Bill McRea

Zen Cart is an open source, free shopping cart software solution. Zen Cart was designed and developed by a group of online shop owners who wanted to create a shopping cart design that would be efficient, simple to use, and meet all of their e-commerce needs. Since it was designed to be installed and used by anyone with basic web and computer skills, Zen Cart is both robust and quick and easy to setup and use.

Some of the Zen Cart features include an XHTML template system, unlimited extra pages, multiple ad banner controllers, and multiple shopping cart and payment options. Zen Cart also includes a newsletter manager so that you can stay in touch with your customers. It provides the option to offer discount coupons, gift certificates and you can feature certain products and offer quantity discounts.

In this article were going to take a look at how you can install Zen Cart on your website using the Fantastico DeLuxe script installer. The cool thing about using Fantastico to install your Zen Cart is that you don’t need to go and create your databases by hand and then worry about uploading all of the Zen Cart files separately. So let’s get started.

Before we talk about the details of installing this Zen Cart, let’s look at the prerequisites that you must have in order to run Zen Cart on your website:

You must have PHP 4.3.2 or higher installed on your server, Apache 1.3 point X. or higher, and MySQL 3.2.X. or higher. This article talks about installing Zen Cart using Fantastico. So it is assumed that you have cPanel on your web hosting account.

1. Log into your cPanel and click on the blue smiling face Fantastico icon.

2. Choose the Zen Cart from the available list of e-commerce scripts on the left side of the screen.

3. You’ll see a little description about the Zen Cart and then you also see the new installation link. Click on that link to install Zen Cart.

4. Next, you will choose which domain you want your Zen Cart to be installed on. You can install it in a subdomain, for example, ‘cart.yourwebsite.com,’ or, if you want the shopping cart to appear as the main page of your website, you can install it on, www.yourwebsite.com.

5. Next, enter the name of the directory where you will be installing Zen Cart. For example, if you want Fantastico to install Zen Cart in a directory called shopping, type the word ‘shopping’ in this field. Leaving this field blank will install Zen Cart in your domain’s root directory.

Under administrator username, enter a username for the administrator. Then enter a password that you will use to access the admin panel. Under a site name, give your shopping cart the name you want to be displayed in the browser’s title bar.  Under Admin email, you’ll enter the email address of the shopping cart administrator. All of the email related to Zen Cart will be sent to this address. Also, if you should forget the admin password, this is the email address where the new password will be sent.

After you have filled in the fields, click on the ‘Install Zen Cart’ button.

6. The next page shows a summary of your Zen Cart configuration. Click on the ’Finish Installation’ button to complete the installation process.

Once you have clicked the ‘Finish Installation’ button, all of the required files are copied to the target directory and Fantastico creates a new database with your username and password. Next, you’ll see a screen that notifies you that you have installed Zen Cart successfully. You’ll see a link to your shop catalog and the admin area on the screen.

For more information about setting up your shopping cart, e-commerce in general,  or affiliate marketing, visit, http://www.mcreasite.com, where you will find a ton of resources for building an online business and making money online today.

PhpBB is probably the most popular, free bulletin board or forum software script available online. This robust, feature-rich solution can be used to create a community on your website to encourage your visitors to interact with one another. All of that user-generated content and activity is great for your website’s SEO.

PhpBB is easy to use, it can be set up quickly and it has every feature imaginable. Perhaps one of the best features of phpBB is that it is free, open-source software that is made available under the GNU, General Public License, so you can modify the without first getting permission. The fact that it is open-source means that there are many developers who have worked with this software and created their own custom themes, which are available for everyone to download and use on their forums. There are also support forums where you can go and ask questions and get advice about setting up your forum.

How to install phpBB:

There are two methods for installing phpBB. You can do a quick install using Fantastico, or you can manually install the files. The Fantastico install is the best option if you lack a lot of technical skill and you want to get your forum up and running quickly. If you want to do a lot of customizations to your forum, you might consider getting help with installing it manually. You can get more information about manually installing the software at phpbb.com.

Log into cPanel. The Fantastico DeLuxe, blue smiling face icon is located in the ‘Software/ Services’ tab, which you will find by scrolling down towards the bottom of the screen. Click on Fantastico and select ‘phpBB’ from the ‘Discussion Boards’ section on the left side of the screen. A new page will appear with the phpBB logo at the top. Look for the ‘New Installation,’ link and click on it. Your next step will be to choose your installation options. Choose the domain you want to install the software on from the drop-down menu (if you have more than one domain on this server). If you leave the ‘Install in directory’ field blank, phpBB will appear as your home page: (www.yourwebsite.com). You can specify a directory, such as, ‘forum,’ which would yield the URL: (www.yourwebsite.com/forum).

Now you will select a username and password in the ‘Admin access,’ data fields. The ‘Base configuration,’ fields are self-explanatory. After you have filled in this information it can be changed after you complete the installation. Click on the ‘Install phpBB’ button. You’ll get a ‘Finish Installation’ button next, which will complete the installation. The next page you see will give you the URL to both the forum and the backend along with your administrative details. You should either bookmark this page or copy and paste the information and save it in a secure place in case you need it.

Congratulations! Your forum installation is complete. There are a ton of resources on phpbb.com that will point you to how to customize your forum using different themes, how to manage all of the special features and tips and strategies for managing your forum.

For more information about managing your forum,  Internet marketing in general,  or affiliate marketing, visit, http://www.mcreasite.com, where you will find a ton of resources for building an online business and making money online today.

Databases make it possible to manage large amounts of information on the Internet. They are the crucial back end to many web-based applications such as CMS (Content Management Systems) blogs, and online catalog websites.

Cpanel makes creating databases simple and easy. You can either use the MySQL Database Wizard, or you can create databases, and users directly.

Create a database

Lets begin by creating a MySQL Database. In the ‘databases’ section on your cpanel dashboard screen, click on the ‘MySQL Databases graphic. If this is the first time you will be creating a database, you might want to take a moment and watch the video tutorial.

To get started, type in the name of your database in the ‘Create New Database’ field and then click to ‘Create Database’ button. Click the ‘Go Back’ button and you will see the database you just created in the current tables database.

Create a database user

Your next step will be to create a database user and give them privileges so that they can populate and manage the database. These MySQL accounts are separate and distinct from email or web administrator user name and passwords.  To create a database user, either scroll down past the current databases or click on the ‘Jump to MySQL Users’ button. Enter a username under ‘Add New User,’ and enter a password that is 7 letters or less. If you can’t think of a good password, you can use the password generator. Type the password again and then click ‘create user.’

When you are finished you will see you new database has been added to the list of current databases, and your new user has been added to the list of current users.

Deleting a database

To delete a database from your account simply find the database in the list of current databases table and click, ‘Delete Database.’ You will then be asked to confirm that you want to permanently delete the database by clicking ‘Yes.’

Deleting a user

If you want to remove a user from managing a database simply click on the red ‘x’ that is next to the name of the user in the ‘Current users,’ menu and confirm by clicking, ‘Yes.’

phpMyAdmin

This is a third-party tool that cpanel makes available to users. It is used to manipulate MySQL databases on the Internet. You would use phpMyAdmin when you want to add, and drop databases, create, alter or delete tables, add, edit or delete fields, execute SQL statements, and manage users, keys and permissions.

Remote MySQL

If you have a need to make your databases in cpanel available to be remotely accessed by other web servers, Remote MySQL can be used to grant secure access. You can also revoke that access in the future if you need to. Remote MySQL has a wizard that walks you through, step-by-step in how to give remote servers access to the databases on your server.

All of these features that are included within cpanel make administering databases convenient and easy with everything you need all in one place.

Are you ready to learn more about Internet Marketing, SEO, email or affiliate marketing? Visit, http://www.mcreasite.com, where you will find a ton of resources for building an online business and making money online today.

Cpanel is the industry standard graphic web hosting control panel for web hosting accounts. I would venture to say if you are looking for a web host, one of the first questions you should ask is if they offer cpanel for thier web hosting accounts because it really simplifies all of the tasks related to operating your website.

One of the good things about cpanel is that the user interface is very intuitive, so even if you are not technically savvy, you can make your way around cpanel. There are also instructional videos with certain applications within cpanel that show you what to do each step of the way.

Let’s begin with setting up mail for your web hosting account. Click on the ‘Email Accounts’ button. You will be brought to a new page where you can set up a new email address. Choose your email name @ yourwebdomain.com, then select a password. You will be asked to type it in again. You can use the password generator, which will generate a secure password for you. Next you will set your mailbox quota, or leave it as unlimited. Finally, click ‘Create Account,’ and you are finished.

Back on your cpanel home page, click on the ‘Webmail’ button, and this will take you to a new page where you can manage your webmail accounts. You will have the option of using horde, roundcube or squirrelmail as your email client. You also have the option to configure your new email address in your Outlook email client on your computer. With the webmail clients you just type in your email address and password and you can send and received email.

SpamAssassin is another option on your cpanel mail manager. If you want to use SpamAssasin you will have to enable it by clicking on the ‘Enable SpamAssassin’ button. You must then choose either auto-delete span, or you can disable the auto-delete spam feature. Another option is to click on the ‘Enable Spam Box,’ which will deliver any emails identified as spam so that you can take a look at them before they are deleted to make sure that it doesn’t trap any of your important messages. There is also the option to configure spamassassin using different settings.

The Auto Responders automatically send a message back to anyone who sends email to a specified account. For example, if you will be away from the office on vacation you can set an automated message. But you can also use this feature if you want to create a standard, generic response to an email address.

Cpanel also allows you to set up mailing lists that can make it easier to send the same message to groups of people without the need for typing in each email address each time you want to send them a message. For example, if your website has a newsletter, or if you have special customer groups, etc.

To find out more information about Internet marketing, SEO, email or affiliate marketing, visit, http://www.mcreasite.com, where you will find a ton of resources for building an online business and making money online today.

When you are running an online business, traffic is the life’s blood of your business. Most every website owner could use more, highly targeted traffic to their websites, but generating traffic takes a lot of time and effort. Well, Bill McIntosh, the developer of a traffic generating software tool called Contest Burner, faced that exact dilemma in his business. He wanted an easy way to generate traffic that was not going to require him to spend a ton of time or money. Sounds like a tall order, right? But he came up with an effective tool that accomplishes all of that and more.

Contest Burner is a software tool that helps website owners generate targeted traffic, backlinks and buzz for their websites by creating fun contests that visitors can participate in. People will sign up for the contest for the chance to win the cash and prizes at stake. Contest Burner makes it both fun and easy for your visitors to promote your links. Here’s how it all works.

Your visitors sign up to join your contest, and with a single click Contest Burner gains access to their Facebook, Twitter and the other social media accounts that their visitor chooses, and then it’s able to automatically post links for them. Each time they post your content to their profile, they earn a specific number of points.

As more visitors sign up and start sharing your content, your backlinks, your traffic and your email subscriber list begin to grow exponentially as will the buzz and exposure for you and your products. 

Every online business needs traffic, but that is only one of the benefits of holding a contest. Here are just a few ideas for how Contest Burner can boost your website:

• Grow a new blog’s readership
• Launch a book blog tour
• Create buzz for a political campaign
• Generate interest in a non-profit program
• Raise money and awareness for a charity
• Generate traffic and subscriptions for affiliate offers
• Increase foot traffic to a local business
• Generate buzz for a new product launch

These are a few ideas, but the possibilities are really only limited by your imagination. If all you do is generate more traffic and opt-in subscribers, you will be the real winner, but your contest participants will also have a ton of fun competing for cash and prizes and for the prestige of being the contest winner.

If you have ever wondered what is the easiest way to get your visitors to gladly spread the word about your website, products and services, hosting a contest is one of the most effective ways to do that. You will enjoy seeing all of the traffic and backlinks being generated, and your contest participants will enjoy the prizes they win with Contest Burner.

Are you ready to discover new ways to build your blog readership and attract new subscribers? Visit, http://mcreasite.com/ContestBurner, to find out how to generate traffic, backlinks and buzz for your blog with Contest Burner.