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LexiConn – April 2011 Newsletter
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In this Month’s Newsletter:
* .htaccess files
* Featured Client: backscratcherworld.com
* From the Blog…

.htaccess files

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A .htaccess file is a plain text configuration file placed inside a web directory. The directives contained in this file apply to the current directory as well as all subdirectories underneath it. There are several instances where you might need to use such a file, and this article will explore a few such reasons as well as how to locate your .htaccess file.

Your website may or may not already have a .htaccess file. If you are planning on using one, the first thing to do would be to examine the contents of the current file so that you are sure you don’t overwrite something important. Typically, the file is located in your main www folder, unless you are doing something specific in a subfolder. If you do not see one when you log in via FTP, be sure that your program is set to show hidden files, as files starting with a dot are often hidden by default. Here is a link from our knowledgebase detailing how to display hidden files in various applications:

http://support.lexiconn.com/kb/questions/312/

A common use of a .htaccess file is to set up redirects for your web pages. Redirects should be used if you ever make changes to your site’s filenames and wish to preserve rankings on the existing pages. A permanent / 301 redirect is viewed as the safest option for doing so and we have an article here explaining how you would do this:

http://support.lexiconn.com/kb/questions/206/

As discussed in a previous newsletter (http://support.lexiconn.com/news/viewtopic.php?t=384) setting a preferred domain in Google Webmaster Tools can allow for better rankings as everything would get indexed uniformly for your site. Specifically, you can put a rewrite in place such that everything gets indexed under your domain name with (or without) the www prefix. Here is some example code you would place in your .htaccess file that will achieve this:

RewriteEngine on
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^XXX.com
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.XXX.com/$1 [L,R=301]

(replace XXX with your domain)

By default all LexiConn accounts serve the ‘missing.html’ file as the file not found (404) page. You are welcome to customize this file as desired. Alternatively, you can create your own file and instruct the server to make this your 404 page by adding one line to your .htaccess file. For example, if your new file is called page_not_found.html, just add this line to your .htaccess:

ErrorDocument 404 /page_not_found.html

As you can see by the few examples provided above, a.htaccess file can serve a variety of purposes for your site. It is also important to note that an improper edit in a .htaccess file can cause your entire site to stop functioning, so it is important to test your site anytime you make changes to this file. Something as “innocent” as an extra space can break your site. As always, feel free to email us if you need assistance changing your .htaccess file.

Featured Client: backscratcherworld.com

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This month’s featured client is backscratcherworld.com. BackScratcherWorld.com, a member of the ITIWebStores collection of niche market web stores, is a specialty retailer focusing on quality back scratcher products.

http://www.backscratcherworld.com/

For more detailed information on this month’s featured client as well as a listing of all past featured clients, please go to:

http://support.lexiconn.com/news/viewforum.php?f=4

From the Blog…

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Here are some recent posts from The LexiConn Blog:

How to Properly Change Your Domain Name Without SEO Penalties – A step by step guide on the safest way to do this.
http://www.lexiconn.com/blog/2011/04/how-to-properly-change-your-domain-name-without-seo-penalties/

Google’s Latest Update and its Effect on Ecommerce Stores – Google recently made a large change that affected many sites.
http://www.lexiconn.com/blog/2011/03/google-panda-update-and-ecommerce/

UPS Switches SSL Certificate to Comodo – Causes Problems for Ecommerce Stores – A “non-event” caused problems to some stores.
http://www.lexiconn.com/blog/2011/04/ups-ssl-switch-problems/

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As always, feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. Complete contact and support options can be found at:
http://www.lexiconn.com/support.html

Sincerely,
- The LexiConn Team

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http://www.ratepoint.com/profile/1221