Getting>Creating>Having Your Own Persona l Website

“There are lots of you who have a personal website, and some are just beginning theirs. So how's come I don't have one, you may be wondering...well, I don't know. But I'd love to have one to work with.

What are my options to getting webspace in the first place? Price? What do I gotta do to get one?”

“Doesn't your ISP provide personal webspace for you?”

“Tripod, GeoCities and Angelfire are popular free services and require very little technical know-how.”

“Be very careful about reading the fine print when agreeing to free web hosting. Usually there is a clause that states once your content is placed on their server it becomes their property. Hello all you photographers, writers, poets and artists out there!

Also if they accidentially or otherwise delete your content. Tough luck.”

“Good point, GS...I have a RoadRunner internet connection through Time Warner Cable. I'm not sure if they provide free space, but I'll be sure to check.

Thanks for the tips! Keep the suggestions, recommendations, things-to-consider coming.”

“I run a professional web site - www.horrordvds.com - and I use Smart Hosting as the hoster. That's your starting point - finding a place to store and host your web pages. Then you need to think of a domain name and register it. Smart Hosting has invidiual plans for as low as $10/month.

If you can't afford that, there are lots of free hosters out there. You have to deal with ads on your pages and tons of spam mail, however.

I offered it before and I'll offer it again - if anyone wants a few megabytes of space on my site, I'd be happy to create them a folder off my site to store pages. www.horrordvds.com/yourname/ or whatever. You could also access it by IP address (128.128.128.128/yourname/), since the name of my site has nothing to do with hiking. Hey, it's free and there are no ads! Shoot me an email - daveanderson@eudoramail.com if you're interested.

Once you have a place to put the pages, get yourself a decent text editor (HomeSite is a great HTML editor, and not as dumbed down as Front Page), an FTP client (CuteFtp seems to be the popular one), and an imaging program (PaintShop is pretty decent for the price). From there you work the magic and make the web pages!”

“I have mine on geocities. It was real easy to set up and get it running. We'll see how it does when I start getting more pics on it...”

“I have tried several of the FREE servers.. I have my site on Tripod now.. and LIKE it.. :)

They offer the largest free space for one thing.”

“I have mine on talkcity....”

“I am just starting to design my own little site myself. It is surprisingly boring - my rambling on about hiking, with a few pitctures of flat Florida. I guess I need to add some lists. I started it on Geocities but the popdown ads are really irritating. I like the tripod site on yours Towndog.”

“I've been using geocities for a while. The only thing that irritates me is their restriction on the types of file you can upload.

I understand the implications of .mp3 or .wav, but why not .ttf? Silly if you ask me.

The ads aren't that bad because if you want, you can close them when you enter the site.

I plan on paying for some space in the near future and getting a domain name registered. I think that as you become more engrossed on improving and adding to your site, you'll come to the same conclusion. Using free space is definetly the way to go if you're just getting your feet wet.”

“Liam do you mean TIF files? If you do it's because they are massive compared to jpg and gif files. They are overkill if you are doing web work.”

“So I should work with a free-provided site till I get my chit together...then pay for some space and getting a domain name registered when I feel I need more room to grow. Would you suggest just starting with paid space? Is it easy to change providers and still keep and transfer everything from the original site?”

“Big Coop: wow.. thankies!

liamoconnor: I was able (thru a phone call) to have tripod set my 'bits' differently for my website to allow the 'restricted' files extensions... I have mp3's on there. (they are my son during original material)

Buddur: It depends on what is important to you.. for me.. I am just NOW considering going to a 'pay' site to get rid of ads and get a little more bandwidth. My point is this.. why PAY for your site, unless your site makes money?”

“Right on Buddur, I'd start free you might like doing it.

Moving your data is no big deal but ALWAYS keep a current copy of everything on your own machine. Like I said, free space means they don't give a crap about the integrity of your data or downtime.

I pay for a commercial account because I want total control over my content and servers plus it gives me a true development arena.”

“but you do it for a living, HPM.

shoot.. you prolly show it on your income tax as a business expense.. :)”

“Not yet I don't. Eventually I will though. I've just got to build a site that makes money. I'm thinking about (more like dreaming) of quitting work and writing trail guides. Gotta hike 'em to write about 'em. Such tough work.”

“I keep thinking there is money to be made at it.. but right now.. I will just see if I can write a trip report that someone will actually read.”

“I pay for my hosting service, 'cause I wanted a place to develop over the years, no ads and for an email address(es) that will never, ever change unless I want it to.

I haven't had a lot of time to work on it, and I am a complete novice. Learning as I go. I will use it for photo albums when webshots is no longer free, am using it for trip logs and planning.

why pay for something that doesn't make money? I makes fun. Irritates my wife though, she puts up with it, but would rather I didn't have it. It helped when I made a simple web page for my six year old so he can easily find his favorite sites.”

“I've read every trip report you have posted to your site so far.
¦ P

.”

“heh... thanks skully!!.. -- but outside of this small community.. who even knows I write.. and who even cares?”

“How would you know one way or the other? Most people just read and go on. They don't usually fire off an email or register a comment on the guestbook. How many hits is your page getting? Most of them are reading at least some of it.”

“skully, you are feeding my ego.

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	Your site had 89 page views yesterday.
	Total page views this month: 2050

”

“Sorry.. too many spaces in the HTML.

Here's what you wanted to know: Your site had 89 page views yesterday. Total page views this month: 2050”

“"How would you know one way or the other? Most people just read and go on. They don't usually fire off an email or register a comment on the guestbook. How many hits is your page getting? Most of them are reading at least some of it."

skullcap
09:48:29 AM
01/30/02

I just don't feel like I am writing anything of quality yet.

I really really want to get inspired.. so much that my spirit will completely 'envelope' my lack of inherent writing skill and formal training.

I know the times that I felt like I really wrote half well, I could not put down the words fast enough.. it was like there was a story, BEGGING to come out -- and was getting perturbed by the fact of how long it was taking me to write it all down.”

“My Webshots album has had a grand total of 2 guestbook entries since I opened the account. However, it averages 200 views per week and several downloads for each album per week. Are people looking? Yes. Do they like what they see? Apparently. Are they going out of there way to tell me about it? No. I don't really need them to although you're right, feedback is nice.”

“i read you trip reports as well TD, you just need to get them out there.b Your reports are great and right on !”

“And I should say, I am not looking for strokes.. just stating what I think are the facts. A 100 views a day is hardly a following worth getting excited about.

I had really hoped that backpacker magazine or someone would have wanted ONE story from me.. I got friends that are getting published!”

“Whatever you do pick some place that doesn't have pop ups. If it has pop ups they won't come back...unless yer Matt the Webmaster.

My brother has a huge chunk so he let me piggyback one of his sites. That's why my addies are Matt Westfall.blahblahwhatever. If you can creat a site without M$ Frontpage I'd do that. I have all kinds of trouble with Frontpage.”

“I did have one great hit. Trying to track down distant relatives in Switzerland, got an email from a Schaffner in the same Canton that my great, great grandfather emigrated from. Hard to place a monetary value on it, but its certainly of value to me!”

“Nigal: all my pages are migrating to DreamWeaver.. give me a little longer to get it all done.”

“Nigal: I hired a consultant!.. hehe.. We just haven't decided on price yet.

Prowler: You are being kind. In all honesty?.. The emails I LOVE?.. Are the ones who found my webpage by accident while doing a search.”

“A little quiz.. Springer Mountain.. a common theme tied every story together.. anyone know what it was?”

“I once had a girl e mail because she was doing a search for a fat comedian who did an act where he gets thrown out of a Chinees buffet and wanted to know the name. She used the phrase, "You go now! You been here four hour!" and my site came up because I used the line in discribing a post-hike trip to a Chinees buffet with birch in an old trip journal entry. LOL!”

“nigal:: exactly!!.. I got an email the other day from a guy who wanted the phone number to Savoire's, because he read my recipe for Courtbouillion from the Titanium Chef section.”

“It's worth paying a registration site to register your site with all the search engines too. I got 300 registrations for $5 at Ineedhits.com. That's where the really interesting hits come from.”

“$5 annually?”

“No, it's a onetime deal. It take FOREVER for the registrations to get added to the search engines (like 8 months sometimes) and to do the work yourself is a pain in the arse. I'm not sure what they charge now, maybe like $20?”

“TownDawg's consultant is a slacker, that why his new interface isn't up yet.

It's so hard to get good help these days. ;)”

“HPM: LMAO!! heh.. well hey.. at least I found a talented slacker.”

“I try, I try.”

“"takes FOREVER for the registrations to get added to the search engines."

nigal
10:45:59 AM
01/30/02

I always figured all that crap was a scam to get your money. I figured they got software now to sniff it all out and add the keywords to the search engine databases automatically.”

“I've heard they do have things called "spiders" but with such a narrow field of interest a personal hiking page isn't going to get too high a billing. I did notice a jump in hits when the registrations did start going through.”

“$5 is not worth an internal debate for me.. i will get that done today.. well maybe after I get the new *nudge nudge* format done.”

“I gotta quit checking in here during the day! The topic of search engines prompted me to search to see if my page came up in yahoo. It did, but so did a bunch of other stuff I want to chase down!”

“Digital Drifter search on Google and BANG! First hit. Score. \o/

Do a search on Tekapo and there's some kind of mountaineer's / hikers mecca in New Zealand or something. Eh, whatever.”

“packmule,

Geocities won't let you upload TTF (not TIF) files. This restricts me from using obscure fonts and offering them to viewers. Instead, anytime I want to use a font that's outside the mainstream of TNR and Arial, I more or less have to create a .gif. A few of us have petitioned geocities to change their policy to allow for .ttf's, but all we ever get is an automated e-response.”

“do a search on Snow Nymph and you get my home page, Salvia coccinea (flower) aka Snow Nymph or Coral Nymph, nymphs for fly fishing and bait, faeries and fantasy, some porn video that takes place at a ski resort......”

“Anyone ever take a look at their site logs to see how people found their sites? It's amazing how people have found my site through a totally unrelated search.

Alas the mystery of search engines.”