.: Redirecting web traffic to a new location
Category:Home / Internet Marketing
If you have to move a website from one domain to another, it will mean that all the links pointing to your old site would now be lost and would generate the dreaded 404 error when visitors came in via old search engine listing or links.
The best way to preserve your links, and have visitors end up on their required page is to setup a redirect from the old domain to the new one.
In this example, we are going to assume that we use to have a domain called OLDSITE.COM and for some reason we have to move everything across to NEWSITE.COM
The first up, don’t kill the hosting for the old site but leave it operating for some time. This will then allow us to redirect visitors from the old site to the new site.
A 301 redirect simply tells search engines that visit your site that the old URL has now permanently changed to another URL. Once the search engines find the 301 redirect they will start to convert all the old links in their index across to the new location.
This will take some time and on site sites, this may take months to have the search engines convert all the old links across to the new locations.
An .htaccess file is nothing more than a simple text file that contains instructions for the web server that run on that hosting account.
On your PC, start a copy of NOTEPAD (This can be achieved by going Start->Accessories->Notepad) and edit your existing .htaccess file or to create a new one. DON’T use Word or any other word processing software to open the file, because these packages have the horrible habit of inserting “funny” characters in file that will cause the .htaccess file to not function properly.
If your new site’s structure is exactly the same as the old site, then simply place the following line in your .htaccess file
Redirect 301 http://www.NEWSITE.COM
Now save the file, and FTP this file up into your websites main account. On most Linux based systems, this is the /public_html/ directory
Now, whenever a visitor (be it a human or a search engine bot) comes to your old domain, they will be redirect to your new site. So if they came looking for a file called stuff.html (old URL would be www.oldsite.com/stuff.html) they would get automatically redirected to www.newsite.com/stuff.html
This is the easiest way to move an entire site from one domain to another…
If the structure of the new site is different from the old one, then we will need to “map” each old URL to its corresponding new location. This also applies if you decide to change the structure of your site, and you want to preserve the links from your old structure and ’map” them to their new location.
If you have a URL that was www.oldsite.com/dogtraining/ and you wanted to redirect visitors to www.newsite.com/info/dog-training.html you would place the following in your .htaccess file.
Redirect 301 /dogtraining/ http://www.newsite.com/info/dog-training.html
The format is:
Redirect 301 old-location new-location
The “old-location” is the path to the old destination (minus the domain name)
The “new-location” is the full path to final destination (it must include the fully qualified domain name as well).
This means that when every a visitor comes in on the old URL (www.oldsite.com/dogtraining/) the web server will redirect them to the new URL of (www.newsite.com/info/dog-training.html)
If you have multiple locations that you want to redirect, then you have to have multiple redirects set up. With one redirect per line. An example might look like this:
Redirect 301 /dogtraining/ http://www.newsite.com/info/dog-training.html
Redirect 301 /policedogtraining/ http://www.newsite.com/info/police-dog-training.html
Redirect 301 /dogtrainingvideos/ http://www.newsite.com/info/dog-training-videos.html
It is time consuming setting up 301 redirect, but if your site had valuable incoming links, then its worth spending the time to preserve those links and keep your website ranking as well as it used to and to keep your site profitable.
Article keywords: Web Traffic, web design
Article Source: http://www.articles32.com
Bruce Hearder owns and run www.WebsiteSecrets101.com
A site with tips and tricks to getting the most out of your existing website.
Signup for the WebSiteSecrets101 newsletter, and learn the tricks webmasters use on their sites.
.: New Internet Marketing Articles
1). Using Message Boards for Internet Marketing
Banner advertisements, website promotion, search engine optimization, email marketing and affiliate marketing all fall under the umbrella of the term Internet marketing but there is even more to Internet marketing than those concepts.
2). Perceived Value: What is it and Why is it Important to You as an Information Marketer?
A physical information product has a perceived value based on its look, packaging, number of components, etc. This article examines how perceived value impacts you as an information marketer.
3). New Product Launch Checklist
Guidelines to follow when launching a new information product.
4). Increasing Your Online Business Profitability
This article outlines some methods that you can use to increase your online profitability.
5). 7 Tips for Information Marketers
Tips for information marketers to increase the perceived value of your information product and to maximize revenues.
6). International Business Job Opportunities On The Internet
One of the best ways to find excellent money-making prospects these days is to look on the internet.
7). The Pro and Cons of Network Marketing
Would you rather earn 1% of 100 people efforts or earn 100% of your own effort?
.: Top Internet Marketing Articles
1). Sign Our Guestbook – How Signing Guestbook’s Or Creating Your Own Helps Your Website
Guestbook’s are some of the most popular areas on websites. Before a consumer does business with you, they are likely to check out your guestbook. Guestbook’s are somewhat like testimonials in that they offer real feedback on your site, your business, and your products. They are honest and are created from those that have had some sort of experience with your business or those who simply visit your site.
2). See Your Hotmail and Myspace Accounts From the Office
Don't let the local network censorware get you down. With a few simple steps you can bypass the local web filters and see sites from work like hotmail and myspace.
With the increasing number of companies now using some kind of censorware in the workplace more and more people are blocked from selected websites, you donot need to be one of them. Many people have valid reasons to visit such site even form work on occasion.
3). Where To Find A MySpace Friend Adder
MySpace friend adders have become a great tool in maximizing the MySpace experience. Since MySpace has become popular, so has the importance of having tons of MySpace friends. This can benefit the causal MySpace user, the MySpace Music artist, and even the web publishers and marketers that use MySpace as a stepping stone toward success. Now MySpace friend adders have gone even further by adding other MySpace abilities to their programming.
4). The Fly & The Window Of Opportunity
Copyright 2006 1stPromotion.com
One afternoon after going through a small backlog of emails, I was daydreaming about how it shouldn't be tough for absolutely anyone out there to make that first online sale and then to go on and make more and more sales. I feel bad for people that have paid money for some of the programs out there that promise to "stuff their wallets effortlessly" only to find that there is no free lunch.
5). One of the Quickest and Easiest Way to Dramatically Increase Your Website’s Page Rank
This is one of the easiest and fastest ways that you can increase the number of one way links to your website and dominate your competition.
6). The Four Big Adsense Secrets
Is there a BIG secret to the huge Adsense checks? Yes, you’ve seen those screen shots of 5-figure Adsense earning … so have I. And that made you thinking, why are some people earning those huge income, and you are not.
Whatever people may say, I only see these are the only factors that make the difference between your earning and those ‘big-guns’.
1 - Adsense Placement
Yes, putting your Adsense in a special way can be the difference between 1% click-through rate (CTR) and 10% CTR.
7). 10 Profitable Reasons To Add A Discussion Board Or Chat Room To Your Web Site
1. You'll be able to communicate with your visitors. They'll begin to trust you and get to know you on a more personal level. People will purchase products quicker from somebody they already know and trust.
2. People will revisit your web site to participate on your discussion board or chat room. They will meet other people with similar interests and your web site will become a hang out were they can chat.