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Now that you have finished creating your
webpage it is time to think about publishing it. When we talk about
publishing a web page it is generally thought to mean uploading it
to the web for public viewing. However some programs like
WebDwarf v2, also call it publishing, when you change from the
programs proprietary format to HTML. I mention this to help
clear any confusion that may arise in the event you are not using
Trellian WebPage. In thinking about publishing your site you need to
find a host and you need to be sure you have created your Meta Tags
and Keywords. When using Trellian WebPage you will find it has a
Meta Tag editor built in that includes a Keywords tab. Having Meta
Tags and Keywords is essential for the search engines to position
your site in their search. Without them the search engines will not
list your site and you will receive no traffic. When you open the
Meta Tag editor you will find space for the title of your site. The
title should less than 10 words or 100 characters. The title should
focus on what your site is about. You will also see a place for a
rating and description of your site. The rating is something like
general or adult or under 14. The description is one or two
sentences that tell about your site. Keep it to the point and no
more than 25 words. You should try and use as many of your keywords
as possible. Next is the key word tab. When you select the keyword
tab you will start by selecting new and after you type in the word
you will need to select new again for each word until you are
finished. Once you have inserted your keywords you can go back and
edit any of them to change the order or add new words. It is
important to make sure the keywords you use are actually on the
page. I only use the meta tag editor on my index page, so if I had
an intro / index page that was just pictures or a flash video then
the search engines may not list my site. This is why it is important
to have the words on the actual page.
Now to find a host. There are many
places that offer free hosting. What you need to do is decide what
kind of site interference you are willing to put up with. You see
most of the sites will require you accept their popup windows or
banners to get the site for free. Keep in mind that most of the free
sites are quite strict about pornography and other illegal things,
because such things could cause them many legal problems. Some sites
out there do not require popups or anything. It is my
experience that these sites are generally new and are trying to get
traffic. Once they have enough traffic they usually try and start
making money with the traffic by advertising with popups and
banners. Then they will add the requirement. If you pick a site with
a banner at the top of your page you will need to design it so there
is space for the banner above your page or they may overlap and look
quite bad. Here is a link to a site that list a bunch of hosting
sites that Require no adds. You can use
WebFerret a free and very nice web search program, which I have used
for years. (Check out the programs page.) Just type in free webspace
and it will find more information about that than you can
use.
When selecting your host you need to
decide how you want to upload your page. It seems to me that most
sites have some form of file editor that will allow you to upload
your files, but often they work only with one file at a time. This
can be very time consuming. I recommend using a free FTP Client.
There are many to choose from but I tend to like FileZilla free from
SourceForge.net (see programs page). However not all sites allow FTP
access, so you will need to decide which you want before you sign up
for the host. I selected FateBack from the list in the link above
because it allowed FTP, has no adds and provides an enormous amount
of space. At this point WB WebDesign is less than 2 meg and the
finished site won't be much larger, so you can see that the 60 meg
of space is very large. With FTP you can upload complete folders
instead of individual files this is much easier. If you decide on
using an FTP Client then you will need to check with the help
section of the host and get the protocol you will need to access
your site. This will probably consist of the sites address or host's
address, your user name and your password. Well, now that you have
your host selected, have signed up with them, and uploaded your site
there a few things you might want to add or not. Like a counter, a
guest book, mini polls, message forums and many other things that
will help keep people coming back. A very good place to get some of
these is Bravenet (see the links page). You will also need to submit
your site to some search engines. There are some search engines that
charge for submission. They are as you can imagine probably the
best, but this being a free site they just won't do. However there
some free ones and these are what I use (see my Links
page). |
