First a huge Thank You is in order! Dennis Michael has helmed kidabra.org for 8 years, as webmaster he brought the KIDabra forum to us even before that. Den created the Free Member Websites, the first in our industry, and others quickly followed. And most importantly he built an amazing website that helped us gain world wide prominence, and which folks constantly complimented.

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His tireless contribution is and continues to be amazing. Thank you Den! When he decided to step-down from the post, it was time for us to make a decision for the next chapter of our web presence. We needed a site that we could easily and quickly update. Our longtime system was for me to write out changes then send them to Den to update, a 2 step process that was very time consuming. With Den's decision we kicked into high gear to figure out the solution to simplify, amazingly we discovered from our research that technology was in step and ready for us! The New site is built on Den's incredible foundation, as he continues as technical adisor, John Bobik steps in as our new webmaster, with design and layout by yours truly, chief bottle washer.

A Dream Realized for me and you!

Have you dreamed of being able to build your own website and do all the updates yourself, as you need them? Us too, and that drove the desire for the creation of the new KIDabra site. We've spent the last 2 years doing tons of research and we have found  a solution for all of our websites, including the KIDabra site.

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My challenge was and is that I'm a left handed, right brained thinker who doesn't write computer code or want to. So we needed to find something drag and drop, that worked the way I thought. The technology didn't exist until very recently, the good news is it is awesome!
 I needed to be able to constantly update all things KIDabra  and be up to speed with the latest website technology, as do our members.  Tami saw the first work I did with the websites  and asked me how I was doing it, as I had no prior website skills. I said " I know right?" I watched the video tutorials and played around with it until I got it, which wasn't hard as it's very intuitive drag and drop.

 

And yes you can do it! One (A hint as you're getting started look at the entertainer and design site templates as a kicking off point. You'll soon learn you can change, adapt or import anything for your site and it's fun! Use pictures, graphics and video easily as well!)

The tips shared over the next several paragraphs is potentially worth thousands of dollars to you, just in website design and info. If your want to create your own beautiful website, then your time is now!
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In The Opps Department:
One of the glitches in our upgrade to the new site was to accidentally lose the KIDabra Member Websites. We were going to discontinue them with a timely notice. Their abrubt end was not expected. Our apologies! Here's the great news we're not leaving you hanging. First if you had work on your site that you'd like to preserve

e mail Den at DennisMichael@Dowhy.com and he will send you a zip file of your site. Now keep reading to find out how to create your own incredible websites:


Incredible Website Info and Tips
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By John Bobik with aditonal input from Mark

 There are some pretty awesome design and operational changes to the look and feel of your favorite site.

 When the free member web pages were first offered to the Kidabra membership it was an extra perk to help our members get a web page presence. During that time it was a lot harder to get your own website. It required a lot of money for hosting sites and then you had to have web skills, HTML coding, Linux or Windows server skills to install updates and graphic design… just to name a few. When Den brought the member websites on line 7 years ago they were cutting edge. As happens with tech, the structure they were built on was soon antiquated and Den was finding it harder and harder to maintain them. He looked for a new platform to shift to for the last several years, getting close, but ultimately never happy with the results. Also, having your site on the Kidabra page was not the most efficient way to drive traffic to you from possible clients.

Technology and ease of use have advanced us eons ahead and that's good news!
There are now a  lot of free hosting and web building sites. The free sites may have ads on them and some limitation on how much content, videos and the number of pages you can have on the site. That said these sites offer goodies and a level of service we could have only dreamed of with the KIDabra Member sites. These services also offer a more professional level for those who need or desire it, for a fee each month which eliminates the ads and limitations. The fee might be as low as 4 dollars a month and more if you add let’s say a shopping cart.

Here is  some basic information to get you started creating your very own spectacular web page.
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First item of business you need is a domain name. ​

This would be the www address. Just like www.kidabra.org as an example.
 ( You can also create, be hosted and have no domain name required on wix.com, all for free. However, for a professional look domain names are highly recommended.)

To set up a domain there are several companies you can purchase the domain from. These companies have a search on the front page that will assist you finding out if what you would like as a name is taken already or available.​

Domain Providers.​
These are just two of the top ones. They also supply web hosting and easy design.
www.godaddy.com​
www.networksolutions.com​
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Web Hosting Sites
Once you have your domain name then you need to create a site. Below is a list of web hosting sites that will allow you to have a beginner site up to a more advanced site.

You'll find endless templates to work with, however you won't find children's enterainer templates. You will find some for entertainers. The trick is to look at the all of the templates, the pages, the way they're laid out and then pick one and start molding it to you. They are endlessly changeable. You are limited only by your imagination. In other words there are no barriers and no excuses keeping you from the best website you've ever had!

Check out:
www.wix.com

(The new KIDabra.org site is built on the new HTML 5 platform on Wix, it is so new it is still considered in the beta phase. wix.com hosts nearly 30 million websites. You can create, be hosted there and you don't even have to have a domain name for your

site, all for free within Wix. For the most professional look we do recommend having and using a domain name. Should you already have a domain name, yes it can be pointed to the wix site. I'm sure you'll find a lot of this true for the sites that follow as well.)
www.ipages.com
www.hostgator.com
www.godaddy.com
www.networksolution.com
www.bluehost.com

Web Building.
All the sites that I mentioned have in-site designer/ builders for you to create with that are pretty good. (Also geat help guides and video tutorials as well) You will want to review what they offer. For example if you want to add a blog to your site do they include that with the site builder?

If you've first played around with these sites and are not comfortable designing you own page with the new technology then I would suggest you talk to some of your fellow performers and see what companies and who they use to design their web sites.
(Please give it a fair shake first for DIY though, it's so much easier to do now and fun too! It's a given that you need good pictures, logos, video and sales copy. You build that piece by piece over time, just like a great show.If I can do it so can you!)

There are also places like www.guru.com which host freelance tech gurus. You can search for web designers and see what they charge per hour as well as past projects and reviews from clients.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Talk to your fellow performers, do searches for reviews on the sites that interest you and ask a lot of questions. The web hosting sites all have a FAQ page or tutorials both video and test that can help you make an informed decision.

We hope you enjoy the new look and feel of the Kidabra website and the fact that now you can do your own website too! Just like your left handed, chief bottle washer did!  This is amazing member info brought to you, for you to continue to grow and do good things for your KIDshow community and importantly your young audiences!

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One favor, it's very important, please be as good as your website can be:)

Now get to it!

If you have any questions feel free to email john@bobikmagic.com