There are many different kinds of websites, from social media style websites like Facebook and Twitter to rich information sites like Wikipedia and sites that allow you to participate in a community like forums.

Websites consist of a collection of webpages that you can navigate around using links. On any one web page, there may be several links that take you to other web pages by clicking on them. Those links may take you to more web pages on the same website, or pages on a different website.

To connect to the internet in your own home, you will need several things:

• a computer
• a phone line or cable
• an account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP)

However, many public places like hotels and sports centres also provide internet access, too.

Internet Basics

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

Each web page on the internet has a unique “address” called the URL. This is the sequence of characters that you see in your internet browser’s address bar. You can see the URL change as you navigate from web page to web page. The URL typically contains the website name (or domain name), a forward slash, and then the file name of the page you’re visiting. For example, the page you’re currently reading has the URL scern.org/beginners-guide-to-the-internet. the scern.org bit is the domain name, and the beginners-guide-to-the-internet bit is the name of the web page.

If you know the URL of a particular web page or site that you want to visit, you can type it directly into your browser’s address bar.

Using An Internet Browser

Internet browsers enable you to view the content on a website’s pages. This content can be in the form of text, images, video and audio. There are several ways for you to travel to a particular web page:

• type the URL of the page directly into your browser’s address bar
• click on a link on one page that leads to another page
• use a search engine

As you travel the internet in a particular “session”, the history of pages you visit grows. You can navigate backwards and forwards through this history using the back and forward buttons in your internet browser.

Your browser has what’s called a “home page” that you can change via its settings (see changing a browser’s home page). Many people have their home page set to something they visit regularly, like a search engine or Facebook, for example.

Search Engines

The chances are that you won’t know the URL of every web page, or even every website, that you are ever likely to visit. To find new information on sites you’ve never visited before, you can use a search engine. If you want to find what’s on at the cinema, you can go to a search engine like Google and type in “location cinemas”, where location is the name of the town where you live. The search engine will display a list of websites for the cinemas in your area. You can then click on any of the websites listed to visit one.

Search engines try to list websites (or more accurately, web pages) in oredr of relevance. This means that the ones you will be most interested in appear at the top. The three main search engines, in order of market share that they have, are:

1. Google
2. Yahoo
3. Bing

Create Your Own Website

Websites aren’t just owned by big companies. Just about anybody can create and run a website. All you need is:

• a domain name (like scern.org)
• hosting (where the web pages live)
• the website itself (a collection of web pages)

Learn more about how to create a website. There are lots of reasons you might want to create a website of your own, such as a desire to express yourself, to share your knowledge and experiences, to develop a community, or just to make money.

• text
• pictures
• charts
• videos
• any combination of the above

When you initially open PowerPoint, there is a title slide there ready for you to add a title to. Simply click in the box and start typing. Then, you can add more slides and insert your own content on them. The New Slides button is found on the Home tab in the Slides group.

Each slide you add can have one of the following layouts:

• title
• title and content
• section header
• two content
• comparison
• title only
• blank
• content with caption
• picture with caption

Formatting Text In PowerPoint

If you are familiar with Microsoft Word, then you have a good chance of being able to understand how the text formatting controls in PowerPoint work. As you’d expect, you can change the font family, size and colour. Additionally, you can bold, italicise and underline text, just like in Word. You can change the formatting of a selection of text using the commands in the Font group on the Home tab.

Using Templates

It’s pretty easy to get up and running quickly with PowerPoint. However, if you want to speed up how long it takes to create a presentation, you can use a PowerPoint template. Templates are pre-made presentations that you can use as blueprints. When you create a new presentation, you can base it on an existing template and amend it to your needs. If you think you might adapt your new presentation to other uses, you can actually save that as a template too.

To create a presentation based on a template, click the File tab > New, and a whole world of templates opens before you. Pick a category, select a template and then click Create to get started.

PowerPoint comes with a large selection of templates you can use, and if you want to look at others, you can download them from Office.com. There are lots of templates there, some for Word and some for Publisher (in fact all the Microsoft Office programs are covered), so make sure you only download templates for PowerPoint.

The above was only the briefest of introductions to Microsoft PowerPoint. Hold tight for more detailed PowerPoint tutorials.

When I click on the Home button, my browser returns to google.com, but how does it know where to go?

This is one of those browser settings that you can change. Often, when you buy a computer, the manufacturer sets your home page to be something that benefits them, like their own website. You can quite easily change your home page by doing the following.

How To Change Your Internet Browser’s Home Page

We’ll look at how to change your home page in Firefox, but the process is similar, whatever browser you use.

Click Tools > Options, and then click on the General tab.

Near the top you can see the input box for Home Page. You can change that to be any website or web page you want. If you find that you spend a lot of time on Facebook, for example, you could change the home page to be facebook.com.

Once you’ve updated your home page, click OK and then test your changes out by pressing Alt Home. The changes take effect straight away, without you having to restart your browser.

The best way to learn these keyboard shortcuts is to start incorporating them into your internet browser use every day. You could keep this web page up as a quick reference to remind you of what keys to press, or print it out and keep it close to hand.

You’ll find that many of the internet browser shortcuts can actually be used in a variety of other programs too. Ctrl C, for example, is widely accepted to preform a copy.

Let’s explore how to create a video tutorial that teaches people how to use an internet browser like Internet Explorer. All you need is:

1. screen recording software
2. a microphone
3. Internet Explorer

Screen Recording Software

Screen recording software records every mouse movement and every click you make. You start the recording process with a mouse click, perform your tutorial and then end the recording with another mouse click. Simple!

The video recording is held in a file that has a particular format, and this file can be edited by your screen recording software. Common edits that people make are to cut out unwanted parts of the recording and to zoom in on certain parts of the screen.

Once the editing is complete, you can “export” the project into a particular movie format like .FLV, .MOV or .AVI, to name a few.

There are a few free screen recording programs, like CamStudio, and then there are the more professional tools like Camtasia. Camtasia is by far the better product, but the downside is the price tag ($260).

The Microphone

Many people create video tutorials that have no sound. In certain circumstances, this is OK, but most tutorials will be enhanced immensely by the presence of narration. The teacher can talk the student through precisely what they are doing and also explain why.

When shopping for your microphone, don’t just get the cheapest one! Cheaper microphones tend to introduce a lot of distortion that the more expensive ones leave out. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars either, as you can get a good one for under $100. The Samson CO1U USB Condenser Microphone, for example, is only $75 yet offers superb studio quality.

Internet Explorer

We chose Internet Explorerhere, simply because most computers have this browser installed. However, the program that your tutorial is about could be anything:Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word etc.

How To Create A Video Tutorial

Check out this video tutorial. You could be making tutorials like this very soon!

Once you have your screen recording software, a good microphone and the program your tutorial is about, you are ready to start! The very first thing you should do is write a script. Unless you are very good at thinking on your feet and improvising, making it up as you go along is usually a bad idea. Without a script, there’s a good chance that you will falter and just lose the thread. Nothing sounds more unprofessional than long gaps in the recording as you struggle to think of the next thing to say.

Your screen recording software should have a pause button that you can use when you feel you need to look at your script. And when you resume the recording, it’s seamless: nobody knows that you paused there.

Another tip is to record in chunks. If you are recording a total of 1 hour’s worth of video tutorial, try recording 12 lots of 5 minutes. Handling your recording this way is easier than trying to record a large amount and then editing it later.

Be prepared to make mistakes and re-record again. Even with a script, you will find that you trip over your words and get tongue-tied. Don’t worry, this is natural. Even the most natural and spontaneous sounding tutors are working from a script and have made many attempts to get to the finished article.

What you are making as you record are the source files. You edit these source files after you’ve recorded them to get them the way you want them and then export the movie. The exported movie is what the student sees.

When editing your recording, think about what areas of the screen the student needs to see. If the screen is large, but the menu you’ve opened is small, maybe you should zoom in to that small area so that the viewer can see better what you are doing. Once you’ve completed that task, you can zoom out again. Alternatively, if you have zoomed in on one area, you can stay zoomed in as you pan smoothly to another area of the screen. Do whatever is necessary to make your tutorial more easily understood.

If you want to display your own branding on your movie, you can add a watermark. People often use the name of their website as a watermark, or the name of their company. To add a watermark, you may first need to use a program like Photoshop to create an appropriate image.

Bear in mind what medium will carry your video tutorial. Movies can get very big and if the student has to download the whole thing in its entirety, that will be a pain. Think about breaking up the movie into more easily downloadable segments. If you are going to burn the tutorial to a DVD, you can use larger movies, but even so, smaller sections might be easier for the student to search through.

Once you’ve made a dazzling and stylish video tutorial, maybe you should upload it to Youtube!

Forums are usually free, though there are some paid ones out there, and registering takes only a few minutes of your time.

People often become members of forums for the following reasons:

• to get help
• to help others
• for entertainment
• to socialise
• to network for personal/business gain

Finding a forum is simply a matter of using a search engine like Google to search for “php forum” or “woodworking forum”.

How To Register On A Forum

Once you’ve found a forum that you’d like to join, you should find a “register” link near the top of the web page. If you can’t find it, use your browser’s search facility by pressing ctrl-f and then type “register”. You should then find the “register” link highlighted. Clicking on that link will start the registration process.

Registration consists of the following steps:

• Choose a member name. If you’re joining a very active forum, be prepared for disappointment as your first choice of member name may already be taken. Just keep choosing new ones until you find one that’s available!
• Supply personal information. This information is not too personal and often forums don’t even ask for it. If required, it usually includes birthday, real name, email address etc.
• Confirm registration. Once you’ve filled out the registration form you’ll receive a confirmation email from the forum. You need to click on the link in the email to confirm your registration and start using the forum. Sometimes, if the forum is a little more exclusive, you may have to wait for your application to be manually approved before you can start using the forum. These kinds of forums are more the exception than the rule, though.

There is nothing stopping you becoming a member of several forums and many people do just that.

The first thing to say is don’t pay for any get rich quick scheme that promises to reveal the secrets known only to a select few. There are no secrets and the methods used to make money online are very easy to understand. Implementing them, however, is the tricky part!

There are a few main methods that you can make money with a website:

1. selling advertising
2. displaying pay per click adverts
3. selling your own products
4. selling products for a third party
5. selling membership subscriptions to your site
6. selling links

Most people make money online using one or more of the above methods. And most of those people own portfolios of websites – not just one website.

Let’s explore each of these money making methods.

Selling Advertising

If you have a site that gets a lot of visitors, other sites that are in a similar niche to yours would probably benefit from advertising on your site. Doing so gives the other site more exposure and will attract more visitors to it. Marketplaces for buying and selling advertising space can usually be found on webmaster forums. Here are a few:

• digitalpoint
• sitepoint
• v7n

Selling advertising on your site is as easy as registering as a member on one of the above forums and then creating a thread inviting people to contact you about advertising on your site. If you have a high traffic website, then you may find that other webmasters approach you to ask if they can advertise on your site. This happens frequently with big name websites.

Pay Per Click Advertising

The most popular pay per click advertising is Google Adsense. Adsense displays adverts on your web pages that are related to the content published there. This means that if you have a web page about shoes, Adsense will display adverts related to shoes on that page. Every time a visitor clicks on one of the adverts, you get paid. Lots of people are making lots of money from Adsense.

For example, this website was sold recently in a website auction marketplace. The revenue that the owner claimed the site was making was $3,110 / month.

Selling Your Own Products

If you make your own products you can sell them on your website. You can get as creative as you like regarding those products. Here are the kinds of things that people are currently selling on their websites:

• physical products, for example paintings, art and craft etc
• digital products like video training, intructional ebooks

There are easy to use payment mechanisms available that you can take advantage of that make it very easy to start charging for the products you offer, so incorporating a payment method needn’t be a barrier to entry.

Webmasters also use their websites to market the services they provide. In these cases, the website acts as a “lead generation” tool, but it’s actually the website owner who is making the money. The website itself doesn’t generate any revenue.

Selling Products For A Third Party

Selling products for a third party, otherwise known as affiliate marketing, is a very popular way of making money on the internet. All you have to do is join an affiliate network, and start displaying adverts for merchants’ products on your site. Each time a visitor to your site buys one of those products, you will earn a commission that will be a percentage of the sales price.

Generally speaking fewer people will buy affiliate products from your website than will click on Adsense adverts, but the payouts are higher. For the sake of comparison, many of my sites earn around $0.20 per click from Adsense, whereas other affiliate sites I own generate $20 per product sold.

Selling Membership Subscriptions

If the content on your site is really good, visitors may think it worth paying for access to it. Many website owners charge a monthly subscription fee that lets visitors view their content. Good examples of websites using the subscription model are lynda.com (video tutorials) and Safari Books Online (an online library of technical books).

Your content would have to really be in demand to be able to sell subscriptions for it, though.

Selling Links

Selling links on your website is a little like selling advertising. The difference here is that the people buying links do so to get higher rankings in the search engines. As a general rule, the more inbound links your website has, the higher it will rank. Webmasters know this and are prepared to pay for links that will help their sites rank more highly. The more popular your site, the more you will be able to charge for links you sell.

Brokers such as text-link-ads provide a marketplace where you can register your site so that potential link buyers can make contact with you. You can expect monthly rates of around $30 / month for each link sold. This amount will go up if you have a really popular site.

Get Started Making Money With Your Website

The quickest, and by far the most widely used, method of making money with your website is to place Google Adsense on your website. Once registered and accepted into the Adsense program, all you have to do is place the same piece of code on each page of your site. That code will enable your pages to display “contextual” adverts i.e. adverts related to the content on those pages.

Website Traffic

Success with any of the above methods depends on getting enough traffic and this is the challange that most webmasters fail to meet. It’s not that they don’t understand how to make money, it’s that they just can’t get enough visitors to their website. And it can sometimes be an uphill struggle to get those all important visitors.

Don’t be one of those – learn how to get more traffic!

There are several reasons why you might want to run a website. You might feel passionately about an interest or hobby you have, and want an outlet for self expression. Or maybe you feel like you want to help others by providing advice on a subject you have knowledge about. Or maybe you just want to make money online! Whatever your motivation for creating a website, you’ll need to consider the following:

1. domain name
2. hosting
3. the website platform

Let’s go through each of these in turn.

Domain Name

If a website is the equivalent of a house, then the domain name is the address of the house. It uniquely identifies the website and no two websites can share the same domain name. Your domain name can have a variety of extensions, like .com, .net, .org etc. If you are just starting out creating websites, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the extension, otherwise known as the Top Level Domain (TLD). It really doesn’t matter what TLD you use.

Domain names are pretty cheap and you should be able to buy one for under $10. Note that this price is per year, so in actual fact you are leasing the domain. If, after owning the domain for a couple of years, you don’t renew your domain, then it will expire. At that point, someone else can register it.

There are lots of domain registrars, like godaddy, sedo, name and namecheap.

Website Hosting

Using the house analogy again, website hosting is equivalent to the land that the house is built on. It is where the files that make up your website live. Imagine a Word document on your computer. For another analogy, that Word document is your website, your hard drive is the web space where your site lives and your computer is the web hosting. Of course, there may be many files that make up your website, but you get the picture.

Like domain names, hosting is pretty cheap. You can usually get a deal for around $5 / month. Often hosts offer deals where you can host an “unlimited” number of domains. If you think that you might create several websites in the future, then these “unlimited” deals pay for themselves very quickly.

Popular web hosts include hostgator, godaddy and site5.

Website Platform

You have a few options when it comes to actually creating your website. If you like getting your hands dirty with the technical side of websites, you might like to code the website yourself. If you intend the site to be pretty static (i.e. you don’t require any that it have any interactivity with your visitors), then you just need to code your site using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). If you need a dynamic site that uses a database, then you probably need to use a server side language like PHP or ASP.NET.

If you want a ready made solution to get up and running quickly, without having to do any coding whatsoever, then you should consider a Content Management System (CMS). WordPress is a very good CMS that can get your website live in a matter of minutes and many web hosts provide one click installs. These one click installs allow you to install WordPress on your website even if you have no technical skills. If you are a beginner and want to get started as quickly as possible, I would recommend using WordPress. Stay tuned for some WordPress tutorials! WordPress is good because it’s free and it’s easy for non-technical people to use.

Lots of genres, including R&B/Urban (Main), Doo Wop, Neo-Soul, Soul, Classic R&B, Funk, Quiet Storm, Urban Contemporary, Contemporary R&B, Motown.

SHOUTcast

The famous SHOUTcast radio directory.

Radio Row

Soul and R&B. Only the best soul and R&B radio stations make RadioRow listing. If you have an online soul or R&B radio station for them to look at, you can submit it on their website.

IHeard

A large list of R&B internet radio stations.

DefJay

DEFJAY.com is a R’n'B radio station featuring live shows with guest DJs, as well as broadcasts from us all over the world representing the best in R’n'B music. Tune in by clicking on your Player.

Radio Tower

Putting the blues in R&B. There’s a big list if stations here.

Live 365

Live365 Internet jazz Radio Directory – Find a jazz Music Radio Station.

Sky.fm

Give us a few minutes of your time and you will like all of it. Listen for an hour or two and you’ll find it very difficult to tear yourself away.

Shoutcast

View a complete list of Jazz radio stations available on SHOUTcast Radio.

WBGO 88.3 Jazz

WBGO is a publicly-supported, cultural institution that champions jazz and presents news to a worldwide audience through radio, other technologies and events.

SkyJazz

Hear 6 Jazz programs ranging from hard-driving mainstream Jazz to beautiful Jazz ballads. If you’re a Big Band fan you’ll love Back On The Bus and visit our New Wave Café for the best of Smooth Jazz. Our Discovery show features new Jazz artists and All Requests answers your Jazz request.

IHeard

A cpllection of jazz music stations.

Smooth Jazz

The world’s #1 on-line jazz destination is broadcasting on the Internet from the Monterey Peninsula in Northern California. Smoothjazz.com HQ is a 19th Century Victorian-era Cottage, well over 100 years old and is located near downtown Pacific Grove just a few hundred yards from the Monterey Bay.