I have a genealogy page but when I first created it I failed to put htm on the end. How do I change it to htm? My webpage is below. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kincaide/ Sincerely Norman Kincaide

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 10:10 AM, Norman Kincaide <norman.kincaide@yahoo.com > wrote: > I have a genealogy page but when I first created it I failed to put htm on > the end. How do I change it to htm? My webpage is below. > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kincaide/ > > Sincerely > Norman Kincaide > Well, it's easy to switch pages to the html extension. BUT, the *.htm is NOT the same as *.html for indexing, meaning, one does not substitute for the other. So if your site is established in Google rank, you may drop for a few months or until Google re-indexes your site. What you do is: 1. If using a program, see if it has a place to make the default extension be html and set it 2. Open a htm page. Save As with the same name. (If that filename needs improved, this is as good a time as any to change the whole filename.) 3. Close the html page and re-open it. Check the content. REMEMER: Fix any links that point to htm to html This can get confusing because you'll be re-naming pages 1 by 1 and the htm ones contain the working links. Just remember on every html page you'll need to fix the links on it. 3b. This would be a good time to make an _include for repeated links used on all or many pages. 3c. This is a good time to check HEAD info to make sure all is correct. 3d. Make a site template (template,html) with your navigation (all using html extensions) 4. After you get the html page(s) made, it might be easiest to just delete the htm pages and take the 'hit' on your ranking, knowing your site will recover within a few months. Although that little 'l' is nice to look at, it does not make or break a website. My first site uses htm I left it alone because my pages had been indexed for over a year at that point. My other sites use html (just cos I like to see that little 'l' ;-) Judy

Ooops, I misunderstood your question. You want to know how to get your website to display a "page" when it opens http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kincaide/ What you did not do was start with a page called "index.htm" OR "index.html" The URL http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kincaide/ is the same as http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kincaide/index.htm -- IF you had an "index" page When you do not do an "index.htm(l)" page, visitors see every file inside your website. They see a directory tree. To correct this, make a New Page, and name it "index.htm" OR "index.html" This page must NOT be in a folder. It must be "freely" placed in the "genealogy" folder (on your computer). Use the "index.htm" OR "index.html" as a "home page"... the first page visitors will see. I tried to look in your Directory Tree for what you called your "first" page but the page I picked was huge and is still loading :-( On your "index.htm" OR "index.html" page, place navigation links to main areas of your site. Maybe write a paragraph or two about the site. Make sure in the HEAD coding to use a TITLE tag, Meta Decription, Meta Keywords. Whatever "name" you put in the TITLE tag should be the same H1 text used "on" your webpage. For example: Kincaide Family History and Genealogy from New York You should use one consistent "name" for your entire website-- and put that on every page. BUT ALSO, use a descriptive H1 page title "on" the page. Like put an H1 tag around your title "Kincaid DNA Vetting and Lineage Post Central" that you used on http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kincaide/kincaid%20vetting%20and%20lineage%20post%20central.htm NOTE: to get rid of the "%20" in your URLs, use a hyphen-between-each-word-in-every-file-name.html After you write paragraphs on your "index.htm" OR "index.html" and have site-wide navigation listed, start Labeling by type of files. Then make links from those labels, like: Kincaide Census Pages (link it to a "index.htm" OR "index.html" in the folder for Census) Julie Kincaide Recipes (link it) John Kincaide Biography (link it) Miscellaneous Kincaide Family Records (link it) Make a folder for each. Move your pages into folders according to type (and area of your website). A "index.htm" OR "index.html" page in each folder acts as a "front door" to that folder. You link all the folder's "index.htm" OR "index.html" pages back to the main site's "index.htm" OR "index.html" So if I go to your main site's index, I can then go to your census index.html page. Questions? Judy On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 10:10 AM, Norman Kincaide <norman.kincaide@yahoo.com > wrote: > I have a genealogy page but when I first created it I failed to put htm on > the end. How do I change it to htm? My webpage is below. > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kincaide/ > > Sincerely > Norman Kincaide