Infin It!
Contents
Infin It!
Think of your Solo Build It! site as a C T P motor.
Infin It! enables you to add third-party resources to your site to amplify that motor with more content (e.g., a blog, or forums).
And it enables you to harness that engine (i.e., get more dollars out of it!) by plugging in monetization models (e.g., stores, membership sites).
And here's the beauty of it all. Infin It! lets you add those third-party resources into your site without sacrificing your brand, which you've worked hard to develop.
Whether it's a blog with WordPress, or a forum, a wiki or a shopping cart system, you can make it part of your 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. Don't feel that you must do it.
Infin It! is for SBIers with 30-50 pages or more and 200 or more visitors per day. You need some knowledge of hosting and how to FTP your own files.
You'll also have to follow the setup instructions of third-party resources that you want to add to your site.
These are all steps beyond the scope of SBI!'s Support team, but there's an excellent forum for Infin It!.
Another option is to have a SiteSell Professional set up everything for you. Visit https://pros.sitesell.com for more details.
Here are a few things to consider before you make your decision...
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Your site's sitemap will not contain any information about your Infin It! content (blog posts, forum posts, etc.).
However, since Infin It! adds a navigation button or menu item link for each one, the search engines should find the Infin It! content easily.
Some third-party applications have options you can add to make and submit a sitemap.
Also, some third-party services (such as WordPress) have add-ons or plugins that add sitemap functionality, so that content will be promoted to Google and Bing.
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You won't be able to use Analyze It! on any content you create in a third-party resource.
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You won't find any search engine rankings in SE HQ, for any content added to a third-party resource. You'll need to track traffic using that resource's, or your web host's, tracking options, or use Google Analytics.
If you verify ownership of these subdomain resources withGoogle Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, some of this information will be available there.
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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 third party, check the help or support at that resource. Or check in the Infin It! forum.
Or check the Infin It! Series in the TNT HQ, where you'll find articles written by SBIers who have added various third-party resources to their sites.
Infin It! is very easy to use. You'll spend more time researching the various third-party resources to add to your site than you will creating subdomains for them.
Every third-party resource added 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 site!
Important Warning
Promote only your SBI! subdomain (e.g., blog.anguilla-beaches.com).
Do not promote the third-party domain name (e.g., beachblog.abcde.com), and do not submit the third-party URL to the search engines. If you promote both, you run the risk of being penalized for duplicate content by the search engines.
If the SEs should somehow find your host account's URL for the same content, set up a 301 (permanent) redirect to your SBI! subdomain.
It may take up to 90 days for them to change their listings over to your subdomain.
Differences Between SBI! and Conventional Hosting
Both humans and engines will consider your third-party content as part of your main site.
Because it resides on servers outside of your site, you'll need to make the design resemble your site, and you'll need to make adjustments to the site navigation...
The Navigation
The vertical or horizontal navigation that SiteBuilder builds for you will not work automatically with third parties.
To re-create your site navigation at a blog or membership site, you need the code that SBI! adds to your site's pages.
We've made it simple. Collect the code 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 add to 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 hosting and purchase a new domain name first, depending on which resource you want to add.
- Create a Subdomain Name for your subdomain.
- Enter the CNAME Provider domain name. It must be followed by a period (trailing dot). If you purchased a domain name, the CNAME maps to the www. version of the name.
- Enter a NavBar Button Name, if you want a button.
- Click on Update It! to add the subdomain. Click on Go back to Infin It! to exit the tool page without adding a subdomain.
Domain Mapping
Create an SBI! subdomain by entering a name into the Subdomain Name box (e.g., "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 resource (e.g., two blogs), you'll need to make the subdomain name more descriptive (e.g., "news-blog" and "tips-blog").
(Note: Do not enter your SBI! site's domain name -- enter only the 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 purchased for this process. For example, suppose the owner of anguilla-beaches.com wants to start a WordPress blog...
At the third-party host, she buys the domain name "anguillabeachblog.com." She returns to Infin It! to enter "www.anguillabeachblog.com" into the CNAME Provider text box. She then adds a trailing dot (a period). Her entry in Infin It! looks like this...
www.anguillabeachblog.com. (including the dot at the end)
For more information on the CNAME Provider for various third-party resources, see...
https://help.sitesell.com/infin-it-third-parties.html
Once she has things set up at her third-party host, she returns to Infin It! and changes the CNAME Provider domain name to include the subdomain she created at the third-party host (e.g., blog.anguillabeachblog.com).
This Infin It! process maps the created subdomain name to the third-party resource, effectively making all the content that will reside there part of your site.
Site Navigation
If you want this resource to appear in your navigation, enter the button/menu item text you want to use. Remember to keep it short but descriptive.
Important Note
Your navigation button or menu item will not appear on your site for about 30 hours. Newly mapped domain names, including subdomains, can take 24-48 hours before they can be found across the Web.
To avoid broken buttons and links, Infin It! will not build them for 30 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 navigation (i.e., you do not use the ***NAVBAR*** tag for your site), ignore the button input box.
Tips
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Do not add more than one third-party resource to your site at a time. Research them all thoroughly, and add one at a time.
Start with the one that will give you the biggest return for your time since these can be time-consuming to master and maintain.
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The new navigation button or menu item will appear at the bottom of your navigation order.
If you want it to appear higher up, use Site Navigation (accessed via Site Central) to re-order your navigation. If you have custom navigation, this tip doesn't apply.
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Some third-parties provide their domain names with your choice of subdomain (e.g., anguilla.wikispot.org).
These do not go into effect until you inform the resource about the mapped SBI! subdomain name (e.g., wiki.anguilla-beaches.com).
As soon as you've finished setting up the subdomain in Infin It!, go back to the resource and complete the process there.
Edit Subdomain
If you decide to change some aspect of your subdomain, you do that here.
- Click on the button next to the subdomain you want to edit. Click on Select It!.
- Change the CNAME Provider, if necessary.
- Change or remove the NavBar Button Name, if desired.
- Click on Update It! to save your changes. Click on Go back to Infin It! to exit the tool page without changing anything.
Changing Your Resource
You can change the resource (e.g., from a Blogger blog to a WordPress blog) by changing the CNAME Provider. You must include the trailing dot (period) when you change the provider.
Do you want to change to a different service provider (as with the blogs above, from Blogger to WordPress with web hosting)?
Keep the original service (Blogger in the above example) running for about 24 hours after you make the change in Infin It! to the second provider (WordPress, in this example).
Since the change will take up to 24 hours to make its way to all nameservers, some of your visitors may see the resource at the new service provider while others may see it at the original one.
Once the 24-hour mark has passed, you can shut down the first service. If you don't wait at least 24 hours, some visitors may see an error message instead of your content.
Editing Your Navigation
You may also want to change the nav button/menu item text on your navigation for this resource.
You can remove the button/menu item from your navigation by deleting the name.
Infin It! and Move It!
If, at some time in the future, you need to use Move It! to change to a different domain name, you may need to make changes at your third-party host and/or resource.
If you don't make those changes, your blog, forum, etc., will no longer be reachable on the Web, since its domain name is no longer active).
Delete Subdomain
- Click on the button next to the subdomain you want to delete. Click on Select It!.
- Review the information to be certain that you want to delete this subdomain.
- Click on Delete It!. Click on Go back to Infin It! to exit the tool page without deleting any subdomain.
- Click OK to permanently remove the subdomain from your site. Click Cancel if you change your mind.
At some point, you may decide that you no longer want to use a certain resource on your site (e.g., 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/menu item 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 resource.
Deleting the subdomain in Infin It! only removes the subdomain from the SBI! system and deletes all links to the resource.
Get NavBar HTML
- Click in the text box. Highlight all the code and copy it.
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If you're creating another version of your site on the third-party host, build a server-side include in your HTML editor. Paste this code into the include. Replace the HTML in your template with code that calls the include. Or paste the code directly into your new resource's template.
If you're adding your navigation to a blog, paste the HTML code into a widget that will display it where you want it. - Repeat this process for another subdomain by clicking on Get Another NavBar HTML.
To make a functioning navigation on your resource's pages (usually conventional content web pages, but perhaps also on a blog), 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 properly.
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 navigation button/menu item (if you decided to use one in the Add or Edit section above). If you have multiple resources, you need separate HTML code for the pages in each one.
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!.
Copying Your Code
Now you're going to add the button code to your template or blog.
Highlight and copy all the code inside the text box. Paste it into a server-side include if you're adding it to your template.
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/menu item names or the navigation order, or add or delete a Tier 2 page, you'll have to make the changes manually.
Return to Infin It!, get this code again, paste it into all the pages in your resource's site, and re-upload all the pages.
When done, the ***NAVBAR*** tag should be gone, and the include HTML should be showing in your template.
If you have a blog, simply paste the code into a widget that puts the navigation where you want it on the blog page.
Remember to update this code if you add or remove navigation buttons or menu items on your site.
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/Command-O.
You should see your template with all the images showing, including all the buttons on your NavBar or menu items in your horizontal navigation.
If all the navigation buttons or menu items work properly, your template is ready for use with your third-party resource with full SBI! navigation functionality!
Review Checklist
Below is a quick checklist of everything you need to do.
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Enter the subdomain name you want to use (e.g., forums, blog) into the Subdomain Name text box.
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Enter the domain name you have at your third-party host, (e.g., www.thirdpartyhostdomainname.com., anguilla-blog.blogspot.com.). Remember to include the period (trailing dot) at the end.
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Save the information.
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After 12-24 hours, enter your site's subdomain URL into your browser's address bar. If it goes to a page for your third-party host, see this Infin It! help for instructions on setting up your subdomain at the host.
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When you're finished at the host, return to Infin It! and change the CNAME Provider to the subdomain you created at your host (e.g., forumhosting.thirdpartyhostdomainname.com).
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Save this change.
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Enter this updated URL into your browser's address bar. It will take you directly to the installed software (forum, blog, etc.) at your third-party host, but using your subdomain URL.