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How To Build Your Own Web Site For Your Online Business

By admin on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 | No Comments

Most everyone will agree, if you are going to do business online, you need your own web site. It can be a mini-site or a full blown multi-page site. These days, maybe you just need a blog as a web site. Find out what you need to know to build your own web site, get web hosting for that site and start your online business right.

If you are serious about sustaining a long term home based internet business, you should have a web site of your own. Having your own web site will give you much more flexibility on how you approach your online business as well as provide you with a means to give your web business a presence on the internet. Having this presence and making yourself known on the internet will improve the level of trust you will receive by your potential customers.

Having your own site may open up many possibilities that you could never have imagined. For the many who embark upon their own web site adventure, it becomes a learning experience with no equal.

Your web site will take on a personality of its own and be the front door to your online home business. You may see it as a very patient friend, waiting calmly for you to discover some little hidden function, which opens up a whole range of entirely new possibilities, and starts your thoughts racing – thinking about how to capitalize on that particular feature.

You may get a little careless, or get too relaxed with it, then bam! Right between the eyes – you end up with a big problem. But, building your own web site for your online business is fun, can be profitable, and most certainly can feed that creative flair in all of us.

The first thng to do when starting your web site is to pick a domain name. The domain name will be something like yoursite.com. A domain name should be researched carefully. Its best to have highly searched for keywords in the name. A neat and free tool to help you pick a domain name is The Domain Twist (http://www.bizweb2000.com/wizard). There are many places to get domain names. I prefer http://www.godaddy.com (Godaddy.com) or http://www.netfirms.com (Netfirms) for domain name registration. Netfirms currenty has a promotion to receive a 1 year domain registration for $4.95.

You can also use Wordtracker’s FREE trial to give you keyword ideas: http://wordtracker.com

Searching Google at http://www.google.com will give you an idea about competition for any particular keyword.

Use Overture’s search box to find how many times your keyword was searched on last month:

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion

Once you have a domain name you will need a web site hosting account to host the domain. Web hosting accounts vary significantly with disk space allowed, bandwith, number of supported domains, and other important considerations. Most annual hosing accounts that would be more than adequate to run your online business will cost between $6 – $10 per month. Currently, I recommend Bluehost ([http://www.theonlinebizplace.com/bluehost.htm]) and Hostgator ([http://www.theonlinebizplace.com/hostgator.htm]) web hosting accounts. Both have recently received performance awards and they have very competitive hosting plans for your web site. When selecting a web host, pay special attention and compare capability like PHP support, MySQL database allotment, subdomains, script support and others.

The next thing that you need to do is build your actual web site. I am not an html or javascript programmer per se, but I can do minor html programming/editing with a good editor. I like Coffee Cup or HTML Edit for small jobs and one page web site editing. You can also use a template to build your actual web pages. You can find them all over the internet for free.

http://www.ibdprince.com – has all kinds of webmaster goodies, including really great looking CSS templates.

http://www.diyminisite.com – templates and videos about mini site creation – click the “not yet a member” link to join. It’s FREE. Then go to the download area and pick what you need.

My absolute favorite for program for building web sites though is KSEO Site Builder ([http://www.theonlinebizplace.com/KSEO.htm]). This is a PHP script that you install on your web host account. The script provides you with a real easy rich text html editor. It also has tons of features that optimize your site for the search engines.

Get a FREE copy of “7 days to Massive Web Site Traffic” at http://www.seoelite.com. It outlines the steps to a web page that can rank high in the search engines, and even goes beyond just your web pages, to tell you “the rest of the story.” I thoroughly enjoyed it.

When you get ot the SEO Elite web site, scroll through the sales pitch, then close the page. The “7 Days” popup appears. It sounds like a lot of trouble, but believe me, it’s worth it.

Don’t load your site down with slow loading banners and images. Use low-res images that have been optimized for use on the web.

Write your web site page content, commonly referred to as copy, then play editor: write, hack, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, until it is crisp, clear, to the point, and utterly understandable. Repeat your strongest point or benefit a number of times (at least three). Some people just don’t get it the first time or two. Spread your text out a bit. Don’t double space, but use very short paragraphs, and lots of headings with some space between the heading and the paragraph.

When you put together your web site, target your audience. Don’t talk about network marketing to veterinarians. They may be interested in network marketing, but they probably got to your site via a search for a pet animal product and that’s what they’re looking for. When you know your target audience you can be sure not to speak (write) above their heads. Use words they will understand without Webster’s help. You may get by with writing a little below their level, but never above it.

Keep your fonts constant throughout your site. Variety may be the “spice of life” but can really look lousy on a web page. You can vary the size a bit, and throw in a little color, but stay conservative with the type style.

Know your target audience, and be sure not to speak (write) above their heads. Use words they will understand without Webster’s help. You may get by with writing a little below their level, but never above it.

Highlight important selling words and phrases with bolding, italics, underlining, and color. Just don’t overdo it.

Don’t forget, purchases are never made on logic, but on emotion. Use copy that is designed to trigger an emotional response, such as a sense of loss, one of the strongest: “If you wait, this offer may no longer be available at this price. Get it now at this ridiculously low price, and it’s yours forever.”

Once you have your web site built you will need to upload it to your web site host. A good and free FTP program to use for uploading and downloading to and from your host is SmartFTP. When you upload your site, you must upload the index.html file, any other linked HTML files, all the graphics files and any external CSS or Javascript files you may have created.

Once you are online focus on driving targeted traffic to your web site by writing articles, getting backlinks and Search Engine Optimization.

Benefits of Using a Website Hosting Company Versus Hosting Your Own Site

By admin on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 | No Comments

There are many benefits to using a website hosting company rather than attempting to host your own ecommerce website. These benefits include the support, backups, flexibility, security, and more.

Technical support can become an issue if you are hosting your own site. If you are not responsive enough then this may cause customers to shop with someone else. When you choose an ecommerce hosting company you can rely on technical support that is reliable and open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can call for technical support even on the holidays.

In addition, you won’t have to worry about not being able to contact help when troubleshooting functionalities you don’t understand on your ecommerce website. Many times you will be talking to support personnel located on the other side of the world on a different time zone. Any time of day you will get someone on the phone for help. You won’t be stuck trying to figure out functionalities on your own.

When you choose an ecommerce hosting company you can also benefit from backups. You won’t have to purchase your own backup server nor will you have to worry about recovering files. If you don’t run your own backups and the files of your site are deleted then you may be looking at long periods of downtime while you rebuild your site from scratch. When an ecommerce hosting company provides backups they save you money and time.

Flexibility is an excellent benefit with an ecommerce hosting company. When you want to integrate new features, upgrades, and other things it will be a simple process. When you choose a package make sure the flexibility is there because you don’t want to get stuck buying a more expensive plan with the company. Flexibility is very important but it is not always offered with everyone. You will come across upgrade issues.

Security is the most important thing when it comes E-Commerce Hosting. Your customers do not use their credit card up when I'm not sure, and we can not guarantee the security of their personal and banking information. It could also cost you a lawsuit.

There are many advantages of using an e-commerce hosting company, rather than trying to host your website. A trading company has many components that require a lot more responsibility with the shopping paradise of information and functionality. A websitehost provides backups, support for troubleshooting, security, and flexibility.

Web Hosting Speed is Important

By admin on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 | No Comments

Are you wondering why that two or three second load time makes a difference? Well, it does. There is a general rule of thumb among most webmasters. This rule states that you must be able to show your visitor what your website is about within seven seconds. It claims that this includes load time and that you take much more risk of having them leave your website if it takes much longer.

Showing this within seven seconds is hard enough, even if the website loads instantly. But if you have a website taking four or five seconds, then that is even less time you have to accomplish this. A bad web hosting company can lead to lost conversions, whether that is converting the visitor into a sale or a return visitor. A good web hosting company with quality web servers will be able to give your visitors a lower load time. This is invaluable really for your overall goal of conversions.

You can typically tell what kind of load time the web hosting company might offer by looking at their own business website. More than likely they host their own website from the datacenter. If you see that their website is loading slow, or perhaps not loading at all, you should steer clear.

Another good thing to look for or even ask for is a download test. Many companies are putting up relatively small files so that you can see what kind of speeds you can expect. If they do not have one up publicly you can always ask their sales representatives. In fact, this is a good way to see what type of support they have which is also a factor you should take into account when finding a web hosting company.

Yahoo Web Hosting Is A No Go for Beginners

By admin on Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 | No Comments

Yahoo claims that Yahoo Web Hosting is for beginners. In late January I had signed up with Bluehost and realized right away that they were too advanced for me and actually got my money back inside of 3 hours or so from the time I signed up with them. On February 1 of 2008 I was starting my very first web site with Yahoo! We Hosting. For all intense purposes my first, period. At this time I had never even helped anyone with a web site either. I was really beginners.
Yahoo! Web Hosting technical writing has proved as accurate. I am at least 15 errors in the technical writing I know are safe, he found errors ….. hours. When I first application examples of their writing techniques that do not know exactly how often and how wrong their technology is actually writing. I spent hours on things that have been misspelled, in one way or another.

After my first mistake or two I wrote to the technical support fromemail. Nine times I have wrote their email support. Four times they answered my technical question. The answers came anywhere from 5 to 12 days after submission of the question. Two of those answers didn’t address my question in any way. The other two were exact copies of the technical writing you can look up in their help section. Now I do understand their philosophy here. Normally people will not actually read the help section. I did and and when I received nothing that would aid to me achieving my task at hand, is when I emailed them. When I received an exact copy of the same information I had read, it was of no use. Basically speaking I am 0 for 9 writing technical support via email with Yahoo! Web Hosting.

After waiting three days or so on my first submission to Yahoo! Web Hosting email support, I decided to phone their tech support. I had became impatient waiting for that initial email to be answered, which by the way, is one of my five submissions that has never been answered via email support. When I called technical support the first time I had to wait awhile for a tech to get on the phone with me. I figure they must have been busy that day in particular. I was wrong. It is normal.

I actually began checking to see how long it took for a tech to get with me on each call. I was curious because of the consistent wait times. I collected this data as I went, at the time, for my own personal reasons. One reason was that if I had something to do I wanted to know if I had time to call Yahoo! Web Hosting technical support. I kept records on 14 calls that were in reference to just five different problems. I have called three and four times to technical support on the same issue because I didn’t get the answer I needed from the first two or three calls.

When a customer calls Yahoo! Web Hosting technical support they receive an automatic message stating that tech support will be with you shortly and that all calls are answered in order. Sometimes another automatic message comes on telling you the average wait time. From this point my average wait time for technical support at Yahoo! Web Hosting was over 56 minutes before I would actually be talking live with a technical support representative. These are exceedingly long waits but that is still not why am disappointed with Yahoo! Web Hosting, you’ll have that I guess.

One terrible thing that happened is that one of these calls, I waited for 1 hour and 36 minutes, and immediately I asked the technician to understand my question, my phone is dead. I had to call again and again charge. If you know the average waiting time is so long, as I have done is a complete rupture. I made sure that my phone was charged, my bad.

Of the 14 calls that I received three very correct and useful solutions for my problem. The others were wrong or I have difficulty answering my question.Sometimes I wish I had more bits of information a bit 'wrong, then discover in reality, my dilemma by combining all the data I've done three or four calls to technical support. This is twice occurred. No matter how I worked five to 14 dilemmas solved, however, make calls, the waiting time is a bit 'bulky.

An example of a less precise set of responses that lead me to understand my problem was just the Sitemap. For help.yahoo.com and type "map" (not:site map) into their help search bar and then click search. This will bring you to a page that has 5 to 10 answers listed. The first says “How to build a sitemap” , click on it. If you do know java script then you can look at the very bottom of either example script and you will see they end with two end url’s before the end url set. Because there are two end url’s this site map will never work.

I called their support four times about my sitemap without knowing this two end url thing with java scripting, because I am a beginner. None of the four techs knew what my problem was and 3 stated that they weren’t required to know java scripting. The other, and obviously last, came on the phone after a short wait at yahoo tech support of 36 minutes, and he didn’t know either. But he busted his behind for the next 1 hour 43 minutes getting me an answer, by conferring with other techs that he was apparently right near. I allowed him access to my File Manager, via giving him my password, at one point. I had 52 pages on my “sitemap”, when he got done, there were only the four main pages. Then I asked him if he did the yahoo web hosting tech writing sitemap template exactly as it is written. He said “yes”.

I didn’t bother to let him know he didn’t. I had noticed by looking at his 4 page xml scripted sitemap that there was only one end url at the bottom of his script, that did work. Although I was now without the other 48 pages, I did know where the problem was. I asked him what I would have to do to get my other 48 pages on this xml filed sitemap. He said to go into my file manager and insert them into the xml file at that point. Wrong! Luckily I knew that was wrong. You see you can’t edit an xml coded file the same as html coded file. You have to save it as an .xml file, in notepad or some other capable program, which was stated correctly in the Yahoo! Web Hosting technical writing. Then upload the saved .xml file in your root directory.

In order to make it easy I just went back to my original code, which I still had saved inside notebook, and erased one of the end url’s at the bottom. Then I re-saved it as an .xml file. I then re-uploaded it and it worked, magically. This was one example of multiple wrong answers in tech writing and phone support that I cyphered through and made work. I couldn’t get mad at that tech, even though he was still quite wrong, because he tried extremely hard to help me, and did show me the glitch, whether he knew it or not. He didn’t just quit on me and say he wasn’t required to know java scripting.

I know of many other errors in Yahoo! Web Hosting technical writing that you will find in the help section. The reason I will not shed light on these other wrong answers is because I want to get paid for them. You know, for all the time I have waisted, that these same bad technical writings cost me. I would be so much further ahead, with why I actually decided to start a web site, if it weren’t for these errors at Yahoo! Web Hosting.

In short I wouldn’t tell someone to sign up for Yahoo! Web Hosting unless all they wanted was to build an information oriented site. If all you want to do is put a bunch of free information on a site then Yahoo! Web Hosting would definitely work. The technical support won’t be needed too much for this, if at all. If you want to implement add-ons or do anything out of the ordinary you have to know java scripting, it’s that simple.

I currently have 2 problems that are unsolved. One is how to connect Pay Pal with my site. The other is my sitemap which keeps reverting back to the original four page sitemap. I have contacted phone support about the Pay pal issue but not the sitemap. Phone support said that I would have to write a .php script and that they weren’t required to know .php scripting at Yahoo!Web Hosting technical support.

That is what makes me mad, every single time. Here are some questions that Yahoo! Web Hosting should put in a questionaire poll for the purpose of gathering data on this subject of beginners building web sites.

1. How many web building beginners have heard of java scripting?

2. How many web building beginners know what java is, if they have heard of it?

3. How many web building beginners know that there is more than one type of java scripting?

4. How many web building beginners know how to right any form of java scripting?

5. How many web building beginners know how to write html script?

6. How many web building beginners know how to write php?

7. How many web building beginners know if they are looking at errors in the example scripting?

8. How many web building beginners feel technical support will be required to know the answers?

9. How many web building beginners expect answers from email support?

10. How many web building beginners expect answers from email support within 5 days?

11. How many web building beginners believe the example templates will all work every time?

12. How many web

13 As I know many web building beginners who like to manage MySQL.

14th How many web building beginners know how to knit with MySQL. Php? I stop here, as the average bear gets the point already.

Because of all the mistakes I found in Yahoo! Web Hosting technical writing are very careful and cautious in reading their writing technique. Most of it is well written, but to knowsome is flat wrong, creates a great tendency to be skeptical. I even have taken this philosophy to another level. When it comes to subject like java scripting, Yahoo! Web Hosting offers a company with a whole bunch of free information, php.com. They have free info in all types of java scripting. I won’t even go to their site and learn, I go to tizag.com instead. I have no idea if the one Yahoo! Web Hosting offers is good or bad because I simply don’t trust them because of their close association with Yahoo! Web Hosting.

A little advice to those already using Yahoo! Web Hosting (1) Take their technical writing with a grain of salt. If it doesn’t work at first, try again, if it still doesn’t work call phone support (2) If phone support even starts out like they don’t know, just end that call, then call again and cross your fingers you get a good one. They do have some good phone techs. (3) Never email for support.

Yahoo! Web Hosting does offer some very excellent services. I have had any easy time navigating through my site with their control panel and file manager. Their Site Solutions would be excellent for a beginner as long as the beginner was building a site for informative reasons. They have so many different templates available that I can’t see anyone not having a problem of which one they liked best. This is true with Site Builder as well, which is what I use. Their email editor is simple and easy to understand. In my opinion the whole thing goes bad at the point of adding extras, it is impossible and frustrating for a web building beginner that doesn’t know multiple types of java scripting.

You may have noticed by some of the things I wrote of that I do know some java scripting now. I even know all the answers to questions #1, #2, #3, and #12 and some of #4, #5, #6, #7. I only knew the answers to question #1 on January 31. Thanks to Yahoo! Web Hosting I am a little less ignorant when it comes to these matters.

The Cost of a Web Site

By admin on Monday, August 30th, 2010 | No Comments

Just starting out, you can start with a simple informational site, which is all most need initially, and build up to a fuller site (e-commerce and/or interactive) when you can afford it.

Your goal should be to get an online presence. Remember, most surfers are looking for information. Dancing cartoons, streaming video and other interactive features are, in the great majority of cases, unnecessary.

Naming Your Site: Selecting and Registering a Domain Name

The first step in getting a web site is to select and register your domain name. Even if you can’t afford a web site right now, it is a good idea to register your name. This can be done for under $10.00 a year (eg, namecheap.com).

Choosing a Web Designer / Web Design Company

Choosing a web designer will depend greatly onthe type of site you are having built. Prices are all over the place. Many designers/firms have a dollar minimum that you must spend in order to work with them.

Ball park figure: If you are having a simple informational site built, I suggest spending no more than $500. Learn how to update it yourself to save ongoing maintenance charges.

An even cheaper option is to do it yourself. There is plenty of easy-to-learn software (eg, FrontPage) that make it easy to build a site. Also, many companies (Yahoo, Microsoft BCentral, AOL, etc.) have templates that make it simple to drag and drop text and create a site. Rates begin at around $19.95/month.

Web Hosting Costs

Fees range from free to hundreds of dollars per month. As a guideline, the average cost for hosting a personal web site is $10-$25/month. Business sites with higher traffic are in the $45-$75/month range.

There are excellent deals to be found on web hosting (eg, peoplehost.com), so shop around. Usually, if you prepay for a year or more, you will be given a discount. I recommend this because once you get a site, it is highly unlikely that you will ever discontinue it, unless you change careers altogether.

About Free Web Hosting Companies

I do not advise the use of free web hosting companies. This is your professional online presence and you get what you pay for. More often than not, free host companies have limitations such as space, email specifications, domain name use, et cetera, that won’t allow you to operate as a professional site.

How Much Should You Pay A Content Developer

This depends so heavily on the type of content your site requires that it’s almost impossible to answer. Freelance writer and editor rates range from a low of $25 an hour up to $250 an hour, or more. Most are in the $50 to $100 per hour range. Shop around.

As an editorial professional, I’m assuming that you will provide your own content. However if you have neither the time, desire, or skill, you will definitely want to spend the money for a professional.

Finally Tally

If you choose to go with a web designer and are simply having a 2-3 page informational site built, pay no more than $500. This is assuming that you write your own content and do not have custom work done, such as logo/graphic design.

Cheapest Option: Do it yourself. A template site, or buying a software (eg, FrontPage) and doing it yourself, with hosting fees should top out at about $300/year.

The beauty of buying software and doing it yourself is that after you purchase the software, you only have to incur the hosting and domain name fees on a yearly basis. These can be under $50/year – making your site really economical as time passes.

See you online!

Parts of this article were excerpted from How to Get Your Small Biz on the Web Quickly & Affordably, available for immediate download.

5 Ways to Building Your Website

By admin on Sunday, August 29th, 2010 | No Comments

If you do not have a website, or if you try to understand the way to another lesson to build the best … This is for you!

Can be very confusing if you are not familiar with the process. But it is probably much easier than you think …

Perhaps you have questions like …

I need to know HTML?
What is the best program for construction site?
What happens if I am a total non-techie?

This question and answer much more for you this will belesson

The Main Points of Today’s discussion will cover: Launching a website before the product is done because…, Getting your website online is a milestone-You can start marketing it before the product is done, Website vs web page Ways to build a website (from scratch or using a web authoring program etc., Using templates or site builders, Using a script or CMS (ex.Wordpress), Outsourcing it (paying someone else to do it for you).

In previous lessons we discussed why you need a website, how to get your domain and choosing a web host. So the last few lessons have basically been leading up to this point of launching a website, and it’s exciting, particularly if this is your first website. Getting your website online is a major milestone in your internet marketing journey. Today we’re going to talk about your options for building a website, and making it a reality.

Now you might be wondering, why am I showing you how to build a website before I show you how to build a product? Isn’t that kinda like putting the cart before the horse?…

Well not necessarily…there are a few good reasons to launch a website before you have a product finished or other method of monetization in place.

Reason #1 is because getting your website online is a huge milestone, and i would rather get you there sooner than later. If we waited until you have the product done and the sales copy written and everything else before launching a website, but it is important to get your website online, again, particularly if this is your first because it helps solidify your vision for your business. And it might give those who never thought you would ever be able to build a website something.

Reason #2 is because you can actually start marketing your website and your product before your product is done. We will talk about that a little more when we cover product launches in the future. If your are familiar with Jeff Walkers Product Launch Formula, you will know that the pre-launch is in many ways the most important part of a launch.

Reason #3 is because some of you already have products and are itching to figure out how to get them online with your own website.

So let’s get started, and just so you know, we will be covering Product creation after we spend the next few lessons learning the ins and outs of building your website.

First of all-What is a Web site?

You have obviously seen a website before otherwise you would not be here reading this lesson, but maybe you have never stopped to think about it, so I am going to try to avoid getting all technical on you, and try to put it into fairly simple terms.

A Web Site is a virtual collection of data that can be accessed via the internet. Most often a website consists of one or more web pages. So just to make that clarification, a web page is just one page, and a website is one or more pages. I am making that distinction for you because quite often I will hear a newbie say, hey have you been to my web page, which makes them sound like they are stuck in the ’90′s and they got themselves a free webpage on geocities or something. So if you want to sound like a Pro, then call it a website, unless it truly is just one page.

Ok, so websites are accessible via the internet because they reside on web servers…Now you don’t need to worry about that because that’s what your web host does and we already talked about and signed up for web hosting in the last lesson. Web sites are visible on web browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox because those browsers receive the data from the web server and they translate it into what you see on your computer screen. They translate, because a Web site or Web page is the language of the Internet is in many code-language website, but the most predominant language Web is HTML. Other common languages include PSP and ASP …. and additional languages are often combined, as in the case of embedded Java script or Flash into an HTML document.

said that simple …. If you want to create a web page on the Web, you must know either the language,or you need a tool to do it for you … Ok, so this is not a complete list, but here are some of the most important ways that you can build a website:

Build from scratch
Use a Web authoring program
Use a template or Site Builder
Use a script or CMS
Outsourcing

Now the five choices we are talking about. But there are many variations, even within these five decisions.

In this lesson I show breaks and,you the options and what is involved in each of them so you can make the best decision for your own business.

Building it from Scratch: You would have to learn a web code language such as HTML or PHP. Here is a great free web site for learning the code at http://www.w3schools.com. You can write the code by yourself, and this may sound pretty difficult right?…Well, yes and no…the good news is that you do not have to be a total nerd to understand the basics of HTML. It really is a very, very mild coding. In fact it is no where near as difficult as learning a foreign language. It is really very simple. It is just a matter of learning some basic tags. Do you need to know HTML to be an internet marketer? Absolutely not…….and you see it promoted by nearly all of the ads you see stating ‘you don’t need to know html or be a geek to make money on the internet’, etc. etc. and that’s true, BUT, it can be very helpful. There are some great advantages to knowing html. You have so much more control, giving you more freedom which can be an advantage in this business, particularly in situations where you need to get something done quickly. Sure the entrepreneurial model is to outsource everything, including website creation, and that’s true, I agree with that philosophy, it can be so much easier to outsource everything and you don’t need to know a lick of html or anything. However the caution is that it is costly. If you are just starting out, this may not be an option for you, unless you have a great webmaster friend that will do it all for free for you, but then remember you do get what you pay for. You will probably encounter situations where you will be glad you know HTML…for example, I have seen product launches where there was something wrong with the page, and it can take days to get your web guy or gal to fix it. Knowing a little HTML, you can fix those pesky problems in literally seconds or minutes. Or maybe you just need to set up a simple landing page, and you need it up immediately to take advantage of a certain opportunity or market condition. In a case like that, expediency is the priority….so even if I had an in-house web master, it would take me longer to convey my idea to the web master than it would for me to sit down for a few minutes and throw together a web page. So again there is more than one way to skin this cat….Some of the wealthiest online gurus are those who have absolutely no technical skills, and they focus solely on building their business, and that’s great, but in my experience and knowledge of those that are making a good six figure income online DO know HTML, and they use that knowledge to their advantage even if they also have a team of people working for them. It’s a skill you may want to consider learning.

Using a Web Authoring program: Depending on what program you use, you may or may not need to know html. The most popular web authoring programs are what is know as an html editor such as Front Page or Adobe Dream Weaver….most use what is called a WYSIWYG element (What you see is what you get)…in other words, what you see on your screen within the software is what your web page will look like in the web browser. This is how you are able to create a web site without knowing html. It used to be that WYSIWYG editors had a lot of downfalls in their ability to efficiently and accurately create web pages. But today they have become quite good, and there is are some fairly well known FREE wysiwyg editosr out there. Since I am focusing on FREE and LOW Cost methods in these lessons, I will eventually be showing you how to create a web site with one of these.

Now another option would be to use a template or site builder, and I could have easily seperated these two options into individual categories of their own but I combined them because often templates and website builders go hand in hand. A template is basically a shortcut. Someone has already designed a web page or a website which constitutes the template. In many cases all you need to do is customize the template to include the content for your web site, and then it is ready to upload. The really nice thing about using templates is that you do not have to be an artist and you don’t have to pay a web designer, yet you are virtually guaranteed to end up with a decent web site because your website will look like the template. They can save a lot of time, particularly if you are launching a lot of web sites. A site builder on the other hand is either a software program or a web based application that enables you to build a web site through a user friendly interface, similar to a web authoring program except for it has a little more of a point and click, fill in the blanks type of interface. Site builders use templates as the basis for the web site, and that is why I grouped these two together. I have a favorite that I would recommend on my web site. It is really a hybrid between a traditional web authoring program and a site builder, it’s kind of in a category all it’s own. You can build a website from scratch or you can us a template, you can write the code or you can go fully wysiwyg. One thing is liked so much about my recommendation is that it is built with online business owners in mind. It actually helps you create a website that is good for your visitors and for the search engines. So if you are an internet marketer and want to invest in a really good site builder, my recommendation is said to be above Front Page or any other on the market. The difference is clear being, while there are many other programs available to help you build your website, this one intuitively helps you build it the right way. I personally have used both FrontPage and still use WordPress for certain types of sites.. My recommended website builder can set your business on auto pilot.

A template or site builder (which as I mentioned in the last lesson is offered for free with my recommended Host ). There are some good ones you can purchase or some free ones. The free ones quite often have their own agenda, like advertising etc. Now remember a lot of hosts do have a site builder built into their armory of tools. I will be offering a future lesson on using my recommended Hosts website builder to build your web site.

Using Script or CMS: A script or CMS (content management system), such as Word Press which is a Blogging platform that is essentially by my definition a type of CMS. There are also specialty scripts, some made especially for internet marketers. Depending on what kind of site you are building, a script like that could be a great choice. There are also membership site scripts, they can act as Content Management Systems, in other words if you wanted to have a password protected member area of your website, one option is to use a special membership site application or script but also acts as a CMS. We may have a lesson on setting up a membership site at some point. We will be using a script that is not a CMS but rather works on any type of site you build, in other words it would fit right in with you html, etc.

Another type of website script is a form application such as phpBB, or Vbulletin….that is what you would use if you want your web site to be a bulletin board or a forum…..there are many different kinds of scripts and CMS that you could install on your domain, many of which would give you an administration panel to publish your content to your website without even needing to know html…Frankly there are a ton of them out there, but the only one I am going actually cover is WordPress because it has become my publishing application of choice over time….in fact many of my sites are a WordPress site. If your domain is hosted on a C-Panel host like HostGator, then there is a good chance that you will have one click installer for WordPress. The details for using WordPress on your site will be covered in another lesson. The great thing about WordPress and other such applications is that they essentially structure and organize your web site for you. You just simply log-in to your control panel and add some content and it will automatically integrate that content into your website. It will create a page for it or archive it or whatever you want to do with it.

If you don’t want to do any of the above then you can…

Outsource it: paying someone else to build your web site for you.

Your site would still be built by one of the methods above, but you will paying someone else to do it for you. If you are paying someone else to do it for you, you probably won’t care what method they will be using, what you would care about is the end result. There may also be a lesson on effectively outsourcing your website at In the future …

I hope this was helpful, and we welcome suggestions or comments. Please share what has worked or not working, if you have a website.

ACTION STEP:

1) Select a method used to build your website. Think of all these possibilities, do some research and select one of these options.

To your success
Cindy

Picking the Right Web Hosting Company

By admin on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 | No Comments

You have decided to build yourself a website. You know what you want the site to be about, you have some potential names for the website picked out in your head, and you are hoping they are still available. You know what you want the site to look like. But, you are wondering how you actually get it on the internet. You have read some articles that explain that you need a web host to put your site on the world-wide-web. Now the real problem arises. Choosing a Web hosting company that you need is more suitable for what?

There are hundreds of web hosting companies. Each of them claims to have the best prices and best service. They have information on the Internet, the idea can be considered as going to the polls. Was it happiness, hosting come across an article by someone who says a great experience with theirCompany.

Choosing a Web hosting company can be intimidating. You choose the amount of space needed, how many email accounts you can set the number of FTP accounts you can have, SQL databases, control panels, is sub-domains, and the list. Each company offers all these different usually meet your needs and then multiply that times have all other companies. This is plenty to do research. Some companies offer free websitebuilding programs as part of your package. Some even offer programs where you tell them what you want and they will build it for you. Most companies will offer your free domains names as well. The more your monthly package is then the more free names you get, usually.

I thought it was important to write this article because I was overwhelmed when I was building my site. I ended up going with aplus.net. They seemed to offer the most for the money. Well, one thing that did not come with the package was customer service. Their service is awful. I have spoken to them 4 times since signing up with them. Each of the times I did not get an answer to my question by the time I got off the phone. I finally just got so aggravated with their lack of desire to help me with my problem that I ended the call and just tried to fix it myself, which I usually ended up figuring out. I bought a package with a sizeable amount of storage space because I wanted to build a nice sized website and did not want to run out of space. Well, I have well over 100 pages to my site so far, I have pictures, video, and multiple articles. I have not even used 1% of my storage space yet. I do plan other sites in the future but I do not think I will ever use all the space. I have 15,000 MB of space and I have used 18.40 MB’s to date.

My site has a handful of web hosting sites on it. I have tried to add ones that I have heard good things about, since signing up with aplus.net. However, since I have not spoken with their service people I really cannot say for certain if they are any better than aplus.net. Here is a comparison of a few of the companies that can be found on my site. This is just a guideline on explaining what to look for. I am not recommending any company over the other, nor am I recommending any of these sites over the others on the internet.
Compare:

Webwizards.net-this is a perfect example of some of the differences. The company offers very cheap monthly rates, in particular, but not in many of the extras above image as part of their vote. We offer extra charges per month. So if you're not looking for something fancy, this can be ideal for you because if the services available to them. If you do not, do not pay for them. Their plan is cheaper than $ 6 per month. Some ofcharges for services are: $4 per month for additional domains. $1/month for use of Frontpage (site building program). $.50 for each subdomain, and the list goes on. This site offers 6 plans with the prices ranging from $6 a month to $68. The more expensive package includes most of the extras as part of their monthly fees. http://www.webwizards.net/discount.code/batman

Godaddy.com – they offer a very basic hosting plan for $3.95 a month. This is one of the cheapest I have come across but I do not see that there are any of the extras available if you need them, which differs from the first site we looked at. Their most expensive plan is only $19.95 but if you compared it to the first site I believe it would be comparable to their package close to that price. There is no mention of any site building tools even being available. So, you either need to find a free site builder on-line (which are usually pretty limited) or you have to buy your own. http://www.GoDaddy.com

Bluehost.com – from a quick look at this site it appears they only offer one program. It may be that you can customize it during the sign-up process but I wasn’t about to sign-up to find out. The home page on their site says $6.95 per month.

The most important piece of advice I can give anyone looking into this is to not be sucked up by all the stuff they offer, if you do not need it. Secondly, some of the freebies they offer are not useful anyway because they do not really work. An example would be search engine submission tools. They claim to submit your site to hundreds or thousands of search engines. I have seen one that has offered as much as 700,000 search engines. Who even knew there were that many? They may submit the site to the search engines but that doesn’t help you. It can take up to 6 weeks for the search engine to even review it and it isn’t even a guarantee they will index your site. If they do index it, it may never be seen because it may fall on page 250 of 250 pages for a search word.

There many more effective tools out there to get yourself a high ranking in the search engines. Feel free to contact me if you’d like more information on other products, or keep an eye out for future articles. I wish you luck with your website. It is an interesting hobby (for me anyway). You will make mistakes when you start out, I made many and still continue to make them. Hopefully this article will help you avoid some of the ones I made.

Cheapest Web Hosting on the Net

By admin on Friday, August 27th, 2010 | No Comments

Web hosting companies are offering various prices ranges for web hosting. Their prices depend on the type of packages a person may avail. Hosting for web sites usually cost a lot because this is a critical task. The main responsibility of a hosting company is to put your website into a server which has permanent internet access.

Due to the increasing demand of hosting, its prices continue to increase as well. A lot of people prefer to build their own hosting business because they knew that a lot of people need this service, most especially those who have businesses.

Majority of businesses now has their own web sites already for the purpose of promotions and advertising in order to make their businesses more poplar to people. In fact, internet now is the best medium to attain popularity since almost all people are using it. That is the reason why, a lot of people are making their own web sites in order to achieve web presence and popularity on the internet.

The primary tool to be able to place your web site on the internet is web hosting. However, not all people can afford its high prices. As a result, some tend to used free hosting available on the net. But, the problem of these free hosting services is that, they are not completely reliable. Most of free hosting services can give only limited space for your web site, and will result to frequent lags whenever you have high traffic or visitors. So, it is really much better to avail hosting with charges.

If you cannot afford its high prices, there are many cheap web hosting services on the internet. You will just have to do careful research on cheap web hosting services with good quality. Cheapest web hosting prices ranges from $2 – $ 5 dollars per month, with free PHP and MySQL support, as well as free domain registration. With this price range, you can already have a good quality web site host and you can now enjoy more the benefits of having your own web site.

Hosting Packages

By admin on Thursday, August 26th, 2010 | No Comments

Research and acquisition of reliable hosting packages is an important decision. Whether you are managing an Internet business, offering authoritative information and exchange of views online on a common interest, you need an honest hosting package that allows easy navigation path of online visitors to your face. And 'effective the site to your hosting package allows browsing to be downloaded and updated in a very short time.

I am looking forPackages can vary hosts an arduous effort really because there are many available today and each of them promise one thing or another. E 'therefore important that all before jumping, you make your own or preparation required for the election of the most appropriate hosting packages for your website.

With the ever changing trends of technology, web hosts are changing. Almost all provide moreServices in addition to their base. If you use a web e-commerce, then, of course, you need the efficiency of high-end security and a means by which you can monitor web content. There are many tools that help even if your hosting package is not reliable, then you can lose serious profits and potential clients.

Once you decide what business hosting packages for your Internet,then commit the time web hosting features and the choices you are considered the top web hosting … Content. These are the three priorities for any webmaster, regardless of how they are informed. Unfortunately, these three requirements often leave people in darkness, because there are a lot of companies to tender the "same" packages for different costs.

The first thing to do is a list of what are your current goals. If Build a professional website, you need to host a safe and trusted. For example, if you know the website will reach thousands of people within a couple months, maybe you should look at hosting packages include the additional bandwidth. Need more space, especially if visitors are constantly accessing your site. But if you want only one experiment, then you should respect the freePackages> Hosting. Finally, you do not need bells and whistles, unless you are serious about the site in the long run. When you're done until you change your mind, you change position, performance and move your website.

You should know how much space your website needs and assess the amount of data will be made. If we speak of the hard disk space, well, it is in fact the total memory allocated to you by the web-hosting provider. The bandwidth is the amountTransport admitted that access to and leave your site. If your site has many graphics and then you would require higher storage area and greater bandwidth.
You must be sure that your site is uploaded via secure servers with the latest operating system. Almost all web hosts, go to a base of UNIX, Linux or BSD in general. the implementation of various web applications you require for ASP,. NET, MS SQL, SBS and for this you need aWindow based host.

To compare the amounts before you close one of a hosting package. Some may be allowed to perform, but at low prices. It is not always true that the best hosting services are always more expensive. Do your research and conclude.

Security and backups are two very important things that you think. You should choose at any time hosting packages with reliable telephone support. Some of them alsoprovide support 24 / 7 through local numbers or green. Your web-hosting provider would be better that these issues check the clock on the warranty and no unwanted intruder can hack your site. Finally, it is your site and really worth this aspect of web hosting.

It 'important to remember that just because it is listed on a search engine does not mean it is 100% safe and legal. So if youFind a business potential, you should have a second opinion. You could be a forum for webmasters in relation to such things like SitePoint to discuss. So you can hear other people experience and what to avoid companies. Additional references from friends or family would also be ideal.

The Traps to Avoid When You Make a Business Web Site

By admin on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 | No Comments

Are you sick and tired of being told by everyone that you have to make a business website? The fact is that advertising your services or products on the Internet is both extremely effective and extremely competitive. If you already have an established local business you can make your own web site grow your existing business, by using the Internet to sell more of your services and products while also earning extra world wide Affiliate Sales Commissions as a bonus income stream.

If it is built right, your business website becomes your “silent business partner” that works for you around the clock 24/7 to make sales and earn Internet income!

If it is built wrong, it can cost you thousands of dollars a year, and not give you any new customer leads or earn you any income. In fact if you set up business as an internet marketer and you do not know the pitfalls and dangers to avoid, your website can send you broke in only a few months!

But, just imagine if you could make your own web site with all the powerful features, just like professional Webmasters, but without all the headaches. What if I told you that it can be as simple as making a text copy and paste in a document when you type a letter on your computer? Believe me when I say that if you already have a business brochure or catalogue, you now have most of your website content already written for you.

Then all you need to do is a little bit of research to make full use of search engine optimization techniques, so that Google and Yahoo drive thousands of people to YOUR website every month looking for the information you have to give them about your industry, your products and services and your affiliated products. And for less cost than an ad in the Yellow Pages telephone directory.

It is so simple to build a business website nowadays that it is almost childs play. I believe that you are never too young or to old to make your own website for profit. You just need the right tools at the right price to make it worth your time and effort. And you need a system that does not make you dependant on using a webmaster to service your website. It has to be so simple to update that anyone in the business can do it whenever it is needed.

There are several ways to make a business web site. And there are just as many traps to avoid!

For instance, you may be tempted to hire a freelancer/programmer to do it for you. You can find such talents for hire through the search engine of Google. Alternatively, you may go to one of the reputable freelance sites and put up your project for bidding. You may want to familiarize yourself with the freelance site before you post your project for bidding. Sounds great? Well not if you want to have control of your website, and if you don’t want to pay someone everytime you need a change made.

Another way is to grab yourself a free site, but this way is usually the least effective. It makes your business look unprofessional and since you do not own the website domain name, you have no control of what happens to the site. If the host shuts down, you also lose your website, and all the business website promotion materials online and off line will now be redundant and you will lose a ton of business.

If you decide you will register your own website business domain name and build a website that you own, you will need to get a small business web site hosting service. Anyway, hosting usually comes in several plans, and these start from under USD10 a month. These can sound like cheap website hosting at the start, but once you add up the costs of adding an email service, an ezine mailout service, and the costs to have surveys or any forms on the site, and buying the Dreamweaver or WYSIWYG or other software to help you learn and create html formatted documents… it can end up costing you hundreds of dollars every month from your credit card automatic debits.

You also need to factor in the cost of online advertising like pay-per-click to get you some targeted visitors looking specifically for your business services or products. If you don’t know what you are doing, that alone can cost you a few thousand dollars a month, and maybe still not get you any sales.

Since search engines are the first stop for people on the Internet looking for goods or services, the position your website appears in search results is an important factor. And no matter how much time and money you spend when you build a business web site or start a web site marketing internet business, you don’t even know if you will get any of that free referral traffic from the search engines. That free traffic is the golden ring you are always aiming for in making a profitable website for your business.

A lot of so called experts will tell you that A Search Engine Optimization Company can be an invaluable asset in your Internet marketing campaign. The problem is that they cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars just to tell the internet that your website exists. A good hosting service should include automated keyword optimization analysis, and automatically update the search engines of new pages you build, and update your blog with your latest content, and help you with link exchanges… and so on. These SEO services should be included as part of your hosting services, so don’t settle for less, and don’t pay extra to these companies.

To avoid the most common pitfalls you need to do your homework and make sure your hosting provider will deliver on all their promises, and try to get personal recommendations from people you already know. Ask your business associates how successful their websites are in generating sales income and new leads for business prospects.

This is a sound way to learn from the mistakes of others, as most corporate websites, that look so flashy with all the whistles and bells, are actually less useful than a poster on a bulletin board, and don’t drive any new business to the company at all! They are just there to service their existing clients who already know about the company and just visit the website like a very expensive online catalogue.

But if they tell you their websites give them a new business lead every couple of days, and creates the amount of sales and income they planned for it to achieve, simply ask them how they built it and what hosting service they used.

Another risk you face is building a business website that becomes so popular with visitors that your hosting provider starts to increase your monthly hosting fees because of your bandwidth useage. Or even worse, you finally get some viral marketing that works, and your host and website crashes… off line! A disaster when you are launching a new product campaign and your hosting service can’t cope with the traffic. So check that your host GUARANTEES it will never let your website go offline, never, ever.

Top quality and immediate help and support you need as a newbie to website building should always be included as part of your hosting package. And I mean human help, not automated support desk responses generated by computers speaking gobbledygook to you.

Let me tell you a quick story… when I struggled to work out how to use .php in building a website, I had one website hosting help desk operator kindly suggest that I ‘do a Google search’ for information on ‘how to build a website’ so that I could then work out by myself how to do this using their hosting service. To say the least, that was not very helpful or educational. It is unbelievable what some really known hosting providers run.

I spoke to Helene Malmsio and has built about 30 sites, customers, and she said she has tried many hosting and creation options, but still coming back because the site sell website pages built his system affiliate income with profitable, generating a regular customer leads for their clients happy and will be reviewed by Alexa rank high1-2 per cent of the WWW about one billion web pages.

Since search engines are the gateway to the Internet, They are the first tool that potential customers for products and services they need to be used. Therefore link popularity and Alexa ranking is your site is so important. If customers can not find your website, you have no way of each sale.

Helen says her customers have found the right website hostingthey did not even need any special skills at all to make their own web sites and in fact most have gone on to create more than one website with SBI in other topics of interest as a separate internet business.

So despite outlining some of the most common pitfalls and risks to your wallet here, it is clear that if you do your homework, you can make a business website that is insanely profitable and drive your business to levels you never before dreamed of. You just need to know who to speak to and make sure you only deal with people who demonstrate a successful track record and have an impeccable reputation for integrity.

Setting up a website is the very first step of an Internet marketing campaign, and the success or failure of your site depends greatly on how specifically you have defined your website goals. If you don’t know what you want your site to accomplish, it will most likely fail to accomplish anything.

So to avoid the biggest and most expensive mistakes in making your own website, compare hosting features offered by companies like Yahoo! Web Hosting Pro, Verisign Web Business Expert, SBI and Microsoft bCentral Professional. Do the research so that you have a comprehensive business website with annual cheap internet hosting, no monthly charges on your credit card, and everything you need is included in the one low fee.

Your goal? To start using the information in here so that you will publish a profitable theme-based information-jammed content site. Monetize with the cream of affiliate programs, blend in additional AdSense and other revenues. Finally… build a business web site that WORKS. Diversify as you grow your web site marketing internet business. And make sure above anything else, that you pick the right internet website hosting provider to grow with your growing business needs.

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