All posts in Tutorials

.htaccess basics

by Ades on May 15, 2008 in SEO & Promotion, Tutorials with 18 Comments

Previously I have written articles on .htaccess, they are:

But since not all of you know how to use and modify .htaccess file on your server, I am writing this basic htaccess tutorial.

What is this (htaccess) file and what does it do?

It is a file for managing directories on the web server (i.e your web hosting). the name htaccess comes from “hypertext access”. With htaccess, you can do many things, like:

  • Defining your error documents (eg. 404 errors)
  • Password protecting your directories
  • Blocking users by IP
  • Blocking traffic from certain sites
  • Blocking bad bots (eg. spammers)
  • Preventing hotlinking of your images
  • Redirecting pages to another
  • and many more

Where is this file?

.htaccess is a file that is usually found in your root directory. If your web-host allows you to see it, you can see the file together with your other files in your root folder (see below). However sometimes web-hosts do make them hidden (so that you don’t accidentally modify it or delete it).

htaccess_file.png

You can also create different .htaccess files for different sub-folders on your website. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the root folder. However htaccess directives in the root folder will apply automatically to all sub-folders, so you have to be careful of what you do with it. For example, blocking google.com will be a nightmare to most sites. Especially if you are an e-commerce site that rely on Google traffic.

How to create them?

htaccess files can be created by notepad. Here is a sample htaccess file from my adesdesign.net site.

htaccesssample.pngYou can see that in my htaccess file I have defined Error files, and also have redirected adesdesign.net to www. adesdesign,net (with www). As you know URL with and without “www” are considered two different websites to the search engines. Therefore redirecting one to another is very important. Here is how you can do that.

htaccesssave.pngSo, creating htaccess file is easy. Just open the notepad, type in your commands and save it as .htacess (yes with dot in front) for the file name and select “all files” for file type as shown in the screenshot to the right. Save.

I hope you find this article useful. Do let me know if you have any questions in the comments section.

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Using Google Calendar as a to-do list application

by Ades on November 16, 2007 in Articles, Blogging Tips, Getting Things Done, Google, Tutorials with 7 Comments

Do you use Google Calendar? If yes, do you use it as a “visually enhanced to-do list” application? I do, and in this post I will share with you guys how do I do it. I am sure some of you must be already doing it.

Create a new calendar

First thing is to create your own new calendar, in fact create two calendards. One – for things to be done (to-do). And another – for things that are already done (completed). After you have created and named them properly, give them distinctive colors. So that, when you look at your calendar, you know what is done and what needs to be done.

Here is how my calendar looks when viewed by month (see below). Red colored items are things that I need to do, when the time comes. And light brown colored items are things, that I have already completed.

This is how it looks when viewed by Agenda (see below). Notice that there is one red item among the light brown items. That is the Top5 sites that I was supposed to update. I am planning to get it brown these coming few days ;)

After you are done creating your calendars, you are ready to post some to-dos. So, go ahead and post them. While creating your to-do items, do not forget to assign them your “to-do calendar”. Otherwise tasks won’t look colored and you won’t know if it is a “to-do” item or “completed” item.

Setting Reminders

Another important thing while creating your to-do items is, to set reminders. Usually for weekly tasks or tasks that repeat often I just set one reminder. But for the things that happen once a year, or once in 6 months etc, I will set two reminders. One is, one week before the task, and another, one day before the task.

This way, it gives me enough time (one week) to get prepared for the task. So that on the second reminder, I will be ready to do the task without delay.

When it comes to advertising, one week notice also allows me to send emails to my advertisers notifying them of their advertisement expiry. It’s a good thing to send early notices, because not everybody may check, reply or decide last minute whether to renew the ads or not. So, one week notice will give them ample time to think about the renewal (e.g checking stats, click-throughs, ROI..etc)

Note: There are two types of reminders; email and pop-up. Please choose the option that suits your needs best. Personally, I use the email option.

Task is done!

Finally, when the task is done, don’t forget to assign your “done calendar” to the completed task (see below).

That’s it! I hope you found this article useful. So, will you be using Google Calendar as your to-do list?

Why gCalendar?

Some of you might ask why use Google Calendar when there are many other softwares and web applications specifically developed for to-do lists. I use Google Calendar because it has some advantages that other softwares or to-do programs do not have. Some of the advantages of gCalendar are:

  1. I can access my to-do lists from anywhere on the net
  2. I can visualize my to-do lists right on my calendar, and not just as a list with some dates
  3. I can get reminders right into my email
  4. It’s secure and private when necessary

… an many more.

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LinkWorth Tutorial, how to submit your blog/site

by Ades on September 8, 2007 in Make Money, Tutorials with 13 Comments

LinkWorth is a publisher program that allows you to sell text-links on your blog or site.

This is a tutorial on how to submit your site to LinkWorth, as requested by some of the people on this blog. Many people are still finding it difficult to use the new interface of LinkWorth, and I can perfectly understand that. It is indeed little confusing.

LinkWorth’s designer(s) who is responsible for the interface design must be summoned to CEO’s room for this terrible job. They should read this (free) book “Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design.“.

Okay let’s start. We assume that you have been accepted to LinkWorth and this is your first time logging in to your account. After you login, what do you want to do first? You want to submit your blog, of course. So, let’s submit your blog to LinkWorth.

Step 1
You have successfully logged in to your account. Before you click anywhere, click on “My Sites” link.

Step 2
Now that you are in “My Sites” section, click on “Submit Site” link. Do not click on “Submit Blog” link just yet. (That’s another product altogether, it’s pay-per-post type of product). Now we just want to submit our blog to LinkWorth and publish text link ads from them. We are not interested in paid-reviews just yet. So go ahead, click it.

Step 3
Now you are on “Submit Site” form page. Fill in all the desired fields. Most of them are pretty standard stuff, i.e Your blog URL, Description, Traffic it gets per month…etc. However we will discuss few of the unusual fields. They are:

Link Descriptions


If you chose “yes” for this, the text links will have a description. Example:

AdesBlog.com – Technology blog that discusses Making Money Online, SEO, Publisher Programs and many more.

So if you just want to publish links only without descriptions, select “No” for this.

Rotating Ads

If you select “Yes” then, advertisers will have a chance to publish more than one variation of a same ad. So every time your page refreshes, one of the pre-selected texts will be shown. For example, one time the ad may appear like this “Ades Blog dot com“, other time “PR7 Blog“, and yet other time “Personal Blog of Ades“. But all pointing to www.adesblog.com or to particular sub-pages.

Ad on Homepage Only

If you want to have separate price for the links that will be placed on your blog’s homepage then set the price here. That means the links will be placed on one page only – homepage. If you want to chose a sitewide option instead, leave this option untouched.

Sub-Page Ads

If you want to place the ads on one particular sub-page, then fill in this option. Again if you plan to run sitewide ads, leave this option untouched.

Sitewide Option

When you chose this, you have to publish the ads on every page of your blog. In WordPress you just place one code in your theme, and it will appear on every page of your blog.

There is one more option after this, which is Billboard Link Ads . If you plan to use it, please fill it in, as well. Once you are done, click the “Add New Website” button.

Step 4 – Final Step

Final step is waiting. Now that you have successfully submitted your blog, you just have to wait until LinkWorth gets back to you. They will either accept your blog or reject it. If you are accepted, you are that much closer to getting some links. If you are rejected, it’s not the end of the world. Just try something else. Maybe TLA?

Last Word

After you have submitted your blog and while waiting for the response, you don’t have to put any scripts on your blog. Actually you don’t need to put any scripts until you get your first ad. So, this is it! Now just wait for the links to come, don’t forget to promote your links inside LinkWorth, (tips here) it will increase your chances of getting a link.

If you want to do paid-reviews on your blog, choose “Submit Blog” option that we mentioned in Step 2 and fill up the application form.

I hope you will be able to use the code when you get your first ad. If you find any difficulty in publishing the ads, do let me know.

Calculate like a pro

by Ades on August 5, 2007 in Tutorials with 1 Comment

This guy is really something, too bad his math tutorials are not free. Thirty such tutorials will cost you $25, which is not much actually. If you want to fire up your math skills, wait no more. click here

Link Exchange emails and how to write them correctly

by Ades on July 30, 2007 in Articles, Email, SEO & Promotion, Tutorials with 35 Comments

I receive at least a dozen email from people asking for link exchange, some requesting a link from this blog and some from my other websites. Most of these emails end up in trash, there are few reasons for that. I would like to discuss some of them in this post.

Mistakes in sending a link exchange email
Not all the emails end up in trash because they were written not correctly. Some sites are rejected based on their content, some based on their category (these are usually non-IT sites), some based on their usefulness, and yet some because they are not professionally designed. But there are times when I just delete the email based on the way it was written. I will discuss these emails below and give some tips on how to write them correctly.

1. Using Ready Email Templates, a BIG no no!

If you are really interested in the link exchange that you are requesting, for God’s sake write it in your own words. Don’t go and use some email template that describes the basics of link exchange and the “great” advantages that I will get, after exchanging links with you.

Everybody who has enough experience running a website knows the advantages of link exchange, especially the ones who has run successful websites. So you don’t have to explain them the basics. Instead write an email in your own words, describing why you want to exchange links with him/her.

Usually these kind of emails, go directly to my trash. I have setup a “filter” that catches emails that have used certain ready templates.

2. Not related sites
If my website is about Web Design, please do not send me link exchange request for Construction Company! It won’t work. If you want to request for a paid advertisement, it might work, but for a link exchange it won’t. So sending such emails will just waste your time, and bring no result. Therefore before sending the email, get to know the site and its content.

3. Don’t bury the URL
Most of the sites will give you a backlink in a deep layer of their website, nobody will ever see or click on your link. This kind of offer, won’t get you any results. If you want to exchange links, give them offer that is irresistible. Give a placement that is clearly visible, if possible on the homepage under “Friends” or “Partners” section.

4. More stats is always welcome
Providing basic info like Website Name, URL and Description is necessary. But if you want to add more stats about your website, like Alexa Ranks, Google PR, RSS Subscriptions, Technorati Rank..etc it will be an advantage. As for Alexa Rank, increasing graph will be a plus.

5. Be personal, get to know the webmaster
Instead of writing “Dear Webmaster, I liked your website…” try to get to know the person behind the website, and use his/her name in the email “Dear Ades, I have been reading your blog…” sounds better and more personal. It’s always good to address the person by his name, so try to get to know his name before you send email. It will increase your chances of getting a link exchange.

Suggestion for new sites
If your site/blog is new and have low PR, don’t hesitate to contact and request for a link exchange from established sites/blogs. For me, exchanging traffic does matter but sometimes I like to help out new projects that have good potential. Like www.nice4rice.com and www.contestblogger.com, both have got a long-term link placement on my blog, just for their quality content and great idea respectively. So if you think you have a great blog, then start sending your link exchange requests.

WordPress: Custom titles for individual post pages and categories

by Ades on June 4, 2007 in Tutorials, Usability, WordPress with No comments

Normally in WP there will be one title throughout your blog, even on individual post pages it will only show the blog title as the title of the page. This is not good for Search Engines.

As usual there is a fix for it, and it’s pretty simple to implement. It’s not a plugin, you just have to replace the existing “title” tag with the “new code” that will make this all happen.

This code will display: 1) The blog_name on the main page 2) the post title on individual post pages and 3) the blog_name + category_name for category pages. Just copy it and replace your existing title tag in the header.php (Your title tag might be in different php file, depending on the theme that you are using).

<title><?php if (is_home () ) { bloginfo(‘name’); }
elseif ( is_category() ) { single_cat_title(); echo ' - ' ; bloginfo(‘name’); }
elseif (is_single() ) { single_post_title();}
elseif (is_page() ) { single_post_title();}
else { wp_title(‘’,true); } ?></title>

Thanks to DailyBlogs for coming up with this solution. I believe this should be integrated to original WordPress themes.

Enabling more WYSIWYG features on WordPress 2.1

by Ades on May 18, 2007 in Tutorials, Usability, WordPress with 7 Comments

Do you have a hard time underlining some text while posting in your blog? Do you have to always change to “source view” to add your own custom tags? Well maybe after this you don’t have to. Because there is a second set of WYSIWYG features that are hidden from users in WordPress 2.1. And you can enable them by just pressing the following short-cuts:

  • Firefox: Alt+Shift+V (Firefox)
  • Internet Explorer: Alt+V (Internet Explorer)
  • Mac OS X Firefox: Ctrl+V

Advanced Toolbar will reveal more buttons and enable the following features:

  • Text styles
  • Underline
  • Full paragaph alignment
  • Text coloring
  • Two varieties of paste (text and Word)
  • Formatting removal
  • Code cleanup
  • Custom character insertion
  • Undo/redo

I think, WP coders wanted to show only the most used features (buttons) on the toolbar. However they could have added “show more features” button or link instead of hiding the rest of the features. Many users don’t even know that these features exist and can be enabled in WordPress 2.1.

I have not tested WP 2.2, so I am not sure if this is already fixed or if 2.2 has improved toolbar. I read that many users are experiencing some bugs. So I think I will wait until there is a stable version before I upgrade my blog.

Tip: Setting CSS margin around the pics in blog posts

by Ades on May 6, 2007 in Tutorials with 6 Comments

Do you hate when the picture that you post inside the blog post sticks to the text? Would you like to have that nice empty space around your pictures?

Well that’s fairly easy to do. I thought this might be helpful to some of you guys. In order to do this you just have to insert one line of CSS code into your style.css (WordPress: Presentation > Theme Editor > style.css)

That code is this: .photo {padding: 3px 15px 3px 0;}
You can change the name of the CSS style to anything you want, I just set it to .photo so that it’s easier to understand.

How to apply

After you have inserted the CSS code to your style.css, next step is to apply this style to your images inside the post. Just add these two codes inside your img tag align=’left’ class=’photo’ as shown below:

<img src=’/images/image.jpg’ align=’left’ class=’photo’ />

How to remember

This is a general tip to memorize the sequence of the positions: Just remember the word TRouBLe and you will be fine. As long as you don’t forget the word ‘trouble’, you won’t have trouble with the positions. Below is the graphical representation:

Lynda.com’s blogging tutorial

by Ades on February 28, 2007 in Tutorials with No comments

Lynda.com has a 3.5 hour video tutorial on blogging called Blogger Essential Training. You need Quicktime to view it and you need to be a member. It’s a good tutorial for the beginners, it teaches you how to set up your weblog, add specialty features such as comment systems and news-feeds, work with and customizing templates, and even to create team blogs and audio blogs.

  • Table of contents
  • Introduction
  • Preparing to Blog
  • Setting Up Your Account
  • Switching to a Host Server
  • Determining Your Blog’s Settings
  • Setting Up Blogger Comments
  • All About Archives
  • Syndication Feeds and Email Features
  • Posting, Editing, and Modifying Posts
  • Formatting Your Posts
  • Working with Images… more

If you do not want to watch it online then you can buy it on CD at Amazon:
Blogger Essential Training