Reusing pieces of HTML code is a common way of making web sites (or web applications) more consistent, reliable, and more manageable. Even a small web site consisting of perhaps 20 or 30 web pages can benefit from reusing code for header and footer sections, for example. If the same header or footer is used across all the pages on the site, it makes sense to put the header and footer code in separate files, and then call those files to insert their contents where required.

PHP offers two statements that can be used for inserted the contents of one file inside another: include() and require(). These two statements are virtually identical, with the only real difference being that if require() fails, it gives a fatal error, whereas if include() fails it just gives a warning. For this reason I tend to use the include() statement as it just seems slightly more friendly.

So, to include the contents of a file called header.inc inside a web page called index.php, you would just need to insert the following line of code (wrapped in PHP opening and closing tags) inside index.php.

Include 'header.inc';

As PHP takes no notice of the extension used for the included file, you can use whatever extension you want to. Be careful though, if you put passwords inside an include file with a .inc extension, they will be visible. You can get around this by putting include files that contain sensitive information outside the document tree to prevent people from browsing to them.

In Part 2 we'll look at the use of functions when developing web sites and applications.

No matter where you are in the online marketing world, you may or may not have your own website. You may wonder if creating a business website will be efficient in building your business. Here we offer you a little guidance about creating an effective online presence.

First, you should determine your website goals. Whether you are attempting to gather leads, offer knowledge, generate sales or even something different, your website design is dependant on your online marketing goals.

Once you have determined your goals, you need to know who your target viewers are and then target the photos, content and language to fit their needs and preferences. However, you should never just assume that everyone is at the same level of understanding as you are about the subject.

Then once you know who your target viewers are and their preferences, make sure that your website features ease in navigation. Just make sure that navigation is easy and simple without including a lot of distracting animated redirects.

Make sure you place a call to action on every web page of your business site, since many people simply wander the internet; they need direction of where to go and what to do once they are there. Simply capture their attention, while teaching them something new, as this will motivate them to make a purchase.

Determine whether you are trying to generate more traffic to your website, seeking sign ups or encouraging you visitors to make a purchase. On the other hand, perhaps you are trying to get people to come to a physical location. You will need some means of measuring your efforts, otherwise you will not find out what methods work and what does not work.

To allow your business to move onto the next level, you will need to follow this guidance, whether you build your own website or pay a professional to build it for you.

Before you actually begin your website you have to put a lot of consideration into things such as the domain name itself and the hosting company you sign up with. These decisions can have a major affect on the end result so ensure you do your research to get the best outcome.

Once you have found the desired domain name you have to get it registered, there are a number of companies that offer the registration of domains so how do you decide which to use? The first thing you should look for is their reputation, you would hate to deal with a dishonest company that doesn't offer the customer service you deserve. In order to find a reliable company you can ask for recommendations from friends and family or other webmasters to see who they use. The next factor you should look at is the price, don't be fooled for the cheapest companies out there. Just because they can offer a cheap service doesn't mean that it's the best choice, check for renewal prices and any other disadvantages you may be faced with so that you can be confident you are receiving the best deal.

When you have your domain name the next step is to choose hosting, you cannot afford to rush this decision as it will determine the results of your website. Put the time and effort in to check which hosts are reliable and offer great customer service. Never accept anything below 99.99% up time as you will be loosing money every time your website goes down. You then have to spend the time in order to get it back up and running as intended, loosing even more money. Browse through each of the different hosting companies, checking the additional features, benefits and mainly the price in order to get the best deal based on your requirements.

You can find various companies such as name cheap, triple and go daddy who can be the solution to all your problems. You can register your domains with them and buy hosting at the same time, this takes a lot of the hassle out of the equation as everything is in the one place. There are some advantages to doing this, you can often get a reduced price if you buy them both together. It will give you more time to focusing on your website and if you ever have a problem you only have to contact the one company. Ensure that you check out the hosting package before you buy it to make sure that it has the features you require.

With the benefits it does have it's disadvantages, depending on the company the hosting may not be the best option out there and you can often get various coupon codes to make things cheaper and by shopping around you can always save a great deal of money.