Make sure to check back every day this week as I will be releasing 1 new chapter each day!

Finding A Web Host:

Finding the right web host is the most important part of getting your website up and running. Web hosts are important because this is where all the actual content for your website will be stored. Without a web host, you don’t have a website.

While there are hundreds- if not thousands- of options out there for web hosts, I like to stick to who, and what, works. In this case, it would be HostGator. HostGator has been on the scene since 2002, and currently hosts more than 5 million websites from around the world. Their customer service team is top-notch- fast, friendly and oh so helpful. I personally have been with Hostgator since 2005 or 2006, and can’t imagine hosting my websites elsewhere.

What makes HostGator such a great choice is not just their top-notch service team. Their prices are more than affordable, and you are certainly going to get your money’s worth! You can choose pretty much whatever plan you like, however if you’re going to spend $7/mo, on a basic hosting plan, you might as well go all out spend the extra $4 to get a full-featured business plan.

During the check-out process, you’ll be asked if you want to register (purchase) a domain name, or if you have one you already want to use. Enter the address of the domain you purchased earlier under ‘I Currently Have A Domain Name’. Don’t forget to enter coupon code VANILLACHAI at the bottom of the page for an additional $9.95 in savings. You can get started today for as little as $0.01! You can’t go wrong!

Connecting You Domain Name To Your New Hosting Account:

Congratulations! You have now purchased your hosting account through HostGator and are ready to connect your domain name so people can visit your website.

If you aren’t already, go ahead and login into your cPanel- this is where you will manage the back-end part of your website. Everybody’s cPanel address is different and you should have received this address in an email from HostGator. You’ll want to bookmark this address because you will use it quite frequently to manage your site.

Once you’ve logged in, you want to scroll to the very bottom of the page. On the left hand side, you should see a box similar to this one (I have blocked out some of my information for security purposes):

The highlighted information is important, so you will want to write it down somewhere. This information is your Domain Name Server (DNS for short). You will be entering this information into your GoDaddy account with the domain you just purchased. Once you enter this information, your new domain name will be connected to your hosting account with HostGator, and your website will finally be ready for the world access!

Back on track here- you will want to write down your DNS information. You can see that my DNS are ns485.hostgator.com and ns486.hostgator.com. What you need to do now is go back to GoDaddy and log into your account.

Once logged in, you will want to click on “My Account”:

Now, click on the name of the domain you would like to manage:

On the toolbar located just above “Domain Information”, you will want to click the button that says “Nameservers” and click on “Set Nameservers”:

In the little window that pops up, choose “I have specific nameservers for my domains.” Enter one nameserver address per box. Even though there are 4 boxes, you will only need the first two. Do no worry about the last two boxes. You can just leave those empty:

Once you’ve entered your nameservers into the boxes, hit “OK” and you’re done!

Congratulations!

You have successfully set up your domain name to your hosting account. It might take a couple hours for your address to propagate (to become available). Just keep checking back every now and again, and eventually you’ll see a default Hostgator page instead of a GoDaddy page. Your website is now ready to edit! This process is going to be relatively the same no matter what hosting provider you have or who you registered your domain name with. You just need your two DNS addresses and the DNS management area through your domain registrar.

In my next tutorial, I will give you a brief overview of how to use an FTP (File Transfer Protocal) program to upload files to your server. If you already know how to use FTP, you can skip that article and move onto How To Install WordPress.

Shorten Those URLs:
The first and most popular way of hiding your affiliate links is by using what are referred to as URL shortening services. The purpose of these services is to take really long addresses and bring them down to a length that’s good for posting in social networking sites. Examples of these kinds of websites include Bit.ly and TinyURL.

Unfortunately the general public has become aware of this form of link cloaking, and many people are being advised not to click on links like these because you never know what’s behind them.

Using Your Domain To Hide Your Links:
Another, lesser known, method of hiding your links is by using the META REFRESH technique. With this, you upload a small .html file to your web host that automatically redirects your visitors to your affiliate link. And the best part- when a user hovers over your link, it looks like it’s a link to another page in your website!

Now maybe this is cruel. Some might even refer to it as deceptive and I have to admit, in a way it is. But if you really think about it, the whole concept of marketing is deceptive. Yet we take part in it every single day.

So here’s how you do it. Rather than using an affiliate link, I am just going to use a simple link to Google.com.

First, create a directory on your server called google. Then open up a text editing program such as Notepad (PCs) or TextEdit (Macs) and paste in the following lines of code. Then save your file as index.html and upload to the google directory you just created your server:

Go ahead and click on my link: Google.

You’ll notice that if you hover over the link, in your status bar the address reads as http://www.vanilla-chai.nu/sites/google. Pretty sneaky, eh? Let me explain how you can fix this to suit your needs:

Take a look at this line of code:

The part we want to edit is the address after

This is where you’ll put your affiliate link. After that is the title area. You can leave this area blank if you want- but I like to go to the destination page and use the same title that they’re using. It just makes the transition look much smoother. You don’t want your title to say “Google” if you’re directing them to a Clickbank affiliate- it just looks sloppy.

Now, I didn’t want to explain this last part but I think I will anyway because depending on your needs, you may wish to use it.

Take a look at this line of the code:

This is the amount of time that passes, in seconds, from the time the page is called up to the time it redirects to your specified URL. Setting this to 0 means there is no wait- it is an automatic redirect.

However, you may wish to put a notice on your page that says something like, “You are being redirected. If you have not been redirect after 10 seconds, please click here to continue”. We’ve all seen those kinds of pages. What you do is you set the content=0 to the specified amount of time. Here it’s 10 seconds. You can use any number you want, but it’s best to keep it low. People are notoriously impatient after all.

I did this and this is what my code looks like:

And you can check out my page in action at http://www.vanilla-chai.nu/sites/google2.

So there you have it! An easy way to hide your affiliate links, so no one will ever know!

Make sure to check back every day this week as I will be releasing 1 new chapter each day!

Choosing Your Domain Name:

For some people this step might seem pretty obvious. You’d be surprised though how many millions of people don’t know what the process of purchasing a domain name is like, as they have never had to do it before. So this guide (and subsequent ones) are written in a format that even the most inexperienced of computer users can follow.

Now, having a top-level domain name (ie, acmecorp.com) is not a necessity for your hobby or business, however it does look more professional and it makes your website much easier to find and navigate to. Just to give an example, which would you rather have for a domain name:

http://sites.acmecorp.com/janesartsandcraftssite OR http://www.craftsbyjane.com

Hopefully you’d want to choose the second option. It’s short, sweet and to the point which is important to the success of any website.

But what’s in a name, exactly? How do you pick the right domain name? It’s really not as hard as it seems. Think about the purpose of your website. What will you be discussing? What do you want to offer your visitors? Do you travel a lot and want to share you travels with the world? Are you crafty, and want to show off your creations?

No matter what the purpose of your website is, there is one important thing you want to remember when choosing the perfect domain name: Shorter domain names are better. In other words, employ the K.I.S.S. method (Keep It Simple, Stupid). The reason why shorter domains are better is because they’re easier to remember. There is no right or wrong answer to choosing a domain name, just keep it simple.

I would make a list of 3-5 domain name options that all have some relevancy to the topic of your site. More is always better, but 3-5 should suffice. If your site is going to revolve around your crafting hobby, you don’t want an address like www.janestopmovies.com. It confuses people. So try to come up with names that reflect the purpose of your site, if at all possible. Try to be unique in your choices, as well. As of June 2011, there are an estimated 350 million registered domains out there on the internet. This means there is high competition for domain names, and it’s highly likely that your first choice will not be available.

If you’re really struggling to come up with a name, check out such websites as NameBoy, Dot-O-Mater and Bust-A-Name.

Purchasing Your Domain Name:

Now that you’ve made a list of possible domain name choices, it’s time to purchase that name. There are many different places you can go to to register your name such as GoDaddy and 1&1. GoDaddy is a little more on the expensive side but they are the most popular and most trusted domain name registrar on the internet.

1&1 on the other hand is the least expensive of the two. Domain names are only $0.99 for the first year of service (as opposed to the standard $11.99 fee that GoDaddy charges). Be weary though, and always check customer reviews before you ever make a purchase. Yes 1&1 is much, much cheaper but if you read the reviews you will quickly discover that you’re getting exactly what you’re paying for. Almost every review of 1&1 that you’ll find is negative, but people continue to use them because they’re cheap. So it’s a trade-off really and you’ll have to decide which is more important to you: price or peace of mind.

I personally suggest going with GoDaddy myself. Of the 5 domain names I currently own, 4 of them are registered with GoDaddy and for the purpose of this post, I am going to stick with them.

The first part of all this is pretty easy. Go to GoDaddy, enter your domain choice in the box and hit ‘Go’. As I said before, there is a lot of competition out there for domain names so if your first choice isn’t available, just keep searching until you find one that satisfies you. Once you’ve settled on an available name, put a check in the box next to it and click the orange “Continue To Registration” button.

When you hit step 3 of the checkout process (Your Privacy and Domain Protection), I highly suggest going with the second option, Privacy With Business Registration. This is not necessary to purchase, but it hides your personal information when people look up your domain in the WHOIS database. WHOIS is a database that lists personally identifiable information about the owner(s) of a particular domain name. Information such as name, address and phone number(s) will show up in search results and this information is publicly available to anybody, any time, anywhere, free of charge. So if you don’t want people to find this information, use private registration.

Click the orange “next” button to continue to checkout.

Congratulations!

At this point your domain purchase should be complete. Your website is now live but there will be nothing there except for a bunch of ads. This is because your domain is currently parked with GoDaddy. Until you point your domain to a web host, this is what your website will continue to look like. We’ll take care of that later on.

Stay tuned because tomorrow I’ll be discussing hosting options in the Website Series Part 2: Finding A Web Host.

I’ve performed more searches than I care to even admit to on “free website traffic”. But all the search results are the same: either pay for your traffic or do things like submit articles to article directories, add a link to the bottom of your emails, add a link to your forum signatures, etc. The reason these methods keep getting repeated is because they work. I get that much.

What I want to know is, how do you bring traffic to your website? Have you utilized some unique methods that have worked for you? Do you take out ads in the local paper? How about hanging up flyers on telephone poles and at the local market? Do you purposely leave business cards on the table at a restaurant? I’ve even read articles that suggest using a display computer at stores like Wal*Mart and Staples and leave your website up for passers-by to see. You probably won’t get much traffic this way, but it’s definitely a unique approach!

The reason I ask this is because I would like to publish an article on unconventional (but worthwhile) approaches to bringing free traffic to your website. To do this simply leave a comment below and tell us what methods you employ. You will receive credit once this article goes live, so make sure to leave a link to your website as well. After all, this is about getting free traffic!

So what are you supposed to do? Giving up seems to be the only obvious choice, right? Don’t give up!

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, Craigslist is the #1 online classified ad service. With more than 20 billion page views every month (roughly 650 million page views every single day) Craigslist certainly has it’s fair share of regular users. What attracts users to Craigslist is the fact that’s it’s free to register, free to browse, free to respond to listings and free to post your own listings (some listings do require payment, such as posting job offers, but for the most part Craigslist is free).

Because of the immense popularity of Craigslist, you can certainly bet there is a lot of competition on there. With so much competition, how can you be sure that your ad will even get noticed? This is where I want to help.

Over at my portfolio site, 419Design, I have designed a new program to increase viewer response to your ads.

What you do is submit your ad (for the low price of just $10!) and I will then take the information I receive and turn it into a beautiful, eye-catching design that is sure to capture readers’ attention and increase the number of responses you get.

If you’re interested in learning more or would like to test-drive my service for just $10, head on over to 419Design.net/craigslist to learn more about this fantastic opportunity!

I was aimlessly searching Google last night for ways to get Twitter followers for my portfolio account, @419Design, when I came across a list of websites that said you could get up 100 new Twitter followers every day for free. Sounds too good to be true, right? That’s what I thought anyway. I decided to give one of these websites a try anyway. I figured, worst case scenario, I wouldn’t gain any followers so I’d be no worse off than I currently was. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised!

After trying the first site, I gained around 50 followers. Then 30. And on and on it went. Needless to say, by the time I was done, I went from 3 followers to over 200, and it took me less than 10 minutes!

How does it work?

At the end of this article, I’ll provide with a link to 4 different websites. All you have to do is enter your Twitter username and password (a risky move, I understand, but this is a risk you will have take to use these services) and, just like magic, you can watch your followers list grow.

What’s the catch then?

1.) By allowing these services to find people to follow you, you are also giving them permission to post Tweets to your page. These are harmless posts, really. It’s jut a small blurb with a link back to the service. What I do is, while followers are getting added, I will refresh my page every 5-10 seconds, and as soon as you see the new Tweet, just delete it.

2.) There’s no guarantee that you will be able to keep all these followers. Once a follower has been added, it is then up to that person to decide whether or not they want to continue following you. Last night, I had at one point 209 followers. Last I checked, I had somewhere around 186. Still not bad though for being quick, easy and free.

3.) Not only will new Twitter followers get added automatically, but you will also find that the list of people you are following has grown as well. This is because, in order for the service to allow others to follow you, you have to follow others as well (did that make sense? haha). If you don’t wish to follow any of these people, just go through and start unfollowing people.

4.) Lastly, you can only do this once per day (24 hours), per Twitter account.

There’s certainly a lot to consider here, but really, if you don’t care how many people you follow or who’s following you, this is a great service. All four websites function the same way- just enter your Twitter username, your Twitter password and in less than 5 minutes, you can have up to 100 new Twitter followers.

So go on. Give it a try. You won’t regret it!

http://hitfollow.info
http://followback.info
http://plusfollower.info
http://letgetmorefollowers.info

Over the past couple weeks I have been severely busy with my latest project: 419Design.net. 4/19 is my own personal website- it is my portfolio and a resource and inspiration blog.

I don’t have a whole lot to say at this point, I’m pretty wiped out, haha. So I’ll just leave you with my link and let my portfolio speak for itself!

Click here to visit 419Design.

Dirt Cheap is the very first website to become part of the Vanilla-Chai family, nor do I anticipate it to be the last. At DC, you can purchase geo-targeted or category-targeted traffic for your website at “dirt cheap” prices. Plans vary in type from regular traffic, to traffic that can improve your website’s Alexa ratings to traffic for adult websites. We offer more than 25 different packages to suit your website’s needs starting at just $1.25!

Look- I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to bring traffic to my website. There are many different ways to do this for free but that is an extremely time-consuming task. You have to post to link directories, submit to search engines, post on social networking sites, post on forums, post on different blogs, try to find somebody with a similar site to trade advertising space with… and often times it just doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter how many dozens of forums you belong to, how many hundreds of blogs you comment on- driving traffic to your website is extremely time-consuming. And let’s face it, in today’s hectic go-go-go world, who has the time?

That is why I developed Dirt Cheap. I know what it’s like to be busy with a full-time job, taking care of kids, taking care of your home and running errands all while struggling to maintain some sort of social life in the balance. Trying to find time to get online and advertise your site just isn’t even on the list of priorities. And let’s be honest here- you can spend hours trying to find places to advertise your website… and just because you post your link somewhere doesn’t mean you will get visitors.

At Dirt Cheap you get real visitors- not just page hits (yes, there is a difference!). These are real people like you and me who surf the web and click on links and banner ads.

Buying traffic is a fast and easy way to automatically drive traffic to your website- guaranteed!  With all of our traffic plans, we guarantee that you will receive all of your traffic within 30 days. Larger traffic plans have the potential to take a little while longer, though we do our absolute best to make sure all the traffic is delivered to you within 30 days.

So if you’re struggling to get traffic to your website and you’re sick and tired of paying ridiculously high prices for it, just give Dirt Cheap a try today. Our cheapest plan is only $1.25, and if you do not receive 100% of the traffic you purchased, I will refund your entire purchase price.

I am looking for assistance from anybody who is willing to volunteer their time and knowledge of how to make the most out of making money online. As of this point in time, I cannot afford to pay anyone, but I’m hoping that in future I will be able to. If you’re willing to donate some time to write an article or two, it would be greatly appreciated.

To learn more about what I’m looking for, please feel free to visit the article submission page.

If you’re serious about starting your own online business, Lynda is an absolutely invaluable resource for you. Lynda is the premiere online software video training and tutorial library, covering hundreds of different topics from 3D Animation to basic HTML and more. Lynda is a subscription-based website, but they have more than 5,000 free videos to offer if you can’t afford to pay or if you just want to check out the site and see what it’s all about.

The reason I am even mentioning this website is because, in order to have a web-based business, you need a website. In order to have a website, you need to have at least some knowledge of basic HTML & CSS programming. Now, there are millions of free websites out there that you can go to to learn this stuff, but none of them go into the amount of depth that Lynda.com does. The instructors on this website are truly knowledgeable and passionate about the subjects they teach. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few of these instructors myself- Michael Ninness, Deke McClelland and Bert Monroy. In fact, every year, more and more high schools and colleges are implementing Lynda into the curriculum.

Click here to read about how I came across Lynda.com

Now, it is possible to have a website without knowing a thing about HTML or CSS, but trying to maintain your site without that knowledge is impossible. If something goes wrong on the website- say an image isn’t displaying properly- you need to know how to work through the code to fix the problem. It’s like trying to bake a cake without any knowledge of how to cook. If the cake doesn’t rise in the oven, you need to be able to figure out why that happened. Even if you don’t care to learn about the code, Lynda.com offers many courses on how to properly use and implement content management systems such as WordPress, Blogger and Drupal as well as social media marketing.

Here’s just a sampling of the courses Lynda offers:
* Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Lightroom, etc.)
* HTML, HTML5, xHTML, XML
* CSS, CSS3
* Content Management Systems (WordPress, Blogger, Drupal, etc.)
* 3D Animation
* CAD
* PHP
* Javascript
* MySQL
* jQuery
* Ruby on Rails
* Joomla!
* Apache
* Action Script
* Blackboard
* C#
* eBay
* Google (Adwords, GMail, Docs, Calendar, etc.)
* Social Networking (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube)
* Windows
* Mac (OS Server, OS X, OS X Server)
…. and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head! There are many, many, many more available.

Watch the video below to hear Lynda.com’s story straight from the horse’s mouth- Lynda.com founder Lynda Weinman:

I just love Lynda.com so much. I could prattle on for hours about all the things I have learned from this website, but I’m not that cruel. I simply wanted to give a basic overview of what this website is and what it can do for you. If you’re interested in learning more about a specific subject or you just want to see what Lynda.com is all about, feel to check out the website at Lynda.com.