My How to: Website

Thursday, November 4, 2010

How to Build a Ladder Website

Everything is easy when you know how it is done but to make a ladder website is an entirely different thing. For one, knowledge of programming languages will be a big help. Even if you do not know Perl/VB or are new to coding, you can get help online from those who do know the stuff. There are also written scripts available for free on the internet. Once you get hold of that you are well on your way to make a ladder website.

Things You'll Need:

Domain
Web host
Ladder content

Step 1:

Get to know the elements that are involved. A ladder website can contain rudiments like blogs and forums, activities like previews and reviews, codes and scripts free or at a cost for users and also your facebook and twitter accounts.

Step 2:

Think of a theme for the site. The ladder website should have a main theme, say for example action games. Make layouts related to the theme. Save them as templates which you can use as you add on more pages.

Step 3:

Design the logo and banners. Select relevant graphics and colors.

Step 4:

Organize your rungs. The gaming activities should be foremost as they will be the ones that get published the most, probably more than 5 times in a day. Next will follow the social networks depending upon their frequency. The blogs can follow next and lastly your newsletter which will be only once a week.

Step 5:

Collect ladder scripts from well-known sites. If they are offered free, check them well as they may have a lot of mistakes. You can even take them apart and redo them according to your needs. You can also make your own scripts if you know programming. If that is going to take much of your time, pay the experts to make them especially for you.

Step 6:

Get a hosting domain. A simple Google search will bring up free and paid domain hosting sites for you. For a ladder website, the most recommend one is that go for the paid ones as they will offer more options and flexibility.

Step 7:

Select relevant keywords. They are the success behind your site. The right keywords will bring in new people everyday through search engines. Once you put them in your site, try them out by inputting them in search engines and checking the results. If your site does not come up in the first two pages, then try other keywords.

Step 8:

Test out the site. First, post a small content with the keyword in the first rung of your ladder to check its popularity with the readers. Then check out the workings of the ladder to work out any faults in the scripts.

Tips:

Make sure the ladder is easy to understand and user friendly. If it is confusing, your readers may not visit you again.

References:

Sunday, October 24, 2010

How to Create Your Own Email Service

One of the ways the sites like Yahoo and Google maintain a dominant presence on the Internet is by offering free email service. This not only has users returning to their website multiple times per day, but also distributes a large amount of ad inventory, thus earning revenue. This same technique can be applied to most any website. It is certainly possible to add an email service to your existing website, or to create a special site that focuses exclusively on the email service.

Materials:

Dedicated Server
Email Server Software

Step 1:

Choose a domain to use for your email website. If you will be adding this service as an additional function to your existing website, then you will already have a domain and can skip this step. Otherwise, think of several dot-com names that you would be interested in using. Ideally, try to use a name that consists of no more than three words. You may need to try several domains before you find one that is not already owned by someone.

Step 2:

Set up a dedicated server account with your web host. A basic shared server may work OK for a simple website, but if you are allowing the public to send, receive and store email messages on your server, then you will need to upgrade to a dedicated server. If your site becomes widely popular you will need to expand your infrastructure to include a network of cloud servers, but a single dedicated server is more than ample to initially launch your email website. Any web hosting company can set up and manage a dedicated server for your email business.

Step 3:

Choose an email server software solution. The solution that you select will depend on what services you will offer and how extensive you want them to be. If you just want to start a basic email website, you may wish to go with a hosted solution, such as MailEnable. These solutions host the email traffic on their own server and carry a smaller upfront cost, but you will loses some control over your operation. If you wish to maintain complete control over your mail service, consider using hMailServer, which is a free email server software package that works on Microsoft Windows servers. If you require more extensive services, look over IceWarp Mail Server, which will allow you to offer email, instant messaging and even VOIP telephone service. There are a large number of software options on the market. Consider them carefully and choose the one that works best for you.

Step 4:

Complete your web development. Think of your website as the front end of your business. Once the software has been installed on the server, or back end, you can develop a website that connects your visitors to that software. The software itself will provide you with API code that can be copied and pasted into your web template to provide users with the access they need for signing up, logging in and managing their email account.

Tips:

Set up your email software to automatically attach a footer message to each email that is sent. This allows you to get an advertisement for your email website or your advertisers added to the bottom of your member's emails, resulting in additional exposure.

References:

Resources: