New to Forum - Several Questions about Webbuilding

[kroert05]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and would like to say hello and say this forum has been a wealth of information to me and has helped me understand so much about webbuilding and the internet.

I have several questions so I will break them down into several posts, if that's okay.

1.

I managed to build my website through trial and error and now it is up and running on the internet. Sometimes when I type my domain name, I see my website, but it's listed in a funny way. It shows my URL rather than my domain name.

Other times I type my domain name and I don't see my site at all. I go through the entire listing all the way to the end, and it's not there.

When I go into the "edit pages" of my webbuilding software and check my name/key words, the name is set up as my URL: (mydomainname.net)

I tried changing it to just my domain name (not the URL) and then I can't find it at all.

Sometimes I reboot and look again, and it's there on the search engine (always the URL, not my domain name) , and then sometimes it's not there.



 

[Hope]

1.

I managed to build my website through trial and error and now it is up and running on the internet. Sometimes when I type my domain name, I see my website, but it's listed in a funny way. It shows my URL rather than my domain name.

Other times I type my domain name and I don't see my site at all. I go through the entire listing all the way to the end, and it's not there.

What search engine are you talking about?

When I go into the "edit pages" of my webbuilding software and check my name/key words, the name is set up as my URL: (mydomainname.net)

I tried changing it to just my domain name (not the URL) and then I can't find it at all.

Domain name is "mydomain.net", URL is "http://www.mydomain.net". You cannot change your domain without changing your URL. In order to change your domain, you need to buy a new one and set it up your host. I don't think this is what you mean though. Can you please give more detail on what you really want to change.

Sometimes I reboot and look again, and it's there on the search engine (always the URL, not my domain name) , and then sometimes it's not there.

Again what search engine?

from what I can tell from your post, it sounds like you are looking at google. Google is dancing right now. When google dances it updates the database. This means listing asre there one second and the next they are gone. This is normal. The should settle down in a fe days.

The fact that the listing is just the URL (www.mydomain.net) and not a title and descripting tells me that your site has been spidered, but not fully indexed. This has been an issue with Google since around January. I can't tell you why, but it isn't just your site.

You asked how to change your domain, again I am making an assumption on what you are trying to ask, so if I am wrong, please just tell me. I think you are trying to change the title on your pages. Since I don't know what software you are using, I can't tell you how to do that in the software. The easiest way to change it is to (windows computer) right mouse click on the file and select "Open With". Choose "NotePad". Once it is opened, look for <title> some text here </title>. Change the text between the open and close title tags.

I hope this helps. If I am wrong on my assuptions, let me know.



 

[kroert05]

Hi Hope,

My search engine is Yahoo.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to actually change my domain name. What I meant is when I type "Oklahoma Chinchilla Rescue" in the Yahoo search box to try and find my site on the internet, when it comes up it is titled: "www.oklahomachinchillarescue.net" instead of "Oklahoma Chinchilla Rescue".

What I'm wanting it to do is when I type "Oklahoma Chinchilla Rescue" in the search engine box, I want it to come up as "Oklahoma Chinchilla Rescue" and not "www.oklahomachinchillarescue.net".

If I change it, will that effect my listing on the internet??

The webbuilding software I'm using is ipower.vtech.

ipower is also my webhosting company and the vtech is part of the package I bought from them.

Hope this makes more sense. I know we beginners can drive you crazy. Please let me know if I can clarify this further.

Elene

[12noon]

Are you talking about <title>Oklahoma Chinchilla Rescue</title>
Your meta tags ?

When your looking at your website via Internet Explorer, try clicking View and then Source. You should then see the title of your webpage.

[Hope]

Beginners don't drive me crazy. I just want to make sure I know what you are asking so I can provide you with the right information.

You need to change the <title> of your page. If you can edit the code itself, you need to find this line:
<title>oklahomachinchillarescue.net</title>
Change that to the name you want seen in the search engines.

YOu also need to remove the following code:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Pragma" CONTENT="no-cache">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Expires" CONTENT="Thu, 1 Jan 1970 01:00:00 GMT">
These will hurt you in the search engines.

Also, there should be some form of contact information for your site. At the very least you should have an email address.

[kroert05]

Hi Hope,

I went to Internet Explorer and changed the name and took off the codes like you said, and then rebooted, but when I type Oklahoma Chinchilla Rescue in the yahoo search box, I can't find my website.

[Hope]

I do not see the changes to the site. Are you sure you saved them to your server?

As for not finding your site in yahoo. You need to remember things are not instant with search engines. When you make a change to your website, you need to wait for the spiders (search engine robots) to come by and updatie their information. Once they do this, you need to wait for the database to update. This can take anywhere from 24 hrs to 24 months depending on the search engines.

[kroert05]

I'm not sure. I made the changes in Internet Explorer and then clicked on save. How do I save it to my server?

You mean every time I make one little change on my website and publish it, it can take up to 24 months for that change to show up? I change my website all the time. I'm constantly putting new things on it and taking things off.

At that rate my website won't be complete for about 20 years!! 

That's incredible.

[Hope]

I'm not sure. I made the changes in Internet Explorer and then clicked on save. How do I save it to my server?

If you have just done it in Internet Explorer, then you have not updated yoru website. You need to go to your web editor online. Log in and then make the changes to the code itself. This cannot be done with the normal editor, you will need  to use the Advanced Editor.

You mean every time I make one little change on my website and publish it, it can take up to 24 months for that change to show up? I change my website all the time. I'm constantly putting new things on it and taking things off.

At that rate my website won't be complete for about 20 years!! 

No it will not show in the search engines for at least 24 hours. Your website will be updated immediately. You should be able to see the changes on the site itself once you save things to your server. The search engines (yahoo.com, google.com, search.msn.com) take time to update.

[kroert05]

Hi Hope,

Sorry I took so long getting back. I've been gone all day.

I went to my webbuilding software (ipower) and clicked on "edit pages" and on my first page there's a place I can click that says, "click here to edit page title/meta info", so I clicked on it and changed the name from oklahomachinchillarescue.net to Oklahoma Chinchilla Rescue.

Then I saved my changes on that page, then I published it.

Does this sound right?

Thank you!

[kroert05]

Never mind. That was the wrong way. I found the index_html text page and made the changes on it. It looked exactly like you said. I changed the name and deleted the two codes.

Thank you.