- Q.I have been doing some
research and cannot figure out how to start a Web Page. I understand
it is very easy but my problem is where do I get the page so
I may design it? Will I need to get another program loaded in
my computer to do just this? I have MSN and Microsoft Internet
Explorer.
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- A. Figuring out how everything fits together
is a real problem. Here's a quick summary.
-
- First, you need
space to place the Web pages; in order to be visible to other
Web users, your Web pages must be stored on a Web server, a computer
permanently connected to the Internet. MSN provides you with
some free Web space on their server, but there are many other
places to find free Web
space, such as Geocities (http://www.geocities.com/) and Tripod (http://www.tripod.com/).
-
- Next, you need
an "authoring program," a program that creates Web
pages. Web pages are created using a special coding system called
HTML (HyperText Markup Language). You can learn HTML and create
Web pages in a text editor, but it's far easier to get an HTML
authoring program, a sort of word processor for Web pages. I
use FrontPage, which is pretty easy to use -- though you'll still
have to spend a few hours learning how to work with it.
-
- The process
is simply this. You create the Web pages in your authoring program.
Then you transfer the finished pages to the Web server. So you
have two things to do. First, find out how to access your free
Web space at MSN, or sign up for free space elsewhere. Second,
learn to create Web pages, preferably with an authoring program.
-
- Good luck with
your project!
- Peter
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Q. Dear EP,
- Our web site,
KidBibs.com, is devoted to helping
children become good readers, writers and learners. I'm in my
fifth month of operation on-line. I'm just starting to move toward
getting advertising but I don't know what the advertising rates
are for web sites. Could you give me a range of rates for ads
-- so I'm not too low and not totally out-of-sight. FYI, my hit
count for last week was 17,857 -- how does hit count play into
the calculation of an ad rate?
- I've talked
to folks at the Business Assistance Center in Fort Worth,
TX (the nearest large city), but they can only advise me on traditional
advertising.
-
- I'd greatly
appreciate any assistance that you can provide me!
-
- Thank you very
much for your time and assistance!!!
-
- Joyce
Melton Pages
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- A. Advertising rates are measured in cpm
-- cost per thousand (the m comes from the Roman numeral for
1,000, M). I like to think in terms of advertising "units."
If you could display 18,000 banners a week, then you have eighteen
1,000-banner units; multiply your cpm by 18 units to get your
total income. For instance, if you sell ads at a cpm of $30,
multiply 30 x 18 to get the total income -- $540.
-
- However, you
only say that you have 17,857 "hits." What do you mean
by that? Strictly speaking a hit is a single transfer of information;
each time a page is transferred, that's a hit -- but each time
an image is transferred, or even an error message of some kind,
that's a hit, too. So do you mean you have 17,857 page view,
or do you really mean hits. If you do mean hits, then you have
far fewer page views, and so you'll be able to display far fewer
ads.
-
- Next, how do
you intend to sell ads, and how do you determine a price? A good
way to start is by signing up with an ad network such as Flycast or . Such companies can
help you pick a price, and will sell the advertising for you;
you have to place the appropriate HTML tags into your pages,
and their software keeps track of it all.
-
- Flycast provides
a great way to get a feel for what other people are charging.
Sign up for an account to buy advertising, and
install their software. Then you can view information about scores
of other advertisers -- you can read their media kits, and view
their prices.
-
- As for coming
up with ad rates if you have an electronic newsletter, the best
way to figure those out is to find out what other newsletters
are charging. Rates can vary from a buck or two per thousand
(as low as around 50 cents, actually), to perhaps $35 or $45
per thousand. The more highly targeted and the more valuable
the readership, the higher the rates.
-
- Peter
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