Infin It!

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Infin It!

Add Subdomain
Edit Subdomain
Delete Subdomain
Get NavBar HTML

Third Party Plug-II!ns

Think of your SBI! site as a C T P motor. Infin It! enables you to plug third party resources into your SBI! site to amplify that motor with more content (ex., blogs or forums). And it enables you to harness that engine (i.e., get more dollars out of it!) by plugging in monetization models (ex., stores, membership sites).

And here's the beauty of it all. Infin It! ("II!") lets you plug third-party resources (we'll call them plug-II!ns) into your site without sacrificing your brand, which you've worked hard to develop.

Whether it's a blog with TypePad or Wordpress, or a forum, or a wiki or a shopping cart system, or whether you need to host content on another site (MP3s or videos, or a database-driven system such as a directory), you can make it part of your SBI! site.

Are You Ready for Infin It!?

While it's easy to set up your subdomain using Infin It!, setting up and managing the third party end of things can be time-consuming. We only expect 10-20% of SBIers to want this type of functionality. Don't feel that you must do it.

Infin It! is for SBIers with 30-50 pages or more and 100 or more visitors per day. You need some knowledge of hosting and how to create and FTP your own files. You will also have to follow the setup instructions of third party resources that you want to plug into your SBI! site. These are all steps beyond the scope of SBI!'s Support team, but there is an excellent forum for Infin It!.

Here are a few things to consider before you make your decision...

  1. Your SBI! site's sitemap will not contain any information about your Infin It! plug-II!ns' content (blog posts, forum posts, etc.). However, since Infin It! adds a button link (and/or TOC text link) for each one, the Search Engines should find the "Infin It! plug-II!ns" easily. Some third party applications, like WordPress, have options you can add to make and submit a sitemap.
  2. You won't be able to use Analyze It! on any content you may create in a plug-II!n application. At this stage, of course, you don't really need to. You're most likely in "long tail mode" and are looking to build a community with your plug-II!n.
  3. You won't find any stats in Traffic Stats, or Search Engine rankings in SE HQ, for any plug-II!n. You'll need to track traffic using that resource's, or your Web host's, tracking options. If you verify ownership of these subdomain plug-II!ns with Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo! Site Explorer, some of this information will be available there.

  4. SiteSell Support cannot provide help for any third-party resources. It can only provide support for the Infin It! process of mapping a subdomain.

    If you need help with a plug-II!n, check the help or support at that resource. Or check in the Infin It! forum. Or check the Infin It! Series in the Tips 'n Techniques HQ, where you'll find articles written by SBIers who have successfully added various plug-II!ns to their sites.

Infin It! is very easy to use. You'll spend more time researching the various third party resources to plug into your site than you will creating subdomains for them.

Every third party resource plugged in with Infin It! will have its own domain name (or a domain assigned by the third party), a name that you use specifically for this purpose. You then use Infin It! to create a new subdomain at your SBI! site and "map" that subdomain to the domain name of the outside resource. This action incorporates the third party functionality/content into the subdomain of your SBI! site!

Important Warning: Promote only your SBI! subdomain (ex., blog.anguilla-beaches.com). Do not promote the third-party domain name (ex., beachblog.typepad.com), and do not submit it to the Search Engines. If you promote both, you run the risk of confusing the Search Engines with duplicate content.

If the SEs should somehow find your host account's domain URL, set up a 301 (permanent) redirect to your subdomain. It may take up to 90 days for them to change their listings over to your subdomain.

Even better, set up the redirect now, while you're setting up your blog or forum.

Differences Between SBI! and Conventional Hosting

Both humans and engines will consider your plug-II!n as part of your main SBI! site. Because it resides on servers outside of your SBI! site, you will need to make certain adjustments to the Look & Feel and NavBar...

Look & Feel

If you're using Infin It! to create more "straight content" pages under a subdomain that should look the same as your regular SBI! site, you can use the transition template if you're using SiteBuilder, or the same template you designed for your SBI! site.

If you use the transition template, change the Look & Feel file references (for logo.gif, LEFT.gif, and BACK.gif, and also FOOTER.gif if you're using this) from relative to absolute. (Also make any link in your footer absolute. And if you're using a CSS file for styling, make that link absolute as well.) Simply add http://www.your-domain.com/ before each "relative" reference of each image and URL in the transition template, changing "your-domain.com" to your site's domain name.

Most third party resources (ex., a Wordpress blog), however, will require some customization of your Look & Feel files (logo.gif, LEFT.gif, and BACK.gif, as well as FOOTER.gif) to make them resemble your SBI! site (ex., resizing to fit the third party's layout). Follow the third party instructions to re-create your L&F there.

Note: Even if you've developed your own HTML template with your own totally custom Look & Feel, you will still need to make all image and CSS references absolute. If you have a custom NavBar, or don't want to add the SBI!-built NavBar to your off-site content pages, ignore the next point...

The NavBar that SiteBuilder builds for you, or the ***NAVBAR*** tag that you add to your transition template or designed template, will not work automatically with third parties. To re-create your NavBar at the other site, you need the code that SBI! adds to your site's pages. We've made it simple. Collect the three codes by clicking on the Get NavBar HTML button on the main Infin It! tool page. This must be done for each subdomain that you have. See below for details.


There are four functions in Infin It! -- Add, Edit, Delete and Get NavBar HTML. With good research and planning, you may never need to click on the Edit and Delete buttons.


Add Subdomain

You've researched third-party resources and decided on the one you want to plug into your site. It's time to create a subdomain and enter all the information for this new resource so you can map the subdomain to it.

Note: You may have to set up Web hosting and purchase a new domain name first, depending on which plug-II!n you want to add.


Domain Mapping

Create an SBI! subdomain by entering a name into the Subdomain Name box (ex., "forum" for a forum, "blog" for a blog -- don't be subtle). It should be in all lower case letters. If you plan on having more than one of any type of plug-II!n (ex., two blogs), you'll need to make the subdomain name more descriptive (ex., "news-blog" and "tips-blog"). (NOTE: Do NOT enter your domain name -- only enter the subdomain name that you want to appear before the domain name.

The CNAME Provider is the domain name that the third party provides, or the domain name that you purchase for this process. For example, suppose the owner of anguilla-beaches.com wants to start a blog at TypePad...

At TypePad, she names the blog "beachblog" resulting in the TypePad subdomain, beachblog.typepad.com (provided by TypePad). She returns to Infin It! to enter "beachblog.typepad.com" into the CNAME Provider text box. She would then add a trailing dot (a period). Her entry in Infin It! would look like this...

beachblog.typepad.com. (including the dot at the end)

If she wanted to use WordPress for her blog, she'd need to find a host (we recommend BlueHost for Infin It! -- more info here) for her blog, and then use a domain name. She can either use a domain name she already owns or purchase one (at that host). The name ("domain-anything.com") does not matter since no human or Search Engine will ever see it.

She would return to Infin It! to copy-and-paste "www.domain-anything.com" into the CNAME Provider text box. She would then add a trailing dot (period). Her entry in Infin It! would look like this...

www.domain-anything.com. (always including the final period).

This Infin It! process maps the created subdomain name to the third party resource that hosts your plug-II!n, effectively making all the content that will reside there part of your SBI! site.

For more information on the CNAME Provider for various third-party resources, see...

http://help.sitesell.com/infin-it-third-parties.html


Site Navigation

If you want this plug-II!n to appear on your NavBar as a button, enter the button text you want to use. Remember to keep it short but descriptive.

If you also want a Table of Contents text link at the bottom of the home page for this plug-II!n, add the link text. For example, the owner of anguilla-beaches.com might add a TOC link as "Anguilla Beaches Blog" for her blog.

If you want to include the plug-II!n in the text TOC, also add a TOC description for the link. This is the equivalent of the Description for a regular SBI!-built page on your site, so keep it to the same length as your other descriptions (roughly 150-200 characters). Make it compelling.

Important Note: Your NavBar button and/or TOC link-and-description will not appear on your site for 48 hours. Newly mapped domain names, including subdomains, take 48-72 hours before they can be found across the Web. To avoid broken buttons and links, Infin It! will not build them for 48 hours. This should be enough time for your new subdomain to become available to all Web surfers.

NOTE: If you upload your own HTML and have a custom NavBar (i.e., you do not use the ***NAVBAR*** tag for your SBI! site), ignore the button and TOC input boxes.

Tips


Edit Subdomain

If you decide to change some aspect of your subdomain, you do that here.


Changing Your Plug-II!n Service

You can change the plug-II!n (ex., from a TypePad blog to a Wordpress blog) by changing the CNAME Provider. You must include the trailing dot (period) when you change the provider.

If you plan to change to a different service provider (as with the blogs above, from TypePad to WordPress/Web hosting), you should keep the original service (TypePad in the above example) running for about 48 hours after you make the change in Infin It! to the second provider (WordPress, in this example).

Since the change will take up to 48 hours to make its way to all nameservers, some of your visitors may see the plug-II!n at the new service provider while others may see it at the original one. Once the 48 hour mark has passed, you can shut down the first service. If you don't wait at least 48 hours, some visitors may see an error message instead of your content.


Editing Your NavBar

You may also want to change the button text on your NavBar for this resource, or the Table of Contents Link Text or Description.

You can remove the button from your NavBar by deleting the name. Or you can remove the Table of Contents link at the bottom of the home page by deleting the link text and description text.


Delete Subdomain

At some point, you may decide that you no longer want to use a certain plug-II!n on your site (ex., a dedicated blog). If that time comes, use Delete Subdomain to permanently remove it from your site.

You will have one chance to change your mind before the information is deleted, and any NavBar button and/or Table of Contents link on your site is removed.

Note: This does not affect anything at the third-party resource. You will still have to cancel your account or close down the hosting for the affected plug-II!n. Deleting the subdomain in Infin It! only removes the subdomain from the SBI! system and deletes all links to the plug-II!n.


Get NavBar HTML

To make a functioning NavBar on your plug-II!n's pages (usually conventional content Web pages, but perhaps also on a blog or in a forum), you cannot add the ***NAVBAR*** tag. It works only on your SBI! site. You need the code from a TIER 3 page, which ensures that the home page's button and all the TIER 2 buttons display proplerly.

Instead of viewing the source code of a TIER 3 page and copying just what you need, Infin It! collects the code for you and makes it available at the click of your mouse.

Each subdomain that you add to your site may have its own NavBar button (if you decided to use one in the Add or Edit section above). If you have multiple plug-II!ns, you need separate HTML code for the pages in each plug-II!n. To ensure that you use the correct code, you must select the subdomain before reaching the code page.

Click on the subdomain you want the code for, then click on Select It!.

STEP 1

Highlight all the code inside the text box for STEP 1. Copy the code. In your transition template or designed template, paste the code immediately before the </head> tag.

STEP 2

Highlight and copy all the code inside the STEP 2 text box. If you only see the <body> tag, you don't need to copy the code.

If you see anything inside the body tag (either some Javascript or a set of image references), highlight and copy that code and paste it into a server-side include that you create using your HTML editor. Add the include to your template, replacing the <body> tag with HTML to call the include.

If your editor does not have a server-side include module, you can paste the code directly into your template, replacing the existing <body> tag.

Important Note: If you don't use an include, whenever you change button names or order, or add or delete a TIER 2 page, you'll have to return to Infin It!, get this code again, paste it into all the pages in your plug-II!n's site, and re-upload all the pages.

STEP 3

Now you're going to add the actual button image references to your template.

Highlight and copy all the code inside the STEP 3 text box. Paste it into a server-side include. Where you see the ***NAVBAR*** tag in your template, highlight the tag and replace it with HTML that calls the include.

If your editor does not have a server-side include module, you can paste the code directly into your template, replacing the existing ***NAVBAR*** tag.

Important Note: If you don't use an include, whenever you change button names or order, or add or delete a TIER 2 page, you'll have to return to Infin It!, get this code again, paste it into all the pages in your plug-II!n's site, and re-upload all the pages.

When done, the ***NAVBAR*** tag should be gone, and the include HTML or the set of image references should be showing in your template.


Final Check

Once you've completed all three steps, save your template one last time. Go to your browser and open the file locally by clicking on File > Open or pressing Ctrl-O on your keyboard (Command-O on a Mac). You should see your template with all the images showing, including all the buttons on your NavBar.

If all the images display correctly, including the logo, left, background and footer images, and all the buttons (hover over some if you use effects with your buttons), your template is ready for use with your plug-II!n with full SBI! NavBar functionality!


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