Web Design Discussion

Many site owners don’t think far enough ahead before building an online presence. They often throw up a web site that doesn’t have enough flexibility for growth then waste money getting it redesigned.

Types of websites

1. Informational

This is where you just want to convey information about a product or service without selling anything. It could only be a few pages or contain hundreds of pages. For a small site of 5-10 pages I recommend building a static html website. This means the pages mostly remain unchanged because they are evergreen (timeless content). To build a large content website I recommend a content management system that uses software such as WordPress or Joomla. It enables you to add as many pages as you like (stored in a database) plus they can easily be updated by logging into a backend administration panel.

Affiliate website
This type of site sells products for other companies. Typically you sign up as an affiliate who provides an affiliate link to place on your website. When a visitor clicks on that link they get redirected to the company website to make their purchase. You receive a commission every time someone buys from your site. With your affiliate website your goal is to provide enough valuable content to pre-sell the visitor so they are motivated to purchase from you.

2. E-commerce

If you wish to sell something online you need an e-commerce website. This type of site is much more involved. You’ll need a shopping cart, payment gateway, SSL certificate for secure transactions and a merchant account. You’ll also need to calculate the tax and shipping fees for each item you’re selling. One of the easiest methods for accepting online payments is using the PayPal Shopping Cart.

PayPal Shopping Cart
PayPal takes care of the whole transaction process without purchasing each of the services separately. You simply pay a small fee to them for each transaction. Read more at: How to Build an Ecommerce Web Site Using the PayPal Shopping Cart

If you’re only selling an ebook or a few items I suggest using PayPal. You can easily create “Buy Now” buttons. For a large number of items use the PayPal Shopping Cart.

Large online store
If you’re selling 100s or 1000s of items I suggest hiring a professional to build it. Zen Cart is one of the best free shopping carts for building your online store. It enables you to create search engine friendly pages, use PayPal or any of the main payment processing companies such Authorize.net and it’s free. Your main costs will only be to hire a professional web designer that is familiar with Zen Cart.

Sales page or landing page
A sales page is usually reserved for selling ebooks or software. It consists of a long web page with payment links scattered throughout the page. A landing page is primarily used for selling items with Pay Per Click Ads such as Google Ads. It usually is a one page site that contains affiliate links or your own product. Read Landing Page Design – 7 essential elements

Tip
Brainstorm what types of products or services you’ll be selling or information you’ll be conveying before deciding on the type of website you want to build. It will make the process much easier and faster to finish.

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Need to design an informational or e-commerce website? Please visit:
Portfolio of Web Sites Designed by iSiteBuild.com

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com

Before creating your business online you need to decide what type of website will perform best for you. There many different types such as a blog, a static website consisting of HTML webpages, a content management system or an e-commerce store. The type of website you build for your online business depends on its purpose.

My Case Study

I have been running a static HTML website and a blog for several years and have noticed a variety of differences between them.

1. Adsense income

The income from my website is consistent every day, whereas the income from my blog is up and down. Only when I add a new post containing Adsense Ads do I earn something. If I don’t add any new content to my blog I don’t earn anything from Adsense ads. My blog contains hundreds of more articles than my website yet my website earns 5 times more than my blog.

2. Search engine rankings

The rankings for most of the articles on my website has remained consistent over the years. Many articles get first page rankings on the search engines. Most of the articles posted on my blog don’t get high rankings. Only the ones where I’ve built a number of incoming links to the article do well in the search engines. When I post a new article on my blog it immediately appears at the top of the search engines but after a few days the rankings drop dramatically.

3. Site structure

The hierarchical structure of my website is based on the common theme of design, hosting and marketing. All the pages link to each other within 3 clicks. It has a theme-based content structure that is well-suited for the search engines. The blog theme is also oriented around web design and marketing, however, each new article is stacked on top of the previous one and is not necessarily linked together. This makes it a little confusing for visitors to find old content within the blog. I use the site map plug-in, but visitors still can’t see all the articles contained within the blog.

4. Number of files on the server

My website consists of about 150 HTML pages. It is not database driven or runs on a script so it is fast loading. It was created by a combination of hand coding and using Dreamweaver html editing software. If the server breaks down or my website gets hacked I still have all the files stored on my computer. My blog contains hundreds of files and is database driven. The files are not stored on my computer unless I make constant backups of the database containing the files. If the website gets hacked I’ll lose all my content. The blog loads more slowly than the website.

5. Upgrading

Since the website was built with Dreamweaver editing software it only contains HTML files. These files can be edited easily by hand or by any HTML editing software. The blog was built with WordPress software that continually needs upgrading when new security fixes are released. If you cannot do this yourself you’ll have to hire a professional to do it for you. If you don’t upgrade there is a possibility your site will remain insecure and susceptible to hackers.

6. Design flexibility

The HTML website allows you tremendous design flexibility as long as you are familiar with XHTML and CSS. The blog has limitations on design. Most of them have the main content on the left and a narrower column on the right. You can easily find free templates that have 2, or 4 columns and change different headers, however options for complex designs are limited.

7. Server resources

The website doesn’t use many server resources because there are so few files. Blogging software such as WordPress uses more server resources because the software has to load each page every time a visitor accesses it. Most websites reside on a shared web hosting plan. This means there are many websites using the same server resources. If any blog or website exceeds the resource limits of the server it may disappear. Therefore when researching a web hosting service stay away from web hosts that advertise unlimited bandwidth and disk space because you will be sharing the same space and bandwidth as all the other websites on the server.

8. Evergreen content

The content of the website remains evergreen because the information is always relevant to the visitor. It may be an article or tutorial that can be viewed within a few clicks from the home page or is often accessed by someone searching for a keyword in the search engines. Blog posts tend to disappear into the archives and cannot easily be found by visitors. Only the newest post can be seen on the home page, but quickly disappears from view as new ones are added.

Tips
Blogs are useful for expressing personal opinions such as providing the latest news and interacting with your visitors. New content must frequently be added to retain your visitors. If you don’t do this your blog will be abandoned and join the large number of dead blogs on the net. Clarify the purpose of your online business before you build a blog or static website and you’ll avoid the common pitfalls.

Related Articles
Should You Blog Or Build A Web Site?
A Theme-Based Content Site serves your visitors better, builds more long-term targeted traffic, and monetizes greater than a blog.

Create a Blog or Build a WebSite: Which is Best?

As a professional web designer I often receive phone calls from clients that describe in great detail what he or she wants on the website. In the beginning of my web design career I simply created a few image designs for them to choose from. Once they had selected a design I would build out the site only to have them change the layout or the structure several times before they were happy with it. This would constantly expand the time allocated for the website.

Creating a wireframe reduces the time of the client trying to implement his ideas for the design. A wireframe is a sketched version of your website before the colors, font and actual building is performed. This helps you and the client to focus on the basic appearance of the website and how all the different components will work together ie logo, navigation, images, etc. You’ll end up with a clear layout so you won’t have to go back later to correct things.

Process for creating a wireframe for your website

• Make a screenshot of a website that has a similar structure to the one you wish to create.
• Open the screenshot in your favorite graphics software (e.g. Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator).
• Create another layer the same size as your screenshot and place it on top.
• Reduce the opacity of this layer so you can see the screenshot through it (transparent).
• Use the line tool or rectangle tool (Fireworks) to create labeled boxes on top of the screenshot.
• Remove the original screenshot. You should now just see the wireframe image.
• Save the wireframe image to your desktop.

Wireframing your website before actually building it will ensure you create the best design.

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For Professional Web Design and SEO services visit:
Web Design, SEO, Hosting

Building an online business takes some planning. The better your plan the more successful your business will be. One of the most important decisions you need to make is to create a blog or build a website.

A blog is essentially a content management system (CMS) where you frequently add new content. It’s database driven and the design is separate from the content.

A static html website usually consists of html pages that are not as frequently updated as a blog. It consists of 5-20 pages.

Disadvantages of a blog

1. Needs to be constantly updated

If you don’t add new content on a regular basis your blog will join the 1000s of abandoned blogs on the net. A website may contain evergreen content that doesn’t need constant updating. For example a tutorial has timeless value for your visitors. Even if you don’t update the website the content is still relevant.

2. Content rapidly loses rankings

New content may immediately appear in the search engines however after a few hours or days it has lost its rankings. Content on a website maintains its rankings due if it has a themed structure. Blog content is not linked together but rather stacked on top of each other. Only the latest post can be seen and receives a temporary ranking.

3. Structure is not theme-based

Writing content for a blog tends to be based on personal opinions, lastest news or events whereas a website tends to be theme-based. The structure of a website allows all pages to be linked together so all pages relate to the theme of the website.

4. Difficult to view content

Only the latest post or the last few posts are displayed on the front page. To view older posts the visitor has to dig through the archives or site map. The themed structure of a website enables visitors to easily access and view all the content.

5. High bounce rate

Blog visitors read the newest post then leave. Theme-based websites tend to keep visitors longer as they explore the content more deeply. The content helps pre-sell the visitor.

6. Constant need to upgrade blog software

Blogs run on software like WordPress that constantly needs upgrading to fix security flaws. You’ll either have to learn how to do this yourself or pay someone to do it for you every time there’s a new upgrade. Websites are built with html pages that can be stored on your computer. If you lose your files on the server you still have a copy on your computer. If you lose your blog files on the server you’ll lose all the content stored in the database unless you constantly create copies on your computer..

7. Contains 100s of files

Blogs contain 100s of files stored in a database. These files need to be accessed from the server which often slows the loading time of the blog. if one of these files gets corrupted it may affect the entire blog. If your blog gets hacked you will lose all your files.

A static website only consists of html pages thus reducing load times. If it gets hacked you can quickly restore the files because they are stored on your computer.

Tips
Define the purpose of your online business first before deciding if you’ll create a blog or a theme-based content website. If you’re committed to frequently adding new content and interacting with your visitors create a blog. If you want to build an online business around a particular theme that has evergreen content and maintains it’s rankings in the search engines build a theme-based content website.

If you already have a theme-based website that gets a lot of traffic but want to interact with your audience consider adding a blog to it.

Related Articles
Build a Blog or Static Website – My Case Study

Should You Blog Or Build A Web Site?
A Theme-Based Content Site serves your visitors better, builds more long-term targeted traffic, and monetizes greater than a blog.

How to Plan a Website – Frequently Asked Questions

Website Structure – What is Best?

The structure of your website effects the behaviour of your visitors and search engine rankings. If your visitors can’t access your content in 3 clicks they’ll leave and go elsewhere. If your site is not theme-based the search engines won’t view it as an authority site and rank it accordingly.

Decide on your website’s purpose

If you want to build an authority site it needs to have theme-based content, be search engine friendly and load fast. If you wish to build an interactive website consider building a blog.

Website hierarchy

For most web sites build a 3-tiered structure so visitors can access your content in 3 clicks. For example if your site is about dog gifts, your home page is the first tier that clearly describes the purpose of your content. The second tier content may consist of dog clothes, dog kennels, dog training. The third tier content will expand on each of these catagories. For example dog clothes may expand to dog jackets, shoes, collars.

When a person visits your website they’e able to find dog collars within 3 clicks e.g.home-dog clothes-dog collars. If you have a drop down navigation on the home page they could quickly select “dog collars.”

If you have a sitemap that clearly shows the hierarchy of your entire web site the visitor will also be able to find your content (keep in mind not all visitors know what a sitemap is).

The further your web pages are from the root folder the harder it is for the search engines and visitors to find them. Make sure your content is never more than 3 clicks from the home page.

Create subdirectories

Subdirectories keep your website organized. For example create an images folder (subdirectory) so all your images are in one location instead of mixed up with your html files. If you have an articles section create a separate directory for all your article files. This is especially helpful for a large site. If the files are scatttered everywhere on the server it will take a long time to find and update them.

Use server side includes (SSI) for easy website maintenance

If you build an html website consisting of 100s of web pages it becomes a long and difficult task to update or edit all of the pages. An SSI file enables you to store the footer, navigation code or any other content that repeats itself on all pages into one file. When you need to update this content sitewide you just need to edit one file.

Content management system (CMS)

If you don’t want to deal with html files or uploading files to the server every time you want to add or edit new content consider creating a CMS website. These are database-driven websites that use software such as Joomla or WordPress to build them.

Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of a content management system. This primarily refers to blogs because they have become so popular.

Pros

• No need to learn html
• Easy to update
• Multiple users can add content
• Includes RSS feeds
• Allows visitor interaction
• Automatically pings search engines

Cons

• Structure not theme-based: content is stacked on top of each other
• Unclear navigation: content is not interlinked
• 100s of files stored on the server
• Slow loading (each file must be fetched by the server)
• Only new content is displayed on the home page, old content is buried in the archives
• Duplicate content e.g. home page, post page, archives page contain the same content
• Software needs to be continously upgraded to repair security holes
• All content stored on the server (unless owner creates regular database backups)
• Content rapidly loses rankings unless backlinks are built to it.

Before deciding on the type of website you want to build, define the purpose of your website first (e.g. informational, e-commerce, interactive blog) then draw your site’s hierarchical structure on paper. Doing this beforehand will prevent a lot of headaches in the future.

Related Articles
Content Management System Benefits
How to Plan a Website
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If you need help planning, designing and marketing your website visit:
Professional WebSite Design

The success of your website depends a lot on how much planning you do beforehand. It can be compared to having a road map to reach your destination. If the map is unclear you may not reach your destination or it may take a long time to get there.

Frequently asked questions to plan a website

1. What is your site’s purpose?

You may say you just want to make money however think a little deeper. What will you use the money for e.g. buy a house, spend more time with your family, overseas travel, etc? Once you’ve defined your purpose you need to select a niche you feel passionate about. The more passionate you feel about the subject matter of your site the easier it will be to add content and maintain it.

2. What is your niche?

Create a list of topics you’re interested in. Keep going until you’ve exhausted all the topics then prioritize them. Give priority to the ones you are most passionate about.

3. What and how many keywords are being searched?

Use the free wordtracker tool or the google keyword tool to create a list of keywords people are using to find your topic on the search engines. This list will help you develop content that can be added to your web site. A site containing lots of content has a better chance of doing well in the search engines.

The number of searches each keyword has will help determine the profitability of your future website. Look for keywords that contain many searches but don’t have many competing websites.

4. What type of website do you want or need?

Will it be an informational or e-commerce website? An informational one will consist of pages of information but won’t be selling anything whereas an e-commerce one will be selling products. An ecommerce site will need a merchant account, payment gateway, shopping cart and an SSL certificate plus you’ll need to calculate the tax and delivery fees of all your products.

5. What software will you use?

If your site has 10-20 pages you can use html software to build the web pages. Google ‘free html software” if you don’t want to purchase software. Dreamweaver is the software of choice for professional web designers. You can view the web site as you build it, creates clean code and manage the web site within Dreamweaver.

If your website contains 100s of pages that need constant updating consider using a content management system (CMS) such as Joomla, WordPress or Drupal.

6. How to select a good web designer?

If you’re not a do-it-yourself person, don’t have time or prefer a professional to design your website search for a web designer in your local area. This gives you the freedom to meet and discuss your ideas. Look at the designers portfolio and read the testimonials from satisfied customers before making your selection. Call or email them to check the response times, how friendly and knowledgeable they are. Ask for a preliminary proposal and quote before making your final decision.

7. Do you have a marketing plan?

Even if you have a beautifully designed website it won’t be successful without creating a marketing plan to attract visitors to it. There are 100s of ways to market a website however some of the best methods include, search engine optimization, article marketing, pay per click advertising, social media marketing, video marketing or a combination of these. Learn one of these methods thoroughly before learning other strategies. Don’t rely on one method of marketing in case one strategy becomes ineffective. If you promote your website constantly and consistently you’ll build a steady stream of traffic that will generate sales.

Related articles
How to Choose a Web Site Designer
How to Create Your Web Site Marketing Plan
Website Structure – What is Best?
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If you need help planning, designing and marketing your website visit:
Affordable Web Site Design

Writing 100 articles in 100 days can be a daunting task if you don’t have a clear plan how to accomplish it. I participated in this challenge at the end of 2009 and was one of the first 100 people to complete it. It wasn’t easy but I learned many lessons along the way. I want to share these lessons with you to achieve your writing goals quickly and easily.

Steps for writing 100 articles in 100 days

1. Create a list of 100 topics

This will help you avoid staring at a blank screen everyday with no ideas. Select your main topic then use the free wordtracker tool, or the Google keyword tool to create a list of of keyword phrases people are searching on.

For example if I enter “web site design” in wordtracker the top 10 results are:

web site design
north dakota web site design
fargo web site design
moorhead web site design
web site design bartlett
sacramento web site design
web site design company
dallas web site design
professional web site design
web site design software

Now I wouldn’t write articles on “north dakota web site design” unless my business is located there, but would definitely write articles on web site design company, professional web site design, web site design software.

If you run out of subtopics visit, forums, blogs, conduct polls in your niche, visit yahoo answers, ask your newsletter subscribers, etc.

2. Set aside a specific time to write each day.

Find your most creative time for writing. It’s the first thing I do in the morning before I check my email, attend to my websites or get distracted by other tasks. Determine how long it will take to finish writing a 400 word article. I usually set aside 30 minutes then write the start time on paper. Sometimes I go over 30 minutes because I need to do more research. Once you get started it’s easier to keep going.

When you get into the habit of writing at the same time each day for 30 minutes, you’ll find it gets easier. You’ll be able to write more articles in less time.

3. Write the article

• Create a captivating title that includes your main keyword at the beginning.
• Write an introductory paragraph that emphasizes the main problem people face with your topic.
• The article body should contain several paragraphs offering solutions to the problem
• Your concluding paragraph should summarize what you have said
• Create a resource box that includes a link to your web site, newsletter or free report.
• Make sure you include 2 links in the resource box. One should be your full web site address, the other your anchor text (linked text).
• Ezinearticles requires a minimum of 400 words for the article to be accepted by their editors.

4. Let the article sit

Submitting your content right away won’t allow you to find all the grammar and spelling mistakes because it’s hard to view it objectively. Let it sit for a few hours or review it the next day. With a fresh mind you’ll find errors and better ways to say things that will improve your content.

5. Proofread your content

Don’t just use a spell checker to find spelling mistakes. It won’t capture all of them. Print out the article, read it aloud to yourself or someone else. It sometimes sounds odd when read aloud so you can make adjustments to the sentence structure.

6. Submit to ezinearticles

This should be your the first or only article directory to submit to because it has the most readers. Only send it to the other article directories when your article has been published at ezinearticles.

7. Automatically repurpose your article

Ezinearticles automatically announces each article to your twitter account. Make sure you create a twitter account so you can take advantage of this service. It will help build your twitter followers. If you have time add the article to your blog, newsletter or combine several articles into an ecourse or short report.

If you follow these 7 steps you’ll find writing 100 articles in 100 days easier than having no plan at all, plus you’ll reap the benefits of receiving more traffic, subscribers and sales.

Also read Top 7 Benefits of Writing 100 Articles in 100 days

How was 2009 for you?
Have you created a blueprint for success in 2010?

2009 was a tough year for me and my family. I earned much less than the previous year. The recession may have had something to do with it as I had less customers who wanted a website designed, redesigned, hosted or wanted SEO help. My family was shocked to discover my wife had a hyperactive thyroid. It took several weeks of radiation therapy (a $1000 pill) to get recover her health.

Instead of dwelling on the negative I first look at what I’m grateful for ie wife, kids, friends, house, food, clothing, health, etc. These are the reasons I work so hard at my web design company.

The key to making 2010 a great year is your mindset. If you keep a positive and grateful mind opportunities will come your way. Recently I was listening to Joel Osteen’s podcasts while exercising on the treadmill. The reason he built the largest church in the USA..he has a positive message for everyday living. I’m not a member of his church but find his words encouraging and uplifting (unlike
the news or naysayers).

I suggest listening to one of his podcasts called “Program your mind for victory” by clicking on the audio link at: Program your mind for victory. It will help prepare your mind for success in 2010.

Checklist of Blueprint for Success in 2010

• List the things you are grateful for
• List your main accomplishments for 2009
• List the failures of 2009, why it happened and what you did or would do to correct them
• List the main projects you wish to accomplish in 2010
• List the goals for each of these projects, the actions you’ll take to accomplish them and a timeline when they’ll be completed.

Start your “day” with a “To-Do” list.

• Create 2 columns in the list – “Profitable Tasks” and “Maintenance” Tasks
• List all the things you need to do that will build your online business, those that will increase the bottom-line.
• List all the things you need to do in order to “maintain” your current online business eg article marketing, link building, SEO, customer support, etc.

By doing all the things on this checklist you’ll get a clear idea why you need to work hard at your business and a solid plan how to achieve success in 2010.

It’s up to you to make it happen!
I wish a very prosperous New Year!

Resources
Successful Business Goal Setting for 2010
8 Steps to Creating a Simple Business Plan for 2010

Leave a comment below on the No 1 goal you wish to accomplish for 2010