Image Tags

In HTML, when you want to call upon an image to be displayed on your web page, you need to use the img tag. This tag tells the browser and web server that you are going to put an image here, and then what follows src= is the direct path to the image in question.

Code: <img src=”http://www.yourdomain.com/yourimage.jpg” />

Horizontal Rule Tags

The horizontal rule is for making a nice separator between sections of your web page. It acts as a single solid line that can be placed anywhere on your web page. It looks like this:

Code: <hr />

List Tags

If you want to format a list of topics on a single page, then the list tags will come in handy. You would start a list with the <ul> tag and end it with the </ul> tag. For each item on the list, you will want to wrap it in the <li> and </li> tags.

Code: <ul> <li>item #1</li> <li>item #2</li> </ul>

Ordered List Tags

If you want to format a list of topics on a single page, and have them numbered, the ordered list tags should be used. You would start a list with the <ol> tag and end it with the </ol> tag. For each item on the list, you will want to wrap it in the <li> and </li> tags.

Code: <ol> <li>item #1</li> <li>item #2</li> </ol>

Link Tags

Links are used to help users go from one page to the next page. The basic link is started with the <a href=”"> tag with the page’s path you want to link to inside the quotation marks. Then you type in the text of the link, and close it out with the </a> tag.

Code: <a href=”http://www.somedomain.com/pageiamlinkingto.html”>This Text is a Link</a>

There are hundreds of web hosting providers out there that provide affiliate programs for you to join.  The questions now are, what is an affiliate program? Why would I want to join one? What can I do to make my affiliate links more successful?  Well, I hope to bring you up to speed as I discuss the benefits of affiliate programs for your average webmaster.

The simplest way to define an affiliate program is to say that you get paid for bringing a web host more customers.  For example, say your friend needs web hosting space and asks you for a suggestion.  You, in turn, give them your affiliate program link to click through.  When they sign up, you get the credit for bringing them in, and the web host gets a new customer.  It is a winning situation for everybody involved.

Affiliate Ad Placement

Once you have signed up in a web host’s affiliate program, you will be given a way to bring new customers in.  This is most often done though a link that is unique to your affiliate account with them.  You can then use this link to put up either text link advertisements on your web site or banner links.  Some people love these types of systems because they get paid more when/if somebody signs up for the service in question than they do when they run the more traditional web site advertisements.

When placing you advertisements, you should follow the general rules:

• Make sure you put it above the scroll line (so people don’t have to scroll down to see it).
• Put it in close with your web site’s content, so it blends in well and will more likely be seen.
• Only use one or two banners per web page, because using any more than that tends to look tacky.

Who’s affiliate program is the best? There are too many out there to rank them all.  Usually when somebody asks me this question, I would say check with your current web host first, to see it they offer one.  If not, you might search Google for, “Web Hosting Affiliate Programs” and do some research.  Just because there is a high payout per sign up does not mean they are the best.  You will want to look at the quality of the hosting experience too.  By advertising that web host, you put your “seal of approval” on it.  So if you do not want your name tarnished, make sure you team up with a respectable web host.

So what affiliate program questions do you have?  Leave your thoughts, questions and comments and we will all be here to help you out.

http://www.webhostingshow.com/twitter/

For example, lets say I wanted to link to webhostingtalk.com, but I didn’t want them to gain any SEO rankings for me linking to them (or have any of my own SEO rankings taken away).  So, I write the link out like this:

<a href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com" rel="nofollow">Web Hosting Talk</a>

Now how this attribute is being interpreted differs between the various search engines out there. Here is a ‘bit of interesting information from Wikipedia on how the biggest search engines handle the information:

• Google states that their engine takes “nofollow” literally and does not “follow” the link at all. However, experiments conducted by SEOs show conflicting results. These studies reveal that Google does follow the link, but does not index the linked-to page, unless it was in Google’s index already for other reasons (such as other, non-nofollow links that point to the page).
• Yahoo! “follows it”, but excludes it from their ranking calculation.
• MSN Search respects “nofollow” as regards not counting the link in their ranking, but it is not proven whether or not MSN follows the link.
• Ask.com ignores the attribute altogether.

Now, where and why this got so much attention was when it comes to paid advertising links.  Some search engines have kind of re-purposed the nofollow attribute for disclosure of paid links.  They want you, as the webmaster, to use the rel=”nofollow” code when you sell a link, so that the link in question does not get any search engine optimization benefit.

Since it was announced in early 2005, the attribute has been surrounded in debate and controversy.  Should you use it or should you not?  I’ll let that be your judgment call to make.  At least now, you know what all the fuss is about.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 185!
Running Time: 13 minutes | File Size: 5.94 MB

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode:

• What is the nofollow Link All About?
• Find Out Who is Copying Your Content
• Compare Linux Dedicated Servers and Deals
• Best Way to Find Web Hosting Coupons
• First All Virtual Web Hosting Conference is Coming

Here are this week’s web hosting news headlines:

• Credit Cards Compromised in WHT Hack – Dedicating this week’s news segment to more coverage on the webhostingtalk.com hack, the recent announcement that credit cards were compromised and what you need to do to protect yourself.

Trivia Question – The first version of the Apache web server was created by whom? (to find out the answer, be sure to download and listen to this week’s podcast!)

Hope you enjoy this week’s broadcast.  Thank you all for tuning in!

So which payment gateways are the best?

• Google Checkout
• MoneyBookers
• NoChex
• PayPal
• Protx
• PSIGate
• WorldPay
• 2Checkout
• BluePay
• E-Gold
• AlertPay
• LinkPoint
• Authorize.net
• CCNow

Have another favorite to add to the list?  Feel free to leave them in the comments.  From user reviews though, these seem to be the best of the best payment gateways out there right now.

Mitchelaneous

This is my blog filled with geek candy.  More personal and of the wall in nature, this is my personal spot to rant and rave about any miscellaneous thing that might cross my mind.  From web development help to custom desktop icons – I am sure there is something for everybody to enjoy here.

My Favorite Mitchelaneous Posts of the Year:

• 10 Tools to Turn Firefox into WordPress’s Little Helper
• Open Google Notebook in Firefox’s Sidebar
• 37 WordPress Free Theme Databases and Blogs
• Free Mega Man 9 Desktop Icons
• 10 Best Paint.Net Tutorials (and 10 More Paint.Net Tutorials)

You can subscribe to Mitchelaneous.com for free by plugging it’s RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

Firefox Facts

Firefox Facts is my daily blog about all things relating to Firefox.  It started out as an e-book project, but has expanded by leaps and bounds since then.  Find reviews for useful extensions, great looking Firefox themes and a whole lot more.  I even toss in an occasional roundup of the best tools for this, that and the other.  If you use Firefox, you need to subscribe.

My Favorite Firefox Facts Posts of the Year:

• Darkest Popular Themes for Firefox 3 (also have the lightest)
• Freshest Top 10 YouTube Greasemonkey Scripts
• Change the Default Search in Firefox
• 25 Tweaks for Your Firefox Statusbar (also 25 more tweaks too)
• Give Firefox 3 Firefox 2′s Address Bar

You can subscribe to FirefoxFacts.com for free by plugging the RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

Thank you all for listening to the Web Hosting Show this year, and I hope this holiday gift of amazing posts from around my little network of web site will at least give you something to do while you are in between football games or wanting some along time after all the in-laws have gone back home.

SendSpace.com – Unlimited uploads and unlimited downloads.  The file size limit with SendSpace is up to 300MB too.

MediaFire.com – This service provides up to 100MB file size per upload, and unlimited storage.  A “pro” account will also get you a few more perks if you want to pay for it.

iFile.it – With one of the simplest interfaces, just browse, upload and cross your fingers.

MegaUpload.com – Another popular alternative is MegaUpload, unfortunately you might be looking for an alternative to it pretty soon.  Hate to give you an alternative to an alternative.

SaveFile.com – With a limit of 100MB per file in size, the most enticing thing about this hosting solution would be the fact that it isn’t used by many – so speeds should be pretty good.

TransferBigFiles.com – Oh, if only the rest of the internet was this obvious.

KeepMyFile.com – Bad web site design, with a limit of 60MB per file and 300MB max.  The advantage here is they say you can upload 30 files at once.

Badongo.com – With unlimited limits, and being free to use – have to say this alternative sounds like gold.

YourFileLink.com – Free video and file hosting is what they promise, and with the highest limit thus far on file size (5GB), you may want to go ahead and take advantage of this domain while it is still around.

UploadPedia.com – Oh, I get it – like Wikipedia, but you host stuff on it.  So it isn’t like Wikipedia at all…

Know of another free file host that deserves to be an alternative to Rapidshare?  Share your suggestions with us, and I might be able to come up with a list of at least ten more free file hosting alternatives to enjoy.

The Magnificent Fantastico – Episode 168 – From the first time I ever heard about Fantastico, I always thought about the traditional magician pulling rabbits from his hat.  Who would have a clue that a few years later on down the road I would have a chance to speak with one of men behind it.

Web Hosting to Go – Episode 169 – What would I like to have today?  Lets see.  I will have a large data center mashup map, a side of hosting tools (just remember to hold the tomatoes), a HP performance-optimized datacenter and a definition on what domaining is all about?  For here or to go?

Hostfinger – Episode 170 – James Bond’s rival Goldfinger was obsessed with gold. I am a man obsessed with web hosting. So does that make me Hostfinger? I am sure of two things. Yes, there will be a web host by that name soon if there isn’t already and I think I’ll stick with my own name for now.

Hope you enjoyed this past month as much as I did.  Got any ideas on what you’d like to hear about next?  I am all ears!

From industry news, to domain stories.  From big business to the little guy.  Gawkwire is already providing news from all corners of the hosting world and doing well at it.  Here is how Robert Lang, Gawkwire managing editor describes this new hosting resource:

“We designed Gawkwire to build on the strengths of other hosting news portals and magazines. Unlike many sites, our content is updated continuously, not once a day or even once a week. We take it a step further, by creating a dialogue with our readers that enhances the overall experience of our site.  And we don’t stop with just news articles. Gawkwire’s rich content covers a wide spectrum, with everything from video blog posts to executive interviews.”

I am very excited to see the launch of something new out there in the hosting news bubble.  Too long has the field grown more than a little stagnite, and the hopes for Gawkwire is to add a little ‘bit more spice, interest and information to the world of Internet and hosting news.