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Casual Articles - Building a Website Part 2 - The Planning Stage
The answer to the question, “Does the Ultimate Wealth Package work?” can be a bit tricky. For those individuals that are patient and consistent in their efforts along with the ability to put some work into their home Internet business then “yes” the Ultimate Wealth Package can work, if you work it.For those that are not familiar with the Ultimate Wealth Package it is a series of short ebooks that provide information on proven strategies that can create additional channels of income. If you are somewhat familiar with the Internet then you will find the ebooks an easy read, they are concise and to the point. The strategies discussed can be used by anyone with an Internet connection and/or website and the ability to put into practice the concepts. Remember, when looking for a home Internet business there is no promise to becoming stinking rich with little or no work unless of course you have the money to pay someone else to do the work for you. If that is the case then why bother starting a home business.For several months now I have been using
Unfortunately this is not an uncommon approach these days when it is quite easy and cheap to get an online business up and running.
Many people don't realize that whether you have a 'bricks-and-mortar' business, or your business is entirely online, it takes planning and hard work for your business to be successful. There were a number of reasons why this website would not work well:
- It was built entirely using only graphics -ven the text was in graphics-. On an ADSL 2 connection it took more than thirty seconds for the page to load, which is simply too long for most people to wait.
- At this time search engines cannot read graphics. Search engines like Google would have no interest in listing it in their rankings.
Affiliate marketing is basically a way of making money by selling other people’s products in return for a cut of the sales price In a nutshell, you advertise the product and then send prospects to the merchant’s sales page. You then sit back and wait for the money.Affiliate products can be of any type, and commissions vary from as low as 5% to as high as 75% of the sales price. The most popular products are those with no recurring costs, such as electronically deliverable ebooks and software. In such cases the usual commission is 50% of the sales price. This is good deal considering the advantages to the affiliate marketer.First, you do not need to have a product of your own. You don’t need to spent time researching and writing an ebook, or developing a new piece of software. Secondly you have a massive range of products to sell. Clickbank specializes in electronically deliverable products, and you can take your pick from all of those in their database.You also don’t even have to sell the product. You simply send prospects to the m
Now that you are ready to start designing your website, you need to put a plan in place for what you want your website to achieve. Planning is a very important component in getting ready to build your website, and to see what is necessary for its design. If you don't plan properly, and don't think of everything you will need before the website is built, you may find your costs will skyrocket simply because of the additions you need to include. Of course the web design company you have chosen--if you are using one--should be able to guide you in the right direction, but no-one knows your business like you do, so both parties should be involved in the planning.
Planning
Define the purpose of your website.
What do you want your website to achieve for you? It is important that you clearly understand the purpose of your own website. Websites can be used for different purposes, such as:
- Marketing, branding, site positioning
- Promotional campaign site
- Transactional sales-oriented site
- Customer service support site
- How to instructional site
- Product or service demonstration site
- Lead generation site
- Viral or buzz creation site
Who your target market is?
What type of visitor to your website are you trying to attract? I come across many small to medium businesses that don't have a clear definition of who their target customer is. The clearer the understanding you have, the easier it will be for you to connect with your target audience and the more successful your website will be. If your website is not clear in what you offer, then it is highly likely you will quickly lose these visitors.
Some businesses are afraid to leave a clear indication of what they offer because they are worried about their competitors finding out information about them. Your competitors can easily find this information out anyway if they choose to, and all you are really doing is losing potential customers as they leave your website because they are not clear about what you are offering.
Take the time to look at some websites that you like--and don't like. Write down what appeals to you and what doesn't. Use these points to refine your website.
Does your website portray the same message as the rest of your marketing? Often businesses forget that a website is a part of the overall marketing mix, communicating who you are, what you do, and why you do it better than your competitor. Marketing is also about branding, and positioning your business. If this is done properly you will stand out from the crowd. Does your website honestly reflect this? Make sure that your website is consistent with the rest of your marketing mix.
Marketing your website
Do you want to attract business through the search engines? This may seem a simple question, but many people think it is enough to build a website and the traffic will come. I come across people all the time that still think that being found through the search engines is not important, only to find six months down the track how important it really is.
A recent client approached us to add the finishing touches to their e-commerce site. During this process, one of the questions I asked was, how they were planning to market their site as it was purely an online selling tool with no 'bricks-and-mortar' business associated with it. The response was; "I don't know, I thought I would build the site first and work that out later".
Unfortunately this is not an uncommon approach these days when it is quite easy and cheap to get an online business up and running.
Many people don't realize that whether you have a 'bricks-and-mortar' business, or your business is entirely online, it takes planning and hard work for your business to be successful. There were a number of reasons why this website would not work well:
- It was built entirely using only graphics -ven the text was in graphics-. On an ADSL 2 connection it took more than thirty seconds for the page to load, which is simply too long for most people to wait.
- At this time search engines cannot read graphics. Search engines like Google would have no interest in listing it in their rankings.
Legitimate tricks the SEO masters use to optimize their sites and maintain their high rankingThe search engines don't want to be manipulated by marketers. They want to provide the best unbiased results possible for any given search -- or they'll lose users!That's why they need to change their algorithms so frequently -- to stay ahead of the tricks people use to get top rankings.That being said, there are still a lot of legitimate ways you can optimize your site without angering the search engines and causing them to drop you from their list.Here are some of the best things you can to do ensure your site has a high ranking:1. Ask relevant sites to link to your siteIn the past, scoring a high ranking with a search engine was all about positioning your keywords in "prime real estate" positions in your text and site coding. All that has changed, however. These days, links are king!Search engines place a huge amount of importance on the number of sites that link to yours. But it's not just the quantity of links that m
Define the purpose of your website.
What do you want your website to achieve for you? It is important that you clearly understand the purpose of your own website. Websites can be used for different purposes, such as:
- Marketing, branding, site positioning
- Promotional campaign site
- Transactional sales-oriented site
- Customer service support site
- How to instructional site
- Product or service demonstration site
- Lead generation site
- Viral or buzz creation site
Who your target market is?
What type of visitor to your website are you trying to attract? I come across many small to medium businesses that don't have a clear definition of who their target customer is. The clearer the understanding you have, the easier it will be for you to connect with your target audience and the more successful your website will be. If your website is not clear in what you offer, then it is highly likely you will quickly lose these visitors.
Some businesses are afraid to leave a clear indication of what they offer because they are worried about their competitors finding out information about them. Your competitors can easily find this information out anyway if they choose to, and all you are really doing is losing potential customers as they leave your website because they are not clear about what you are offering.
Take the time to look at some websites that you like--and don't like. Write down what appeals to you and what doesn't. Use these points to refine your website.
Does your website portray the same message as the rest of your marketing? Often businesses forget that a website is a part of the overall marketing mix, communicating who you are, what you do, and why you do it better than your competitor. Marketing is also about branding, and positioning your business. If this is done properly you will stand out from the crowd. Does your website honestly reflect this? Make sure that your website is consistent with the rest of your marketing mix.
Marketing your website
Do you want to attract business through the search engines? This may seem a simple question, but many people think it is enough to build a website and the traffic will come. I come across people all the time that still think that being found through the search engines is not important, only to find six months down the track how important it really is.
A recent client approached us to add the finishing touches to their e-commerce site. During this process, one of the questions I asked was, how they were planning to market their site as it was purely an online selling tool with no 'bricks-and-mortar' business associated with it. The response was; "I don't know, I thought I would build the site first and work that out later".
Unfortunately this is not an uncommon approach these days when it is quite easy and cheap to get an online business up and running.
Many people don't realize that whether you have a 'bricks-and-mortar' business, or your business is entirely online, it takes planning and hard work for your business to be successful. There were a number of reasons why this website would not work well:
- It was built entirely using only graphics -ven the text was in graphics-. On an ADSL 2 connection it took more than thirty seconds for the page to load, which is simply too long for most people to wait.
- At this time search engines cannot read graphics. Search engines like Google would have no interest in listing it in their rankings.
If you feel it's possible to increase your website conversions and accelerate the growth of your prospect and customer lists, then you've come to the right place...Because if you're getting over 30 visitors a day, but your opt-in rates and customer sales are on "life-support", this just may be single most important message you'll ever read.Here's a little-known fact about doing business online:If a website visitor won't give you his name and email address, he will not buy from you!Said another way, getting a visitor's name and email address is the very first step to getting the sale.In fact, in my own testing, I've found that capturing someone's name and email actually increases sales. This means I get even more money from the same number of site visitors—no increase in traffic at all!What would it mean to you if you could easily and instantly transform your website from an unprofitable embarrassment into a wealth-building cash machine?Maybe your newly profitable website would pur target audience and the more successful your website will be. If your website is not clear in what you offer, then it is highly likely you will quickly lose these visitors.
Some businesses are afraid to leave a clear indication of what they offer because they are worried about their competitors finding out information about them. Your competitors can easily find this information out anyway if they choose to, and all you are really doing is losing potential customers as they leave your website because they are not clear about what you are offering.
Take the time to look at some websites that you like--and don't like. Write down what appeals to you and what doesn't. Use these points to refine your website.
Does your website portray the same message as the rest of your marketing? Often businesses forget that a website is a part of the overall marketing mix, communicating who you are, what you do, and why you do it better than your competitor. Marketing is also about branding, and positioning your business. If this is done properly you will stand out from the crowd. Does your website honestly reflect this? Make sure that your website is consistent with the rest of your marketing mix.
Marketing your website
Do you want to attract business through the search engines? This may seem a simple question, but many people think it is enough to build a website and the traffic will come. I come across people all the time that still think that being found through the search engines is not important, only to find six months down the track how important it really is.
A recent client approached us to add the finishing touches to their e-commerce site. During this process, one of the questions I asked was, how they were planning to market their site as it was purely an online selling tool with no 'bricks-and-mortar' business associated with it. The response was; "I don't know, I thought I would build the site first and work that out later".
Unfortunately this is not an uncommon approach these days when it is quite easy and cheap to get an online business up and running.
Many people don't realize that whether you have a 'bricks-and-mortar' business, or your business is entirely online, it takes planning and hard work for your business to be successful. There were a number of reasons why this website would not work well:
- It was built entirely using only graphics -ven the text was in graphics-. On an ADSL 2 connection it took more than thirty seconds for the page to load, which is simply too long for most people to wait.
- At this time search engines cannot read graphics. Search engines like Google would have no interest in listing it in their rankings.
There is a wide variety of internet businesses for you to choose from. You should select a business that is easy to handle and fulfils your monetary requirements.The strategy for choosing an internet business involves the following:1. Research your options – Before deciding on any particular internet business it is important to evaluate the various options. Research the successful and non-successful internet businesses and analyse the reasons for their success and failure. While researching, you will come across more failures than successes as verified by the dot com collapse. Therefore, it is important to understand that an internet business is not a,” magical” ticket to success. You have to work hard as anywhere else to turn your internet business into a success.2. Think of it as 'part-time' work – Considering the risky nature of this business, it is not at all advisable for you to leave your full time job or other business for starting an internet related business. In fact, initially you can treat it as only a part-time vocation. After sd why you do it better than your competitor. Marketing is also about branding, and positioning your business. If this is done properly you will stand out from the crowd. Does your website honestly reflect this? Make sure that your website is consistent with the rest of your marketing mix.
Marketing your website
Do you want to attract business through the search engines? This may seem a simple question, but many people think it is enough to build a website and the traffic will come. I come across people all the time that still think that being found through the search engines is not important, only to find six months down the track how important it really is.
A recent client approached us to add the finishing touches to their e-commerce site. During this process, one of the questions I asked was, how they were planning to market their site as it was purely an online selling tool with no 'bricks-and-mortar' business associated with it. The response was; "I don't know, I thought I would build the site first and work that out later".
Unfortunately this is not an uncommon approach these days when it is quite easy and cheap to get an online business up and running.
Many people don't realize that whether you have a 'bricks-and-mortar' business, or your business is entirely online, it takes planning and hard work for your business to be successful. There were a number of reasons why this website would not work well:
- It was built entirely using only graphics -ven the text was in graphics-. On an ADSL 2 connection it took more than thirty seconds for the page to load, which is simply too long for most people to wait.
- At this time search engines cannot read graphics. Search engines like Google would have no interest in listing it in their rankings.
In the world of online, there are a lot of possible things that can be done. Actually, more has been integrated; from graphics to streaming video to streaming audio.The presence of audio streaming not only in some areas of the online world adds up to the very exciting arena. Whether audio streaming is going to last or just a mere fad nowadays, the fact remains that audio streaming becomes a common craze to many.So what can an audio streaming do?Audio streaming is certainly good most especially in a very animated life that we have on the internet. Most websites include in their area an audio streaming and even the welcome page has voice-recorded files that make it appealing to most visitors. Audio streaming is becoming a healthy addition to most internet users due to its new and exciting promise.Apart from the aesthetic side of having an audio streaming, it also brings good to business transaction because it allows voice interaction to occur between two people. This is something good in the business as voice interaction provides -and-mortar' business associated with it. The response was; "I don't know, I thought I would build the site first and work that out later".
Unfortunately this is not an uncommon approach these days when it is quite easy and cheap to get an online business up and running.
Many people don't realize that whether you have a 'bricks-and-mortar' business, or your business is entirely online, it takes planning and hard work for your business to be successful. There were a number of reasons why this website would not work well:
- It was built entirely using only graphics -ven the text was in graphics-. On an ADSL 2 connection it took more than thirty seconds for the page to load, which is simply too long for most people to wait.
- At this time search engines cannot read graphics. Search engines like Google would have no interest in listing it in their rankings.
At this time search engines cannot read graphics. Search engines like Google would have no interest in listing it in their rankings.
Choosing the design style
One of the hardest things in designing a site can be getting a clear understanding of what a client wants in the 'look-and-feel' of their site. Design depends on individual taste, and designing a website from a first draft that the client will like from the start, can be a real challenge. Some clients have a very clear understanding of what type of design they want, but most do not.
It can be really helpful to find some websites that you like the look of, and use them as a basis for what you like--I am not encouraging anyone to copy another website, but it does help to have a clear idea of what you like and don't like.
What colors do you want?
The colors you use play a major part in the success of your website, for a couple of reasons.
- If the colours are not appealing to your visitor, then they may be instantly turned off by your site, and you will lose them altogether.
- If the colours you use are too bright, or do not contrast well, then visually impaired people may not be ale to read the information on your website. A great tool to use to choose your colours is: http://www.kuler.adobe.com/ I strongly recommend that you integrate your business colours, or at least as closely as possible. Of course, if your website is the first step towards changing your branding, then it is fine to use different colours.
Note: As a rule you should not use more than three different colors in your website color scheme.
Website Content
The content in your website is something that will often grow over time, so if you haven't fully written the content for your site before you are ready to start, don't be too concerned. In saying that, you should at least have the basics together so that when the site is being built, it is being built with the correct structure.
The content you place in your website is an extremely important element. It needs to connect with your visitor quickly--research shows that on average you have 7-8 seconds to capture a visitor's attention and to convince them that they have come to the right site.
In the current market you should look for a good mix of video, audio and written content to get your message out there. This mix will vary depending on what you offer.
Content should be well written or presented--and easy to understand. If you aren't a natural writer, don't despair, there are people that can write content for you, or at least improve on what you have put together.
Logos and Images
What logos or graphics will you want to use on your site? If your business has a logo, then it is important that you clearly display this, without overshadowing everything around it. Some people make the mistake of trying to make their logo so prominent on the page in their excitement to get their brand out there, that it spoils the overall page effect.
Using the correct images on each page of your website can help a potential client relate to your website. i.e. if you are a B2B website, you will want to have images of business people or business related images. Images can be a great way to break up a page that has a lot of content on it, to make it more visually pleasing and easier to read.
Do you want animation within your website? While animation can look great, sometimes too much animation can take the focus off the important elements of your website. Your chosen web design company should be able to offer you the best advice on what wil
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