--- "John William,
did you see that big ground hog?"
Hello, folks!
It's nice to have so many of you
new
subscribers
on board. The ezine is not quite
a month old yet and we already have a nice list started.
I was just reading about another guy who
started an ezine.
He said things were slow at first.
His first issue went
out to only eight subscribers--and four
of those addresses
were his own! (Things are doing
much better here.)
I've met a lot of you over at the AARP
forums. Thank you
for subscribing. Be sure and tell
your friends about us.
The more, the merrier.
This issue we will get into a few basics
about websites.
Like what's a server? a domain name?
What do you mean by
DNS? What's an attack on a server?
But first, I want to share with you
about a conversation
I had with my 8 year old son this week.
I was driving him to the school bus stop
this morning...
we live back in the woods on 10 acres
about a mile from the
main road where the bus runs...
Anyway, it is not unusual for us to see
different wildlife
cross our gravel road on the way out in
the morning. Deer,
rabbits, squirrels, opossums, raccoons,
snakes, turtles...
you never know what you might see.
Even an occassional
skunk! P - U...
Well, this morning a ground hog was running
up the hill,
crossed the road in front of us, and continued
up the hill
on the other side of the road.
I said, "John William, did you see that
big ground hog?"
"No, Dad, where is it?" He had been
looking out the side
window. By the time he looked out
the front window of the
van, the ground hog had scurried under
a rock out of sight.
I said, "You should have been looking
where you were going, not where you've been."
John William missed seeing that ground
hog today. It's OK.
He's seen a ground hog before. No
biggie! as he would say.
As my son boarded the school bus, and journeyed
on to school
today, I pondered what I had said to him.
"You should have been looking
where you were going,
not where you've been."
Too much of our time we spend our lives
looking in the rear-view mirror. Thinking about what happened.
Thinking, if only I had...what mighta,
coulda, shoulda happened.
STOP IT!
You can't change what happened.
You can't unscramble eggs.
Learn your lesson, and go on...
Go forward with gusto! Life has only
just begun!
Set your sights on what lies ahead.
Look where you are going -->> Get excited!
Okay?
Great! Let's go...
--
Now let's get into a little of Internet
101...
What is the internet? Is it
a place where you can own some
cyber real estate? Some people would
have you believe that.
And I guess you can in a virtual sense.
The internet is a massive network of
computers...
inter-networked all around the world--connected
to each
other so that files can be shared and
transferred back and
forth between computers.
You sit at your keyboard and monitor with
your computer
connected to the internet via your ISP--internet
service
provider. By typing the right
commands into your computer
and through your web browser, you can
access other computers across town and around the world.
The computers that are standing by patiently
connected to
the web and waiting to 'serve' you with
data and information
are appropriately called 'web servers'.
They are at your
beck and call to deliver up to you your
requested files.
The web servers contain millions and millions
of files.
To be useful the files must be organized
so they can be
relocated instantly.
Fortunately, computers handle this very
well. They just
assign a number to the file and remember
where it was put.
Kind of like take a ticket, take a seat.
The computer
remembers which seat you are sitting in...forever.
Now because we humans often get confused
when it comes to
numbers, the computers have agreed to
translate the numbers
into words. That's where domain
names come in.
For example, 209.41.44.61 is the 'code'
number for one of my
websites. It is much easier to remember
www.i-65.com than
it is to remember 209.41.44.61.
So someone came up with the idea of domain
names. Aren't
you glad they did?!
A domain name is the registered
name for an internet address. Each domain name is different.
Each domain name is assigned to a specific Internet Protocol (IP) address.
An IP address is a series of numbers that identifies the host computer
on the internet. (209.41.44.61 for www.i-65.com)
So how do you keep track of which IP is
assigned to which
domain name? That's where DNS comes
in...
'DeNniS' is a very smart dude. He
can remember who's on
first, what's on second, and I don't know
is on...
sorry, wrong ballpark.
DNS (domain name server) is where
your host keeps track of
your domain name and where on their computer
your files are.
When you register a domain name, you
must establish a host for that domain name. Some registrars will
allow you to
'park' your domain on their servers until
you find a host
for your website. Or you place the
domain name on your
host's domain name server at the time
of registration.
So when someone types your domain name
URL in their browser, a request is sent out on the internet for that domain.
The registry is checked for the correct DNS (domain name server).
Then your request is passed to the name server which looks up the correct
numeric code for your files and returns those files to the party who made
the original request. Whew!
Did that make any sense?
Aren't you glad you really don't need
to understand any of this to surf the web?
Thank God for the techies who do understand
this stuff...
So what happens when there is an attack
on a server?
Many times it is the result of a
malicious attempt to
overload the resources of the server/computer.
What happened to me a few weeks ago involved
a re-direct
I was using with Mydomain.com.
It seems someone had changed the data involving
Aljazeera's domain and re-directed it through Mydomain.com's servers.
Since it was being accessed extremely heavily
during the heat
of the Iraqi war, it taxed the Mydomain
system so much, they
had to shut down their forwarding service.
Mydomain.com hosts over 600,000 domains...minus
one.
Makingmoneyonlineafter50.com is
no longer associated with Mydomain.com. It is hosted with 5dollarwebs.com.
A much lower profile host; albeit, a fine efficient hosting service.
However, it is less likely to be an attack
target.
So I hope there will be no more down time
for ...after50.com.
I feel better having an independent website
now on a separate
host without using a re-direct.
It should be more reliable
and get a higher ranking in the search
engines.
--
Speaking of URLs and ISPs, what's your
USP? Are you a USP?
Unique Selling Proposition--what
makes doing business with you different from the next guy? Is your
product better
quality? Do you give more for less? Are
you the only source?
Unique Solution Provider--Can you
solve my problem better,
quicker, cheaper, more efficiently than
your competitor?
Why should I choose you, and you alone,
to help me?
Get your answers ready. The oral
exam begins in 5 minutes.
--
Let me catch my breath. That's
an awful lot of things to
bounce around inside your head so far.
I better save some
of the rest for the next time.
I hope you weren't bored with this little
lecture. I tried
to filter as much of the geek-speak out
of it as I possibly
could.
If I have created more questions than answers,
I apologize.
Send me an email. I'll answer
you asap.
--
Next issue we will talk about ways
to make some money
using online auctions. You can get
started for next to nothing.
You don't even need your own website.
--
Look for a special email in the
next few days. I'll be
adding a welcome gift to the 'thank you
for subscribing'
page. I want all of you early subscribers
to have it, too.
So I will email you the download link
in a few days.
Have a blessed week. It is a wonderful
time of year.
Til the next time,
Be blessed,
John David Bradshaw
mailto:jdb@i-65.com
P.S. If you are just getting
started, and you don't have
a website set up yet, please check out
this all-in-one
web business resource. Hosting by
5dollarwebs.com is part
of this package. I highly recommend
Bryan's services.
Go to: http://www.i-65.com/r/pbp
--
John David Bradshaw -
The After50 Online Marketing Coach(TM)
"Teaching old dogs new
tricks...that make money online!"
http://www.makingmoneyonlineafter50.com |
