Lesson Objective:
To design your site on paper and begin the process of setting it up online.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Surfing
· Basic Email
· Basic / Intermediate HTML
· Basic FTP
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
NOTE: You will have to decide whether to build your site yourself or hire someone to do
it for you.
If you know how to do the following then you should have the skills to do it yourself:
· Create basic html pages and basic graphics, including
o Inserting text
o Creating and modifying basic graphics and clipart
o Inserting graphics
o Creating basic links between pages and to other sites
· FTP files to a website
If you don’t know how to do these things then check out the site listed below for a list of
services and people who can build it for you.
NOTE - Make sure you ask about:
· Professional References – talk to at least 5 people who have hired them.
· Look at samples of their work to make sure they can deliver what you want.
· Ask about guarantees on their work.
· Get everything in writing before you hand over any money.
ELance – offers a wide range of services provided by professionals all over the world.
You post your project for free and people bid to do the job. This is a very popular and
innovative service that can help you find professionals to do everything from web design,
search engine placement, graphic and logo design and more!
Also, here is a list of places you can go to learn how to do it yourself.
· A Beginner's Guide to HTML from the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications
· HTML Quick Reference from The University of Kansas
· HyperText Mark-up Language from W3C
· Matts CGI Script Archive
Freeware and shareware
· Shareware.com
· Download.com
· WS FTP
· Netscape Browser
· Internet Explorer
Part 1 – Creating your site in simple, step-by-step fashion
The first step in designing your site doesn’t involve the computer at all! Surprisingly,
designing your site begins with laying out the structure on paper using a simple diagram.
We’ve used everything from bar napkins and shopping bags to envelopes… but it’s bets
if you use a flow chart.
Create a simple flow chart of how the site looks, similar to this (next page):
AVOID the mistake most people make -- which is trying to create a huge site just to
impress their friends!
Most sites only need 4-6 pages.
Those include:
1. Main “home” page with product information and offering along with a link to
shopping cart or secure order form. This page is usually a sales letter type format.
2. “About Us” page that explains who you are and how that relates to what you sell.
3. “Contact Us” page that details how to get in touch with you via phone, fax,
email, and “snail” mail.
4. “Affiliate Program” page or “Make Money” page with information about how
to sign up for your affiliate program.
Keep your site simple, to the point, and lead people to making a purchase decision about
your product.
STOP! Right now, pull out a piece of paper and sketch out the organization of
your site. Get a clear picture of how your site will flow.
Make a note on each page about what information you will include on that page.
Part 2 – Understand how Yahoo looks at your site
We will spend more time on submitting to Yahoo on Day 12, however you need to
understand the basics about Yahoo now as you build your site over the next few days.
Yahoo cares about two things when it comes to listing your site:
1. That you pay the fee for them to review your site -- and --
2. That your site does what you say it does and no less (and no more).
By organizing your site as we have outlined above you will show the category editor two
things:
· You will show (and hopefully convince) them that the business name you are
trying to get listed is actually your “real” business name -- this is especially if it is
obvious that name will rocket you to the top of the category list.
· You will guide the Yahoo category editor to list your site how you want, because
you won’t include any extraneous information on your site which distracts them.
Tips on building your site so the Yahoo category editor will accept it:
· Make sure your business name, domain name and the domain registrant name all
match. Yahoo watches for people trying to exploit the system… especially those
sites they see will shoot to the top of a popular category.
· Stick to a relevant theme and don’t stray from it. If you sell cable tv de-
scramblers… don’t muddy the mix by trying to sell satellite dishes. ONLY talk
about and sell de-scramblers on your site.
· Don’t submit a site with lots of links to external information on other sites. You
must have good information on your site or Yahoo will most likely reject you.
· Don’t sell any other people’s products as an affiliate… Yahoo will reject you as
having “duplicate content”. Yahoo must perceive that you are selling your own
products or services or they will most likely reject your site.
NOTE: You can always add affiliate links later… just don’t do it until after you
get your site accepted.
The process and details of manipulating the search engines and Yahoo fills entire books
and informational programs!
If you want to come up at the top of the pile when someone searches for your product…
or if you are particularly interested in learning how to use Yahoo and the search engines
to get traffic to your site, check out these additional resources:
Web Position Gold – Web position helps you track your positions on the major search
engines so you can improve them. Excellent product for tracking how you rank.
Search Engine Forums – This forum contain a wealth of information about the search
engines and membership is free.
Search Engine News – publishers of “The UnFair Advantage Book on Winning The
Search Engine Wars” Many people consider this the guide to learning how to
manipulate the search engines and get top placement.
Part 3 – Define your “look and feel”
Here you will decide the style and layout of your site’s pages.
Take a piece of paper and sketch out what each page will look like.
Ask yourself:
What colors will you use?
What type styles will you use?
Where will you position your text and graphics?
(Check out today’s featured article for the “10 Commandments” of Web design.)
business.
Some elements you should
consider including on every
page:
1. A “header” at the top
of every page – usually
one that reinforces the
name and identity of
the company.
2. A “footer” at the
bottom of every page
that includes the
business name, email
address, and phone
number. You should
probably leave off
your mailing address
to avoid having a
Yahoo category editor
classify you as a local
3. Have buttons or text links to all the pages on the left side or top of the page so
people can get to any page on the site no matter where they are currently.
4. Keep the total page file sizes low to speed up download times and reduce visitor
frustration.
5. Keep consistent fonts and type styles throughout the site – don’t switch from page
to page.
Now, take out some additional sheets of paper and sketch out a basic design for
each page on your site.
Part 4 - Using templates to shortcut the process
Just getting started on the web?
Need a little help getting that site off the ground?
Go to any one of these sites
· 123 Web Templates and More – Offers over 200+ professional website
templates, all available for one low price.
· Dollar Templates – offers low cost, high quality web templates.
· Templates for you – wide assortment of templates available for immediate
download.
· Template Search and Best Templates either have, or can help you find, free web
page templates.
You can find pre-done websites that look like you actually spent a lot of money to have
them created!
Just download a template, fill in the text and you have a ready-made site.
If you have the most basic web publishing and graphic skills you can use these templates
to get your website up and running quickly.
If you have a modest level of skill you can even modify the graphics to give your site a
totally customized look.
Now, download a template or create a “template” page for your site so you can
plug in the website content you will develop over the next few days.
When you’re done you should have a completed “template” page that just needs
the website text.
Part 5 - Using Popup windows
Popup windows probably rate as the most hotly debated marketing topic online.
Some people love popup windows while they drive other people to the verge of insanity.
Nobody stays neutral on this subject!
One thing you can’t deny – popup windows really work when it comes to building up a
list of subscribers from scratch or expanding your existing list.
Popup windows have three main uses:
1. Getting people to sign up for a mailing or “newsletter” list.
2. Getting people to sign up for a “mine-course” where you ‘teach’ them more
information about your product or service -- which should make them want to buy
your product.
3. Redirecting traffic from one site to another so you squeeze maximum value from
your visitors.
Currently, building up your own in-house mailing list probably rates the best use for
popup windows.
Chances are you found out about this book as a result of a list you subscribe to – whether
our list or someone else’s.
FACT! If you want to break into the big bucks online you must develop your own list!
Your own list creates a ready market for existing and new products as you develop them.
There are two major types of popup windows:
1. Entrance pop’s – where the window appears as soon as the visitor hits your site.
2. Exit pop’s – where the window appears as the visitor leaves the site.
You should experiment with entrance vs. exit pop’s to see which produce the best results
as far as total sign-ups and conversion to buyers.
Lots of resources exist to help you set up popup windows on your site and we’ll get into a
lot more detail about specifically using them with your autoresponder on day 8 and 9.
For now you want to get a popup window configured on your site so you can plug in your
autoresponder in a few days.
This is an excellent resource for creating and using popup scripts (and we are providing
it as an unadvertised FREE bonus for you):
· *PopUp Generator* - provides a complete PC software package to create
various pop-up’s to use on your website. A “must have” if you are serious about
using popup windows to make money!
Other places to find popup scripts:
· A1 Java Scripts - just do a search for “popup” script
· CGI Scripts - check out the “miscellaneous” scripts.
· Pop-up Generator - provides a free, basic popup window generator where you
just fill in the blanks and it makes your code while you wait.
For now, you need to do two things with your popup script.
Decide whether you will use an entrance or an exit popup.
Download a popup script and install it on your site.
Summary of Today’s Assignments:
1. Lay out your site on paper;
2. Define the look and feel of your site on paper;
3. Download a template or create a “template” page for your site so you can plug in
the website content you develop over the next few days;
4. Decide on the use of your popup window:
a. Decide on entrance vs. exit pop (we recommend exit only)
b. Mini-course
c. Newsletter opt-in
d. Traffic redirect
5. Download a popup window script and install it on your site.
Today’s Resources:
ELance –Post your project for free and have people bid to do the job.
Search Engine Help
Web Position Gold – Web position helps you track your positions on the major search
engines so you can improve them. Excellent product for tracking how you rank.
Search Engine Forums– This forum contain a wealth of information about the search
engines and membership is free.
Search Engine News – publishers of “The UnFair Advantage Book on Winning The
Search Engine Wars” Many people consider this the guide to learning how to
manipulate the search engines and get top placement.
Web Page “Templates”
123 Web Templates and More – Offers over 200+ professional website templates, all
available for one low price.
Dollar Templates – offers low cost, high quality web templates.
Templates for you – wide assortment of templates available for immediate download.
Pop up Windows
FREE bonus for you):
*PopUp Generator* - provides a complete PC software package to create various pop-
up’s to use on your website. A “must have” if you are serious about using popup
windows to make money!
“Budget Cruncher”!
Web page Templates
Template Search and Best Templates either have or can help you
find free web page templates.
Search Engines
Search Engine Forums– This forum contain a wealth of information about the search
engines and membership is free.
Popup Windows
· A1 Java Scripts - just do a search for “popup” script
· CGI Scripts - check out the “miscellaneous” scripts.
· Pop-up Generator - provides a free, basic popup window generator where you
just fill in the blanks and it makes your code while you wait.
Feature Article - The Ten Web Page Commandments
“What makes a good web page?”
People ask me this all the time, though they often encounter difficulty boiling the
question down to so few words.
They, like any serious website operator, want to know how to create and maintain the
best possible website given the constraints of Internet technology.
The following “commandments” represent the ideals towards which every new or
existing website should aspire.
The 10 Web Page Commandments
1. Thou shalt have a Purpose
Clearly define the site’s purpose and ensure all content (pages, graphics and text) tightly
focus on that purpose. Discard all extraneous material.
2. Thou shalt be Lightweight
Use only small, fast loading graphics. If you must use large graphics use thumbnails and
image slicing to diminish the size of every file as much as possible. Use standard
optimized gif’s and jpg’s and avoid anything that requires the user to download a “plug-
in” to view your content.
3. Thou shalt Load Fast
Each and every page on your site should weigh in under 30- 50KB total, including
graphics and navigation.
4. Thou shalt Not use False Code
Use only html. Never use java (different from JavaScript), xml, dhtml or other forms of
code that require a surfer to keep their browser set up “correctly” to accommodate your
page. Also, avoid using 200 lines of JavaScript for rollover buttons in your page!
5. Thou shalt respect the Search Engines
If you want search engine traffic use whole web pages that don’t incorporate frames.
Search engines get confused trying to read content from frames pages. Also, you will
become educated in promoting to the search engines if you are serious about coming up
“on top”.
6. Love thy Surfers and Visitors
Design for “last year’s” technology so surfers using 28.8 or 56K modems can download
and use the site quickly and easily.
7. Thou shalt Not Annoy
Use only stationary text and graphical layout elements. No Scrolling text, marquees, or
animations of any kind including rollover buttons. This eye candy steals valuable
bandwidth and adds little to a site’s main purpose.
8. Thou shalt Not Scroll Left or Right
Design your pages so they never force a visitor to scroll left or right no matter what the
resolution settings on their monitor. Sites that read “best viewed at 800 x 600” really say
“look at it my way because I don’t care about your preferences or limitations.”
9. Thou shalt stay Consistent
Include a standard navigational structure on every page. Though it may mean a serious
challenge for the designer, users should only need to click once to find every major
section of a site. This includes using standard link colors in all text links. Blue: hyperlink;
Purple: visited hyperlink; Red: active hyperlink.
10. Thou shalt Know Thy Traffic
Use a site-wide statistics program that enables you to determine what brings someone to
the site, where they go once they arrive, and when and where they leave. This critical
information helps with marketing efforts as well as identifying parts of the site that need
tweaking or adjustment.
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