Infin It! Third Party Plug-II!ns

There are many third-party resources available that you can plug into your SBI! site through Infin It!. The possibilities are virtually infinite. So...

The discussion below is not an exhaustive list of all resources that allow CNAME domain mapping (the technique used by Infin It!). More will be added as we learn of the best way to do each through the II! forum.

Important Warning: Do not promote the third party (sub)domain, only your SBI! subdomain. Click here if you forget why. And see below to ensure that the Search Engines don't find your third party domain URL.

The CNAME Provider information for each resource is included below. You'll need that when creating a new subdomain for that resource. You'll also find links to help provided by each resource, specifically about domain mapping (when available).

Hosting

We recommend BlueHost.com as a good, inexpensive hosting solution that provides enough storage and bandwidth for most needs. More importantly, it allows subdomain mapping to applications hosted on its servers.

Mac Users: Review this BlueHost help article to get the most out of BlueHost with your Mac.

Register for the BlueHost $7.95/month (for 12 months) package. It includes a domain name, which you choose at registration. (You can also transfer an existing domain, but it's easier to just use a new domain name for each new plug-II!n, especially since one is included in the price of the plan.)

When you reach the cPanel (control panel), close any sections you don't want (ex., Mail) by clicking on the triangle to the right of the section name. And you can move the ones you expect to use the most (ex., Domains, Traffic) to the top of the list. Click on the blue bar and drag it where you want it to go.

Mapping Your Subdomain

Now it's time to map your Infin It! subdomain to your BlueHost account.

CNAME Provider Information

The CNAME Provider domain name for your BlueHost account is your BlueHost account's domain name (ex., www.domain-anything.com. -- with the trailing period), where you replace "domain-anything.com" with the name you registered or transferred to BlueHost. Return to Infin It! and set up your Infin It! subdomain following the instructions in the Infin It! help.

For example, if the owner of anguilla-beaches.com registered domain-anything.com as her BlueHost account domain name, she would enter www.domain-anything.com. in Infin It!'s CNAME Provider box.

Add Your Infin It! Subdomain to BlueHost

The next step at BlueHost requires that your Infin It! subdomain be recognized. That's why you created the Infin It! subdomain first. This step will require at least 12 hours, and as many as 36 hours, before you can proceed, while global DNS servers refresh with the new information.

After about 24 hours, return to BlueHost, log into your account, and click on Addon Domains in cPanel.

In Step 1, click on the button for "Use a domain that is not already associated with your account. If the owner of anguilla-beaches.com had entered "beachblog" as her subdomain in Infin It!, she would type beachblog.anguilla-beaches.com into the text box.

In Step 2, BlueHost will confirm that it can find the subdomain and that it is attached to a particular IP address. If you receive a message advising you to call customer support to assign it to your account, BlueHost could not find your Infin It! subdomain. Try again in 12 hours.

In Step 3, the default is Addon Domain. Do not change this or the setup will not work. It must be an addon domain.

In Step 4, click on the second button to Create a new directory. You'll likely see some text already entered in the text box. The name was derived from the subdomain you entered in Step 1. If you like that directory name, leave it as is. If not, change it to something short and memorable, like "blog" or "forum" (without the quotes).

Also change the Sub-domain that is created for your BlueHost domain name. The one you'll find there is also derived from your Infin It! subdomain. You can keep it as is, or make a simpler one.

When you're satisfied with everything you've entered, click on the Add Domain button.

When your addon has been created, you'll see a Hosting page listing. For example, for anguilla-beaches.com...

Created domain record
Created sub-domain beachblog.domain-anything.com
Associated beachblog.anguilla-beaches.com with "beachblog.domain-anything.com".
Created cPanel domain record

Below that, you'll see your original BlueHost domain with a Primary Hosting Status. You'll also see your new Infin It! subdomain with Addon Hosting Status.

Setting Up a 301 (Permanent) Redirect 

If a Search Engine should happen to find your content via your BlueHost domain URL, your subdomain will lose some of the credit for that content. And if another Webmaster found that URL and linked to it, the SEs might consider that URL even more important.

So, as a precautionary measure, set up a 301 (permanent) redirect. In cPanel, click on the Redirects icon in the Domains section.

1. From the drop down menu, select Permanent (301).

   

2. From the **All Public Domains** drop down menu, select the BlueHost subdomain that you just set up (ex., beachblog.domain-anything.com).
3. Enter the URL of your Infin It! subdomain (ex., beachblog.anguilla-beaches.com).
4. Select Redirect with or without www. by clicking on the button for that option. If someone enters your BlueHost domain name with or without www., they'll be taken to your subdomain.
5. Add a check to Wild Card Redirect. This will redirect all files in the BlueHost domain (ex., beachblog.domain-anything.com/wordfile.doc) to the same filename in your subdomain (ex., beachblog.anguilla-beaches.com/wordfile.doc).

A successful redirect will appear at the bottom of that page, under Current Redirects.

Installing Your Application Software

If you want to add a phpBB forum or WordPress blog to your SBI! site, or any of another 40 or so applications, you can do so using Fantastico (or Fantastico De Luxe). Look for it in your cPanel under "Software/Services."

If you want to add anything that is not in Fantastico (ex., a directory), you'll have to install that application yourself (geeks only!).

The Fantastico Installation Process

1. In Fantastico, choose the application you want to use. Read the information provided. Click on New Installation.
2. On the next page, choose your Infin It! subdomain from the drop down menu list. Leave the Install in directory text field blank because you need the application installed at the root of your subdomain.
3. In the Admin access data section, enter the username and password you want to use to access the protected admin area for the application you're installing. The username and password can be anything you want.
4. Then enter all information in the Base Configuration section. This section is different for each application available in Fantastico. Follow the online help for the application you're installing.
5. When done, click on the Install button to install the application files.
6. The next page confirms your actions. Click on Finish Installation to complete the process. You'll see information about the application you just installed, along with a URL to the admin area, its username and its password. You can ensure that you have this information permanently by e-mailing it to yourself using the Send E-mail button.

Congratulations! You've completed the software installation.

Below is a list of the major kinds of third party resources that SBIers are most likely to want to plug in. Most are available from BlueHost via cPanel/Fantastico, which is the recommended way to go. The applications below are presented merely for the sake of options/completeness.

(Optional) 1-2 Months Later...

Additional Plug-II!ns with BlueHost

Most SBIers who use Infin It! will likely use it to plug only one specific type of resource into their sites. However, maybe you're really ambitious...

Let's say you want to add a full WordPress blog, a phpBB forum and an e-store (Fantastico offers you a choice). No problem! BlueHost supports this. Just repeat the above processes to create an addon and a permanent redirect and install your software. And there's no cost for those additional subdomains, since you're mapping them to subdomains of your BlueHost account, not registering new domain names.

But don't create them all at once. Each one has a fairly big learning curve and also requires maintenance time. Get used to each for a month or so, one at a time, before deciding if you're ready to set up and maintain another one.

Blogs

TypePad, Blogger, WordPress and other blogging platforms can all be used with Infin It!.

TypePad

TypePad allows domain mapping to blogs with its Plus ($8.95/month for up to 3 blogs) and Pro ($14.95 for unlimited blogs) accounts (you'll need the Pro account if you want to make your blog look like your SBI! site, using CSS). Once you set up your blog in TypePad, the address will look something like this...

http://beachblog.typepad.com

You then enter beachblog.typepad.com. as the CNAME Provider in Infin It! when setting up your subdomain. Paste it in, remembering to add a period (trailing dot).

Follow Step 1 and Steps 3-7 in this TypePad KnowledgeBase article for specific instructions on setting up the domain mapping at TypePad's end.

Blogger.com

Google's Blogger.com offers free blogs. The CNAME Provider information is...

ghs.google.com.

Remember to add the period after it when pasting it into Infin It!.

For details on setting things up at Blogger's end, see this help file, beginning with "Blogger Settings."

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a hosted service like TypePad or Blogger. It uses the free WordPress software (see below), but takes much of the work out of setting up your blog. It's free to use, but mapping a subdomain to your WordPress.com domain name is $10 per year. Customizing any of the available templates with CSS costs $15 per year.

There are also some limitations. The template choices are few. Placing AdSense ads on your blog is prohibited. You can't edit the HTML of the blog itself (you can edit the HTML in your posts, but not of the blog itself, to make it work differently). And the bottom of each page of your blog will have a "Powered by WordPress.com" message.

If you choose WordPress.com, the CNAME provider you enter into Infin It! will be yourblogname.wordpress.com. (including the final period).

WordPress.org

WordPress.org (not .com) offers free (open source) software that you install on any host server. But you likely won't need to do that because WordPress is available as a one-click installation through Fantastico, which BlueHost includes through its cPanel.

If you don't use BlueHost, make sure you host the blog with a provider that allows subdomain mapping. Then follow their online help to install the software.

William Drago was one of the first SBIers to add a WordPress blog to his site using Infin It!. Bill has written a TNT article to help you with the Look and Feel of your blog...

http://sbitips.sitesell.com/wordpress-lookfeel.html

See CNAME Provider Information above for what to enter into Infin It!.

Tip

• Once your blog is set up and you have some posts made, be sure to add it to some blog directories and Search Engines. Start with Google Blog Search.

Forums

A Google search will find several options for forum software. You can use any you like (as long as your host supports subdomain mapping), but we recommend you simply use Fantastico to install...

phpBB

phpBB is one of the most popular packages. It's free and open source, which means that it will always be free. It also means that it can take some time before upgrades fix certain problems.

Alf Pedersen was the first SBIer to add a phpBB forum to his site using Infin It!. Alf has written a TNT article to help you set up yours, including changes to ensure that your forum only uses your subdomain URL...

http://sbitips.sitesell.com/phpbbforum-setup.html

See CNAME Provider Information above for what to enter into Infin It!.

Shopping Carts, E-commerce and Datafeeds

If you don't already have a store, BlueHost also offers a choice of three e-commerce solutions that you can one-click install using Fantastico. These three are discussed below. As more information comes in from SBIers, we will add other e-commerce solutions to this section.

For those who want an advanced e-store, we continue to recommend ShopSite. You can now move your Store Build It! store to LexiConn, a company that specializes in ShopSite (click here for more information). You can upgrade your Shopsite store, host it at LexiConn, and plug it into your SBI! site using Infin It!. The best of all worlds!

BlueHost will host ShopSite, but does not provide support it.

BlueHost's Fantastico Offerings

• osCommerce is an open source (free) solution used in over 12,500 live stores and has over 4,500 add-ons for enhanced functionality. Compatible with all versions of PHP 4, it offers multilingual stores with English, German and Spanish offered as defaults. It works with PayPal (including Website Payments Pro US and UK), 2CheckOut.com and eight other payment gateways as defaults, with others available as add-ons.
• CubeCart's Version 3 is free, while Version 4 is $129.95 USD. There is also an optional Copyright Removal Key for $89.95 USD. It requires PHP 4.0 or higher, and supports PHP 5. It is also compatible with PayPal and 2CheckOut.com along with many others. Check this comparison table to ensure that the version you want uses your payment gateway. Version 3 accepts PayPal Website Payments Pro US only (not UK), while Version 4 appears not to accept either.

• Zen Cart is another open source solution, so it's free. Review its features page to see if Zen Cart has what you're looking for. Payment gateways are very limited. PayPal Express Checkout for North American and International users, and one other for each area.

  Important Note: If the version of Zen Cart you install is 1.3.8, there could be a problem that will cause BlueHost (or any other host) to shut down your access temporarily due to CPU overuse. Check the Zen Cart site to see if there is a patch or updated version. If not, see http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101799 for details on how to fix the CPU leak.

See CNAME Provider Information above for details about the name you enter into Infin It!.

Datafeedr

Another option combines the ease of use of WordPress and the power of affiliate datafeeds. Datafeedr lets you build an unlimited number of datafeed-based stores using WordPress. You can set them up as subdomains of your site, or use a separate domain name for each one.

Datafeedr's features include masked affiliate URLs, embedding products into blog posts, customized PPC landing pages and content pages, and no coding required. The affiliate networks available include Clickbank, Commission Junction, LinkShare, Netshops, ShareASale, and Bridaluxe.

Datafeedr is a WordPress plugin, so everything you do with Datafeedr is done inside your WordPress blog's admin panel.

Wikis

You have three options for wikis. You can host one at wikispot.org, or purchase hosting and use BlueHost's Fantastico (part of cPanel) to install TikiWiki or phpWiki, or manually install MediaWiki (the most common wiki) at BlueHost or a different host.

Wiki Time  You need to have lots of time on your hands to manage a wiki. In general, not recommended.

Wikispot.org

If you choose wikispot.org, map your subdomain to domains.wikispot.org. and wait for the subdomain name to make it to all the nameservers around the world. There will be spots in your wiki that lead back to wikispot.org. These can't be changed. Anyone clicking on one of those links will be taken away from your site.

TikiWiki and phpWiki

Follow the BlueHost instructions above if you want to use TikiWiki or phpWiki, both of which can be installed using Fantastico.

See CNAME Provider Information above for details about the name you enter into Infin It!.

MediaWiki

The most popular wiki software, MediaWiki, is not available as a Fantastico installation at BlueHost. Be sure that a host that offers one-click MediaWiki installation also allows subdomain mapping before you proceed. If you prefer, you can download it here and install it manually in a BlueHost account.

Other Resources and Uses

Google Apps

If you're using Google Apps, you can set up subdomains for the various services available.

For example, you can set up a start page for your employees, or create a mini sales site using the page builder.

• Go to Google Apps for your domain name.
• Select the service you want to use. Click on Change URL, then enter the SBI! subdomain in the text box.
• Return to Infin It! and enter that same subdomain word to create the SBI! subdomain. Enter ghs.google.com. in the CNAME Provider box. If you want this to be part of your SBI! site's NavBar, add the NavBar button name and/or TOC link text and description, as usual. Then save everything.

Within 24-48 hours, you'll have a working subdomain for that Google Apps service.

Ning Communities

Ning is a Web application that lets you create a social network about any topic you choose. People have built networks around university alumni, music, pets and sports, to name just a few of the hundreds of topics.

If your Site Concept lends itself to development of a community, consider creating a social network and mapping it to your site. You can make it a public community, or a private one.

If you do want a Ning community, and plan to domain map it to a subdomain of your site, you'll have to pay $4.95 per month.

Hosting Word, Excel and Other Documents and Media Files

If you have a lot of Word or Excel documents that you'd like to make available to your visitors, a subdomain and BlueHost account will allow you to offer them. Simply follow the instructions above to set up a BlueHost account, then use the available FTP tool to upload your files.

Once you have your subdomain set up and added at BlueHost, you can add links to each file in your SBI! site. The URL would look like this...

<a href="http://subdomain.yourdomainname.com/worddocument.doc">Download this document</a>.

This same process will also work for media files. If you think you'll reach the 100MB limit at SBI! for media and related files, host some or all of them in your BlueHost account.

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