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PLANNING YOUR
WEBSITE
Before you start building your
site:
Before you start building it, you must
begin by planning your website. That doesn't mean you
can't start gathering the various resources you'll
be needing or reviewing the steps ahead.
It just means that a lot of advance planning can
prevent you from having to start over or do major
revisions as you build.
The key to any successful website is
content. Any hobby, interest, or subject matter with
which you have some degree of expertise is important.
This is what will draw traffic to your website. Give this
a lot of thought. Anything from fishing to juggling, from
business consultation to a favorite cause, can
be of high interest to other people. Built a
website with content that you know about.
Browse the internet and view other web pages that you think
would have subject matter relating to the subject matter
you'll be basing your website upon.
Note the page layouts, the headings
and how the content is displayed on other websites.
Even if those websites don't appeal to you, they
may have elements you could find desirable
within your website.
Make notes and even print out other web pages that
you find have desireable elements and content, so you
can use them as guides for what you'll create.
In a manner similar to creating an outline for a book, do the
same for how you picture your web site design. As you browse
other web sites, make note of the various elements you'd like
to include in yours. Small things like Hit Counters, Drop
Down's, Copyright detail, Disclaimer detail, Email, and as
you'll realize, there's so much more.
It may seem tedious, and it is, but advance planning your
website will pay off big time in the long
run.
Remember as you plan, people like visuals.
Hopefully you have a digital camera and the ability to
load your pictures onto your PC. You'll find that
creating your own graphics is not only rewarding,
but makes those visuals unique to you. There
are many free graphics available on the
internet. You can use those in the event you want
something that is impossible for you to create on
your own. But don't make your website too graphic heavy
because graphics make websites slower to load and there's
a limited time people will wait for your page to load
before moving on.
Also, don't be afraid to get friends or
family involved for suggestions. However, you will
be making the final decisions on how your web
site will appear.
One strong
suggestion as you work through the process of building your web
site is to have a planning book. Get a spiral notebook or
looseleaf to make notes. You'll be registering with various
companies in the process. Those will require that you create an
ID and password. If you have to return to those sites for help
or to change your profile, you'll need to retain your sign-in
information. Most sites let you retrieve your sign-in
information which will take a little time. They have, on
the sign-in area, a "forgot your ID or password?" option. They
will usually ask you to identify the email address you gave
them so they can respond with your ID and password. It's just a
lot easier to begin taking notes and writing down this
information in your spiral notebook. I can't stress enough to
take these notes.
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!! IMPORTANT
!!
If you plan to use your website
to earn extra income by adding links to on-line
retailers, you must understand "niche"
marketing. It's really quite simple. Most
popular retailers will allow you to join their
affiliate program IF the subject matter in your
website relates in some way to their products.
Let's say your site is all about gaming such as
Wii, Xbox and Playstation. On-line retailers
that would be most likely to affiliate with you
would be game stores or companies that sell
games and toys. But if you have other hobbies
such as camping, and you want affiliate
with companies that sell camping gear or
outdoor clothing and such, they may not view
your "gaming" site as within their "niche".
However, once you create your
gaming website and get affiliation links going
to a variety of other companies related to the
gaming "niche", you may want to create a new
website that pertains to your outdoor
activities and go for the outdoor
sporting/recreation retailer "nitche".
Here's the basics of how
"affiliations" work. You go to the site of the
company you want to affiliate with. If they
have an affiliate program, there will
probably be a link on their page somewhere that
says "Affiliate". Some companies have their own
direct approval process while others hire what
could be called "Affiliate Directory"
companies. Affiliate directory
companies do all the groundwork and
processing for the on-line retailer. Once you
are approved to affiliate with a company, they
will supply all the link codes and banners for
you to place on your site. Then, if someone
comes to your site and clicks on one of your
affiliate banners, and makes a purchase at your
affiliate's stores, you get a commission from
the sale. Usually you'll have to give details
about you including your social security number
so that they can send you earnings and
send you end of year
tax statements.
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