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WestHost Webmaster Connection
Tips on Web Development, Marketing, and E-Commerce
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Contents of this issue:
*Specials
- End of Summer Special - Our BEST package ever!
- Dedicated Server Special - Discounted pricing and waived
setup fees.
*Web Development Tips
- Search Engine Friendly URLs with mod_rewrite
*Marketing Tips
- Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to
Your Company's Web Site
*Notable Site
- PRsearch.net
*Quote of the week
- The extra mile
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- Specials -
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- End Of Summer Special -
WestHost is offering a fantastic value on our End of Summer Special
package! This package offers more "bang for your buck" than any other
package WestHost has ever offered. The offer is good for a limited
time only. For more details, please visit:
http://www.westhost.com/web-hosting.html
- Dedicated Server Special -
During the month of August WestHost is discounting the price of our
dedicated servers! Take advantage of waived and discounted set up
fees and monthly pricing. Be sure to take advantage of this special
while it still lasts! For more information, please visit:
http://dedicated.westhost.com
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- Web Development Tips -
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Search Engine Friendly URLs with mod_rewrite
By Eric Rosebrock
Tidy up your URL by using mod_rewrite. Not only will this hide the
query string, but it will make the URL look more presentable.
Friendly URL's are a very important thing to have when developing a
dynamic content site that uses long query strings. A query string is
something similar to a URL like you'll see on Ebay, Google and other
big sites. If you're running a small to medium size website and you
want to make your URL's a little easier to find you can do so via
Apache's mod_rewrite by following this tutorial.
Prerequisites
You'll need to have Apache's mod_rewrite compiled into your Apache
Web Server and you'll need to have access to setting some options
up in your httpd.conf or at least have a server admin who's willing
to do it for you. You can follow my tutorial for installing Apache
web server on Linux here. For quick reference, the configure options
for mod_rewrite are:
./configure
--enable-module=rewrite
--enable-shared=rewrite
I strongly urge you to carefully consider what other options you
need to compile into your Apache installation. The above example is
only for this one module.
Once you've compiled Apache to use mod_rewrite, you will need to
setup the httpd.conf file. Here's how I set mine up for this
particular situtation.
<Directory /www/htdocs/yoursite>
Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks Includes MultiViews
</Directory>
Some of the above directory options may not be necessary for what
you are trying to do. You'll have to decide if you need them. If
you are having problems you can also try to use AllowOverride All to
see if you can get it to work.
Planning
It's a very important idea that you plan how to rewrite you URL's
because you don't want to go back and change the links over and over
again. Once you've got a good steady map of how to rewrite your
links, you can go ahead and modify a test script to see if
everything worked. If your links work properly then you'll be able
to move on and modify all existing links. Let's take a look at this
example below:
Query String URL: http://yoursite.com/tutorials.php?req=tutorial&id=3&page=0
mod_rewrite URL: http://yoursite.com/tutorials/3/0.php
Doesn't that look much friendlier?
Once you've compiled Apache, edited the httpd.conf file and planned
your URL rewriting, you're ready to setup your .htaccess file which
maps out what to do with each URL. Here's an example of what to put
in your .htaccess file. I'll explain how this works below.
(To continue reading this article, please visit:
http://www.devshed.com/c/b/Apache/Search-Engine-Friendly-URLs-with-mod-rewrite/)
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- Marketing Tips -
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Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your
Company's Web Site
The Basics of Search Marketing
You are ready to go. You are motivated. You are just itching to dive
into search marketing. But where do you start? The basics, that’s
where.
First, in Chapter 1, “Why Search Marketing Is Important . . . and
Difficult,” we examine what search marketing is all about. We look
at the way search usage is exploding and why search marketing is so
valuable to your organization—how it can drive visitors to your Web
site. You will be convinced that your Web site cannot ignore Web
searchers any longer. But before being overcome by irrational
exuberance, we also take a cold look at why some companies find
search marketing so hard to do—and why the larger your Web site, the
tougher it is.
Building on that overview, Chapter 2, “How Search Engines Work,”
dives into how search engines work—what happens when someone is
looking for a word, where the results on the screen come from, and
how your Web site can show up right on that search results page. You
will take a guided tour of the leading search engines and learn
which ones to pay attention to. That sets the stage for Chapter 3,
“How Search Marketing Works,” where we dig into search marketing
methods. We teach you the three basic search marketing techniques,
pointing out the benefits of each, so you can start thinking about
which ones are most important to you. We also explain how each
technique works and review which search companies you will work with
for each one.
We wind up Part 1 with Chapter 4, “How Searchers Work,” where we
peek inside the mind of the searcher. Find out what these folks are
really looking for when they type in one or two words. Learn to use
your knowledge of searchers to your advantage.
Regardless of what job you have now, by the time you complete Part
1, you will have all the background needed to be a search engine
marketer. You will know the terminology and the concepts. You will
be ready to learn how to create your very own search marketing plan.
(To continue reading this article, please visit:
http://www.webreference.com/programming/search/)
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- Notable Site -
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PRsearch.net
PRSearch.net offers some great search engine tools such as a PageRank
Search, Link Popularity Checker, and a Google Position feature
that will return a Google search ranking based off of a keyword. A
great tool for any webmaster.
To find out more, please visit http://www.prsearch.net
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- Quote of the Week -
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“Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who
achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives
and careers merely following? The extra mile.”
--Gary Ryan Blair
_____________________________________________________________________
Sponsored by WestHost
http://www.westhost.com
Editor: Zack Esser
zesser@westhost.com
Editor: Bevan Erickson
berickson@westhost.com
Copyright 1998-2005, WestHost, All rights reserved. No
part of this publication may be reproduced in whole,
or in part, without the express written consent of the
author.
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