So -- You Want to Build a
Web Site, eh?
by Charles Lewis
You've got an idea, and you want to put it online.
There's one small problem though. You don't have a clue how to build
a web site, upload it to an FTP server, and how to make sure it is
viewable to all platforms, browsers, and screen sizes.
Before you start thinking about all that technical
mumbo jumbo, you need to make sure your idea has the possibility of
succeeding.. This is where a technique I like to call "Rifle
Marketing" comes into play.
Rifle Marketing is a method that ensures your idea
has a fighting chance. Step one is to target a specific niche market,
much like a person might aim a rifle with a scope on it.
Step two is to build a powerful web site that is
so compelling, the visitors have no choice but to give you a shot.
The final step is to market your idea. I will explain all of that
in great detail throughout the course of this article.
FOCUS YOUR NICHE
Unless you have a few million dollars to drop on
marketing, you will need to make sure your niche is as focused as
possible. Think demographics and/or psychographics.
Examples of demographics are: age group, gender,
marital status, race, income, etc, etc. Let's say you are selling
makeup. Your niche would be made up of women. Where you go from there
is your choice.
Psychographics are what I like to think of as "things
that cannot be taken away from a person". For example, one psychographic
would be level of education. No one can take your knowledge away from
you.
Another psychographic could be a person's drive in
life. What gives someone the will to keep going? Is it the love of
money, wealth and power? Or is it something a little less self-serving?
When I think of blending demographics and psychographics,
I think of The Hair Club For Men. Their target demographic group is
made up of balding men. However, not only do they target balding men,
but they must place their focus on balding men who actually have a
desire to re-grow their hair (psychograhpic).
So, if you cannot separate your niche into specific
demographics and/or psychographics, then you need to re-think your
plan. The more specific you are, the better.
THE PLANNING PROCESS
Whether you are building a direct response web site
or an informational one, a lot of planning needs to be done. For a
single-product site, the format is easy. I will usually split it up
into five or six different sections.
-=Your Offer=-
This is the main page of your web site. Start off
by boldly stating what you are all about, so that your visitors know
whether they are in the right place or not.
Joe Vitale does a marvelous job of this at his web
site (www.Mrfire.com). The first thing
you read when you go to his site is, "You'll find the secrets
of successful copywriting, promotion and marketing on this site."
Anyone who visits his site knows if it will be of
interest to them within seconds of loading the page. You may think
this sounds silly, but people who surf the web- for the most part
- surf like it's a race for time. Why, is simply beyond me.
If the main objective of your site is to sell a product,
then this is where your sales letter will be. Check out my web site
(www.Coe-d.com) for an example of this.
-=Who You Are=-
Tell your potential customers who you are, and what
you are all about. Many people are afraid of giving their credit card
number out to some anonymous person. Adding a picture of yourself,
a quick bio, and a reason to buy from you will greatly increase the
Trust Factor.
-=Contact Information=-
This section basically goes hand in hand with the
"About Us" page. It gives your potential customer a way
to contact you if he or she has any pre-sale questions. More than
anything though, it will help your prospect rest easy, knowing that
if they need to contact you, they have a way to do so.
-=Free Report / Sample=-
If you are offering an information product like a
set of tapes, or a video, or a book, it is always a good idea to insert
a short sample into your web site.
For example, a recent web site I designed (www.BusinessProfits.net)
has a section titled, "New Book -- HOT".
In this section is a sample chapter of his book,
"How To Avoid Small Business Roadblocks On The Way To Success".
I split it up into small, one-page sections, with a link at the bottom
to continue reading. At the end of the sample is a link that says
"Order Now ($12.95 + Postage).
This tactic accomplishes a couple of things. First,
it lets the prospect know that you really are an expert in your field.
Secondly, if the product truly is what the person wants, it will close
the sale. Last of all, it makes the sale as easy as point-and-click!
-=Affiliate Signup Information=-
If you have an affiliate program, you should have
a place for your visitors to sign up for it on the main site. Simply
state all the facts regarding commission percentages, pay period,
and any other details that need to be covered.
If you do not have an affiliate program, you need
to get one. ClickBank offers a quick and easy solution to payment
processing and includes a built-in affiliate program. I'll explain
this in further detail later on in the article.
For now, be sure to check out my affiliate sign-up
page at www.Coe-d.com/affiliates.html.
-=Resources=-
This section can be beneficial or detrimental to
your earnings. If you plan on offering links to related sites, be
sure that they open up in a new window. If you do not do this, your
site will be only a lingering memory by the time your potential customer
has finished browsing your "recommended links".
Be sure to wave goodbye to your sale if you do this.
TECHNICAL MUMBO JUMBO
Now that you have your entire site laid out on paper,
it's time you started thinking about whether you want to do it yourself
or hire a web designer.
A web designer will make sure you have nice, clean
code, a visually appealing site, and overall - a more effective web
page. However, if you learn to do it yourself, you will save money
in the long run.
I am available to create your website - from custom
graphics to copywriting, search engine optimization, marketing strategy
creation and implementation, etc, etc.
Whatever you need - be it a simple one-product site,
or a full corporate build-out, I can do it. Just contact me at webmaster@webprozone.com,
give me a detailed description of what you need. From there, I will
quote you a reasonable price.
If, however, you decide to do it yourself - here
is all the information you will need to do it...
-=Software You Need=-
If you build the site yourself, you'll need to spend
a large sum of money on software. Sure, you can use free web design
and graphics utilities - or you could just surf the web and grab some
pirated software.
I do not recommend this, as the government has begun
to literally HACK into computers all over the place in search of pirated
software. If they find it, you will have to pay the piper anyways
- and then you'll have to actually buy the software as well.
I recommend purchasing Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 at
www.Macromedia.com to design the
site itself. It costs $299 US dollars, and if you opt for professional
training with the software, you could end up spending around $900
in total. You can download a fully functional 30- day trial version
of this software from the site at no charge. Play around with it a
little, and see if it's right for you.
Now you need some graphics software. There are a
lot of programs out there, and some of them are next to impossible
to use. Adobe Photoshop 6.0 (www.Adobe.com)
is what I use. However, it took me a few months to learn how to use
it (from books, online tutorials, etc, etc). The program itself costs
around $600 too, if I remember correctly.
Adobe Photoshop 6.0 includes not only an image development
environment, but a "Save For Web" command as well. It reduces
the size of the image so that it loads more quickly in a person's
browser window.
Ulead (www.Ulead.com) also offers a variety of products
you can use for graphics creation and web development. Many of them
are also available to download for a 30-day trial.
I'm afraid I cannot go into great detail regarding
how exactly to use these programs. Books have been written on the
subject, and many of them - however thick - are very lacking in relevant
content.
For learning to use Dreamweaver, I suggest you go
to a local bookstore and ask for a book called "Learn To Use
Dreamweaver 3 VISUALLY" (no one has written the book on using
version 4 as of yet - that I know of). It is a fantastic book, and
even a computer illiterate person could follow the steps contained
within it's pages.
Many books have been written about Adobe Photoshop.
I'm sure all of them are good, but when you decide on a book - flip
through it and make sure it is easy to comprehend. A lot of books
on this product can be EXTREMELY complicated, as Adobe Photoshop is
a highly intricate piece of software.
-=Choosing Your .COM Home=-
Now you must decide what you want your "Domain
Name" to be. It should be related to whatever product or service
you offer - be it the company name, or a generalization like www.BusinessProfits.net,
a site which helps small business owners make a profit :o)
A while ago, I read a wonderful series on choosing
your site's domain name in Dr. Ralph F. Wilson's Web Marketing Today.
You can find the first of three articles at http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/issue89.htm.
Please - if you are serious about getting your site
online, read that article, and sign up for his newsletter. Every time
I read Web Marketing Today, I wonder why I'm not actually paying for
it.
Once you choose a domain name, you need to choose
a web host. A lot of people opt for the biggest, most expensive solution
out there. I, however, save myself the wasted money and spend only
$5 a month on hosting. I paid only $10 to register the domain name
too.
Go to Anderson Creations (www.AndersonCreations.com)
and register a domain name, then sign up for their hosting services.
Customer support is available 24/7, and the company is owned by Deborah
and Mike Anderson - two extremely kind and helpful people.
Once you are registered, they make it easy to upload
your files to the server. At first, this can be a very complicated
process, but over time it will become second nature to you - I guarantee
it.
-=Online Payment Processing=-
If you would like to sell an intangible product online,
I would suggest using ClickBank (www.ClickBank.com). It costs $50
to sign up for the service, and from there, they will take about 5%
of your sales for chargebacks, and other unforeseen complications.
If you offer a physical product, which must be shipped
to the customer, you can use iBill (www.iBill.com), but you will probably
need to hire a programmer to integrate the service into your site.
Someone will usually charge you about $200-250 to do this.
-=Resources You Can Use=-
Here is a link to my site (under major construction),
which provides a few HTML tutorials I have found helpful in the past.
http://www.webprozone.com/programming/html/html_tutorials.shtml
Here is a site you should check back with on a regular
basis. It's called the Web Source, and it's all about web design and
Internet marketing. Good stuff here, though it takes a looooong time
to load.
http://www.web-source.net/
AND, IN CONCLUSION
Building your own web site is not easy. But of course
- you already knew that. With a little hard work and dedication, you
will create the site of your dreams. It just takes a bit of practice,
and a willingness to learn from your mistakes.
I started designing web pages six and a half years
ago, and I still don't know all there is to know. It is safe to say
though, that I know more than 99.9% of the population - and that's
good enough for me.
There are not very many web designers who can also
write copy like I do, market a site like I do, or optimize a page
for the search engines like I do.
So, in conclusion - if all this web design stuff
sounds too hard, go at it full force. A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step.
If you decide to take a plane instead of walking
(hire a web designer), drop me a line at webmaster@webprozone.com,
and we'll talk.
Charles has been designing web pages since the dawn
of the WWW. If you want a fantastic deal on a web site build-out,
copywriting, promotion, or search engine optimization, you will send
him an email at webmaster@webprozone.com.
Still skeptical? Read what Joe Vitale has to say
about my web designs here.
