It’s becoming more well known among webmasters that links are important if you want your web site to be found. Some webmasters and search engine optimizers will buy links to increase their link popularity and chances of being found on search engines. Another method of getting links to your web site is by link exchanges.

A link exchange is an agreement between two webmasters of two web sites. They agree to place a link to the other’s web site, usually in a links directory or links page. Exchanging links in such a way can increase the web site’s chances of being found on search engines and it also provides a resource for visitors of a web site who are looking for similar sites to browse.

With increasing numbers of webmasters aware of search engine optimization and link exchanges, many of these webmasters have started to use “black-hat” search engine optimization techniques as outlined in the page, The Shady Side of Link Exchanges.

So what does constitutes as a “good” web site to exchange links with? (Read more…)

One of the fastest growing populations of computer users and information seekers on the internet are the people over 60 years old, also known as the “Silver Surfers”. They’re also often the ones with the money to spend on the internet, so it may be well worthwhile to keep the older population in mind when design your web site. This article includes tips and ideas for designing your web site to be Silver-Surfer-friendly. It will discuss:

• Font choices
• Color choices
• Links
• Using images
• Layout
• Advertising

(Read more…)

There are several methods to password protect a web page, some are more secure than others. One method is by using cookies and PHP, an example of this is the php script developed by Zann Marketing, Simple Authorization Script (SAS). This small and simple script allows users to password protect web pages without using a database. This feature of SAS is great for webmasters who do not have access to databases such as MySQL.

Although SAS is quite “secure”, it is not the most secure form of password protection. The most secure form of password protection is through the use of .htaccess and .htpasswd files. (Read more…)

It’s debatable whether buying text links will help or hurt your web site. I personally feel that text link buying is a just another form of advertising, like banner advertising or affiliate marketing, so I don’t believe it will hurt web sites.

As with any type of advertising, selecting your target audience is vital. I always say it’s hard, if not impossible, to sell apples to someone looking for oranges, so always advertise on web sites that are in the same theme as yours.

There’s three basic ways of buying text links.

1. Approach the web site yourself
2. Go through a brokerage
3. Get a promotion/search engine optimization company to do it for you

(Read more…)

Changing the look of your forms is a great way to personalize your pages. Adding borders, background colors and alignment to your forms are all possible. Here are some examples of how to use CSS to customize your forms and input fields. (Read more…)

There are 2 ways of getting your .html pages to parse PHP, this is via:

1. .htaccess
2. httpd.conf

In both methods above, you need to make sure that your server supports PHP.

Which method to choose?

For most webmasters who uses shared hosting and do not have access to their server’s configuration files, you would use method one, via .htaccess. If you have access to your server’s configuration files, that is, you have a dedicated server and can access httpd.conf, then use method two, via httpd.conf.

(Read more…)

The following PHP code snipplet is useful for displaying different text depending on the date. This is particularly useful for time limited specials and promotions where you can set up your special or promotion and its expiration date, then forget about it.

The PHP code

Add the following code at the top of your web page. This will set the variable $buffer, which contains the text string you wish to print out depending on the date.

<?php
$buffer = '';
$expiry_date = mktime(0,0,0,12,31,2005);
if ($expiry_date > time()) {
$buffer = 'This string will appear before the date December 31, 2005.';
} else {
$buffer = 'This string will appear after the date December 31, 2005.';
}
?>

Explanation

Line 1: Start PHP.
Line 2: Set $buffer variable as empty (creates the variable $buffer).
Line 3: Set the expiry date variable, $expiry_date, this is in the format of mktime(hour, minute, second, month, day, year) where each time is a integer.
Line 4: If the the date (time()) is before the expiry date ($expiry_date), then…
Line 5: Set the variable, $buffer, with the text string “This string will appear before the date December 31, 2005.”
Line 6: Else, if the date is after the expiry date, then…
Line 7: Set the variable, $buffer, with the text string “This string will appear after the date December 31, 2005.”
Line 8: Closes the If
Line 9: End of PHP

Calling the variable

In the HTML or XHTML section of your web page, use the following code where you would like to display the variable’s, that is, $buffer’s text string.

<?=$buffer?>

Using PHP, you can add the current date to your webpage. Add the following line of PHP code to your web page in the place where you wish the current date to be displayed.

<?=date('F d, Y',time())?>

The above will display the date in the format of “month day, year”. The month is displayed in words and the day and year in numbers.

The date function is in the format of date(string format [, int timestamp] ), where the string format determines they way the date is formatted, eg July 12, 2005 or 7/12/05. The parameter “int timestamp” or integer timestamp is optional, you can leave the timestamp blank and the current local time will be used, that is, time().

See the PHP manual on date function for more information on the date function and for a list of the format characters.

Image hotlinking is when another web site links to your images (usually without your permission or knowledge). Most webmasters don’t appreciate others linking to their images as this uses up their bandwidth and can end up costing the webmaster quite some money.

Using htaccess a mod rewrites, you can:

1. Ban all hotlinkers
2. Ban one particular hotlinker
3. Show a different image to one particular hotlinker

(Read more…)

What are favicons?

Favicons (pronounced “fav-eye-cons”), short for “favorites icon”, are 16 x 16 pixel icons that are displayed by your web browser. Favicons are typically displayed in the address bar of the web browser, on the left of the web page’s URL. An example of a favicon in the browser’s address bar:

(Read more…)