|
Training for Book Authors
|
|
|
Other Resources for Book Authors & Publishers
|
|
|
Please Support Our Advertisers
|
|
|
|
|
|
Webmasters: There Is Nothing To Fear About PHP But Fear Itself
Copyright (c) 2010-2023 Hartford Rhodes
I remember when I first started on the Internet as a webmaster. I remember I was so scared I was going screw something up, I was scared to death to install scripts into my website.
My First Experience With Online Script Customization
In those days, I had a mailing list with more than 2000 people subscribed to my newsletter. I remember thinking that people may think I was less professional, if I keep my mailing list on Yahoo groups. I remember that I had the bright idea to operate the mailing list from my domain. My web hosting company offered mailing list software, within my web hosting account.
Because I had the ability to operate my own mailing list from my server, I decided that I should move my Yahoo groups mailing list to a mailing list on my own domain. That was in 1999, the year that I had purchased my first domain name.
My very first experience with Perl scripts was when I was managing my mailing list. I recall that there was some customization that I desired to do within the coding for that script. I read the documentation for that mailing list software, and the programmers make it sound so easy...
I read the documentation several times to make sure that I understood what I was trying to do. I recall that in Perl scripting, a comment tag is denoted by the #, in front of the comment.
After three days of preparation, I opened up the Perl configuration file to customize how my particular mailing list operated. Once I opened the file and found hundreds of lines of code, I have to admit, I was deeply intimidated by the task that lay before me...
After seeing the code, I went back to the documentation and started reading again... I was so scared that I was going to screw something up that I felt I needed to make absolutely certain that what I thought I was doing was actually what I should be doing...
I was scared I was going to screw something up, and I was intimidated by the process...
To be honest, it took me more than one week to comment out three lines of code and to un-comment another eight lines of code, because I was so uneasy about what I was doing...
I Can Fix Anything I Break
Finally, I took the attitude that I could not screw up anything too bad... I took the attitude that if I broke something, then I could fix what I broke... That was the real turning point for me when dealing with computer scripts...
I figured that so long as I remembered what I changed, I could fix anything that I broke...
So, I kept good records in a notepad on my desk, documenting every change I made and where I made it...
Customizing Existing Website Scripts
For the first couple months, I only played with other people's Perl scripts... If I found something that I wanted my website to do, I would go find a Perl script that was designed to do that task for me... Then I would install that script on my server and customize it if I needed to do so...
Customization of Perl scripts was painful and slow, because I would have to look for sample online that would show me how to do what I wanted to do... Then with a sample in hand, I would try to make my website jump through the hoops I wanted it to jump through...
In my case, I spent a couple years customizing other people's scripts for my websites... In those early days, I only played with Perl scripts, because that is what I was familiar with... I had heard people talk about how easy and efficient PHP was, but it was unexplored territory for me, so therefore, I remained intimidated by PHP and stayed away from it for much too long...
In the spring of 2005, I was looking for a particular solution that I could only locate in PHP scripts... Literally, I was forced to step outside of my comfort zone and to start looking at code written in PHP...
Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone Into PHP
Using online tutorials for PHP, such as those found at PHP.net, I got to speed really quickly on PHP...
My first impression of using PHP for online programming was that I could do one line of code in PHP for ever 20 lines of code in Perl... Of course, that could only be “my impression” of the difference between the two programming languages, because I was never really skilled in Perl to begin with...
After customizing two or three scripts in PHP, I realized that PHP was a really intuitive programming language... I realized that writing scripts in PHP would be much easier for me than writing scripts in Perl...
In the summer of 2005, after having written from scratch three or four scripts in PHP, I took the plunge...
To that date, my entire website had been written and developed in Perl... I spent the summer of 2005 converting all of the primary operations of my website to a PHP format...
I spent roughly 30 days programming in PHP format, bringing my website finally into the 21st century...
It is a decision that I have not regretted...
Compared to working with Perl, I find programming in PHP to be an absolute joy...
Overcoming One Problem At A Time To Find Solutions
Over the years, I have taught myself to program for the Internet, one step at a time, only writing the code that I needed to write to make my websites do the tasks that I wanted my website to do...
What I'm telling you is that I am not the most proficient programmer on the Internet, but I can program anything that I need to program. When I needed to create a script that enabled me to auto submit to Twitter, I spent two hours studying the problem, then one hour creating the solution...
When I needed to adapt my Twitter script to enable me to auto submit to similar sites, I spent 30 minutes coding a solution... Mind you, before sitting down to write the script, I spent one week researching the solution...
After having gone through the process, I can assure you of one thing...
I purchased a half a dozen scripts, written by other programmers, to help me understand the process of submitting content - via PHP script - to the social media websites...
I can assure you, from personal experience, that most of the PHP scripts in the marketplace that have been designed to enable you to submit content and social media websites, are just plain garbage...
In almost every case, the scripts that I purchased did not even do what they were advertised to do... In fact, most of the scripts available online that you can purchase today that claim they will help you submit content to social media and social bookmarking websites require you to manually place all content, one site at a time...
At the end of the day, I wasted $100 purchasing scripts that taught me absolutely nothing... and strangely, I wasted that money purchasing scripts where the social media websites listed no longer existed... What I mean to say is that one script was advertising that it had 120 social media websites built into its scripting... But while trying to register at those sites, I quickly figured out that more than 60 of those sites were no longer in business...
I researched and analyzed more than one dozen social bookmarking scripts... I was absolutely stunned that many of those websites were not even written my own language... The scripts that pull together the ability to submit a web page to more than 100 social media websites rely upon German, French, and Far East websites to give their scripts the appearance of offering good value...
In my particular case, I wanted to only submit content to English-speaking social media websites... After all, I only speak English... I don't want to be in the minority, putting English-language tweets in foreign language websites... Much in the same way that I don't want to see a bunch of German or Chinese in my Twitter public timeline...
I found the available solutions for social media marketing to be lacking, therefore, I had to create my own solution to do this for me...
As A Webmaster, You Must Learn To Overcome Your Fears
But the point of this story is not to say that I'm a programmer with some awesome scripts; it is meant to say that as a webmaster, you must be willing to overcome your fears, to do what needs to be done for your website, or you must be willing to hire someone to do that for you...
There are also tools and tutorials online that will teach you how to do custom PHP coding for your websites... Even if you don't want to do the coding yourself, you can often find code online that will help you do what you want your website to do...
Some of the best resources online for learning how to program in PHP are:
http://www.php.net/
http://tizag.com/
http://php.resourceindex.com/
For example, if you wanted to build a custom contact form for your website, there are tutorials that will teach you how to do so... If you're intimidated by the process of learning how to do it for yourself, you can even find existing scripts that you can customize to serve your own needs... If you just don't want to have to look at the code, then there are others who are willing to do that coding for you...
I have programmed entire websites before, but most people do not need someone to build an entire website for them... Rather most people are happy with the website that they currently have; they just wish they could add specific functionality to that website... That is what I do today... I create specific scripts to solve a specific problem, then I sell those scripts to other people...
I have found real job satisfaction in knowing that I can give people the added functionality that they want for their websites...
Answering The Call For Custom PHP Scrips, One Problem At A Time
People do not want a complete website overhaul, and I cannot blame them... But when the web designer built the website, he or she may have excluded an XML Sitemap... Those folks knock on our door, and we create XML Sitemaps for them...
If you want to learn how to build you own XML Sitemaps, you should visit: http://sitemaps.org/protocol.php
But, if you want to avoid the headache of doing that, then you should consider using our services at the website shown below...
If you simply want to add a small script to your website that permits your visitors to social bookmark your web pages, then you should go to: http://www.addthis.com/
But, if you want a more automated approach, you should consider purchasing my script for doing that at the website shown below...
If you want to add a free PHP contact form to your website, then you should take a look at: http://www.ibdhost.com/contact/
However, if you want something customized just for you, then you owe it to yourself to visit the website shown below in my Author's Resource Box...
The Only Thing You Have To Fear Is Fear Itself...
After ten years of online programming, I can assure you that the title of this article is correct... The only thing we have to fear is fear itself...
The tools and resources you need to have to be able to learn how to do your own PHP coding is available online, if you are willing to invest yourself to that end...
You just have to be willing to open the source code of the files on your website and to learn your way around the code... Once you have overcome the fear, online programming with PHP really is not that hard...
You can teach yourself how to program for the Internet, or you can hunt down people who are willing to do the programming for you...
|
If you need a custom PHP script coded for your website, or if you need help installing a script that you have purchased or otherwise acquired, my co-workers and I will be happy to take care of it for you... We also do XML Sitemap installations... Visit our website at: http://99dollarwebservices.com/ to learn more... I am Hartford Rhodes, and I look forward to helping you do things on your website that until now, you may have only dreamed about...
|
VOTE ON THIS ARTICLE
Needs Work >>
0 -
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5
<< Excellent Article
Tell our authors what you think about their article.
|
Top-Level Category: Business Online Articles || Related Categories: Computers Articles and Shopping Articles
10 Most Recent Articles Written by Hartford Rhodes
How Facts in an Article Improve the Credibility of the Author
Written by: Hartford Rhodes |
Distributed: 2008-02-19 |
Word Count: 806 |
Page Views: 3676
| Votes: 8 |
Rating: 2.88
Article ghostwriters know that there are many tools for writing
articles that will boost the credibility of their clients. Ghost
writing actually involves a lot of research in the development of
an article, on the part of the writer. After all, not every
article ghostwriter is going to be an expert in your field -
their niche is the writing part. The article writer will need to
do a lot of research in order to create an article that will
deliver their client's message in an intelligent manner.
Seven Tips for Hiring a Professional Article Ghost Writer
Written by: Hartford Rhodes |
Distributed: 2008-02-12 |
Word Count: 803 |
Page Views: 3707
| Votes: 7 |
Rating: 1.57
Writing articles is a great way to market your online business,
because it puts you in the position of being able to establish
yourself as an expert in your field. The challenge, of course, is
that not everyone feels comfortable with the idea of sitting down
and writing articles. That's where article ghostwriters come
into play.
All of Author's Articles on this site: Hartford Rhodes Articles
Most Recent "Business Online" Articles
Four Tips For Creating An Effective Authors' Resource Box
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-08-27 |
Word Count: 1669 |
Page Views: 8015
| Votes: 18 |
Rating: 2.50
In article marketing, there are many factors that will
affect your articles' ability to promote your website in
the most effective manner. In this article, we will briefly
discuss a couple those factors, before we dive into how to
create an effective Authors' Resource Box, also known as
the About The Author Information.
Website Traffic Generation: Winning the Love of the Traffic Fairy
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-08-24 |
Word Count: 1149 |
Page Views: 8904
| Votes: 14 |
Rating: 1.86
Some people still believe that all they have to do is build
a website and customers will magically appear on their
site... Once they have built their websites, they wait
anxiously for the "Traffic Fairy" to come and sprinkle its
magic dust on their website too, so that they can make lots
of money like other success website owners.
What Kind Of Backlinks Are Best At Helping Your Website In Google?
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-08-21 |
Word Count: 439 |
Page Views: 9961
| Votes: 23 |
Rating: 2.74
I was in the Warrior Forum, and someone asked what kinds of
Backlinks are worth pursuing. This is my answer to that
query.
Understanding the Mechanics of Effective Article Marketing and Article Syndication
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-08-01 |
Word Count: 1399 |
Page Views: 6545
| Votes: 10 |
Rating: 1.80
Visit several marketing blogs or marketing forums, and you
will find dozens of people proclaiming the death of article
marketing as an effective marketing tool. Before we start
agreeing with them, consider this...
Top 10 Reasons Why Online Marketers Fail With Article Marketing
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-31 |
Word Count: 1025 |
Page Views: 7803
| Votes: 13 |
Rating: 2.08
If you've been marketing products online for any length of
time, you've likely heard people talk about the power and
promise of article marketing for the promotion of your
online business. Unfortunately, many online marketers have
tried to utilize article marketing to benefit their online
business and failed. In this article, I document the top ten
reasons why people fail to find success with article
marketing... And how to fix your article marketing
campaigns...
Article Marketing Tip: Stop Trying To Sell From Within Your Articles
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-30 |
Word Count: 1229 |
Page Views: 5992
| Votes: 10 |
Rating: 1.40
The basic premise of article marketing is to present people
information that will be important to them, then at the end
of the article, present information "about the author" and
offer to the reader a means to see how the author can help
the reader further. When done well, article marketing
continues to be one of the most effective methods of
promotion that one could employ online.
The Six Degrees of Internet Marketing
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-30 |
Word Count: 991 |
Page Views: 8416
| Votes: 14 |
Rating: 2.43
The theory behind the Six Degrees of Separation is that all
people on earth can be connected together in as little as
six steps. Now, I know what you might be thinking at this
juncture... That sounds fun and interesting, but what does
that have to do with Internet Marketing? That is a great
question that I am going to answer for you in this
article...
How To Win More Eyeballs for Your Offers and Websites
Written by: Bruce Lansing |
Distributed: 2013-07-29 |
Word Count: 1373 |
Page Views: 5910
| Votes: 11 |
Rating: 1.45
Most people using search engines on the Internet are looking
for answers to questions and solutions to problems. If you
can give people what the answers they want, you will be able
to position your business as one worth hiring today or
tomorrow.
How To Increase Your Rates and Earnings As a Freelance Writer
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-29 |
Word Count: 1191 |
Page Views: 5932
| Votes: 11 |
Rating: 1.55
Freelance writers fill a very important role in today's
business marketplace. They create the on-demand, customized
content that business owners everywhere need to push their
businesses forward. In this article, the author explains
what freelance writers should do to ensure that employers
will pay them well for their services.
Promoting Your Business With Content:: Defining Your Writing Strategy
Written by: Bruce Lansing |
Distributed: 2013-07-25 |
Word Count: 677 |
Page Views: 5635
| Votes: 11 |
Rating: 2.00
Many people suggest that you should write articles on the
basis of the benefits that people will get from reading your
articles. I'd like to suggest that there is a better
reason, and that is to write your articles on the basis of
what problem people will be able to solve, as a result of
reading your articles.
Most Viewed "Business Online" Articles
Attracting Readers to your Book
Written by: Alastair Hall |
Distributed: 2006-05-18 |
Word Count: 708 |
Page Views: 46564
| Votes: 17 |
Rating: 2.06
One of the common and obvious ways to market a self-published
book is having your own website. The harder part is how to
attract your target audience and then convert the sale.
How To Make Visitors Bookmark Your Site
Written by: Cheryl Miller |
Distributed: 2006-10-10 |
Word Count: 536 |
Page Views: 38861
| Votes: 21 |
Rating: 2.19
When visitors bookmark your site it is a sign that you have built
a great website and are pleasing them. Visitors think highly
enough of your site to want to return and possibly tell others
about it. You are not only increasing traffic from your existing
clientele you are encouraging new traffic by means of viral
marketing.
Treat Online 'Guests' With Respect
Written by: Rick Sloboda |
Distributed: 2007-07-27 |
Word Count: 472 |
Page Views: 30330
| Votes: 33 |
Rating: 3.33
Does your website show your customers lack of respect? Review the
following checklist to find out.
How I Got 70,000 Useless Visitors To My Site In One Day! (One Internet Marketer's Analysis of Social Bookmark Traffic)
Written by: Titus Hoskins |
Distributed: 2007-11-06 |
Word Count: 1545 |
Page Views: 28351
| Votes: 10 |
Rating: 1.70
Is social bookmark traffic useless? Is it even worth cultivating
for your site? Can it be used from an online marketing
perspective? Read to discover one Internet Marketer's analysis
of social bookmark/media traffic...
Successful Article Marketers Help Readers Solve Problems
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-24 |
Word Count: 816 |
Page Views: 26025
| Votes: 34 |
Rating: 2.79
Every week, I have the opportunity to speak with people about the
benefits and challenges of using article marketing to promote an
online business. Article marketing is about getting your sales
message in front of potential customers and to get links to your
website. Many interpret this to mean that an article should
directly promote a website within the article, but that approach
is wrong and will reduce one's success using this methodology.
Tips For Building Your First Website
Written by: Benny Tsabba |
Distributed: 2007-05-30 |
Word Count: 1511 |
Page Views: 19430
| Votes: 18 |
Rating: 2.11
New people are coming online everyday. And many of those people
desire to turn their spare time into spare cash. So begins their
journey.
The Importance Of Effective Follow-up
Written by: Kate Smalley |
Distributed: 2007-01-15 |
Word Count: 493 |
Page Views: 14363
| Votes: 22 |
Rating: 2.55
Marketing experts say that following up with clients is crucial
to successful selling because most prospects do not buy the first
time, according to Aweber, a leading autoresponder company.
People must encounter a marketing message multiple times before
making a purchasing decision.
Today's Google Bots and What They Do
Written by: Kim Roach |
Distributed: 2006-08-02 |
Word Count: 1061 |
Page Views: 14062
| Votes: 16 |
Rating: 2.63
Google currently indexes over 8 billion web pages. However,
before these pages were placed in the index, they were each
crawled by a special spider known as the GoogleBot. Unfortunately, many web masters do not know about the internal workings of this virtual robot. This article will attempt to
reveal some of the most important Google spiders, their function,
and how they affect you as a web master. We'll start with the
well-known GoogleBot.
Ten Tips For User Friendly Online Registration Forms
Written by: Jim Romanik |
Distributed: 2009-02-24 |
Word Count: 775 |
Page Views: 11913
| Votes: 15 |
Rating: 0.93
Have you ever registered or attempted to register for an event
and spent half an hour trying to figure out what you needed to
do? Or have you used an online registration form that lost your
data or was so complicated that it seemed like more work than
faxing the form?
Successful Forum JVs and How To Get Them
Written by: Diana Barnum |
Distributed: 2006-06-15 |
Word Count: 648 |
Page Views: 11675
| Votes: 19 |
Rating: 2.11
The forming of common alliances, also referred to as a joint
venture (JV), happens nearly every day in the business world.
One of the most popular means of linking people up online of so
that they can work together on their projects is via forums,
where people of all levels of business and expertise post in
common threads.
Highest Ranked "Business Online" Articles
Is Your Business 'Out Of Site'? Employ The Ultimate Marketing Tool
Written by: Rick Sloboda |
Distributed: 2007-01-09 |
Word Count: 445 |
Page Views: 5460
| Votes: 21 |
Rating: 3.76
With the rapid expansion of the digital economy, the web site is
conceivably the most powerful marketing and sales tool you can employ.
Find out what a web site can do for you.
How To Use Your Race To Get Rich
Written by: Herbert Harris |
Distributed: 2009-07-07 |
Word Count: 1407 |
Page Views: 5857
| Votes: 48 |
Rating: 3.71
Amid recent news reports that there continues to be an ongoing
and substantial gap between the net worth of Whites and other
racial groups, it is easy to be distracted and overwhelmed by the
raw data. However, I am immediately reminded of a quote offered
by an economic expert from the past... "There are lies, damned
lies, and statistics!"
Why I'm A 'B-Level Marketer!'
Written by: Willie Crawford |
Distributed: 2007-07-16 |
Word Count: 917 |
Page Views: 6669
| Votes: 26 |
Rating: 3.58
At a recent Internet marketing seminar, I was sitting around the
hotel lobby with approximately 20 other seminar attendees and
speakers. The seminar's host was in attendance, and the
conversation covered a range of internet marketing topics with
extreme frankness. Our proximity to the hotel bar certainly
contributed to our 'conviviality.'
15 fixes for a failing website
Written by: Rick Sloboda |
Distributed: 2007-02-07 |
Word Count: 593 |
Page Views: 3439
| Votes: 25 |
Rating: 3.48
Employ these 15 tactics to improve your search engine rankings,
engage visitors and convert more sales.
The Most Important Ingredient for Info Product Success (is You)
Written by: Judy Murdoch |
Distributed: 2008-04-15 |
Word Count: 981 |
Page Views: 5899
| Votes: 15 |
Rating: 3.47
Last week I was attending a conference and mentioned to someone I
help small business owners create information products. The other
person was very friendly until I said "information products."
Then the temperature in the room dropped about 10-degrees
How to Keep Your Article Content Fresh and Interesting
Written by: Craig Ritsema |
Distributed: 2006-08-29 |
Word Count: 699 |
Page Views: 5446
| Votes: 25 |
Rating: 3.44
Webmasters everywhere are constantly on the lookout for fresh and
interesting content for their website. Along with these content
qualities is the requirement that it be unique. Everyone wants
their website to stand out above the others in the search engine
results. So what is the trick for you to keep a steady supply of
this quality content coming your way?
How To Build A Profitable Twitter Profile
Written by: Harold Hemmings |
Distributed: 2009-08-06 |
Word Count: 1357 |
Page Views: 2601
| Votes: 8 |
Rating: 3.38
Online marketers everywhere are finally starting to tap into
the Twitter Marketplace. Marketers are getting involved in
Twitter at awesome rates, but all seem to have one
unanswered question: How do we actually monetize this
marketplace? It is my goal that by the time you have read
this article, you will have a clear idea of exactly how to
monetize your activities in Twitter.
Increasing Productivity In Your Online Business
Written by: Willie Crawford |
Distributed: 2006-06-14 |
Word Count: 1407 |
Page Views: 7290
| Votes: 40 |
Rating: 3.35
Running an online "empire" of approximately 1600 websites and
blogs, selling a variety of products, services and ideas, I
have to be much more productive than the average person in a
"regular job."
Turn A One-Night-Stand With Google Into A Long-Term Relationship
Written by: Diane Metz |
Distributed: 2007-07-10 |
Word Count: 882 |
Page Views: 2604
| Votes: 6 |
Rating: 3.33
Want to win the favor of Google? Then you've got to build a
long-term relationship with her. Many new SEO strategies are
simply recycled old-tricks. And Google is a smart gal who can see
right through them. Position your website for the future by
understanding what Google really likes â€" and what she
really loathes.
Treat Online 'Guests' With Respect
Written by: Rick Sloboda |
Distributed: 2007-07-27 |
Word Count: 472 |
Page Views: 30330
| Votes: 33 |
Rating: 3.33
Does your website show your customers lack of respect? Review the
following checklist to find out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Article Reprint Rights
|
This work is
licensed under a
Creative Commons
License
You are not required to show the creative commons license notice when you reprint this work.
|
|
Article Statistics
|
Word Count: 2042
Total Views: 4854
Article Rating: 0.00 of 5
Votes Cast: 2
More Articles By Author:
Articles On This Website
Last Distribution Date:
2010-03-19 09:00:00
Internal ID: #7409
|
|
|
Home