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<h3>Why Aren't You Using CGI</h3>
 
The very name CGI used to send chills up my spine. For 
years I put it in the 'too-hard-basket'. But like most 
things in life, CGI is not as scary as it seems. If 
you have a cgi directory on your website and you know 
how to FTP files, chances are you can have a CGI 
script up and running in less than 20 minutes. 
 
CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is not a programming 
language but a standard that allows visitors to 
interact with your website. CGI scripts can be written 
in a number of different languages but most are 
written in Perl (Practical Extraction and Reporting 
Language). 
 
This article gives you details of five free CGI scripts 
that will do the following: 
 
1. Mail out your Newsletter from your server 
2. Track the number of times your free E-Book is 
downloaded 
3. Rotate banners on your website 
4. Create your own auto responders 
5. Allow visitors to recommend your website to friends 
 
At the end of this article are details of where to 
download these 5 free scripts. But first, here are 
some basic guidelines on how to configure and install 
CGI scripts: 
 
1. CGI programs usually come in a zip file. Unzip the 
file and open the README file. This document will give 
you instructions for configuring the program file. 
 
2. Open the program file using a text editor such as 
NOTEPAD (the program file will usually have the file 
extension .cgi but may have other extensions such as 
.pl). 
 
In most CGI programs you will have to configure the 
following 4 items: 
 
(a) the path to perl 
 
This is where the perl program resides on your server. 
The path will usually be: 
 
#!/usr/bin/perl 
 
but could be: 
 
#!/usr/local/bin/perl 
 
If you're unsure what your 'path to perl' is, check 
your web host's online 'manual' or FAQs. If you can't 
find it there, simply ask your web host. 
 
(b) the path to sendmail 
 
Most CGI programs notify you when your visitors have 
completed a particular action, and for that, the 
program needs to know where the 'sendmail' program 
resides on your server. The path to your UNIX sendmail 
program will usually be: /usr/sbin/sendmail 
 
But it could also be something like this: 
/usr/lib/sendmail 
 
Again, check the documentation on your web host's 
website, or simply ask your web host. 
 
(c) the absolute path to your CGI directory 
 
The absolute path tells the CGI program exactly where 
to find the file (or files) that it needs to open. 
Unfortunately, the absolute path to your CGI directory 
is not something you will be able to guess or deduce - 
it is completely arbitrary and depends entirely on how 
the system administrator at your web host has 
partitioned your host's hard drive. 
 
The easiest way to find out your absolute path is to 
ask your web host. Another way is by using telnet - 
just type in pwd (print working directory) and that 
should give you your absolute path. 
 
(d) Your email address 
 
This is the address that the CGI program will use to 
notify you when an action has been completed. 
 
3. Uploading 
 
Upload the program files to your cgi-bin (or a 
directory off your cgi-bin) using ASCII mode. Never 
use BINARY mode, as this will play havoc with the 
line-breaks in the script. 
 
4. Set the File Permissions using CHMOD 
 
CHMOD (changing mode) is the term for setting security 
permissions on files. The README file will usually 
tell you the permissions that you need to set for each 
file. The script file will need to be set to 755. This 
allows the file's owner to read, write, and execute 
the file; anyone else can only read and execute it. 
 
You can set the permissions using telnet, but the 
easiest way is to use the built-in option in your FTP 
program. 
 
5. Calling the Script 
 
Now that you've configured the script, uploaded it and 
set the permissions, it's time to try it out! You do 
this by 'calling the script' using a URL in an HTML 
document. This is what the URL for calling your script 
will normally look like: 
 
http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/script.cgi 
 
Again, the README file should have specific 
instructions on how to call the script. In addition, 
most CGI programs are accompanied by a web page 
that contains the form your visitors would use to 
call the script. 
 
And now here are the details of the 5 free CGI 
scripts I mentioned earlier: 
 
----------------------- 
Subscribe Me Lite 
----------------------- 
 
Subscribe Me Lite is a program that allows 
prospects/customers to automatically subscribe and/or 
unsubscribe themselves from your mailing list. It has 
a built-in mass mailing form for sending out your 
newsletter or updates. 
 
More Information: 
http://www.cgiscriptcenter.com/subscribe/index2.html 
 
----------------------- 
Rob's File Tracker 
----------------------- 
 
Rob's File Tracker is a perl script that counts file 
downloads or click-thrus to any file. Very useful if 
you want to know how many people are downloading your 
free E-Book. 
 
More Information: 
http://www.robplanet.com/cgi racker/ 
 
----------------------- 
AdRotate Pro 
----------------------- 
 
AdRotate Pro is an ad rotation program that's easy to 
setup and easy to use. Features include unlimited 
rotations, expiry by date, views or clicks, default 
ads for when all ads are expired, and customer 
reports. 
 
More Information: http://www.vanbrunt.com/adrotate/ 
 
----------------------- 
MasterRecommend 
----------------------- 
 
This script allows visitors to recommend your website 
to a friend by sending an email, without leaving your 
website. The program will also send you a copy of your 
visitor's message (nice to know what your visitors 
think about your website). 
 
More Information: 
http://www.willmaster.com/master/recommend/MasterRecommendmanual.html 
 
----------------------- 
Master Auto-Responder 
----------------------- 
 
This is a standard auto-responder program. The 
script allows you to set the "From:" and "Subject:" 
lines for your auto-response.You can also choose to 
receive a copy of each email that the auto-responder 
receives. 
 
More Information: 
http://mastercgi.com/howtoinfo/howautoresponderswork.shtml 
 
If you need more help installing your CGI scripts, here 
are two excellent free tutorials: 
 
http://spider-food.net/install-a-cgi-script.html 
http://www.stefan-pettersson.nu/scripts utorials/installcgi.html 
 
 
Author Info
 
Michael Southon is the author of the popular new
E-Book, 'Ezine Writer!'. Discover the #1 Secret of
Internet Marketing - More Traffic, More Sales:
http://www.ezine-writer.com/ 
 
Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlehub.net">Article Hub.net</a>

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