Web Concepts

Your .htaccess file, with any Apache based server or hosting account is a very powerful tool that if you can learn to use for your advantage can help you complete many time consuming or difficult tasks with ease. How do you create one though for your web hosting account? This is a question that we hear often, and below is your solution using either cPanel or LPCP (Lunarpages Control Panel).

cPanel

Login to your cPanel with your user name and password, then once you have made it in, head over to your File Manager. Now the File Manager’s interface is a very familiar Windows-styled look at your files on your hosting account. You will want to click on your folder icon next to your public_html link next, that will take you to the insides of the public_html folder.

Inside you will see all your web site files. You need to scan down the page till you see the bold text, Create a New File. Click that and you should get in the upper-right corner a box with a few more setting to fill in. In the empty text box, put in .htaccess. Keep the drop down box on Text Document and then hit the Create button.

Now you have your .htaccess file inside of your public_html folder all with the help of cPanel and your helpful File Manger.

LPCP

To create a .htaccess file in LPCP, log into the LPCP, and then go to your File Manager. Click on the text link labeled, ” public_html” to navigate yourself inside the public_html folder.

In the empty text box to your upper-right type in .htaccess, make sure the drop down box is set to “File” and then hit the button labeled, “Create”.

Your .htaccess file will be created in your public_html folder on your LPCP powered account.

• Find out how to manually create and upload the .htaccess file to your web hosting account!

For more LPCP help, tips, tutorials and more, be sure to check out the web hosting wiki. Hundreds of guides have been published there to help you get more out of your web hosting account at Lunarpages.

&copy Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don’t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Amy

In honor of the promotion we have going currently where ALL USA and Canadian Lunarpages clients get $100 in AdWords credits, we wanted to focus on some helpful tips to help you match your advertisements on your web to your content.  Thankfully, the Google AdSense team has come up with an easy solution called section targeting.  So what is it, and how can you put it in effect on your own web site?

The idea behind section targeting is to allow you to select a block of text and HTML content that you would like the Google AdSense ad bots to pay more attention to when it comes to deciding what type of ads go on your web site.

To get it set up, all you need to do is add a couple of HTML tags to your web site layout, on each page you have ads on.

<!– google_ad_section_start –>

Your important content goes here.

&lt;!– google_ad_section_end –>

To learn more about section targeting, be sure to check out this Google AdSense tutorial on the issue.  I can tell you from experience, that it does make for more targeted Google AdSense advertising.

If you haven’t claimed your credits yet and you don’t have an existing AdWords account, email us!  Remember you MUST be a Lunarpages Hosting Customer so provide your domain name and make sure you qualify!

&copy; Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don’t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Amy Armitage

In honor of the promotion we have going currently where ALL USA and Canadian Lunarpages clients get $100 in AdWords credits, we wanted to focus on some helpful tips to help you match your advertisements on your web to your content.  Thankfully, the Google AdSense team has come up with an easy solution called section targeting.  So what is it, and how can you put it in effect on your own web site?

The idea behind section targeting is to allow you to select a block of text and HTML content that you would like the Google AdSense ad bots to pay more attention to when it comes to deciding what type of ads go on your web site.

To get it set up, all you need to do is add a couple of HTML tags to your web site layout, on each page you have ads on.

&lt;!– google_ad_section_start –>

Your important content goes here.

<!– google_ad_section_end –&gt;

To learn more about section targeting, be sure to check out this Google AdSense tutorial on the issue.  I can tell you from experience, that it does make for more targeted Google AdSense advertising.

If you haven’t claimed your credits yet and you don’t have an existing AdWords account, email us!  Remember you MUST be a Lunarpages Hosting Customer so provide your domain name and make sure you qualify!

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don’t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Amy Armitage

Watching over your own grammar usage can be an easy thing from some, but might be a hard thing for others.  Thankfully though I have found two excellent resources for you to check your own web page’s content, e-mail reply or blog post before you make it public to the world.

After the Deadline, created by Automattic, is a great web site and series of plugins (for both Firefox and WordPress) to make sure your grammar is top notch.  For quick grammar checking, I would suggest polishmywriting.com, the place they have put up to demonstrate how After the Deadline can save you from your writing misfortunes.

The simply named Spellchecker from Spellchecker.net is a great resource to depend upon too.  It works in the same way After the Deadline does (just copy your text and paste it into the box) to have your own personal English teacher grade your writing skills.  You can quickly edit with their suggestions and advice, then copy back the text into your document.

I hope these two tools come in handy when you are checking your own grammar and spelling usage on the Web.

&copy; Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don′t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Mitch

Watching over your own grammar usage can be an easy thing from some, but might be a hard thing for others.  Thankfully though I have found two excellent resources for you to check your own web page’s content, e-mail reply or blog post before you make it public to the world.

After the Deadline, created by Automattic, is a great web site and series of plugins (for both Firefox and WordPress) to make sure your grammar is top notch.  For quick grammar checking, I would suggest polishmywriting.com, the place they have put up to demonstrate how After the Deadline can save you from your writing misfortunes.

The simply named Spellchecker from Spellchecker.net is a great resource to depend upon too.  It works in the same way After the Deadline does (just copy your text and paste it into the box) to have your own personal English teacher grade your writing skills.  You can quickly edit with their suggestions and advice, then copy back the text into your document.

I hope these two tools come in handy when you are checking your own grammar and spelling usage on the Web.

&copy Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don’t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Mitch

Watching over your own grammar usage can be an easy thing from some, but might be a hard thing for others.  Thankfully though I have found two excellent resources for you to check your own web page’s content, e-mail reply or blog post before you make it public to the world.

After the Deadline, created by Automattic, is a great web site and series of plugins (for both Firefox and WordPress) to make sure your grammar is top notch.  For quick grammar checking, I would suggest polishmywriting.com, the place they have put up to demonstrate how After the Deadline can save you from your writing misfortunes.

The simply named Spellchecker from Spellchecker.net is a great resource to depend upon too.  It works in the same way After the Deadline does (just copy your text and paste it into the box) to have your own personal English teacher grade your writing skills.  You can quickly edit with their suggestions and advice, then copy back the text into your document.

I hope these two tools come in handy when you are checking your own grammar and spelling usage on the Web.

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don’t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Mitch

Looking for a cheat sheet to help you with your HTML woes?  Look no further than VisiBone, which provides one of the longest ones we have ever seen.

We highly suggest that all webmasters bookmark this resource, because it is very handy to have at your fingertips.

Ever forget how to leave in a comment?  They have it noted.

Ever wonder how to set the font size? They have that too.

Ever wanted to know how you can earn $65 for every new client you send our way?  Well, they don’t cover that – that would be our affiliate program.  </shameless plug&gt;

Save this bookmark to use whenever HTML coding has got you down, http://html-tags.info/. We promise, you will thank us later!

&copy; Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don’t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Amy Armitage

When and how do you perform maintenance on your own web site?  Some people do it every once in a while, and many do not do it at all. Today, I am going to share with you my own web site maintenance routine, and hopefully a few of my ways of doing things might rub off on you.

What Repair Work Should You Do?

First thing you have to ask yourself, is what should you be looking at when it comes to doing maintenance on your web site?

• Update Your Scripts
• Check for Dead or Wrong Links
• Check for Typo, Grammar, and Spelling Errors
• Make Sure You Are Showing Up in the Search Engines
• Check for Security Holes and Flaws

How Do You Organize Your Web Site Maintenance Routine?

Now that we know what you should be doing, now how do you do it?  Your lucky that organizing is one of my favorite things to do.  When it comes to setting a schedule for this, you might try:

• Calendar Based System
• To Do List Based System

The calendar solution works best when you have many sites to watch over, while the to do list method is better for just one or two web sites.  This way you have something to check every day to see if you have anything to do. 

Try to stick with the maintenance routine you have set.  If you find it too hard to do everything in one day, do not despair.  Just spread the tasks out a ‘bit more into something you can more easily schedule into your day, week or month of work.  Everybody’s system is going to be a little different. Find something that works best for your needs.

I hope these tips and suggestions come in handy when it comes to setting your own maintenance routine.  If you have any additional tips to share, be sure to leave them in the comments.

&copy Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don’t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Mitch

Do you know the different between padding and margins in CSS web site design?  That was the very interesting question posed to me via e-mail by one of the great Lunarpages web hosting customers, yesterday.

I have trouble telling the difference between what padding is in CSS code and what the margin is, when I set both around a div or class.  Could you explain?  Thanks!

The quickest rule of thumb I can share to tell the margin and the padding apart is very simple.

The margin is always the space outside of the element you are working with, and padding is always inside the element you are working with.

What is Padding?

The padding in CSS terms is there to clear a space around the inside of an element.  Think of it as having a house filled with chairs.  You then move all the chairs to the middle of the house, to make more room to move around the outside of the general “chair space”.  This empty space would be your proverbial padding.

Example Padding Use:

padding-top:10px;
padding-bottom:15px;
padding-right:10px;
padding-left:15px;

What is Margin?

The margin in CSS terms is defined as the space outside the element.  Looking at the house metaphor again, you could think of the margin as the empty space all the way around your house. 

Example Margin Use:

margin-top:20px;
margin-bottom:20px;
margin-right:20px;
margin-left:20px;

So, I hope this helps our confused reader and Lunarpages web hosting customer on the differences between the two and helps all of you too.  If you would like to see more CSS tutorials, tips and more be sure to leave me a comment!

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don’t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Mitch

Are your web site advertisements not performing like they should?  Would you like to have more control over your Google AdSense ads and how they are displayed in your WordPress powered web site?  I have searched the Web for the ten best Google AdSense related plugins.  We have plugins here that will help you manage your ads better, put them in better places, offer other adverting opportunities and much more.

Advertising Manager

This plugin will manage and rotate your Google AdSense and other ads on your WordPress blog. It automatically recognizes many ad networks including Google AdSense, AdBrite, Adify, AdGridWork, Adpinion, Adroll, Chitika, Commission Junction, CrispAds, OpenX, ShoppingAds, Yahoo!PN, and WidgetBucks.

AdSense Attachment Page

This great way to earn some money and show large images in new window. This plugin show attachments with thumbnail image, and when you click on it will show image in full size. You can setup plugin not to show image in full size if you want.

AdSense Revenue Sharing

AdSense Revenue Sharing is a WordPress plugin which allows you to easy display ads in your posts by using a quick tag and share your AdSense impressions with your friends and co-authors.

AdSense Under Image

Places specified AdSense code under the first image in a post. If there are no images no AdSense code will be inserted. Also the ads will only appear in single post pages.

WhyDoWork AdSense Plugin

WhyDoWork AdSense is a WordPress plugin that allows you to insert AdSense ads on your blog without modifying the template. More then that, you can set it up to show different AdSense ads for articles older then X days (x is the number of days you decide).

WP Simple AdSense Insertion

Use this plugin to quickly and easily insert Google AdSense to your posts, pages and sidebar by using a trigger text or calling the PHP function.

Easy AdSense

Easy AdSense provides a very easy way to generate revenue from your blog using Google AdSense. With its full set of features, Easy AdSense is perhaps the first plugin to give you a complete solution for everything AdSense-related.

AdSense Integrator

This plugin was developed to insert and manage your AdSense ads, based on the last Google rules and AdSense updates.

AdSense Now!

AdSense Now! is the simplest possible way to generate revenue from your blog using Google AdSense. Aiming at simplicity, AdSense Now! does only one thing: it puts your AdSense code in up to three spots in your posts and pages (both existing ones and those yet to be written).

AdSense Immediately!

AdSense Immediately! is a simple way to generate revenue from your blog using Google AdSense. AdSense Immediately! is a simple plugin to ad AdSense ads into the body of your content. It can add one, two or three AdSense block to your article body in any Google ads format.

There is my top ten choices for the best Google AdSense plugins for WordPress.  Have another that does the job better?  Let us know in the comments!

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - Also, don’t forget to follow @lunarpages on Twitter!

Original post by Mitch