Will I be able to update my website?
Yes. We offer a "Content Management System" as an available add-on to your website. For a small one-time fee, you can update your own website! You don't need any software or web design experience! Simply type and add images, much as you would with a standard word processor program. All changes you make are instantly updated on your website. There are no limits to how often you can change your website.
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How do I get technical help?
We have an extensive searchable knowledgebase in the "Help" section once you login, which answers most common questions. Should you need additional help, you may submit a support request, and a member of our team will respond to you promptly. Our support desk is staffed 24x7, and most issues are resolved within a few hours.
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What if I would like a custom website, or a special feature?
We specialize in custom websites and programming. If you can dream it, our design team can create it! Check out our "Website Design" section for information on custom websites & online marketing services. We also have a talented team of programmers that can install special features on your website, such as photo galleries, fan clubs, guestbooks, link exchange programs, and more!
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What is a domain name and how do I get one?
A domain name is basically your visible Internet address (eg. actorgateway.com). There are two parts of a domain name—the top domain and the sub-domain. The top domain—also called the domain extension—is the .com, .net, .org, or .tv, etc. There are quite a few top domains out there to choose from. When selecting a top domain, it’s best to use something that you can remember and that other people can remember. The most common is .com. The sub-domain is more fun. It’s the name you come up with that precedes the top domain. Most actors use their names when looking for a domain name. It’s really up to you. If you do not already have a domain name, there are a variety of services out there that can do this for you. Our personal favorite is GoDaddy.com.
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How do I get an email account set up at my domain name?
All websites hosted by us automatically come with an email account for your domain name, with complete business-class email functionality including: auto-responders, vacation notices, forwarding, spam filters, webmail, and more. You can choose to use our webmail feature for checking email on-the-go, or download it into a mail program such as Outlook. We can also setup a forwarding address so that email sent to your domain name gets redirected to your existing email account (such as Yahoo or Gmail).
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When someone types in my domain name, how does it show my website?
A domain name works like an address forwarding service. All of your Web site content sits on a computer with a unique address. This is called an IP address. An IP address is made up of a series of numbers, such as 123.23.234.45. Your domain name directs visitors to your site using this IP address. We use domain names instead of IP addresses because most people find it easier to remember a name rather than a series of numbers.
When someone types in your domain name, your domain name servers, or computers, are pointed to particular web hosting servers. If those servers have your website files on them, they will appear when the domain name is typed in. As such, your domain name servers must be pointed to our hosting servers so that when someone types in your domain name, your website will appear. You are in charge of making sure that your name servers are pointed to our hosting servers. It generally takes up to 24 hours for that change to be effective. Until this is complete, people won't be able to access your website.
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How do I switch my domain name servers to my new hosting servers?
You will need to switch your domain name servers to our hosting servers in order for your site to be viewable. To do this:
Log in to your Domain Name Registrar’s site. (Your domain name registrar is the company from which you purchased your domain name. Eg. Network Solutions or Godaddy, for example.)
You will need your Username and Password for that account. Once you’ve logged in, look for a link to “modify name servers,” “change domain name servers,” “edit dns” or something similar. When you find that, click on it. There should be settings for Primary and Secondary name servers.
Enter your new primary & secondary server address, provided to you in your confirmation email from us.
Once you have made those changes, confirm and log out of your account. Your job is complete. Now, when people type in your domain name, the servers will know they need to grab the website information from our hosting servers instead of the prior hosting servers.
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How does my website show up on search engines or search directories?
There are various ways to get your site listed in the search engines. The search engines have “spiders” or “crawlers” that browse the web and find new sites and information to incorporate into their database. One way they do this is through links from other sites. For this reason, it is a good idea to have other websites link to your site. There are no guarantees with this option and it could take many weeks or months until you are listed. Examples of popular search engines are Google and AltaVista.
You can also manually submit your website to search directories like Yahoo! or Open Directory Project, (www.dmoz.org). Some of the manual submission options are free and others have one-time or recurring fees. Either of these methods may get you listed in the search engines or directories, but neither of them guarantee any type of ranking or number of visits to your site.
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