This Page is a Place Holder for
's
Future Web Site

This file is called index.php and lives in your /public_html directory of your account.

It must be replaced with your own homepage called either (case sensitive so keep it all lower case)

1. index.php
2. index.html
3. index.htm

If you put an index.html or index.htm file in /public_html you should delete this index.php file since it will no longer be needed.

If your site is enabled with Microsoft Frontpage (check out the tutorials on turning this feature on), you may use it to replace or edit this page by connecting to this server by using the username and password that was supplied to you.  Make sure to open the public_html when you login.

You may also wish to use other publishing tools to create your website, and in that case you will want to use a FTP client to transfer your web pages onto your web site.  Here is a simple and quick guide to getting your website up and running in no time!

1. Create Content
2. Publish Your Content
3. Publicise Your Site

1. Create Content

There are a variety of ways to create content. The easiest way is to use a graphical Web content publishing tool. We recommended an open source (FREE) program called NVU, or Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe's Fireworks or a variety of other free publishing tools that you can find on the internet.

Other tools that are helpful include graphical editing tools such as another recommended open source (FREE) project GIMP or Paintshop Pro and even more dynamic content generators like Macromedia's Flash.

You may also wish to edit your contents yourself by using a text editor and learning HTML. Here are some pointers to learning HTML :

• Web Monkey
• HTML Goodies
• Web Style Guide
• W3C HTML Homepage

2. Publish your content

Once you've finished your page/site, you'll need to upload it to your web server. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) allows a person to transfer files between two computers. You can find yourself an FTP client which executes all the commands in a drag-and-drop interface. We highly recommend another opensource (FREE) project SMART FTP which makes the publishing process simple. Choosing one is simply a matter of personal preference. Some of the more popular PAID FTP clients for Windows-based computers include WS_FTP, CuteFTP, and for Macintosh computers include Fetch, and Interarchy.

FTP Basics
To FTP, you will need to know the host location, as well as your username and password. All your web site content is stored in the /public_html directory.

Using an FTP Client
Most FTP clients have the same basic layout, functionality. All clients come with documentation, and it shouldn't take you long to figure out how to get started.

We have movie tutorials on how to use several FTP clients on our tutorial page.

But here are a few basics:

• There will be some kind of "Site Manager" feature which will store all your FTP locations and their corresponding login information. Once you enter this info, the client will automatically log you in.
• There will be three screens. One representing your local machine, one representing the remote host, and one which shows the files that are queued for transfer. You will need to navigate to the correct folders on both your local machine and the host machine.
• You will then highlight the files you wish to upload on your local machine, and there should be a button at the top that queues the files for upload. The upload might execute immediately, or you might have to hit a "Go" button first.
• That's it! Your files are uploaded! You should now be able to go to your URL and view the page.

3. Publicise Your Site

Search Engines and Internet Catalogs / Directories
Probably the most common way to publicise your site and generate traffic is to submit it to search engines (i.e. Google) and internet catalogs (i.e. Yahoo!). Most of these sites have a form you can fill out to submit your site.

Your control panel has a quick method under "Preinstalled Scripts", "Search Engine Submit", that will submit your site to 6 search engines.

To save yourself some more time, you can try a service that submits your site to multiple search engines and internet catalogs by filling out just one form. There are many of these services out there, such as addme.com.

By adding meta tags to your site, you can increase the relevancy of your pages in people's searches. Have a read of our SEO section in our resources area.

Reciprocal Links
If your page has a theme, seek out pages with similar themes and ask the webmaster to post a link to your site. In exchange, you should (or may be required) to add a link to their site on yours. This is a great way to get the word out about your site for free.

Newsgroups
Look for newsgroups where you think people who would be interested in your site might frequent. Post a message announcing your site and its features. Don't do this too often as it is sometimes considered Spamming (unsolicited advertising).

Web Rings
If there are other pages that are similar to yours, there might be a web ring out there dedicated to your kind of site. Do an internet search for "web ring" and include a keyword related to your site. If you join a web ring, you will need to add a web ring graphic and links to your page.

Advertising
We highly recommend that you start with Google Adwords firrst off. It's cheap (if done correctly) and extremely fast to get a response to test your market out first. Once you have your message tested and all is going well you can roll out more budget and do other online advertising methods.