Lesson 10 -- Printer Friendly Version

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Chapter 1

Today, we're going to learn how to add counters and search engine front ends to your web page. You'll also learn about two banner advertising cooperatives that you can join to promote your web site.
A counter is a program that keeps track of the number of times your web page has been loaded by visitors. This number is usually displayed on your web page using an image that might look the odometer on your car, the display on your
clock radio, or the numbers on an athletic scoreboard, among other things.

I don't use counters much myself. I feel that the relative popularity or unpopularity of my site is proprietary information that I'd rather not share with others. If you ask nicely, most web hosting services will provide you with
daily, weekly, and/or monthly visitor statistics privately, via e-mail or a password-protected web site.

But I realize that I'm in the minority. One of the most common questions I am asked when showing a site to a client for the first time is "where's the counter?"

Despite my aversion to counters, I don't feel that it's my place to talk a paying client out of what they want. Fortunately, there are a fair number of free services that can help you build a counter for the client to proudly
display on his or her home page.

If you took my 'Creating Web Pages' class, you'll probably remember my recommendation of the Link Exchange service. What you may not realize is that Link Exchange offers a fast and free counter service. Setup is quick and easy. Just go to the following URL to sign up:

http://fastcounter.linkexchange.com/

If you don't like the Link Exchange counter, you have other choices. You'd be surprised at the vast array of color schemes and fonts that are available. My favorite place to shop for counters is 'Digit Mania' at:

http://www.digitmania.com/

You'll find over 500 different styles of counters to play with. Once you find a counter image you really like, make note of the name that is displayed just above the image. This information will come in handy later.

Once you've settled on a counter, head on over to Aaddzz, a marketing company that supplies free web counters to anyone who asks:

http://www.aaddzz.com/pages/counters

Read the instructions on this page. Click on the words 'Open an Account.'

A form will appear. Supply the requested information. Be sure to write your account name and password on a sheet of paper so you don't forget this information. Under 'Services you plan to use,' be sure and select 'Counters.'

Click the 'Continue' button to submit your information and you will be taken to another screen. You will now be asked to log in. Type your account name and password where requested and click the 'Login' button.

On the next page that appears, click the 'Manage Pages' icon. Then, click 'Create Counter' and supply the complete URL (web address) of the page that should receive a counter.

Use the list provided to select the counter (using the name from 'Digit Mania') that you want to apply. Adjust any other options as you see fit. (For a more natural look, I recommend selecting 'Leading Zeros' and right-aligning the numbers.) To see what your counter will look like, click the 'Preview' button.

When you're happy with your choices, click the 'Create' button. In a moment, Aaddzz will generate some HTML for you. Use your mouse to select the HTML and choose your browser's 'Edit' menu, followed by 'Copy.'

Next, open your HTML document in a text editor. Position your cursor in a spot you feel would be appropriate for a web counter.

Then, select your text editor's 'Edit' menu, followed immediately by 'Paste.'

If you'd like, you can surround the new HTML with <CENTER> and </CENTER> tags.

When you upload your web page to a server, the counter will begin working!

Chapter 2

A search engine front end is a form you can place on your site that will activate one of the big search engines. As a convenience to your visitors, you might want to place one or more of these tools on one of your web pages.
Inserting a search engine front end onto a web page is pretty easy. All you have to do is build a small form with just one text box, an occasional hidden field and a submit button. There are two differences between this search engine form and the forms we built in lessons 5-7.

First, the form processing program for the forms we'll be building today will be housed on the search engine company's server, instead of being provided by your hosting service.

Another difference: in lessons 5-7, I indicated that there are two methods that you can use to send data to a form processing program. Although slow, the 'post' method allows your visitors to submit an almost unlimited amount of data
from a form to your server. The faster 'get' method can only handle up to 256 characters.

In your lessons, I recommended that you use the 'post' method so that your visitors would not have artificial restrictions placed on the amount of information they could provide you. However, you will notice that we use the 'get' method when we build our search engine front ends.

Search engine operators prefer the 'get' method not only because it is faster than the 'post' method, but for the exact reason we rejected it: because it limits the amount of information a searcher can enter. This limit prevents people from bogging down the search engine with unnecessary search terms.

Below, you will find all the HTML you'll need to insert a search engine front end on your web page. You can place the front end anywhere you'd like: at the top of the page, the bottom of the page, or inside a frame or table. Just copy,
paste, and use!

-Examples-

The code below will build a front end to the Yahoo directory

http://www.yahoo.com/
 <FORM METHOD=GET 
 ACTION="http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search">
 <INPUT type=text SIZE=25 NAME="p">
 <INPUT TYPE=submit value="Search">
 </FORM>
If you'd like this or any other text box to be filled in already, just add a 'VALUE' parameter to the tag that creates the text box. Suppose, for example, that you would like the form set up so that Yahoo is ready to search for photos from the Hubble space telescope. To do so, modify the text box like this:
 <FORM METHOD=GET 
 ACTION="http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search">
 <INPUT type=text SIZE=25 NAME="p" 
 VALUE="Hubble photos">
 <INPUT TYPE=submit value="Search">
 </FORM>
When the form comes up on your web page, the words 'Hubble photos' will already be entered in the text box for your visitors. All they'll have to do is click the 'Search' button.

By the way, if you're interested in seeing a slide show of almost 40 breathtaking photos from the Hubble telescope, I recommend 'Jim's Hubble Telescope Photo Gallery' at

http://www.enconnect.net/jdeline/hubble01.htm

The code below will build a front end to WebCrawler

http://www.webcrawler.com/
 <FORM method=GET 
 action="http://www.webcrawler.com/cgi-bin/WebQuery">
 <INPUT type=text NAME="searchText" SIZE=25>
 <INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE="Search">
 </FORM>
The code below will build a front end to the Encyclopedia Britannica Internet Guide http://www.ebig.com/
 <FORM method=GET 
 action="http://www.ebig.com/cgi-bin/search.tcl">
 <INPUT type=text name="SearchWd" size=25>
 <INPUT type=submit value="Search">
 </FORM>
The code below will build a front end to Infoseek

http://www.infoseek.com/
 <FORM method=GET 
 action="http://guide-p.infoseek.com/Titles">
 <INPUT type=text name="qt" size=25>
 <INPUT type=submit value="Search">
 <INPUT type=hidden name=sv value=IS>
 <INPUT type=hidden name=lk value=noframes>
 </FORM>
The code below will build a front end to Lycos

http://www.lycos.com/
 <FORM method=GET 
 action="http://www.lycos.com/cgi-bin/pursuit">
 <INPUT type=text size=25 name="query">
 <INPUT type=submit value="Search">
 <INPUT type=hidden name=matchmode value=and>
 <INPUT type=hidden name=cat value=lycos>
 </FORM>
The code below will build a front end to Alta Vista

http://altavista.digital.com/
 <FORM method=GET 
 action="http://www.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/query">
 <INPUT type=text name="q" size=25>
 <INPUT type=submit value="Search">
 <INPUT type=hidden NAME=pg value=q>
 <INPUT type="hidden" name="fmt" 
 value="">
 </FORM>
The code below will build a front end to Excite

http://www.excite.com/
 <FORM ACTION="http://www.excite.com/search.gw" 
 METHOD=GET TARGET="_top">

 <INPUT NAME="search" size=25>
 <INPUT TYPE=submit value="Search">
 <INPUT type=hidden NAME=sort value=site>
 </FORM>
The code below will build a front end to HotBot

http://www.hotbot.com/
 <FORM method=GET action="http://www.hotbot.com/">
 <INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME="MT" SIZE=25>
 <INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE="Search">
 <INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=rg VALUE=NA>
 <INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=_v VALUE=2>
 <INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=DE VALUE=2>
 <INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=DC VALUE=10>
 <INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=SW VALUE=web>
 </FORM>
The code below will build a front end to Northern Light

http://www.northernlight.com/
 <FORM method=GET 
 action="http://www.northernlight.com/nlquery.fcg">
 <INPUT type=text NAME="qr" SIZE=25> 
 <INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE="Search">
 <INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=us VALUE=025>
 </FORM>

Chapter 3

I am often asked if it is possible to create a search engine that will only search one site. Unfortunately, it usually takes a knowledge of CGI programming to build a search engine that can catalog and search through your site.
Recently, I thought about the problem anew, and came up with a solution that might work for some of you and involves no CGI programming. Basically, I created a little bit of HTML code that forces Infoseek to search only your site. Here's
how it works:

First, edit the <HEAD> for each page on your site and give it an appropriate title, description, and key word list. Write me if you don't know how to do this. Infoseek relies heavily on the information in the <HEAD> of your document when it catalogs your site, so this step is important.

When you finish, go to Infoseek at http://www.infoseek.com/ and click the 'Add URL' link at the bottom of the page.

Next, use the form Infoseek provides to add (one at a time) every single page in your site to the Infoseek index, like this:

http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html

http://www.yourdomain.com/pagenamehere.html

http://www.yourdomain.com/anotherpagename.html

and so on, until you run out of pages.

The pages should be indexed shortly.

Now, place the following code on one of your web pages. Be sure to change the domain name in the example below from 'yourdomain.com' to your real domain:
 <FORM method="get" action="http://www.infoseek.com/Titles">
 <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="qt" SIZE=25>
 
 <INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME="oq" VALUE="+site:yourdomain.com">
 
 <input type=hidden name="sv" value="A2">
 <input type=hidden name="col" value="WW,cat_RES">
 <INPUT TYPE=submit value="Search">
 </FORM>
That's it. Once Infoseek adds your pages to its database, you should have no trouble searching your site. Just bring up the form and type in a search word orphrase in the box you've created. The hidden fields will ensure that Infoseek only searches your site for the word or phrase in question. Hope it works for you!

Chapter 4

A banner ad cooperative is a free service designed to help you market your web site.
When you join a banner ad cooperative, you agree to display advertising banners for other members of the cooperative on your site. In return, they agree to display banners for you. You can decide what type of sites to advertise with so you don't need to worry about inappropriate material showing up on your pages.

The amount of free advertising you will receive is directly proportional to the amount of advertising your site gives to others. Each time a banner on your site is visited, you will earn one-half of a point. As soon as you accumulate one
point, your ad will be displayed on somebody else's site. If you'd like to accumulate points more rapidly, you can place multiple ads on many pages.

The banner is the key to your success. Both companies offer banner creation tips and services. I recommend studying the banner development strategies carefully.

If your banner attracts people's attention, it will draw many of them to your site.

When people visit your site, your point total will increase. When the point total increases, your banner is displayed more often. When your banner is displayed more often, more people will be drawn to your site. When more people visit your site, your point total increases even more...and, well, you get the idea. When banner ad cooperatives work, they work well.

The companies that administer the advertising cooperatives make money by renting space on the banners occasionally. If you find that the free banner ads are working for you, you might want to begin paying the company to increase your exposure beyond what your point level allows.

Below, you will find the addresses of two legitimate banner ad cooperatives that I have worked with and can recommend. Give 'em a try:

Link Exchange
http://www.linkexchange.com/

Banner Swap
http://www.bannerswap.com/

Chapter 5

When you feel you have a grasp on all of the concepts taught within this lesson, I would like you to take a short, multiple choice quiz. To get to the quiz, click on 'Quizzes' on the menu bar. When the form comes up, input your last name, e-mail address, and password, and make sure you have 'Quiz 10' selected. Good luck!

IMPORTANT: This version of your lesson is for saving or printing only. All links and images have been disabled to decrease download time and help you avoid printer difficulties. Do NOT attempt to click any of the links on this page.