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Basic Advertising Methods | Article #7: CREATING A WEB SITE

Okay, you’ve got your domain and your web hosting and you’re ready to start working on your site. Yeah, I know, web design. Yuck! Don’t get me wrong. I love it. I actually started designing web sites before they were even in vogue. My first site was...well, I won’t get into that now. But web design isn’t for everybody.

For those of you who don’t know HTML from STP Oil Treatment, there are alternatives to designing your own site from the ground floor up.

1. Get somebody to do it for you. This is the easiest, and the most expensive. Web designers, good web designers, don’t work cheap. Depending on how many pages you require for your web site, you can spend thousands of dollars on one. But be darn sure, if you get a top notch designer, you will get a top notch site.

2. Get a template. This will still require you to do a little bit of work but templates are, for the most part, a breeze. Most come in a zip file with all the graphics you’ll need. The HTML is already done for you. All you need to do is add your own unique text and links. The amount of HTML you’ll need to learn to do this is minimal. Yes, you will still need to do a little work yourself, but in comparison to doing your own site from scratch, it’s a relative breeze.

If you want, you can get some really nice templates from bravenet.com. If I’m not mistaken, bravenet is one of the sites endorsed by “MY SECRET PROGRAM” for placing a counter on your “MY SECRET PROGRAM” members site. As a free member of Bravenet, you can get access to all their free templates. Some of them are actually quite nice. Are they super knock ‘em out of the ball park like a professionally designed site? No. But if you’re on a tight budget and don’t want to do it yourself, this is a great way to start. You can always upgrade the site at a later date after you’ve started making a profit.

Regardless of which way you go with this, even with a template, you still have to decide what your site is going to be made of. In other words, what pages? How many? Will the site be static (never changing) or will you constantly be adding pages to it as it goes along? All of this will greatly depend on what kind of site you have.

For example. For my alternative treatments site at http://www.natures-healing-remedies.com/ I basically have 5 main pages.

1. Home or Index Page
2. About Us Page
3. Products Page
4. Articles Page
5. Contact Page

1. The home or index page is where people first come to the site. This is where you want to give them a basic idea of what they will find on the site. In my case, I also offer a free report. This is great for getting people to opt into your list. But that’s for later in this series.

2. The about us page is kind of like a mission statement. It tells people what we’re trying to accomplish with the site.

3. The products page is self explanatory. This is where you sell your various products, whatever they may be.

4. The articles page is a list of all the articles that a visitor can read at the site about the related topics.

5. The contact page is where people can email you from if they have any questions. Some sites put a contact form on the page instead of an email link.

Now, even though there are only 5 main pages, the articles page actually turns this site into a never ending growth site. Each article listed on the page is going to have its own article page specifically for THAT article. So if there are 100 articles listed on the articles page, the site itself now has over 100 pages. This is how a site builds popularity. Writing is a big key to making money online. Don’t forget that.

So what’s the next step? Well, the next step for YOU is to sit down and map out what you want your site to look like. Use mine as a guide if you want. But ultimately, depending on what you are promoting, your site will have its own unique characteristics.

Because of this, I am opening up this forum to Q&A, In other words, if you have an idea for a site, post it here. I will try to give you a suggestion on what to have as far as pages and content. Please understand that my suggestion will only be one possibility and may not even be the best one. That’s why I urge others to actively participate here and give your own ideas

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