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How do I create my own website?
Webspace
You will need webspace (preferably free of advertising). A+ Tutors can provide this for £5 a year. Buying your own domain name may also be worth considering (see below). However, your ISP should offer you free webspace as part of your internet connection (even if you pay-as-you-go).
Web Page Software
You will need software for creating/editing your own webpages (if you host your site with A+ Tutors then we can install WordPress for £20 which is pretty easy to use - see below). Many people use Word (not recommended) or Frontpage (I don't like it) because they come pre-installed on many computers. However, there are a lot of free editors available and I am sure that one of them would allow you to produce better results more easily (although I don't use any of them). If you don't want to learn the nitty gritty of HTML then a WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get) should allow you to get started fairly quickly and easily. Many programs come with simple tutorials but there is an enormous wealth of help on the internet - just Google!
File Transfer Software
You will also need an ftp program/agent, such as FileZilla (which is free) to transfer your files to your webspace. However, this is not necessary if you are using software like WordPress or an editor with a built in FTP agent.
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Please give me some guidelines.
The minimum I recommend is:
- Say a little about yourself (more detail than you give in your advert).
- Give an indication of when you are available. A rough time table is best for two reason: First, you do not want to put people off just because you don't have the slot they are looking for. Most people will be more flexible then they plan to be when they actually talk to you on the phone; secondly, it is very unlikely that you will remember to keep the site up to date.
- Give your rates (be as descriptive/accurate as you can).
You can give more but that is up to you. You need visitors to feel that it has been worth visiting your page and that you are worth contacting. Try and answer as many of their questions as you can but do not say anything which may put them off (e.g. anything which sounds restrictive of negative). Remember, once they are on the phone with you then they will be more flexible.
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Help! I need inspiration!
Most of the tutors who have web pages hosted on the site can be found at:
http://www.aplustutors.co.uk/direct/
It is a rough list meant for my use and never up to date.
You can find more sites by tutors by going through the adverts.
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What is WordPress?
WordPress is a popular, easy to use website/blog tool. The software is installed on the webserver and contains everything you need to manage a simple website (or blog). You do not need any extra software on your computer as you can create, delete, and edit your website's content from any browser.
The software comes with a few website templates which allow you to create reasonable looking websites with very little effort.
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How do I link to A+ Tutors?
Every link to this website helps both it and your advert. If you have a website then it is important that it has at least two links: one to your advert and one to the main page. Both links should contain words that you expect people to use to find YOUR advert (see "Words to Use" below and Search Engine Optimisation).
You were given a URL to your advert when you first applied which looked something
like this:
http://www.aplustutors.co.uk/england/bristol/
Links to adverts on this site take the form of:
http://www.aplustutors.co.uk/country/county/ (all lower case)
Please treat the link to your advert as your own personal website and use it where ever you can, when ever you can. Examples include comments on Blogs, web forums, review
sites, websites like LinkedIn, your personal website... Anywhere that allows you to add a website URL. If you are a regular web
forum user or a blogger then you can put the link in your signature. If you have just found some useful information on someone's
blog then you can usually leave a comment where your "name" (e.g. Bristol Tutor) is the text for your URL.
Words to Use
As said before, the words you should use in links to this site are ones that you would expect
someone to enter into Google to find you. To find the best words to use, put the most obvious
ones in your favourite search engine and pick the worst performing search terms as your link text.
For example, this site is currently number 2 in Google for "Bristol tutor" and appears on the
first page for many combinations of subjects, levels and the words Bristol tuition/tutor. If this
site appears on the first page then this can be considered a successful result! However, if not, then that's the phrase to use in your links to the site.
After some experimenting, I found that this site was on the second page for "GCSE tuition Bristol". However, this does not seem
like a natural phrase that anyone would use and, in fact, is not actually used at all.
I would expect it to be quite easy for you to find a phrase but, if this happens to you (or you live in Bristol) then please pick the worst performing
phrase that you think will actually be used to find your advert.
Thankfully, phrase picking is not rocket science as most people think along
the same lines and use the same natural phrases to find the same thing.
The HTML
Here are a couple of examples: first the text as it would appear on the page followed by the corresponding HTML.
A+ Tutors UK
<a href="http://www.aplustutors.co.uk/" target="_top" title="Tutors throughout the UK in all subjects">A+ Tutors UK</a>
Tutors in Ealing
<a href="http://www.aplustutors.co.uk/england/london/ealing/" target="_top" title="Tutors in Ealing">Tutors in Ealing</a>
Remember to change the key words and links as required! Please see the SEO section below for more ideas.
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Could you please help me with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the art of improving a site's placing in search engine results (primarily Google results). Although complex, good SEO is mostly common sense. However, achieving really good search engine results mainly takes a lot of man hours and is why this site performs well in over 1500 different search terms.
Since you are a beginner, here are the most important points for you to keep in mind when creating your web site/page.
Relevant Content
Your main/default page should be relevant to your visitors and contain informative text. Do not bother with flash intros or anything fancy: Keep It Simple.
Format of Links is Important
ALL links to your main page should be consistent. I prefer this:
http://www.aplustutors.co.uk/
Instead of
http://www.aplustutors.co.uk/index.html
http://www.aplustutors.co.uk
http://aplustutors.co.uk
This is relevant to any page but, obviously, it is particularly relevant if you have your own domain name.
Link Text is Very Important
The text that you use in links to other pages (whether on your site or not) should use words which are relevant to people doing searches to find that page. For example:
Do this:
Please see A+ Tutors for more tutors and tutoring information.
or this
A+ Tutors
Not This
A+ Tutors Home page
If you are linking to this site then you should focus on using words in the link which could be used in searches to find your advert (or the site in general). Please see How do I link to A+ Tutors? above for more information.
Taking this advice as far as you can, then this:
A+ Tutors: Tutors in Ealing
is better than this:
A+ Tutors: Tutors in Ealing
And finally, Interlink Pages
For most websites, the main page is the only page which will contribute significantly to another page's search engine rankings because it receives the most incoming links. This means that it is the best place to put links to anything which is important to you (e.g. this site or other pages on your site).
If you have a small site, then ensure every page links to every other page. If you cannot do this then ensure that every page links to your main page. This even includes "pages" such as word documents and pdf files that you might have on your site.
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Should I buy my own domain name?
If you plan to tutor for the long term then probably yes. Otherwise no.
The main reasons for having your own domain name are:
1. the potential of good search engine rankings and
2. as a complement to your own advertising.
However, hosting your site under the A+ Tutors domain should produce better search engine rankings in the short term. You also won't have so much to learn. If you buy your own domain name then, in order to improve your search engine rankings, you will need to spend a good amount of time developing quality links to your website.
You also need to keep in mind that you will need to pay for hosting for your domain name. This can be expensive (see below).
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Where should I buy my own domain name?
UK Domains
If you want much cheapness an easy interface to use then I can recommend UKreg.com (less expensive companies are available but their interfaces aren't so easy to use). If you want to be able to contact a human being in an emergency then I can recommend UKhosts.com
International Domains
For .com, .net, .org and more the then I can recommend Godaddy.com for much much cheapness. They are by far the most competitive company for international domain names however, their interface could be better and they bombard you with useless options during the buying process.
The above links are to the companies that I use. I will not receive any commissions or benefits if you buy from them.
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Where should I host my domain name?
There are a lot of domain name hosts out there. I have tried many and can not recommend any. That isn't to say that there aren't any good ones, I've just had a lot of problems with my hosts in the past! I can only recommend that you do a Google search and look for a company which has a decent history, is honest, and provides decent support for it's customers.
To give you a guide. I host domains for tutors (and only tutors) on the A+ Tutors server for £30 a year. I provide hosting on a good quality server in a high quality data centre. Unfortunately I can not offer much technical support but so far (touch wood) the people I provide hosting for haven't needed much.
The hosting package I provide (see below) is over specified for most people. Many hosting companies can offer you a less expensive package which will be more suitable to your requirements because their service is more automated. Most hosting packages have standard features. The main thing to look out for is diskspace and mailboxes. You will need at least 30Mb of diskspace as this includes your website (say 5Mb) and incoming email (this can take up a lot of space!). You should also look for a package which gives you enough mailboxes for your needs. If you buy a package with low specifications then make sure it is easy to upgrade in the future.
For £30 a year I offer:
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Resources
100MB Diskspace
2,000MBData Transfer
(per month)
2 Databases
1 Domain Hosting Limit
Unlimited Mailboxes
Features
Plesk Control Panel with:
Application Vault
Custom Buttons
Private Folder (sensitive data)
Web Site Builder
Website Preview (pre-DNS)
Win XP & Mac OS X Skins
Databases
MySQL (with PhpMyAdmin)
Scripting Support
Apache ASP
CGI Support
Customised Error Pages
FrontPage 98-02 Extensions
Password Protected Directories
PHP4 Scripting
Perl Scripting
Python Scripting
Server Side Includes (SSI)
Application Vault
BBClone (Feature rich counter)
Gallery (Simple, powerful gallery)
GTChat (Web chat)
Mambo (Popular CMS system)
osCommerce (eCommerce)
phpBB (Powerful forum software)
phpBook (Guestbook)
PostNuke (Popular CMS system)
phpMoney (bank account management)
phpMyFamily (Genealogic system)
And more!
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Email Services
Advanced Spam Control
(Spamassassin Spam Filter)
Auto-Responders*
Catch All Email
Mail Aliases*
Mail Filters
Mail Forwarding*
Mail Groups*
Mail User Control Panel
IMAP & POP3 Mail Collection
Mail Abuse Prevention System
MX Record Modifications
Secure IMAP, POP3 & SMTP
SMTP Outgoing Services
Webmail
*Quantity limited only by your
*diskspace allocation.
Domain Management
Apache Raw Logs
Backup Automation via Control Panel
Backup Creation via Control Panel
Control Panel Skin Control
Domain Report Downloads
FTP Session Manager
FTP Statistics
Login Session Manager
Log Rotation Management
Protected Webalizer Site Statistics
Reports Automation
Standard Services
75+ Backbone Providers
99.9% Network & Power Guarantee
99.9% Server Uptime Guarantee
Apache 2
Daily Backups (14-day Rotation)
DNS Control
High Bandwidth Availability
Powerful Server
(Dual Intel Xeon 2.8, 8GB RAM)
RAID-1 Hard-Disk Protection
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
Tier 1 Network Connectivity
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I would like to host my domain with A+ Tutors. What next?
Either when you buy your domain or shortly after you will need to set the name servers for your domain. Name servers are computers which tell other computers where to actually go to find a particular website/domain. The name servers for A+ Tutors are:
ns1.aplustutors.net
ns2.aplustutors.net
Who ever you registered your domain name with should be able to tell you how to set the name servers for your domain. Once you have done this your domain will be visible to the world within 3 days (normally). Once you have paid for hosting I will create an account for you as soon as I can.
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FAQ - General Tutoring Questions 