> If you are creating it in Notepad, save using any name such as
> htaccess.txt but then rename it to .htaccess either before or after
> uploading to the root of your domain.

> I regularly use the following to force www.

> RewriteEngine on
> RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www
> RewriteRule (.*)http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [L,R=301]

> I'm not saying your version is wrong; there are several variations
> around.

> Robbo

> On May 15, 9:25 pm, justsandy wrote:

> > Dear David64,
> > Can you check and see if I did the 301 permanent redirect correctly?
> > Here is the code I added as a htaccess.txt file.  I don't see how to
> > make it .htaccess file, if that's the way it should be named.  Let me
> > know, please...  :)

> > RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.muralsandfauxpainting\.com
> > RewriteRule ^(.*)$http://muralsandfauxpainting.com/$1
> > [R=permanent,L]

> > How can I check myself if it's working?  Thanks for the help.
> > God bless,
> > Sandy

> > On May 11, 4:37 pm, david64 wrote:

> > > You may wish to read this regarding removing www:

> > >http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-url-canonicalization/

> > > My advice would be to stick with www. if that is what you have been
> > > using.

> > > I would recommend that you do a 301 redirect of all URLs without www.
> > > to those with www. Having your site indexed twice is not really a good
> > > thing.

> > > As for your drop in rankings, this could be fore a number of reasons,
> > > such as your competitors doing better than you.