial sites. Non-commercial and information sites can be included in the LookSmart-Zeal directory for free. Commercial sites have to pay $29 to set up each listing and $0.15 per click. If your website is non-commercial; you must register and pass the member quiz, before you can submit your site. A Zealot or LookSmart Editor will review site profiles before they get added to the directory. A Zealot is an volunteer editor from Zeal.
Go to Zeal. Go to LookSmart

Yahoo is one of the oldest web directories still around. There is a free submission option and a paid submission option which costs $299. Hardly anyone gets in through the free submission, anymore. Recently the Yahoo Web Directory results were removed from their search engine results. Go to Yahoo.

Bluefind is a pretty new directory, which is professionaly edited by workers in Bluefind’s office in Seattle. Currently the only option to submit is by paying a one time fee of $40, alternatively you can pay extra for a Sponsor listing. Most of the pages in Bluefind have rather high PRs so it can be worth it to pay for a listing. Go to Bluefind.

GoGuides is very similar to The ODP. It was created by editors from the former Go.com Directory which no longer exists. The main difference is that GoGuides have quality ratings to measure their editing ability. GoGuides is a relatively new directory. Go to Go Guides

JoeAnt, like GoGuides, was created by former Go.com editors. Only the top editors are able to add sites to their directory. Lower level editors can only submit sites. Go to JoeAnt.

WoW directory features a free, express ($10) and sponsor listing ($20). WoW’s major unique feature is it’s focus on regional catagories.Go to WoW

  These are the most common, and cheapest, type of web hosting plan. Usually you share the server with up to a couple hundred other websites. Occasionally a host may try to cram as many as a thousand websites on one server! Since you would share the server with MANY other websites ( if you choose this type of plan ), you would share the resources with the others on the server. If many of the websites on the server begin to take up too much of the server’s resources ( bandwidth, space, CPU power, RAM), then the server can slow down to a grinding halt. You don’t get ROOT access and cannot customize software very easily. This type of plan is best suited for blogs, personal websites, small-medium sized community websites, and other types of moderately popular sites.

  If you plan on starting up a hosting biz or just need more space and bandwidth this is probably the best type of plan. You don’t get as much freedom as you would if you had a dedicated server or semi-dedicated server, but most reseller plans come with a lot of extras that you wouldn’t get with a virtual hosting plan. The extras include: more bandwidth, more space, IP adresses, the ability to resell space and bandwidth to others, and custom nameservers. Unless you’ve had experience as a webmaster for at least a few months you shouldn’t get a reseller plan to resell hosting and stuff.

Dedicated Server

  A dedicated server is for established websites using upwards of 100 gbs of bandwidth. It’s also for people who are serious about making a hosting business. You can lease a dedicated server from several reputable datacenters like ServerBeach or EV-1. You can install and do almost anything you want on a dedicated server.

Virtual Private Server

  A virtual private server is a section of a dedicated server that’s all yours. A VPS is pretty much of like a mini-dedicated server. You have root access, meaning you can install almost any program, and the server is virtually split between yourself and a few others.

Introduction
One of the main problems that people face when making a website is how they’ll upload their pages to the Internet. To most first time webmasters it’s a rather daunting task, but it’s actually really easy. There are 2 basic ways to upload a file to a web server, which will make it available on the Internet. The first is by using web-based pages and the second is FTP.

Web Based Uploading
Most free and paid web hosts will give you the ability to upload your pages on the Internet through your control panel. It’s a very simple process to upload the page. First you login to your control panel, then get to the page which will allow you to upload files. In many control panels, you have to go to the “Manage Files” or “File Manager” page to get to the page that will let you upload files. Once you find it, click the “Browse (for files)….” button. The prompt will show you a file manager window that will allow you to upload files. Find the file and click the ‘Open’ button. Most web based file uploading systems allow you to upload a bunch of files at the same time. So once you’ve chosen all the files you’d like to upload, click the ‘Upload’ button. Also if you’re uploading updated versions of an existing page, remember to check off the ‘Overwrite existing files’ option.

FTP
FTP might seem somewhat scary to the first time user but it’s actually very simple to use. Most of FTP clients (programs) allow you to simply drag and drop files from your hard drive on to the web server. I personally recommend SmartFTP. To get SmartFTP go to their download page: http://www.smartftp.com/download/. It’s completely free for non-commercial uses and it’s really easy to use. One of the things that you need to get is your FTP login ID. Keep in mind that most free hosts don’t support FTP. If you’ve paid for your web hosting, your host should support FTP. If they don’t, you should probably leave them. Anyways, your host will usually send you your FTP login information in an email. So once you’ve installed SmartFTP or whatever FTP program you’ve chosen to use, you have to login.

To learn how to use a FTP client continue on to: Using a FTP Client.

Introduction
Transferring a website from one web host to another may seem tedious, but fear not there are other ways than doing it manually, file by file. If you’d like to take the easy way out, check if your new host offers to move your website to their servers. Sometimes they’ll do it for free other times they might charge a fee for it. I personally wouldn’t pay more than $10 for a service like that, but that’s just me. If they don’t offer a service like that you can always ask them and they might do it.

Doing it Manually
This is pretty self-explanatory. The most basic way to transfer a site is to download the entire site by FTP, and then re-upload it to the new server. Remember to re-CHMOD script files!

Using Cpanel Backups
This is the easiest way to transfer your website to a new server. The one thing that you must have no matter what is Cpanel. Cpanel is an online Control Panel. If you don’t know if you’re using Cpanel contact your host and ask. Also if you’re being hosted for free, chances are you aren’t using Cpanel. Note to all dial-up users, this method is not recommended because of the last step. Oh and to people using the Ensim control panel. You guys can probably do the same thing, but I’m not sure if the backup files from an Ensim control panel are compatible with Cpanel or vice-versa.

First thing you need to do is download a backup. Just find the “Backup” icon or link and click on it. Then download the “Home Directory Backup” or “Today’s Backup,” along with any databases that you might be using. Note, when backing up databases try to get the back up through PHPmyadmin, there should be a link to it on your control panel. The backups will be downloaded in the “tar.gz” or “.gz” file formats.

Next you need ask your new web host to give you the IP address (example: 22.232.291.22) of the server that you’re going to be hosted on and the location of the login to Cpanel. Usually the IP address that lets you login to FTP is the same thing, but add a :2082 to the end of it (example: 22.232.291.33:2082). The reason you need to use the IP address is because you website isn’t going to instantly resolve to the new server, once you change you’re DNS servers, so you need to do transfer the files before hand, to avoid down-time.

Once you’ve logged into Cpanel on your new host. Go to the “Backup” page, and then go to the “Restore a Home Backup” field and click the “Browse…” button right next to it. Find the backup that you downloaded from your old host and select it, and click “Open.” Next, click the “Upload” button, that’s right next the “Browse…” button. It might take awhile to upload the new backup, depending on how large your site is. Once it finishes uploading, upload the backups of any SQL databases that you may have. Finally, login to your FTP and check if the files uploaded and unpacked correctly.

Things to Keep in Mind

Don’t change your DNS server info until you’ve transferred you website to your new host.

Don’t delete your website from your old host, for at least 4 days or even at all.

Remember to re-lock your domains, once you’ve changed the DNS information.

Using Offsite Services: Information about using off site services to monitor or record you website’s traffic, such as counters and tracking by buttons/code.

Log file Analyzers: Information about using a script based tracker that anyalzes your log files and is located on your server. Usually you don’t have to do anything to install the program, since most good hosts will install a script as a standard feature.

Understanding the Numbers: How to read and understand the numbers a web tracker provides you.

Introduction
Attempting to read the stats provided by a web tracker for the first time might be a little bit confusing. Sure a lot of the terms mean exactly what you think they mean, but others will make you thin wha?!

Basic Terms and Understanding the Numbers

Entry Page: The first page a visitor views.

Exit Page: The last page a visitor views.

Geo Tracking: A grouping of stats which tell you the locations from which your visitors hail from.

Hit: A hit is a request made to the server for a file, any type of file. So hit’s aren’t a good way to measure web traffic since one page view can generate like 20 hits.

Pages/Page Views/Impressions: Is the total number of times any of your pages were viewed for a given period of time.

Referrers: Are the sites which linked to your site and lead a visitor to your site, or file such as an image or pdf.

Search String: The phrase/words that a visitor searched in a search engine to find your site.

System Tracking: A grouping of stats which tell you the operating system, browser, and screen resolution that your visitors use.

Unique (Visitor): Is the number of people who visited your site in a given period of time.

User Agents: The web browser that a visitor was using.

Query (Queries): The phrase which a visitor typed in into a search engine that led them to your site.

Visit/User Session: A visit is when a request is made to the server for a web page. One user who visits then leaves and visits and leaves periodically may register more than one visit.

Just so that you don’t get confused or just stay less confused, here are a few terms that you should know before reading on.

Cloaking/masking: As in a domain, URL or subdomain.
Essentially a cloak/mask allows someone to type you.shortened-url.com into the URL bar in your web browser to get to your site, which would be at you.some-other-website.com . So as long as a person stays on your site, your site will continue to be cloaked by the shortened URL. So no matter which page, or website, a visitor is at, the URL bar will always show it as you.shortened-url.com . There are some problems with this since if someone tries to bookmark a page they’ll always end up on your homepage. Also if a visitor follows a link to another website from your website, when they’re visiting your website through a cloak, the cloak will stay with them.

To correctly link to another website to free your visitor from the cloak, simply add target=”_top” to all your link commands in HTML.
Examples:

DNS: Domain Name System
DNS allows you to pretty much use a free sub-domain/domain exactly like you would with a real full-fledged domain. However, you must either have a web-server, or a web-hosting account that is capable of using it.

Dynamic IP:
This is something that you would use if you hosted your website from a computer in your house, with a high-speed internet connection. When a free subdomain/domain supports this you can host your site on the computer in your house and access it from the sub-domain/domain, exactly the same way as you would with any other website.

Path forwarding:
This is a newer feature that many websites that offer cloaks/masks, which essentially is an upgraded cloak, making a short URL act a little more like a real domain with real DNS. Pretty much with path forwarding you can type in you.shortened-url.com/photos.html, and then the cloak will bring up you.some-other-website-that-hosts-your-website.com/photos.html, and the location bar will say that it’s located at you.shortened-url.com/photos.html . Pretty nifty eh? The only bad part is that your website is still stuck in a cloak. So if someone visits your site though you.shortened-url.com/photos.html, then if they click a link, to go to say, your homepage, the URL bar will still show the location as you.shortened-url.com/photos.html.
Examples:

URL forward/redirection:
Similar to a cloak/mask, a URL forward/redirection will send a visitor to your website when they type in you.shortened-url.com into the URL/location bar thing. Only with a URL forward/redirection the location bar will show the URL as you.some-other-website-that-hosts-your-website.com instead of you.shortened-url.com .
Example: