What do I put on my web site?
Whatever
you want - business, leisure, hobbies, personal information, pictures,
etc. What we do suggest is, that serious thought be given to the
home page design. The home page is the first page people come to
when they go to your web site.
The home
page should be limited in size so visitors will not become impatient
when loading your first page. We have one of the fastest servers
on the internet, but visitors are limited with their dial-up access
and modem speed, often below 28k bps.
To
keep visitors from abandoning your home page, keep it below 65K
bits. That includes your HTML code and graphics. The idea is
to let people see your first page, and get them interested. Then
you can link the higher resolution graphics, mass content, animation’s,
(slower loading pages), etc. from your home page.
You
should state a clear concept, or objective, from your home page.
Several reasons are: When people visit to your site they may leave
it after loading the home page if they don't understand what it's
for. Also, search engines rank your site by word content of your
home page. If your concept is plainly explained your web site will
rank higher on searches. For more information on search engines,
click here.
How
do I create my web site?
There
are many ways to create your web pages, from the simple and inexpensive,
to complex and costly. Here are links to a little of both. For quality
pages at reasonable prices first visit The
Web Depot's Design Services. We design customer web sites at
a discount for using our hosting services. The best value for your
money is here.
If you
prefer to do it yourself, here are a few links we found to help
get you started:
- Netscape
Gold - It's the best browser out there and it does good basic
HTML design
- Creating
Net Sites - Netscapes website creation pages (these are very
helpful!)
- NCSA
Beginner's Guide to HTML - A very good tutorial on HTML
- Hot
Dog - One of the best WebSite builders out there, from Sausage
Software
How
do I upload (FTP) my web site to the Internet?
There
are two easy ways of uploading your web site to the Internet. FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) software or your browser, note: all browsers
are not capable of FTP. Although most do...
To understand
the concept, just think of your web site being a directory, or set
of directories on The Web Depot's Internet Server. You have access
to your own directory on the server. The directory you use has your
address assigned to it (SOMEBODY.com or thewebdepot.com/YOU).
You need
to upload (or transfer) your HTML files (.htm or .html), graphic
files (.gif or .jpg), or other files: sound files, video files,
etc. Make sure you name the page that you want to appear first "index.html"
you can also use "index.htm" or "homepage.htm".
The best
FTP software we have found is WS_FTP. Download
it and try it out. With WS_FTP you can view your local directory
and your server directory at The Web Depot at the same time. WS_FTP
allows you to upload, rename existing files, delete old files, and
view file transfer time.
Only four
blanks need to be filled in to connect to your directory on the
server:
- HostName
- ftp.your-site-name.com
- HostType
- Automatic Detect
- User
ID - (same as site name, but without the .com, .net, .org, etc.)
- Password
- (supplied in sign up form)
then click
on "OK".
Of course
you can access a search engine and find any FTP software you prefer.
You can
also use your Browser to FTP to your Web Depot directory. The downside
is you will not be able to delete old files from The Web Depot's
directory. Some browsers have one button publishing, for instance
Netscape 2.0 Gold and higher. Look under the "Options" Menu and
then "Editor Preferences" then Publish, all you have to do is set
up the information like this: ftp://ftp.thewebdepot.com/YOU
or ftp://ftp.SOMEBODY.com replace "SOMEBODY" with your site
name.
If you
do not have one button publishing, enter this in your GOTO address:
- For
Basic and Plus plans enter: ftp://USER@thewebdepot.com/YOU
where "USER" is your user name and "YOU" is your site name.
- For
virtual domains enter: ftp://USER@YOU.com
where "USER" is your user name and "YOU" is your site name.
You will
then be prompted for your password, enter it, and your browser will
display the current directory in The Web Depot's server. Go under
your "File" menu of your browser and select "Upload File" and you
should select your web site files to upload.
If you
have trouble with any of these uploading techniques please contact
the webmaster@thewebdepot.com
and we will help you out.
Once
my site is uploaded, what do I do?
If you
want results from the web site, keep it fresh and up-to-date. It
does take a little work to keep traffic coming to the site. If you
have products, make sure they are in stock, and the prices are correct.
If you have links to other sites, make sure they are still valid.
Roam around your site just to make sure everything is right.
Visit
other sites that provide the same things you do. Get new ideas to
enhance your site. Try different advertising methods and find out
what works best.
Make
sure you are on the search engines. You might want to try the Link
Exchange. See if your local newspaper will do a story on your business
and web site. Make sure you check your email regularly and respond
to inquiries and questions.
There
are many ways to have a great web site, but you must work on it
to get great results. As we have found at The Web Depot, service
is everything!
How
do I get traffic to my site?
Even
if you have the best looking site on the Internet it will not generate
traffic without the search engines. We have dedicated a lot of time
with not only getting on the search engines, but also ranking high
on them.
The Web
Depot provides all of our customers with our own "Search Engine
Tips" and search engine submission. We submit your site up to 500
search engines at no extra cost for signing up with us.
First,
visit our Search Engine Tips page for ideas
to get your web site to higher search rankings. Then use The Web
Depot's search engine submission form
to have us get your site on the engines. This is the number one
way to get nation-wide or world-wide exposure.
The Internet
Link Exchange is a good method of getting people to visit your site
also. It works by putting your banner on other Link Exchange member's
pages. The frequency of this depends on how many hits you get on
your pages. They have a 2 to 1 hit ratio, if your site gets hit
200 times, they display your banner on 100 different sites. If you
need help making a banner, let The Web Depot make one for you. We'll
help you lay it out and we will create it for you at a very reasonable
cost. We'll even sign you up with the Link Exchange and put the
HTML code into your site pages.
Other
methods of getting traffic to your site include:
- Your
local newspaper: some will do a story on your business just because
you have a web site.
- Your
business cards: put your web address on them.
- Printed
advertising: put your web address on any advertisement you currently
use. People are likely to check your site out later, or just out
of curiosity.
- Telephone
directory: add your web address to the telephone yellow pages
as well.
How
do I get onto the search engines?
The Web
Depot provides all of our customers with our Search Engine Tips
and submission. We submit your site up to 500 of the search engines
at no extra cost for signing up with us.
Visit
our tips page for higher search ranking.
Then use The Web Depot's search engine submission
form to have us get your site on the engines. This is the number
one way to get nation wide or world wide exposure.
How
do I enhance my web site?
There
are lots of ways to enhance your website. Here are a few ideas:
Animated
GIFs:
The easiest way to enhance a website is with Animated GIFs. These
are the easiest way to add animation to your website, and they are
easy to make.
Plus, for more information on animated gifs, check out our
own HTML Help page.
VRML:
This is a scripting language similar to HTML, but instead of normal
2D websites, you can build 3D websites,and most browsers have an
interface similar to games like Doom. VRML requires a little more
involvement than animated GIFs because you will probably have to
createyour VRML files from scratch.
Java:
Java is definitely the most powerful way to enhance yourwebsite, but
it is also the most complex and difficult. Java is a programming language
created with the internetin mind, and can allow your website to be
fully interactive. Here are some links to websites that will be helpful
if you are new to Java:
How
do I get a counter on my web site?
If you
want to track how many visitors come to your site, or a particular
page - simply ask!
We set up each page counter for your use, and we will set up as
many as you need. And we do it free on any service plan from The
Web Depot.
We'll
Email you the script, to insert into your page (if you design your
own), or we will insert it for you (designed by The Web Depot, Inc.).
Don't worry, it's only one line of HTML and we will help those who
need it.
Here
at The Web Depot we use a dedicated counter on our system, just
so other - not so ethical web site owners - don't borrow our system
resources. It's a great counter that doesn't miss a beat.
How
do I get an order form on my web site?
Need
an order form to take customer information? The Web Depot gives
all of our customers script to use for forms to Email. Our sign-up
form is one example of an order form. All
you have to do is create a form with the needed inputs, or let The
Web Depot create one for you.
Then we give you the script you need to insert at the beginning
of your Order Form, it's only a few lines of HTML. Just request
order form script, and give us your Email address that you want
the order to be delivered to.
I
have a good site, but I need a little help.
The Web
Depot can help, if you have a good idea and don't quite know how
to achieve it, ask us.
We have
an excellent staff that is very knowledgeable about the Internet.
With technology advancing at such a rapid rate, each staff member
is required to be involved in continuiing professional development
to further knowledge in this area. We can help you with anything
from simple HTML guidance, to graphics manipulation, to questions
on Database/Web interaction. The Web Depot specializes in web site
solutions for your business.
Can
I password protect some pages on my site?
Do you
have sensitive information only specific people should have access
to? The Web Depot can give you password protection to specific pages
or files. Just request
where you need it, we charge a small fee for the password protection
setup, but there are no monthly charges.
How
do I use your secure server, what is it?
We use
a Secure Server that provides the security to transfer sensitive
information across the net without the worry of it being intercepted.
This is great for order forms, or intra-company information. If
you have signed-up with one of The Web Depot service plans that
offer this, just tell
us which pages you want secure. If you have an alternate plan
and would like to add this feature, it's only $10 a month extra.
For more
information on Internet security, click here.
What
Email features can I use?
The Web
Depot Email system has extensive features that many ISPs don't offer.
Especially if you own your own domain name, for instance sales@somebody.com
you probably already have an Email account from your local access
provider, but we offer:
- POP
or SMTP Email Accounts
- Auto
Forward Messages - Forward incoming Email to a different Email
address (your local Email if need)
- Wild
Card forwarding - We can also set up WILD CARD forwarding
so any name "*@somebody.com" can be directed to your local Email
account.
- User
Password Modification - Change your Email password whenever
you want
- Auto
Reply Messages - Immediately reply to an incoming Email with
a pre-designed message
- Reply
From - Feature used with Auto Reply, insert a different reply
to header
- Reply
just once - Feature used with Auto Reply, only reply once
to each Email sender.
- Echo
Message - Feature used with Auto Reply, send original message
back with the reply.
- No
Reply To - Feature used with Auto Reply, do not reply to specific
addresses.
There are
many reasons to use The Web Depot Email, check your service plan to
see how many accounts you can use. Let
us know what accounts you need set up, or how to access these
features. If you need extras
we can set you up with as many as you need.
