What is a web site?

There are three elements that make a web site work. They are a file, a web server that houses or hosts the file and a specially designed software application
called browser that lets you view the file on your computer screen. The file( that is your web page or site) on the server is written in a special programming language. The address of the web page you request in your browser window launches your browser to go out on the internet and get that file and bring it back. The browser then interrupts the special language and displays the web page on your computer screen.
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What is a web browser?
A web browser as explained above is a software program on your computer that allows you to receive a file which is what a web site actually is ) from a server and then displays it on you computer. This file is written in HTML a special language that the web site
creator uses to make graphics and text that can be sent over computer networks and then displayed by the browser.

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Is there more than one kind of browser?

Yes. There are currently several browsers available. A brief history of browsers will help explain how they came into being. Mark Andreessen and others at the national center for super computing applications at the University of Illinois created a browser called Mosaic. This could display pictures as well as text. This browser later became Netscape Navigator. The most popular browser today is Internet Explorer from Microsoft mainly because it is loaded on almost every standard computer. But two browsers gaining popularity are Fire Fox, from Mozilla.org and Opera. Fire Fox is free and is based upon Netscape Navigator. It addresses many of the security concerns that Internet Explorer has been plagued with over the past few years.
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What is an IP address?

Each computer or network that accesses the internet has its own IP address. It can not identify the individuals using the computer or network, or their email address.
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What is a meta tag?
A meta tag is a part of HTML code, it is made up of two parts; a brief summary description of your site and second a series of keywords that people searching would use to find your web site.
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What are keywords?
Keywords are those words which describe your web site and it's content and the words that people searching for your product or service would enter in a search engine.
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What is traffic?

Traffic is visitors, identified by an IP address that is unique who come to your web site.
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How do I get a web host?
A web host is basically a server that holds your web site file. When someone enters your URL it displays the information in the browser. There are many
choices for a web host from Yahoo to smaller lesser known companies. Choose carefully based upon reputation. You want your server to be always available
and never to be down, which means not operating properly and therefore can not display your web site.
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How do I register a domain name?
In order to register a domain you need first to choose one that is available. Yahoo or Name Boy or any of a number of free search tools will
let you see what names are available. You type your chosen name into the search box and it will tell you if the name and or any other similar names are
available, such as .org, .net, .biz etc.
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What is Icann?
Icann is the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers. This is a non profit corporation formed to assume the responsibility for the
IP address allocation ,domain name system management and root server system management functions, previously preformed by the Government.
In 1998 in response to a policy statement by the U.S. Department of Commerce this corporation was formed. It's job to administer the internet name
and address system.

What is an on line store and how can I get one?
An on line store is simply a web site that allows you to display products or services for sale on the internet and allows a customer to purchase the
product or service by paying with a credit card or check either online in real time using a payment system provider such as PayPal or by faxing or calling
the merchant's telephone or fax number and providing the payment information. You can set up an on line store by using a service such as Yahoo store, or you can add an integrated payment system to your web site. This adds shopping cart feature which places items in a cart and then takes customers to s secure checkout page either on the merchant's web site or on the payment provider's web site.
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What is a Blog?
A blog is an internet diary that a person posts their thoughts, views and opinions to on a regular basis. Depending on the way the blog is set up visitors can add their comments and thoughts by posting them for others to see.
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What is a Moblog?
A moblog is short for a mobile blog, or one that you post to using a cell phone a PDA or other mobile device. Usually a moblog is posted to when someone is traveling or on a journey to some location. Like the blog the person posts thought messages or opinions to the web page of the blog and in some cases viewers can post their own comments and opinions.
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What is search engine optimization?
Search engine optimization is attempting to achieve a high rank in the major search engines for a web site or web page. This is done using various methods. Using
popular key words and phrases which are inserted into the web page, using links from other web sites to your web site. Increasing the content of the web site's
pages to focus on a specialized subject or topic.
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What is a referral report?
This report notes where your visitor came from. It will list the web site or page that sent the visitor to your web site.
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What is Alexa?
Alexa is a company owned by Amazon. com that measures and certifies traffic to a web site. It also ranks the web site against the estimated 16 million web sites
currently live on the world wide web.
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How do I get People to come to my web site?

By marketing your web site to your target audience. This can take the form of advertisements on line and off
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What is a URL?

This is a universal resource locator, or your web site address. example, www.myhomepage.com . It is how your browser finds a file on the web.
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What is HTML?
HTML is hyper text markup language. A computer programming language that is used to store and present information on the worldwide web.
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What is a Link?
A link is a hyper text command imbedded in a web page that can be either a graphic or text When a user clicks on it, it delivers the referenced page to the user's computer screen.
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What is a Search engine?

A search engine is a server or a collection of servers dedicated to indexing web pages, storing the results and returning lists of pages that match the search term.
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What are directories?

Directories and search engines are similar but not the same. A directory has humans that review and list web sites and web pages on their server. A search engine
uses an automated process to list web sites and web pages.
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What is a Spider?

A spider is a software program used by a search engine to surf the web. It stores urls and indexes key words and text of each page it finds.
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What is a Link Farm?
A link farm is used by people who are attempting to gain a higher ranking in the search engines or directories for their web site. This is done by using a network
of sites that are all interlinked to one another and have no other benefit but to try and boost the link popularity of the sites they are linked to.
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What are doorway pages?
These are designed to attract the search engines to a web site by plugging a few key words into a page of meaningless text. They are another attempt at obtaining
a higher page rank by fooling the search engines.
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What is RSS, RSS FEED?

An RSS, stands for really simple syndication, as it is used today. But there are other earlier forms of RSS which were developed in 1999 and 2001. What RSS does is allow you to add content to your web site or blog that can be sent to those people who either subscribe to your RSS feed directly or who use something called a news aggregator. An example of a news aggregator who be Yahoo.com or MSN.com. If one of these is your home page you can add an RSS feed from another web site or blog that will automatically update whenever new content becomes available. The information comes directly to you.This can be a really nice feature because it organizes all your information in one easy location. For more on RSS visit searchenginewatch.com

What is Bit Torent or Bit Torrent?

Bit Torrent is a peer to peer(P2P) file distribution tool. Invented by programmer Bram Cohen. It allows you to download large media and software files by using several sources for the download. It is free ,open source and can be found at bittorrent.com

What is P2P or Peer to Peer mean?
A method of sharing and delivery of user specified files among groups of people who are using a file sharing network.

What is an algorithm?

A formula that uses a step by step process to calculate quantity.

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Web Site Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

What is a web site?

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Is there more than one kind of browser?

What is an IP address?

What is traffic?