| IsMyWebsite 101 | ||
| This guide will teach you the very basics about using our host. If you need additional help, there's a section on getting it in this tutorial. Feel free to print it off. | ||
| 1) | Getting In | |
| • | Creating an Account | |
| In order to start using IsMyWebsite, you will first need to create an account. Our registration is designed with simplicity in mind. Start at http://join.ismywebsite.com/. Enter a username and your email address. Optionally, you can choose to enter a second email address. This will ensure communication can continue if something happens to your first email. If you are concerned about giving away your email address, see our privacy policy. We are very careful about the emails we send out, and you can individually set your email receiving preferences. Note: Be sure to read our rules on the registration page. We have put them in plain English for a reason. You should soon receive an email at your email address with your initial password. If you do not, there are a number of options on the next page to have the email resent or to try a different email account. If you navigate away from that page, or you fail to receive your password, you can send us an email and we will be glad to assist. | ||
| • | Creating a Website | |
| Some IsMyWebsite users come to advertise, others come to take advantage of our credits program, and still others come to be an Advisor in our system. It is for this reason we do not automatically create a website for all users. To create your first website, visit your hosting section. Click the giant banner that says 'Start Hosting Today'. In the future, you will need to click the 'Create New Website' link at the bottom. Now, you will come to a page that you need to fill out. It should be fairly explanatory. Please fill in a valid description as this will be used extensively in the future. We also need to know what you are going to build so we can better meet your needs. The acceptance process is guaranteed to take less than 48 hours, but usually is around or under 1 hour. We realize the value of your time, and are working on making it as quick and efficient as possible. (15 minutes is our current goal.) While you are waiting is a great opportunity to try out your account and our forums. If your website is rejected, and you know the content of your site complies with our rules, just edit the description and submit it again. Obviously it's easier if you fill in your description the first time, and some of our website accepters are more strict than others. | ||
| 2) | Building Your Website | |
| • | Basic File Structure | |
| Once your site is accepted, you will have access to all the features you need to edit it. To start, visit your 'Hosting' section and click the secure 'CPanel' button. Automatically you will be logged into CPanel. You will see lots of icons. Each is a tool you may one day use for your website, but many of them you don't need to bother with. Right now you are only interested in the 'File Manager', which looks like a file folder. The public_html directory is where your files go to be publicly visible on the internet. Do not worry about any of the other directories for now. If you go to your domain right when it is recreated, you will see an 'Under Construction' page already there. You can find that file at 'public_html/index.php' and edit it to say whatever you want - or you can delete it and create another file named 'index.php', 'index.htm', or 'index.html' which is now the main index page of your site. Do remember that placing ads on your site is required to support our service. Please work with us to find an effective and non-intrusive solution. | ||
| • | Using a Domain | |
| This is a two step process, and will only work if you own the domain. If you do not own a domain, there are a number of places you can get free ones. First, set the nameservers to ns1.ismywebsite.com and ns2.ismywebsite.com. If you bought the domain from us, this is already done. Next, go into your CPanel account and to the 'Addon Domain' tool. Add the domain there. Finally, you must wait 48 hours for the changes to happen all over the world. This is a process known as propagation. If, after 48 hours, things do not work, contact us and we will try to assist. | ||
| • | Setting Up FTP | |
| There is lots of information if you click the 'FTP' link next to your website. Any additional questions can be asked on the forums. | ||
| • | Installing with Fantastico | |
| Wouldn't it be great if you could have that forum, blog, or other standard website up and online in seconds. You can with Fantastico! You will find the link to it in your CPanel. Fantastico is so incredibly easy to use, I don't think it needs much explanation. But if you're stuck, do send us an email. | ||
| • | Inserting Advertising Code | |
| Our service is supported by the ads you place on your site. That's right - you place them. We're more than a little tired of services that place them in the same place for every site, because for most of those sites, the layout is ruined to some degree by the new 'content'. This is a great new privelege, but it's also a great new responsibility. If you don't place your ads properly, ultimately it means less features for you in the future. I can't pull money out of thin air, and servers cost money. So, ultimately if you have to give up a small chunk of your site but it means a reliable, free, long-term, easy-to-use, and fully featured professional hosting experience, isn't it worth it? You can start placing ads by clicking 'Generate Advertising' in the 'Hosting' section of your account. | ||
| 3) | Finding Help | |
| • | Start With a Search | |
| Most answers can be found easily on Google. | ||
| • | The Ask Page | |
| See if someone has already asked your question at http://ask.ismywebsite.com. If they haven't, an answer will be added later. | ||
| • | Our Forums | |
| Meet and discuss with other members of our site. They're bound to have the answer you want. Getting signed up for the forum is not difficult. Just visit the 'Community' section of your account and click the 'Create Forum Account' link. | ||
| • | The Advisor System | |
| An Advisor is someone who works one on one with your to help you develop and improve your website. | ||
| • | Contact the Admin | |
| If you've got my MSN from the registration, you can use that. Otherwise, just email me or send a private message to 'Azoundria'. | ||
| 4) | Credits and More | |
| • | The MarketPlace | |
| Since most of you live and deal with money on a daily basis, you should get the hang of this system fairly quickly. There are many ways you can earn credits, from purchasing them to placing ads to helping out with odd jobs to posting on our forums. See the full list in the 'Overview' section of your account by clicking the 'Earn More Credits' link. Once you have saved up your credits, you can buy something big on our site. For example, a new domain name. That means a Top Level Domain. A .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .mobi, or .eu! We are constantly getting more items in stock, including e-books, advertising services, layouts, scripts, software, graphics, and more. See the 'Spend Your Credits' link in your account's overview section for the complete list. | ||
| • | Earning with AdSense | |
| This is by far the most effective method of earning for serious clients. Just leave ads on your site, and get paid credits. It's that simple. To sign up, visit the third banner in the 'Earn More Credits' section of your account. There are two options: The first is the easiest and probably the most effective. It's to let us place the ads for you. Give us guidelines if you want, in the comment box. We have experience in placing ads in a way that interferes the least with your content or layout - yet gives a high amount of profit back. The second is to send us the dimensions, hexadecimal colours, and other specification for your ads. We will then email you the code. It's custom-generated so please be patient. There is a tutorial on hexadecimal numbers if you don't know what they are, and everything else should be easy to understand. The main thing you want to know is this: Tiny ads placed in a corner of even the most popular website do almost nothing compared to large ads placed in the prime areas of a slightly successful websites. The bigger, the better. You want to place them in the middle of your content, where people's eyes go. And try to make them look like they've part of your page. Here's some tips from Google. | ||
| • | Buying More Credits | |
| We accept PayPal, or any credit cards. Just click the 'Purchase More Credits' link in your account's overview section. We appreciate your contribution to our host. | ||
| • | Suggest New Products | |
| We are open to suggestions by email - especially if you know how we can get them for cheap and they look like something lots of clients would be interested in. | ||
| 5) | Expanding Your Website | |
| • | Getting a Review | |
| First, you'll need a forum account. You can find a link to create one in your account's 'Community' section. Next, find the 'Website Reviews' forum and click 'Post New Topic'. Enter a link to your website and some information about what specifically you'd like a review on. Once we have seen your review, and your complete website with ads placed, you will be advanced to the next stage. | ||
| • | Marketing | |
| Everyone has trouble with it. Discuss your tips and strategies in our forums. | ||
| • | Dealing with Growth | |
| If you need more storage, bandwidth or other features, please send us an email. | ||
| • | Hosting Multiple Websites | |
| You are never allowed to have more than one account, however you can host as many websites as you want from your account. Just visit the 'Hosting' section and click the 'Create New Website' link at the bottom. | ||
| 6) | Some Common Problems | |
| • | Forgotten Password | |
| Just send us an email. Simple as that... | ||
| • | 404 Page Not Found Error | |
| Double check that the file exists. Remember that filenames are case-senitive. ('index.htm' is not the same as 'index.HTM'.) And finally, make sure your files are placed in the public_html directory. Only files in the public_html directory will be publicly visible on the internet. | ||
| • | 500 Internal Server Error | |
| Set the access for the file or folder to '755' or a smaller value if it is set to '777'. You can do this through File Manager. Also, check that any .htaccess file is not setting any PHP delimiters. You must use a php.ini file for this. There's tutorials on them here. | ||
| • | Under Construction Page | |
| Simply edit the file 'public_html/index.php' or create an alternative 'public_html/index.php', 'public_html/index.htm', or 'public_html/index.html' file. | ||
| • | Can't Login to CPanel | |
| Basically, just let us know. Be sure to include any error you see when you try to access your website or if it loads. | ||