Webmasters 101
By Yuval Tochner
Webmasters 101 by Yuval Tochner
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Table Of Contents
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Introduction
Domain
Registration
Web Design
Web Programming
Web Hosting
E-Commerce
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Search Engines
PPC Search Engines
Alexa
Affiliate Networks
Link / Traffic
Exchange
Bibliography
Webmasters 101 by Yuval Tochner
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Introduction
Webmasters 101 by Yuval Tochner
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Introduction

The purpose of this lecture
• Internet Snapshot – Webmasters Eyes
• Going online
• Getting Traffic
• Webmasters Tools
• Generating Revenue
• Joining the Webmasters community
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Internet Statistics – Sites
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Basic Internet Statistics:
35 Million hostnames
(www.yourdomain.something)
16 Million active sites
4 Million IP addresses
Lots of template sites, empty sites,
redirections.
Survey done by HTTP querying of
known hostnames. (Netcraft)
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Template Site Examples
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Template Site Example (cont)
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Parked Domain Example
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Internet Statistics - People

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About 150 million people are active
Internet users.
About 700 million have Internet
access.
Users Languages: 1/3 English, 1/18
Japanese, 1/18 Chinese, 1/25
Germen… (NetCraft)
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Domain Registration
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Domain Registration

What is a domain ?
• www.DomainName.X
• Where X is a TLD (Top Level Domain) such as:
 Generic: .com, .net, .org, .biz, .pro, .name, .info, ..
 Country Code: .il, .uk, .jp, .de, …
 New: In the future many others

Who’s in charge of TLD’s ??
• Currently: ICANN - The Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers
• Past: Network Solutions (US Government Contractor)
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Domain Registration (Cont)

Why do I need a domain ?
• IP alone – not a good idea !
• Free sub-domain / user options.


www.sub.domain.com
www.domain.com/~user
• Site branding (.com hype story)

What is a good / great domain ?
•
•
•
•
Easy to brand – Meaningful for site content
Easy to remember – avoid special characters, short.
Search engines friendly – long with keywords
Cyber Squatting / free traffic
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Finding a domain

Are any good domain names left ?
• Yes and No

So how do I find a good domain ?
• The WHOIS service – all Verisign (past
Network Solutions) registrars.

Problem: Registrars using their own
databases
• The BetterWhois service– all ICANN
registrars and Verisign.
• Intelligent registration services
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Finding a good domain

See www.Register.com
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BillClinton.com WHOIS
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Finding a great domain (cont)

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The “best” domains are usually taken
and are offered for sale !!!
What makes a domain worth
anything ??
See www.GreatDomains.com for
such.
The truly great domains are very
expensive.
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GreatDomains.com Sales
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Registering a domain


You can register a domain for a yearly fee
of between $6.95 to $30 depending on the
registrar and TLD.
Services offered:
•
•
•
•

Domain name parking
Free website
e-mail services
Auto renew
Use well known domain registrars:
• Cheap and good: www.GoDaddy.com
• Expensive and good: www.Register.com
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Web Design
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Web Design

Available options:
• Build it yourself
 Code it (Notepad, EditPlus, XEmacs…)
 Use Tools (Adobe GoLive, FrontPage, Dreamweaver)
• Build using pre-made components
 Use site templates
 Use pre-made content management systems
• Have it made professionally (Not going to talk about this
in a webmasters 101 lecture).
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Web Design – Build it yourself


Writing your own HTML’s manually
• Fine for tiny – small sites.
• Costly
• Don’t unless you have very good reasons too
Using site building tools:
• Build a web site quickly and professionally
• Many optional pre built features, see FrontPage
Extensions.
• Most webmasters use these tools.
• Unlike writing your own C++ code, writing
your own HTML files does not give you better
results.
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Web Design – Build it yourself
Example
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Use pre-made components

Site Templates
• Building a professional looking site
requires talent and experience.
• Graphic design and interface of site has
huge importance:

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
Loading Speed
Look and feel effects visitors stickiness
Most visitors only visit the homepage and
then leave
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Use pre-made components (cont)


Consider giving your site a professional look using 50-100$
templates.
See http://www.templatemonster.com/
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Use pre-made components (cont 2)



Use pre-made content management
systems.
Just customize the look and feel, and
have a professional content
management site ready to go.
Available features: Content handling,
FAQ, Surveys, Clubs, Stories, Site
Statistics, Bulletin boards, Ads
management, Search options, and
much more.
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Use pre-made components (cont 3)
– Example PHPNuke
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Use pre-made components (cont 3)
– Example PHPNuke Used in Israel
www.8200.org
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Web Programming
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Web Programming

Client-Side
Scripting

Server-Side
Scripting /
Applications
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Web Programming – Client Side


Overview: processing
simple requests ,
maintaining state , GUI .
Why:
• Fast (client side)
• Cheap (less bandwidth,
CPU power, cut down
server load by 80% on
complex applications ).

How
• JavaScript – Netscape
• VBScript - Internet
Explorer (Micro$oft)
• DHTML (HTML + CSS +
JavaScript/VBScript)

Problems:
• Netscape Vs Micro$oft
• Quick jobs with little
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complexity
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Web Programming – Client Side
(cont)
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
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Java Applets - Extremely powerful and portable.
Why :
• Need Client Side power, unparallel by scripting
languages.
Why Not:
• Slow loading
• Security restrictions by Java (Disk access / Server
access).
• Client side support.
• Not very popular these days…
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Web Programming – Server
Side
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Many different
technologies: .NET, ASP,
PHP, JSP, CGI (Perl, C /
C++) ,
Each technology has its
own advantages and
disadvantages – they are
not all competing.
ASP / PHP: Most popular
server side scripting
languages, great for most
dynamic content websites.
.NET / JSP / Servlets:
Application programming
CGI (Usually Perl): Forum
processing
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Web Hosting
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Web Hosting
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Site complete, time to go live.
You need a web host and a web
package.
More then 10,000 web hosts
available on the web, each with
many available packages.
Usually good idea to pick a host in
the US, as more then 50% of surfers
are from the US.
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Web Hosting Options



Shared Hosting (Virtual Hosting) - Web
hosting in which the service provider serves
pages for multiple Web sites, each having its own
Internet domain name, from a single Web server.
Virtual Server - a server (computer and various
server programs) at someone else's location that
is shared by multiple Web site owners so that
each owner can use and administer it as though
they had complete control of the server
Dedicated Server (Dedicated Hosting) - The
rental and exclusive use of a computer that
includes a Web server, related software, and
connection to the Internet, housed in the Web
hosting company's
premises.
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Webmasters 101 by Yuval Tochner
Web Hosting - OS

Choosing an OS (Standard options)
• Windows 2000 Servers


Complete support for all popular Microsoft applications
including .NET, MS Access, SQL 2000, Active Server Pages,
MS Index Servers, FrontPage 2002
Rule of Thumb: choose Windows only if these technologies
are needed.
• UNIX / Linux Apache Servers




Suitable for meeting most Internet requirements, such as
mailing, streaming, Web servers, and file serving.
Cost-effective choice - it uses hardware efficiently.
Huge number of free applications available on the Internet.
Rule of Thumb: choose Linux unless you have a very good
reason not too.
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Web Hosting – OS (cont)

Sun Solaris
• Proven track record and is deployed in many large
Fortune 500 corporations.
• Mature platform and there are a large number of
applications and development tools available.
• Sun's capacity and stability make it ideal for hightraffic functions, such as database servers, hightraffic Web servers and mission-critical servers.

Free BSD
• FreeBSD is a very stable open source operating
system, and a good alternative to Linux.
• Extremely well-integrated and tested system. It is
inexpensive and there are a large number of free
applications available.
• Free BSD is ideal for Web servers and virtual
hosting servers. Webmasters 101 by Yuval Tochner
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Web Hosting – Features

Basic Setting
• Price
• Setup Fee
• OS
• Disk Space
• Bandwidth
• Number of domains on account
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Web Hosting – Features (cont)

Email Setting
• Email Accounts (POP3, IMAP, Webmail)
• Auto Responders
• Vacation Messages
• Mail Forwarding
• Spam Filters
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Web Hosting – Features
(cont 2)

File Managements
• FTP Accounts
• SQL Support – mySQL / SQL 2000
• Password Protected Directories

Technologies
• CGI-BIN
• Available Web Programming
Technologies
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Web Hosting Example
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Web Hosting Example (cont)
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Web Hosting Example – Same
Price, Different Features
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Web Hosting – Site Statistics
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Web Hosting – Site Statistics (cont)
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Web Hosting – Site Statistics
(cont 2)
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Web Hosting – Site Statistics
(cont 3)
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Web Hosting – Site Statistics
(cont 4)
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Web Hosting – Site Statistics
(cont 5)
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Web Hosting – Site Statistics
(cont 6)
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E-Commerce
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E-Commerce


E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC)
is the buying and selling of goods and
services on the Internet, especially the
World Wide Web.
E-commerce can be divided into:
• E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites
with online catalogs, sometimes gathered into
a "virtual mall"
• The gathering and use of demographic data
through Web contacts
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the
business-to-business exchange of data
• Business-to-business buying and selling
• The security ofWebmasters
business
52
101 by Yuvaltransactions
Tochner
(whatis.com)
E-Commerce – Virtual Store Front


Build it yourself – use previously
listed webmasters skills.
Buy it prepared – Yahoo Shopping,
Amazon zShops and MSN eshops.
• Free traffic
• Customers feel more secure  more
sells (??)
• Easy site building
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E-Commerce – Virtual Store Front
(cont)

Build it yourself:
• Regular market oriented site
• Accepting online payments:



Credit Cards
Digital Checks
PayPal (by eBay)
• Accepting payments is easy to do
anybody can – so watch out to whom
you give your credit card number !!!
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E-Commerce – Accepting Credit
Cards / Digital Checks

Most common services:
• Virtual Terminal
Authorize, process, and manage credit
card transactions manually from any
computer that has an Internet
connection and a Web browser.
• WebLink
Automate credit card transactions
directly from your Web site, without
complex hardware or software systems.
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E-Commerce – Accepting Credit
Cards / Digital Checks (cont)

Virtual Terminal Technology:
• Provide needed information in SSL form to
Authorize.net. (CC number, personal details..)
• Information encrypted with 40 – 128 bit SSL 3.0 and
sent to Authorize.net host server.
• The server sends the data through the authorization
network to the appropriate card issuer's bank using a
secure, proprietary connection. (3 Seconds)
• Merchant receives an authorization number
• Authorize.Net server stores the transaction
• Transactions are automatically settled each day and are
typically funded within two to three business days.

WebLink
• Same as with virtual terminal only filled by the client.
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E-Commerce PayPal




An ebay company
20 million members
37,000 shops accepting PayPal
What is PayPal ?
• Pay online using your email and PayPal
account
• Free to join
• Easy for merchants to accept payments
• Secure payment option for customers
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PayPal Homepage
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Search Engines
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Search Engines
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
Many general purpose search engines.
Many specialized search engines
Most of these are built on very few
database providers:
•
•
•
•
•
Google.com (Yahoo.com)
Inktomi.com (MSN Search, HotBot, & iWon )
Overture.com
FastSearch.com (AllTheWeb.com, Lycos, ..)
Open Directory (dmoz.org)
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Search Engines – Stats 1


Probably the best way to get
free quality traffic.
Popularity according to
audience reach is the
percentage of US home and
work internet users estimated
to have searched on each site
at least once during the
month through a web browser
or some other "online" means
KEY: GG=Google, YH=Yahoo,
MSN=MSN, AOL=AOL,
AJ=Ask Jeeves,
NS=Netscape, OVR=Overture
(GoTo), IS=InfoSpace,
AV=AltaVista,
LY=Lycos,
LS=LookSmart, ELINK=EarthL
ink.com
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Search Engines – Stats 2

The next chart estimates the
total time spent searching
by the digital media audience
at each site listed. It
multiplies the number of
visitors to each site by the
average number of minutes
each visitor is estimated to
have spent at the site. The
result shows the total number
of hours spent by searchers at
each site, for October 2002:
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Search Engines – Getting Listed

Submitting your URL to search engines is
easy.
• Submit manually
• Use services / programs.


Submit your URL’s to all major search
engines including: Google, AOL, Yahoo,
Altavista, Netscape, dmoz.org (The easy
way to get in),…
Submit your URL’s to all smaller search
engines too. Especially ones related to
your type of site.
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Search Engines – dmoz.org
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Become a dmoz Editor
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Search Engines – Content


Many Search Engine algorithms.
The single most important precondition for getting good
Search Engines ranking is content.
• Basic keyword / phrase search in content
• More links from other to you (See Google’s algorithm)

You need to determine what are the important keywords for
your site.
• Sign up with Google’s AdWord for finding keyword statistics.
• Use the statistics to determine the important keywords for all
search engines.

Optimize your site according to general optimization
guidelines and according to your content. (See next slide).
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Search Engines – Optimizations

Title Tag –
• Used in search result, so make it readable
• Lots of search engine ranking points for search
terms in it
• Up to 50 – 80 characters
• Correlate with content

Meta Tags –
• Description (up to 255 characters, accurate,
start with keywords )
• Keywords (up to 1024 characters)
• Correlate with content
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Search Engines – Optimizations 2





Using frames – add <noframes>
html tags with links and content in
them
Dynamic Links – Symbols ?, &, %,
+, =, $, cgi-bin, .cgi in URL.
Flash – Crawler problems. (Links)
Image MAPS – Crawler problems.
JavaScript Links – Crawler problems.
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Pay Per Click Search
Engines
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PPC Search Engines





Getting high ranks in search engines for
good keywords is difficult, only top 50
search results get any significant traffic.
Buying “quality” traffic is much easier.
PPC Search engines provide “quality”
traffic on the CPC (Cost Per Click) model.
You must known all your relevant
keywords to get the maximum benefits.
You must also have an estimate of the
percentages of “quality” traffic who chose
to buy your product or service.
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PPC Search Engines (cont)



Some PPC’s embed paid advertisements in their
results (goClick.com) (Classic PPC)
Some provide them in a separate section
(Google.com)
Largest PPC’s :
• Overture


Many small sites.
Many strong affiliates for top 3 bid positions: Yahoo, MSN,
Altavista, Lycos, InfoSpace.
• Google


Some small sites.
AOL, Netscape, CompuServe, AT&T, EarthLink, Sympatico
• LookSmart

MSN, About, Altavista, InfoSpace, Time Warner.
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Google PPC

Google.com AdWords– Text Ads on side of search
results.
• Default minimum 0.05$ per click.
• Minimum is set automatically per keyword demand and
supply.
• Position is set according to competing offered prices for
keywords.
• Use different Ads / Campaigns on different keywords.


Ads are selected randomly
Campaigns contain a few possible ads for selection.
• CTR (click through rate) must be > 1
• Limit on number of advertiser per keyword
• Some special keyword have unlimited advertisers (Such
as web hosting)
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Google’s PPC – Traffic Estimator

Use Google’s AdWords technologies for research into relevant keywords
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Google’s PPC – Traffic Estimator
(cont)
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Alexa
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Alexa






Up since 1996 providing mostly site
information.
Past Partners: Netscape, Microsoft,
Current: Amazon
Crawling the Internet, gathering site
information.
250 gigabytes of information per day
More then 100 Terabyte archive
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Alexa (cont)

Technologies:
• Site stats:





Links to site
Page View - Page Views measures the number of pages
viewed by Alexa Toolbar users
Reach - is typically expressed as the percentage of all
Internet users who visit a given site
Traffic rank (Mean of page view rank and reach rank) in
comparison to other web sites (10 million Alexa Toolbar
users)
Make informed decisions about the website.
• Related Links:



Use path of Alexa community
Clustering data mining – sites that are similar and relevant
to one another
User suggestions
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Alexa Example
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Alexa Example 2
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Affiliate Networks
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Affiliate Networks



Advertisers – want to advertise their
website / product  want traffic
Publishers – want to have other
advertise through them  want
revenue
Affiliate Network Company – a good
place to bring these two together
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Affiliate Networks (cont)




Advertisers usually start with a 100$
to 10000$ deposit with the network.
Publishers can join for free – if
approved.
Publishers can approach advertisers
or visa versa. (Depends on network).
Publishers paid by network not
advertiser.
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Affiliate Networks – Program Types

Program Types:
• CPC (Click)
• CPM (Impressions)
• Lead
• Sale (Flat rate / Percentage)
• Verified email
• Pop-ups
• Pop-under
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Affiliate Network Companies


Dozens of large affiliate networks
DoubleClick –
• Since 1996
• 60 Billion Ad views per month
• Accept only high trafficked web sites

LinkShare –
• Claim over 10 million affiliates
• Lead (PPL) / Sale

FastClick
• Banners / Pop-Unders / Avenues

Commission Junctions
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Don’t Think About Generating False
Impressions




You are not the first to try
Israel has been band from many
Affiliate networks…
If your advertisers are not making
money, then you won’t either.
Affiliate Networks are constantly
upgrading technologies…
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Affiliate Network Examples
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Affiliate Network Examples
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Link Exchange / Traffic Exchange


Hundreds of Link / Traffic Exchange ventures on
the net.
Why exchange links ?
• More ways to get to your site
• Google’s algorithm

Why exchange traffic ?
• Offering relevant services / products / content.
• Make money from low quality traffic

Why own such a venture
• Offer an exchange ratio which lets you advertise your
real websites.
• Charge for service
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Conclusions








Think of an Idea. (Do the research)
Buy a domain
Build a site
Find a good hosting company
Find an e-commerce solution provider
Go live with site
Use Search engines, PPC Search engines,
Affiliate Networks.
Have an Internet Business.
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Bibliography






Personal knowledge and experience.
WhatIs.com – definitions
HostIndex.com – hosting information
NetCraft.com – Internet Statistics
iBoost.com – Small biz portal
Dozens of other web resources
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