A Simple PHP Include Tutorial
When it comes to designing a website, there are a lot of factors which, when combined, will give the end-user a great experience. Some of these common factors include:
- Usability
- Readability
- Functionality
- Navigation
- W3C Compliance
- etc…
If you have been doing web design for any period of time, you know that the speed of editing becomes more important – in a direct correlation to how big your website is. This is where the beautiful PHP Include option comes in handy. For those of you that have never used it or heard of it, this is what it is.
A PHP Include is of course, written in the programming language of PHP. An include allows you to insert this piece of code, onto every webpage you own. You then place regular HTML code into the include file. Whenever your PHP Include is called on the page – you can have your HTML displayed.
What is this good for? It allows you to put something on thousands of pages, and only have to edit one file. What is the opposite of this? You could open up every webpage and edit the same file over and over again… but who wants to do that?
So here’s how it works…
- When working in your web design program, you can cut/paste the HTML from one spot that you need on every page, and paste it into a completely blank document (that means no HTML markup at all – the best way to make sure is to view the source code of the page).
- Save the page with a memorable name and have it end in the “.inc” extension. So if your page-name was “orderbutton”, your file would be “orderbutton.inc” (do NOT have it end in .htm or .html)
- You will then place the following code on your web-page, into the spot where you want your file to appear: <?php include(“path-to-file.inc”); ?>
Now if you are completely new to PHP, this may seem overwhelming so let me explain a bit further…
You are going to replace the “path-to-file.inc” above with the destination to your “.inc” file on your website. So if you had created a PHP include file called “orderbutton.inc” in a folder called “php”… your code would read <?php include(“php/orderbutton.inc”); ?>.
Also keep in mind, that for each sub-folder you create, your path file will change by “../”. So if you had a folder on your website that was called “products” and inside that folder you had another folder called “specials”, your PHP include code for any web-pages inside the “specials” folder would be <?php include(“../php/orderbutton.inc”); ?>.
This is how great websites are made – by simplifying the redundant tasks of editing over and over again. I hope this helps you – and if you have any questions, please ask!
Is Outsourcing Good Or Bad For My Online Business?
Outsourcing is what you make of it. I would like to point out a couple aspects of it though, which can help to put your online marketing efforts on full speed. I see a lot of beginners asking questions about outsourcing, and it is all great and dandy, if you know what you are doing. Outsourcing your business work for the sole purpose of not wanting to do the work yourself is both great and bad. The reason is simple.
Do you know what you are doing when it comes to your online business? If you haven’t the slightest clue of how to run a profitable pay per click campaign, or rank for a keyphrase that doesn’t even exist, then you need to re-think your plan. The best way to learn the “ropes” of marketing is to get your feet wet at the start. By doing some of the basic tasks in the beginning, you will have at least some knowledge to help you instruct people who you plan to hire.
Do you really expect someone to work for you as a freelancer and turn your business into a multi-million dollar campaign? Of course not… or at least I hope not. Outsourcing is the perfect way to scale up your business, only AFTER you know what to do – in order to succeed. If you know you need to rank for a bunch of long-tail phrases, then get writers to give you quality, original content. Hire another set of people to focus on attaining quality backlinks, through link-bait, press releases, or any of the various forms. Just make sure your site is actually worth linking to.
If you rather spend money on a quicker pace, hire people to research hundreds of keyphrases for you. You could then plug these into one campaign after another and split-test the results. The problem with outsourcing, is that many people feel the work will not be up to par – if they don’t do it themselves. The bad thing about this, is that you are shooting yourself in the foot. How can you expect to have hundreds of sales a day, unless you have thousands of pages of content, links, promotions, and strategies in place?
How Much Should I Pay Per Click?
When it comes to pay per click advertising, there is a lot that one needs to learn. When I first got started in the PPC game, I spent a lot of money on wasted keywords, ads, and campaigns to say the least. I remember one day I woke up and I had spent $300 on worthless keywords. I was shocked to say the least. Back then, $300 was the mother-load. It was that simple fact that put me off from pay per click for a while.
Getting back into it took some time, but I gradually learned to enjoy it more and more. I think PPC is an art that definately takes time to master. Browsing around Internet forums from time to time, I see a lot of people asking questions about bid prices and CTR. It’s amazing how obessive this can be. Almost as bad as PageRank in my opinion. Anyways, how much should I pay per click? This is the exact question you should be asking yourself when you setup a new campaign or adgroup.
The “formula” for this is to actually take your EPS (earnings per sale) and divide that in half. Then take that number and divide by 100. So let’s say you earn $50 per sale. The formula would be:
- $50/2=$25
- $25/100=$0.25
Thus, if you are making $50 dollars per sale, you should be looking to spend .25 – .30 cents per click, on your key-phrases. Remember to go long tail, and to also go horizontally in your advertising. Super affiliates separate themselves from the noobs in this very tactic. Look to expand your campaigns instead of just digging for the highest searched keywords. You will start to see your profits grow once you master this technique.
Will A Site Re-Design Affect My Search Engine Ranking?
The title of this post pretty much sums up the question that so many people ask on a daily basis. With the web growing more day by day, it is becoming ever so vital for us as webmasters, to provide quality content and get rankings. What’s even more important than getting those rankings is actually keeping them. This is where 90% of people begin to slack off. Keeping your rankings is vital to mainting your business and web presence.
How does one keep their rankings if they want to change their website architecture or structural integrity? It’s a lot easier than you may think. As you know already (hopefully), content is the key starting point for a great website. After that comes internal linking structure followed by the confirmation of other websites “voting” for yours.
When you are going about changing your website layout (and I wouldn’t recommend doing that too often), it is important to keep the internal linking structure “as is”. If you have great rankings already, I would not suggest that you go and change the way your pages link to each other. If your site is brand new and you are just conducting a “redo”, then I wouldn’t see a problem with this.
Next up on the list is imagery. Everybody loves images. We are human beings and we love to see, feel, touch, and hear stuff. This is why video is such a great application for websites and marketing. You have to keep yourself in check though and be careful not to overdue it with these goodies. Don’t get me wrong, flash and video is a good way to present your business or website, but it cannot be “read” in the same way a useful article can.
Content is the key as you can imagine. As long as you keep your site’s linking structure together, and keep the same content you have, while NOT changing the URL of your web pages, you should be fine. Stick to the sound principles of web design, functionality, and layout, and you will be off to the races in no time!
MSN Bing | Bing Search Engine | What Is Bing?
It was bound to happen sooner or later – in this case, a bit later. MSN has finally gone ahead with a “new” search engine. It’s called Bing and its launch follows the footsteps of Yahoo and Google updating their services as well. Search plays a huge role in the lives of everyone not living under a rock. It is where society is headed – the information age.
Microsoft claims to have used semantic algorithms in the build of their new search engine, dubbed “BING”. What is Bing anyways? Does it mean anything? One could argue to reason that Bing implies human being, or “binging it”, which could imply a slang for doing, searching, finding, etc… Will the phrase “Got Bing?” become as popular as “Got Milk?”. Only time will tell.
So what does this search engine have so far other than looks? Cosmetics is surely at the forefront of this new step-up but is there anything else planned? Does Microsoft want to gain the title of search king or are they happy with being software king?
Well, by using LSI in their search algorithms, the engine will help to deduce the meaning of phrases and words search, instead of solely providing results. This technology isn’t that new, but it will certainly play a huge role in shaping the future of search. So say goodbye to MSN Live because as of June 3rd, 2009, it’s going to search engine heaven (or hell – where it could be repeatedly stabbed by Google). Ok you get the point – just gear up for the new engine!
Now the goal of Bing is rather unique. They want their users to experience a lot more for a lot less. The images will change, there will be hot-spots and info hubs, there will be many things that once was not. Are they intending to one-up Yahoo and the big G? Probably not, but it’s a helpful move in a positive direction.
The new MSN Bing will help online shoppers at best. It will give people ideas and information on shopping, travel, health, and fitness. This certainly is targeting a particular crowd as you can see. It may even turn into the world’s largest shopping “hub”. Time will tell for sure.
City searches trigger weather patterns, shopping searches brings up stores, and random searches give you a history plus ask for refinements. As you can see, things are heading into a very personal level. You can even view a video without clicking the link.
All of this stems from a study that Microsoft did in which they found, that 30% of users abandon their search for answers out of frustration. Will Bing be the answer to this problem? You be the judge – post your thoughts.
