Design your own website? It sounds scary to most people, but it doesn’t have to be! It is a simple process and there is no reason whatsoever to be frightened. You can learn everything you need to online before ever having to show someone. Often the fear of something comes just from not knowing what to do or what steps to take, so here are 5 steps to send you on way to web design success.
In the end it’s a simple process when explained. With a little help you can definitely design your own website.
There is no need to be worried or intimidated. Designing websites is really easy and you can learn a little each day. If you would rather a program which does the HTML for you so you can focus on building the actual content and layout of the website, have a look at: [http://www.siterubixcompared.com/]
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
As discussed in another article of mine, Step 3: Brainstorming Niche Ideas, – I take this time also to start thinking about layout – I need to know if the focus of the website will be either a personal or a professional one. A business website will not be taken seriously if it doesn’t give the impression that the business knows what it’s doing, keeping it simple and letting the content speak for itself – depending on what the business is about – will go further than all the amazing things you can do with a website. With personal websites there is a more laid back feel to the layouts that are used.
A layout is the way a website’s content is presented on the page. It’s the same concept as a magazine layout, though you’re going to be optimizing the layout and content for computer screens, not printed pages. There are a huge variety of different layout styles, though really, your layout is only limited by your imagination.
Next you’re going to need to figure out where to place your content, menus, any advertising you might use, and anything else you want to include within your website pages. Google offers a “heat map” (see below for link) that shows you exactly where people tend to click more often. Google also offers you the ability to track where your visitors are clicking most on your own website through it’s Analytics service (which can be found by doing visiting their Lab). I have found this service to be very beneficial in determining where to place content to get the maximum interaction with visitors.
Here’s a list of the basics of what you should and shouldn’t be doing with your website layout:
Conclusion
The best way to know which layout will best benefit your website is to test. Your best bet would be to go with what Google suggests within its heat map (refer to link above), make sure you sign up for Google Analytics service and place their code on all your pages. Then give your website about a month after you’ve seen some steady traffic before you analyze the results. Make one change and watch what results come in from that change. If more needs to be done, then change something else. Learning how to create your own website layout correctly can be hugely beneficial, especially if you follow the suggestions above. By following them you’ll be a step ahead of your competition as a large percentage of website owners don’t bother using a service such as Google Analytics to see what their visitors are actually doing on their website. They change their layout and/or content at whim hoping that the changes they’ve made will be the break their looking for to have their visitors interact within their website.
Google’s heat map: [http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=17954]
Unbalanced Layout Example: http://www.rocketface.com/organize_website/unbalanced_layout.html
Tina Stephen is the owner of DesignNewbie.com [http://designnewbie.com] that offers a wide variety of website design and development resources (article & resource directory, online courses, weekly newsletter, community forums, and more) for those wanting to learn how to create their own website. She has been designing websites for 6 years and owns her own web design business.
So you need a personal website builder but don’t know where to start or have any idea on how to design and publish your own website. Today there are many easy to use website builders so that basically all you have to do is enter your content, point & click, and you’re website can be seen on the Internet worldwide. There are a lot of people who want their own personal website but do not have the HTML knowledge and programming background on how to make a fancy website. With website builders, creating your site is very easy.
Typically you will find that there are hundreds or even thousands of different website templates that you can choose from so that you have a jump start on putting in your content for the website. You can also drag and drop things around such as text boxes, pictures, and more within the application. There are a few different types of site builders with the first being an online application where you can login to a website from any computer with an Internet connection and make all your changes online along with publishing the site directly.
The other option is downloading a piece of software on your computer that you will need to install and setup. The easiest option would be to use an online site build system so that you don’t have to download and install anything on your computer and can access and make changes to your personal website from any computer with Internet available.
Here are some reasons why you may want a personal website:
1. Today it’s very easy to share photos online with family and friends so it’s a great way to keep everyone in your circle up to date on new and current events. You may also want to include pages for a wedding, new baby, etc.
2. If you ever wanted to start or create a blog online, using your own personal website to host the blog is the easiest option as most website builder systems have this function available
3. Maybe you have your own business and adding information about your own company can get you more traffic and business.
A personal website builder will allow you to do all of the functionality as listed above very easily. Along with designing and creating your site, most providers will also provide hosting which is sometimes free in the particular plan you have. Using a site build system typically costs a certain amount per month depending on how many features you want for your website, but the hosting will usually be included so you don’t have to find another company to have your site hosted.
Many companies will also provide very good documentation and support tools for their online application because they realize that the majority of the people that create their own personal websites are not computer savvy.
You can get started or learn more information on building and publishing your own website easily by visiting: http://www.EasySiteBuild.com/
You will certainly see ads all over the internet saying to you that you can make thousands overnight, no website needed, no product needed and the money will just keep rolling in.
Well if your going to take on this train of thought than its apparent that your not looking for a true and real online business but searching for a quick fix, get rich quick scheme.
I guess my question is why would you not spend the poultry amount monthly that it takes to have a hosting account, that will give you the tools to build your own website for free? I use a web host that only charges $19.95 a month and the benefits far out weigh the expenditure. It wasn’t necessary for me to utilize their web site tools because of the package I own already but their tools and templates are great.
By not fully utilizing the full power of the internet to gain the kind of visibility that a thriving web business needs will result in lost revenue and lots of it. The idea is not to survive but thrive on this thing we call an internet business, and I am going to jump right back on the proper foundation bandwagon. To build your own website is part of that foundation of creating a real online venture and if you look at any of the top marketers they without doubt have their own sites and some have 50 to 100 sites.
Having effective systems in place for attracting visitors, providing information, selling products and services and following up, regardless of whether your market reach is local, regional, national or international, a strong Internet presence and a website is the only way you can make the difference between success and failure for countless types of businesses.
Whatever it is your attempting to pursue online you’ll want your customers to have a place to come back to. Look at it from your habits of purchasing and all the things you do in the purchasing cycle and simply apply these thought processes when you build your own website.
Most people today when they consider how they are going to buy or what they are going to buy no longer whip out the phone book and look up anything it’s straight to the computer to dig it up first. So if no site exist where are they going? To your competition that’s where.
So to conclude, don’t listen to those ads that are telling you can make thousands No website needed no product needed and go out and build your own website and create a real business that you can actually grow.
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In another article, “How to Create Your Own Website in Eight Easy Steps”, I outlined the steps I personally take to create my own websites and that of my clients’. Within this article I will go into more detail on Step Two: Which Pages? of that article.
What Exactly Are Web Pages?
The best way to explain web pages is to look at a website as a magazine. Within a magazine you have different pages for different topics within a certain niche, well the same goes for your website. Your website is made up of pages that discuss different topics within your niche. The pages within your website are referred to as website pages or web pages.
Page Decisions
When creating your website you need to know which pages will be within it before you even start to create it. There are a few basic pages that every website should have – home page, about page, products/services page, contact page and a sitemap.
Now some might argue that the product/services page, about page and sitemap aren’t manditory, I totally disagree. I believe these pages are manditory for the reason that every business type website needs them in order to let their potential and returning customers know about their business, and their products/services.
The sitemap should be mandatory on all websites, whether business or personal, as it has a triple purpose to:
1 – help search engines find all the pages within your website easily
2 – help those with a disability to navigate your website easier
3 – help those that are looking for something inparticular when you don’t have a search site function
The first two, especially the second, are the most important.
For personal sites usually a home page, about page and a sitemap are enough, though most people have more than just those three pages.
Page Purpose
Each page within your website has a purpose and it’s your job as the website designer to be sure that their purpose is clear. This is especially important if you’re also creating the content for the website.
Here is a list of pages you want to consider including within your website:
Home – this page is usually the entrance to your website. It’s purpose is to relate to visitors that came to your website looking for a solution to their problem, it should explain that problem and how it relates to you, and present the solution that you found for that problem. Though don’t make it sound like a sales pitch. This will just turn people away faster than a blink of an eye. If a visitor feels they’re being sold to they will look else where. No one likes to be sold to, though we all love to hear how others solved the same problems that we have.
About – this page’s purpose is to tell a brief history about your business (or self) as it relates to the website niche topic. Businesses should include their mission statement within this page.
Products/Services – within this page you’ll showcase your products or services that your business offers, or if the website is a personal one, showcase products or services that you recommend that are related to your website’s niche topic. If it’s for a business, give clear information of the products and/or services and give visitors an option to contact you if they need more information. If this page is on a personal website don’t over do it on products and or services you include on this page. Use it as a place to give personal reviews of products and/or services you recommend. This personal review along with the direct link to the product and/or service will go over much better than just a page with a bunch of links to products and/or services that you feel someone visiting your site might want to check out. I recommend having no more than 5 reviews on a single page, and you can link to other pages where you have more reviews.
Contact – the purpose of this page is to offer your visitors and/or customers a way to contact you. It’s best to include all possible ways that someone might be able to contact you such as email address, a form that will allow them to email you directly from your website, phone number (if it’s a business website) and mailing address. All of the above are extremely important to include for a business website. If it’s a personal website you might want to have a form on this page for people to email you directly.
Resources/Links – this page is another great way to offer reviews on products, services and other websites that you recommend. Be sure that the resources you offer within this page are relevant to the niche you’ve chosen. If it isn’t relevant but you would like to include it anyways, be sure to mention this on the page with the link. (note: if you make these links open in a new window, mention this. Screen readers or those “new” to the Internet aren’t able to tell the difference between a link that opens in the same window or a new window so it’s best to tell people this.)
Sitemap – this page is widely misunderstood. I have seen so many versions of sitemaps, and some of them have not been pretty. A sitemap should include all pages within your own website, and no links that direct the visitor to other websites. It should be a list of those pages and not a detailed summary of each page. For great examples of sitemaps look at the more popular websites such as Google, Yahoo, MSN or Amazon. These sites are excellent examples of ways to create an effective sitemap.
Articles – the purpose of this page is to offer your visitors additional information on the niche topic of your website. You should have a link to the page for the article (using the title text as the link), and a brief summary of that article. Don’t just include a list of all your articles, some people are turned off by such lists and you will lose them to other sites that present their articles in a better format. For examples of how to present your list of articles visit article directories such as EzineArticles.com.
The above are some of the more popular pages you’ll find that make up websites, though they are not all the pages that one could include in their website. What pages you include within your own website is up to you and what you want to present to your visitors.
Some Page Tips
When you create the layout for your pages, be sure to include links to all your main pages within each page. This will help not only search engines find your other pages easier, but also your visitors. Remember that all pages have the potential to be an entrance to your website. By having a link to the main pages within your copyright area (footer) and a navigational menu for your site near the top of the page, you increase the likelihood that when a visitor that lands on that page they will navigate to another page within your website.
All links for pages should have a title tag within their HTML code. The title tag looks like this…
title=”some text here” >Resource
The title tags is more for the purpose of screen readers than search engines and should give the visitor a little more information on what they’ll find on that page. Don’t go into huge detail, and don’t put something like “website design resources” when the link is called resources, as the visitor will have already assumed this from the content of your website. If it’s apparent to what will be found on the page if they click that link, then use the title tag with nothing within the quotes. For example…
Screen reader programs will recognize that the title tag is blank and will continue on to the next text on your site.
In Conclusion
A website is made up of web pages, without out them you would have no website. When learning how to create your own website pages always be sure to include the most basic pages such as home, about, contact and sitemap, though remember that you’re not limited to just those pages. What pages you include are up to you, just be sure that they’re relevant to your website niche topic and will provide value to your visitors.
Tina Stephen [http://tina-stephen.com] is the owner of DesignNewbie.com [http://designnewbie.com] that offers a wide variety of website design and development resources (article & resource directory, online courses, weekly newsletter) for those wanting to learn how to create their own website [http://howtocreateyourownwebsite.wordpress.com]. She has been designing websites for 6 years and owns her own web design business.
When I first decided to learn how to create my own website I had no clue on how to go about it. After floundering around for many years I finally came up with these 8 steps that I use each and every time I design a website, whether for myself or a client.
1. Brainstorm Ideas
I found that just a plain piece of paper, a pen (or pencil if you prefer), and searching the Internet through places such as Google Hot Trends, Digg or StumbleUpon is the best way to gather ideas. When I first tried this technique I was quite amazed at just how many ideas I came up with after a half hour of browsing.
Now if you already know your website’s purpose, then just move on to the next step.
2. Which Pages?
Once you know your website’s purpose, the next step is to decide if it’s purpose warrants pages or not. If your website is going to be for your business then you’ll definitely need a certain amount of pages to start with. If your website is a personal one you might want to consider setting up a weblog instead of a website.
All website’s should include a home page, an about page, and a sitemap.
Weblogs are different as they’re more of a time line into your life and/or your thoughts. If you go the route of a weblog you might only want to include an about page to tell people more about you.
3. Brainstorm & Create Layout
A layout constitutes of how your content of your website going to be presented to your visitors. A great place to get ideas for layouts (also referred to as templates) is Open Source Design, or do a search in your favorite Internet search engine for free templates or open source templates. There are litterly thousands of great websites that offer layouts for you to use. Just be sure to read the fine print before you use any template, as some template creators will allow you to use their template if you keep their copyright information intact.
4. Write Content for Pages
Once you know which pages your website will include, the next step is to write the content for those pages. I find that doing one of two things works best for me; writing an outline and then writing the content, or just writing the content as it flows through me. Choose what works best for you.
Always remember to proofread your content, bad grammar and/or spelling can turn some visitors into “never to return visitors”. This isn’t so important if it’s a personal website, though if it’s a business website this is extremely important. I would go far as to say it’s mandatory to proofread your business website content.
5. Add Content to Website
Now that your website content is written it’s time to add it to your template. If you have never created a website or edited source code before, your best bet would be to open the template you chose in Step 3 within a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. This will allow you to see where all your page elements (menu, graphics, etc) are located, and where you need to place your content.
When I first started out, I found the best WYSIWYG editor for learning to be Microsoft FrontPage as it came installed on my computer already. You might want to check in your Programs folder/directory to see if you have this also.
6. Find Platform to Use
Now that you’ve got your own website created you need a place to host it so all the world can visit. If you’re using a weblog for your personal website I would recommend you check into WordPress.com to host it. WordPress.com makes it verily easy to step up and maintain a weblog, you can litterly have your weblog up and running within 5 minutes with their service.
A business website will need more than just a weblog platform host, you will need to find a website hosting service that meets your needs. I highly recommend looking into LotsMoreHosting.com. I have used their services since 2003 and have always found their prices to be very reasonable, and their support exceptional.
7. Getting Those Pages on Your Hosting Account
Moving your website files/pages to your hosting account for your visitors to view your website isn’t a huge chore as some people make it out to be. You have two options to uploading (moving) your files, either through the cPanel of your hosting account or through an FTP (file transfer protocol) program. Both of which offer tutorials to help you use them, and most FTP programs these days have wizards built in to walk you through the steps.
I recommend using FileZilla, not only will not not cost to use it, it is pretty straightforward to use and does offer a wizard and great tutorials to help you through understanding how to use the program.
8. Validate Your Website!
This is one step that most non-professional website creators don’t do, though it is vitally important step. Validating your website will mean that your website will be able to be viewable by anyone using any web browser. Not all browsers are created equal, and until such time that the browser creators decide to join forces to come up with standards that all browsers will conform to, we’re stuck with having to make sure that our websites conform to their own browser standards.
The only place I highly recommend to validate your website is with the W3C Markup Validation Service. W3C is a non-profit organization that is helping to set standards for the world wide web. If the validation process comes up with errors, you will need to go back into your WYSIWYG editor to correct those errors.
I hope that by sharing my own process to creating a website, you’ll find that creating your own won’t be very difficult. If you continue to follow these eight steps, creating your own website will become a simple process in no time.
Tina Stephen [http://tina-stephen.com] is the owner of DesignNewbie.com [http://designnewbie.com] that offers a wide variety of website design and development resources (article & resource directory, online courses, weekly newsletter) for those wanting to learn how to create their own website. She has been designing websites for 6 years and owns her own web design business [http://tdsdigitalwebsolutions.com].
Making your own website is easier nowadays than it ever has been.
You don’t even need your own hosting space, although if you do go down that route it’s cheap and gives you more control.
A lot of people nowadays want to make their own website so that they can publish their diary to the world, share their mood with their friends and let people add their own comments to the diary, blog or “space”.
If you just want to use the internet to keep in touch with friends, this is ideal. All you need to do is sign up with a service like Blogger or FaceBook and you can make your own website in minutes.
Whilst you can use these kind of services for commercial purposes, it is often frowned upon, so you may decide to take your website design skills to the next level.
The next level up of website design uses custom-designed blog style services. These are tailor made for you to run loose with your creative juices whilst ensuring that the design doesn’t look as though it’s been done by a color blind five year old. Services like Squidoo allow you to create a web page quickly and easily. They are designed to be easy to update and are also designed to allow you to make money from your pages.
Finally, for less than $10 a month (plus around $10 a year for your domain name) you can host your own website. Again, these come with lots of tools that allow you to make your own website at the click of a button or by filling in a few boxes on a form. This solution is the most flexible and costs very little money for the extra flexibility you get.
For more ideas on how to make your own website check out this page.
I present here six proven strategies to promote your own website, you can pick them all or just some.
1.Every Affiliate Marketer Must Have An Expertise Area.
This requirement belongs to the internet marketing basics. The strong brands are built on a unique, different expertise. Whether you are good in the customer service, in the coding, in your own website promotion, in the writing, in the activeness or in the human relations, it must be seen from your own website.
2.Become An Expert On The Product You Sell.
If you are selling affiliate programs, it is better that you know in detail what they include. People will recoqnise in one second, if you do not. A product expertise builds trust and credibility, which both are strongly needed.
Maybe the best way to learn the program thoroughly is to use it by yourself, share the experiences with other affiliates and contact regularly to the principal and clear the unknown issues.
3.Join The Discussion Forums And Share Your Experiences.
The discussion forums are the greatest places to presell the idea of a product or the affiliate program. After you have posted tens or hundreds of posts, which are useful to the other members, you start to get some name there. This opens the doors for you to get your messages through, you will get feedback and clicks for your sigfile links.
The skill to discuss is a great skill, because people see that you really want to help them.
4.Make Your Own Ads.
This is a simple and effective way to personalize the look of your marketing. You will find a lot of services online, where you can plan and produce your own buttons and banners. The personalization will make the site visitors curios and clicking, which will increase the chances.
5.Do You Really Market To Your Greatest Fans?
I have noted that many affiliate marketers forget the potential their optin list offers. Think about this. Those subscribers have joined your list voluntarily and received your responder messages. What about some more personal and up to date messages? I am sure there is a big potential to increase the sales of your own website.
The regular newsletter is an effective tool to build up the team spirit and to share what is new and important to know. You can try to get the information flow to go two way, to become interactive and this way to make the communication personal. The product link can be a natural part of this communication but the useful information and news have the main role.
6.Your Own Ebook Has A Powerful Impact On The Image.
As a matter of facts, an ebook is quite easy to write. You can take the content directly from your own experiences. The target is to promote your own website, which means that the ebook must be a unique and different from the others. It is a great brand building tool, and with that you can both share useful information and get sales.
The ebook just have to include the links of products and affiliate programs to be useful. The readers need practical suggestions to be able to execute the ideas, they have just learned. A working tactic is to give the ebook for free, when a visitor has filled his name and email address into the option form.
All these above mentioned tactics work fine, when they offer a useful information to the readers about your own website. Here also the content is the king.
Juhani Tontti, B.Sc., Marketing. Got Excited. I Invite You To Visit My Affiliate Program To Get Information For Your Own Website To Make Money Online. Visit: www.Way2Miracle.com
You can purchase autoresponders separately, but they are of limited use if you have no website. An autoresponder automates your web based business so that orders can be taken, thank you emails sent out, the customer invoiced, payments accepted and processed, receipts issued and the product delivered all without human intervention. You can go on vacation and return to count the income you accrued while away sunning it. You can’t do that without a website.
A good web host will provide you with email addresses that are the same as your website. If you are marketing dog baskets, you could have an email address “me@dog-baskets.com” that corresponds with your website address. That looks a lot more professional than a normal email address. Don’t click on that address since I just made it up!
If you want be involved in affiliate marketing it is virtually essential to have a website to be truly successful since you cannot run an affiliate marketing site using only emails. There are programs that provide you with a free website, but there is little that you can do with it other than sell the products that the program allows you to. A private website will allow you a much wider range of products, and allow you to present your products in the way that you want to.
It is individuality that breeds success on the internet, and the more different you can be the better. One of the main advantages of a website is the individuality that you can display in your own web page design, and in the products that you are offering for sale.
These are the main advantages of having your own website in internet marketing. There are many more, but its such a no-brainier that it’s not worth listing any more.
By the way, do you want to learn more about using articles like this to drive traffic to your website and increase online conversions?
If so, I suggest you check this out: article marketing traffic.
