Web Design and Marketing Tutorial:
The Birth Of A Professional Website
by Shelley Lowery, author of leading
web design ebook: Web Design Mastery
Part One: The Web Design Learning Process
The Internet has
opened a whole New World of opportunity for
all of us. With the vast amount of information available at
your fingertips, it has never been easier to communicate
your message to the world.
A web site will enable you to create your own home on the
World Wide Web. Your home may be as simple or dynamic as
you'd like and is only limited by your imagination.
Although designing a great web site is an important part of
developing a successful online business, it is only one
small part of an overall plan.
Although many new Internet entrepreneurs believe that all
they need to do to make money online is to put up a web
site, that couldn't be further from the truth.
The truth is developing a successful Internet business takes
a great deal of time, thought and effort. It takes a sincere
commitment, a lot of patience, and a lot of personal drive.
There are a lot of lessons that must be learned, and a lot
of failures that must be endured. However, if you're truly
passionate about your business and success, it will happen -
- you will succeed.
A major factor in determining your success is the amount of
time you take to educate yourself. Please don't take this
point lightly, as it can literally mean the difference
between your success and failure.
Sure, learning HTML is an important part of designing a
successful web site; however, it is only one small part. You
must first develop a strategic plan and design your web site
accordingly.
Prior to designing your web site, here are some questions
to assist you in developing your strategy:
• Who is your target audience?
• What is your most wanted response?
• What products and/or services will you offer?
• Will you sell affiliate products and/or services?
• What type of design will you use?
• Will you design your site or hire a professional?
• How will your site be navigated?
• How will your site be optimized?
• What type of graphics will your site use?
• Where will you obtain your graphics?
• What graphic formats will you use?
• What fonts will you use?
• How will you design your site for different screen sizes?
• How will you design your site for different web browsers?
• How will you optimize your pages for the Search Engines?
• How will you make your web pages load quickly?
• What type of content will your site offer?
• Where will the content come from?
• How will you gain your visitors' trust?
• How will you build your credibility?
• Will you write your own sales copy or hire a copywriter?
• How will you accept payment through your site?
• How will you process your orders?
• How will you deliver your products or services?
• How will you collect your customers' information and store
it within a database?
• How will you automate portions of your business?
• Where will you find the scripts you need?
• What types of scripts will you use? CGI, JavaScript?
• Will you need to hire a professional to write your
scripts?
• Will you edit and install your own scripts or hire a
professional?
• What kind of computer software will you need?
• Where will you find the software?
• How will you decide on a domain name?
• How will you register a domain name?
• How will you host your web site?
• How will you upload your files to your server?
• Should your files be uploaded in binary or ASCII mode?
• What should you look for in a quality web host?
• Will you publish an ezine?
• How will you collect email addresses?
• How will you send out mailings?
• How will you drive traffic to your web site?
• How will you advertise your products and services?
• How will you test your advertising?
• Will you offer an affiliate program?
• How will you run your affiliate program?
• How will you market and promote your web site, products
and/or services?
Although this list of questions is far from complete, it
will give you a basic idea of exactly what is involved in
developing a successful web site. As you can see, there is
much more to take into consideration than just learning
HTML. You must look at the entire picture and design your
web site accordingly. Plan your work then work your plan.
Above all else, you must be willing to invest in your
business -- not only monetarily, but also your time.
Although there is a lot of free information available online
to assist you, keep in mind...you get what you pay for.
The great thing is you don't have to reinvent the wheel.
There are many successful Internet entrepreneurs that have
been where you are right now. Subscribe to their
publications -- listen to their advice -- purchase their
products. If you begin by following in the footsteps of
successful Internet entrepreneurs, you will eventually begin
making your own paths and find your own success.
Part Two: Your Strategic Web Design Plan
There are millions of web sites on
the Internet today with
thousands more being added each day. The competition is
fierce and in order to be successful, you must stay one step
ahead of the game.
Although designing a professional web site is an important
part of your strategic plan, it is only the first step.
Before you begin the actual design process, you must first
determine your overall strategy and design your web site
accordingly.
Internet marketers have basically two choices:
-> Design a mini web site that focuses on just one product
or service, with no other content of any kind.
-> Design a content web site that includes not only your
products and services, but also information and resources
that will be of interest to your target market.
Although both types of sites can be effective, your success
ultimately depends on your site design and marketing
strategies. Both will play a very important role.
Content Web Sites
Content oriented sites are sites that provide visitors with
content, such as articles, tutorials, free ebooks and
resources. This type of site attracts their target audience
with incentives. Their products and services are mentioned
on the main page with a link to further information.
Content sites usually profit by educating their visitors.
For example, a content site focusing on dog grooming might
provide a basic tutorial to assist their visitors in
learning how to groom a dog. They provide this tutorial
completely free; however, the main purpose for this tutorial
is to educate their visitors and promote their products.
When you provide your visitors with quality information that
teaches and informs, you are not only gaining their trust in
you by sharing your expertise, but you're also building your
credibility, which is very important on the Internet.
The key to using this technique effectively is to provide
content that targets your potential customer.
Mini-Sites
Mini-sites are different from content sites, as they don't
provide any content. They usually contain one or two pages
and completely focus on one product or service. Basically,
the site is just a sales letter for the product.
No matter which type of site you design, keep in mind, your
web site is a direct reflection of you and your business.
The appearance of your web site is the most important factor
in determining your web site's value. If your site doesn't
look professional or pleasing to the eyes at first glance,
it's perceived value will be low. The perceived value of
your web site will have a great impact on your success.
On the other hand, you may have a great web site, well
designed and a quality product or service, but if it takes
too long to load, the value will still be perceived as low.
Why? Your potential customer will not wait -- ultimately
costing you business.
If you're serious about your Internet business, designing a
web site specifically designed to sell your products is an
essential part of your success. Everything within your web
site should have one specific purpose -- getting your
visitors to take action.
Your Strategy
Prior to designing your web site, you must decide on the
type of response you're looking for. For example, if you're
selling a product, the response you're most-likely trying to
achieve is to make a sale. If you're developing a content
site, your main goal for every page of your site should be
to lead your visitors to your sales page. You can accomplish
this in a number of ways, including:
1) Display a graphic image of your product on your main page
with a short ad and a link leading to your sales page.
2) Create a "Products" section within the navigational menu
of each page with a short description and link to each of
your products.
3) Write articles that focus on the same topic as your
product. At the end of the article, within your bylines,
provide your visitors with information about your product.
4) Write tutorials that target your potential customer. At
the end of the tutorial, provide information about your
product.
5) Provide your visitors with a free autoresponder course.
Your course should identify a problem, provide advice in
regard to solving the problem and provide the solution with
your products or services. Keep in mind, your course should
not be written like a sales letter. It must provide quality
information written to teach and inform.
No matter what type of response you're looking for, your
site must be specifically designed to achieve your goal.
Every part of your web site must be strategically designed.
From your overall design to your sales copy -- each will
play a very important role.
Your web site is the most important sales tool you have. A
professional web site should be pleasing to the eyes, well
organized, easy to navigate, load quickly and be optimized
for the Search Engines.
Above all else, you must specifically design your site for
your potential customers. Provide them with the information
they desire, while continually mentioning the benefits of
your products, and you'll reap the rewards.
Part Three: Basic Web Design Guidelines
The appearance of your web site is
one of the most important
aspects of your success. Your product or service will
literally be judged by the appearance of your web site.
Poor web design is one of the leading causes of small
business failure. There are literally thousands of home-
based Internet businesses struggling to make a living
online. Most, make very little or no money and end up
closing their site in defeat.
I have received many messages over the years from struggling
Internet marketers wanting to know if I could look at their
site and tell them what they're doing wrong. Most of the
time, I can tell them the problem as soon as their site has
loaded -- poor web design. They failed to take the time to
learn how to properly design their sites -- how to design a
professional looking site specifically designed to sell
their products and services.
If you really want to succeed, you must take the required
time to educate yourself.
Creating a Template
When you begin designing your web site, your goal should be
to create a template that you can use to create each page of
your web site. This will give your entire site the same look
and feel.
A template is simply a web page "shell" that contains your
entire page design, logo, images, navigational links and a
specific area for your content. However, your template won't
contain any content, as each time you create a page with
your template, you'll save it with a different page name.
Formatting Your Pages
I highly recommend placing your entire page content within
HTML tables. Tables will enable you to have complete control
over your content and how it will be displayed.
For example, you can create three tables, stacked on top of
each other, for each section of content. The cellpadding,
cellspacing and border attributes should be set to "0" to
enable your tables to seamlessly flow together. In addition,
the widths for each table should be the same. The top table
would contain your page header content, the middle table
would contain your content and the bottom table would
contain your footer content.
As placing your entire page content within a single table
will significantly increase your site's load time, stacking
your tables will enable you to benefit from the powerful
formatting capabilities of tables, while at the same time,
keep your site's load time down.
If you've ever designed a web page without using tables, you
know how limited you are as to how your content will be
displayed. Your text will be displayed right up against the
left border and will span across the entire width of your
page -- certainly not a good way to design a professional
looking web site.
Tables will enable you to display your content in sections
like a newspaper, set up a specific number of rows and
columns, and even place additional tables within your main
content table to create special content sections with
colored backgrounds.
Your Storefront
Your main page is the storefront for your business and
should specifically let your visitors know exactly what
you're offering. If your potential customer can't find your
product or service, they definitely won't waste a lot of
time looking for it. They'll go on to the next site and
probably never return. They're visiting your site for a
specific purpose. They want something your site offers.
Provide them with what they're looking for and you'll reap
the benefits.
Branding will play a major role in your success. Make sure
you place your company logo and slogan in the top left
corner of each page. This will not only assist your visitors
in remembering your site, but it will also give your pages
the same look and feel.
Instead of trying to cram all your content into your main
page, consider creating sections. These sections can contain
highlights of your information with a link to further
information. You can set your sections up in tables with
colored heading sections for information such as articles,
products or whatever you'd like.
It's much better to keep your main page down to the most
essential elements and link to the detailed informational
pages.
A good rule of thumb is "less is more." In other words, keep
your main page as small as possible and include your most
important elements.
Navigation
When you begin designing your pages, keep in mind, your
visitors may enter your site from pages other than your
main. Make sure you include good navigational links on every
page. Place your navigational links together at the top,
bottom, left or right side of the page. Use tables to neatly
align your links and maintain a nicely organized and uniform
appearance throughout.
Try to keep the number of clicks required to get from your
main page to any other page on your site down to three or
four.
Fonts
One of the most important parts of a web page is text. The
way in which you display the text on your web page will have
a great impact on your success. It can make your page look
very professional or very unprofessional.
When placing text within your web page, always be consistent
with your fonts. In other words, don't use different fonts
throughout your pages. The standard fonts used on the
Internet are Arial and Verdana. The standard text size is 2.
Arial and Verdana are the standard simply because they are
the easiest to read on a computer screen.
Headlines, which require a larger font size, are a bit
different. A popular headline font used is Georgia, as it
displays nicely in the slightly larger font size.
Background and Text Colors
Use caution when selecting your background and text colors.
Busy backgrounds make text difficult to read and draw the
attention away from the text. In addition, always be
consistent with your background theme on each page of your
site.
Select your colors very carefully, as colors affect your
mood and will have an affect on your visitors as well.
Bright colors, such as yellow and orange, cause you to
become more cheerful or happy. Colors such as blue and
purple have a calming effect. Dark colors, such as brown and
black, have a depressing effect.
A good rule of thumb is to use colors based on the type of
effect you're trying to achieve. However, it's always best
for your text areas to have a white background with black
text.
Above all else, you must take the time to educate yourself
before you begin. I can't stress this point enough. If you
don't, you're honestly just wasting your time. Although it
may take a little longer, it will be well worth it in the
long run.
Part Four:
Essential Web Site Components
Although the Internet has provided a
wealth of opportunity
for all of us, it has also created a breeding ground for
scam artists. Internet users are very reluctant to make
purchases online, and share their personal information.
For this reason, you must take every opportunity to convey
your professionalism -- from your web site, products and
services, to your customer service, each will play an
important part in your success.
The moment your site loads, your visitors will have an
instant reaction -- your site will either convey your
professionalism or your amateurism. If your site doesn't
look professional, your visitors may leave your site
prematurely and never return.
If you're not confident in your ability to design a
professional looking web site, it would be in your best
interest to hire a professional.
In addition to having a professional appearance, a
professional web site should possess the following essential
components:
Domain Name
In order to establish credibility, you must be willing to
invest in your own domain name and professional web hosting.
Web sites hosted on free servers are not taken seriously and
will suffer a serious loss of business. Your visitors may
feel that if you don't have your own domain, you may not be
a credible company. They'll simply take their business
elsewhere.
Professional Logo
A professional looking logo is an absolute must. Not only
will it give your site a more professional appearance, but
it will also enable your visitors to recognize your brand.
Your logo should be displayed in the top left corner of each
page of your web site.
If you're not confident in your ability to design your own
logo, you can get a professional logo designed for just $25
at gotlogos.com. http://www.gotlogos.com
Theme-based Content
Your web site should focus on a specific subject and provide
a variety of information that relates to the subject. For
example, if your web site focuses on dog grooming, your
pages might include all of the following:
• Dog grooming articles
• Dog grooming ezine (newsletter)
• Dog grooming tips
• Dog grooming accessories
• Links to Dog Grooming resources
• Dog grooming news links
• Dog grooming photographs
Content comes in a variety of forms including news,
articles, tips, horoscopes, weather and resource links.
Although fresh, original content is preferable, there are a
variety of free resources available on the Internet that
will provide you with free content.
The following web sites provide free articles for
publication:
Web-Source.net http://www.web-source.net/articlesub.htm
Mega-Success http://www.mega-success.com
Marketing Seek http://www.marketing-seek.com
The following web sites provide free syndicated content:
Syndicator http://www.web-source.net/syndicator.htm
isyndicate http://www.isyndicate.com
Moreover http://www.moreover.com
Screaming Media http://www.screamingmedia.com
Email Capture
Collecting your potential customers' email addresses is an
absolute must. Whether you publish an ezine, provide web
site and/or product announcements or tips, you must take
every opportunity to capture your visitors' email addresses.
Display a subscription form on every page of your web site.
Privacy Policy
Internet users are becoming more and more concerned with
their privacy. However, there is something you can do to
ease their minds.
Create a page on your web site called "Privacy" and let your
visitors know exactly how you will be using the information
you collect.
This page should include an explanation of all of the
following:
• How do you plan on using their information?
• Is their information sold or shared with a third party?
• Why do you collect their email address and how will it
be used?
• Why do you track their IP address?
• Let your visitors know that you're not responsible for
the privacy issues of any outside web sites you may be
linking to.
• Why do you use order forms and what do you do with the
information acquired?
• Do you run contests and what do you do with the
information?
• Do you have a discussion forum or message board? Let
your visitors know that any information that is
disclosed in these areas becomes public information and
that they should exercise caution.
• Do you have security measures in place to protect the
loss, misuse and alteration of the information under
your control? If so, let your visitors know.
• Let your visitors know how they can opt out of your
mailing lists.
• Provide your visitors with your contact information
should they have any questions about your privacy
statement.
About Page
An "About" page is an essential part of a professional web
site. Your potential customers want to know exactly who you
are.
Create a page to add to your web site called "About" and
include all of the following:
1. A personal or professional biography
2. A photograph of yourself
3. A complete description of you and/or your company
4. Your web site and/or company objectives
5. Your name, address, phone number and email address
It is very important that you include an "About" page --
especially if you're selling a product or service. You must
do everything in your power to put your visitors' minds at
ease.
Testimonials
A great way to build your credibility with your potential
customers is to display your customer testimonials. Include
your customer's name, email address and web address with
each unsolicited testimonial to increase believability.
You can find a nice script that will rotate your
testimonials at Willmaster.com.
http://www.willmaster.com
Money Back Guarantee
To further increase your credibility, you must completely
remove your potential customers' risk. Provide them with a
solid, no risk, money back guarantee. This will put their
mind at ease by building their confidence in you and your
product.
Feedback
Many times, potential customers will have questions about
your products and services. Instead of displaying an email
address on your web site, consider using a feedback form.
Create a page on your web site called feedback and place a
form on this page to enable your visitors to contact you.
Your personal response to your potential customers can
literally determine whether or not you're going to make a
sale.
You can find a nice feedback script at Willmaster.com.
http://www.willmaster.com
Secure Server
If you're processing your customers' orders online, you must
place your order form on a secure server. Not only will a
secure server protect your customers' personal information,
but it also provides him/her with added confidence in
placing an order with you.
Copyrights
Display your copyright information at the bottom of each
page. It's best to include both the word Copyright and the ©
symbol, as some countries don't recognize one or the other.
Your copyright might look like this:
Copyright © Year Company Name
By taking the time to ensure your site possesses these
essential components, you will increase your chances of
success considerably.
Part Five:
Essential Web Development Tools
Developing a successful web site
takes a great deal of
planning and preparation. An important part of your
preparation is obtaining the essential tools of the trade.
HTML Editors
An HTML editor is a software program used to create and edit
HTML documents.
Although some Internet marketers prefer to write their own
HTML code, most prefer to use an HTML editor, as it can
greatly simplify a somewhat difficult process. However,
using an HTML editor has its disadvantages, as some editors
have a tendency to add a lot of unnecessary coding and may
not support the latest technologies.
Whether you will be writing your own HTML or using an
editor, taking the time to learn HTML is very important. Not
only will you gain your independence, but you'll also have
the ability to add special effects that many HTML editors
don't support.
Here are some popular HTML editors:
Macromedia Dreamweaver
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/
A popular WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) HTML
editor. Great for beginners and advanced users alike.
Coffee Cup
http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/
A popular HTML editor that's great for beginners as well as
advanced users. Includes a built in browser that will enable
you to instantly preview your HTML as you go.
Hot Dog Professional
http://sausage.com/products/index.html
Three HTML editors, including HotDog Junior for children,
PageWiz for the novice user and Professional for advanced
and budding webmasters.
Text Editors
A text editor is a software program used for editing plain
text that doesn't add any special formatting.
If you're considering writing your own HTML code, you'll
need a good text editor. Although it will certainly be more
time consuming, your code will be much cleaner and can
reduce your file size considerably.
In addition to using a text editor to write HTML, it can
also be used to edit scripts and write articles.
If you have a Windows operating system, Note Pad is the
preferred text editor. It should already be installed on
your computer.
Although Note Pad is a great little text editor, it can't
handle large files and is much better suited for smaller
jobs. You may find that you'd like an editor that is more
powerful, such as:
NoteTab Pro http://www.notetab.com/
TextPad http://www.textpad.com/
FTP
File Transfer Protocol, better known as FTP, is a procedure
used to upload and download files to and from your web
server.
Although many HTML editors will enable you to edit and
transfer pages to your server, an FTP program is still an
essential tool, as you must have complete control over the
files on your server.
An FTP program will enable you to upload scripts, set file
permissions, create folders and transfer files to and from
your server.
In order to use FTP, you'll need to download and install a
software program on your computer. The most widely used FTP
program is WS FTP Pro http://www.wsftp.com
Graphics Editor
A graphics editor is a software program that will enable you
to design and edit graphics.
Graphic design is an intimidating subject for many Internet
entrepreneurs. However, most of us must learn some basic
design techniques in order to avoid the high costs of hiring
a professional designer.
The most popular program used by Internet marketers is Paint
Shop Pro. This powerful program is the only program you'll
need to design professional looking graphics.
http://www.jasc.com/
Zip/Unzip Software
A Zip file is an "archive" of one or more files compressed
into one file for easy distribution.
Zip files are used to compress and transport file archives
over the Internet. It is the preferred method used for
electronic file distribution, as rather than downloading
several different files, you can simply download one Zip
file. In addition, the download time will be minimized, as
the files within the Zip archive are compressed.
Once a Zip file is downloaded, it can be easily opened and
extracted (unzipped) with a Zip/Unzip software program.
Although there are many Zip software programs available on
the Internet, WinZip is the most popular. WinZip makes
working with file archives simple. It features an easy
point-and-click, drag-and-drop interface for viewing,
extracting, adding, deleting and testing archived files.
You can download a fully functional evaluation version here:
http://www.winzip.com/download.htm
Email
Although most Internet Service Providers include email
accounts for their customers, these accounts aren't adequate
for an Internet business -- especially if you get a large
amount of email. Not only do the email addresses contain
your ISP's name, but they are also very limited on features
and options.
The two most popular email clients used online are Outlook
and Eudora. These programs will enable you to download email
from your server and offer features, such as sorting and
filtering, and will enable you to easily organize your email
messages. What's more, your email address will be your own
domain -- not someone else's.
Eudora
http://www.eudora.com
Outlook
http://www.microsoft.com/
Your webmaster toolbox will play an important part in your
success. Take the time to ensure your toolbox contains these
essential tools and you'll be well on your way to designing
a professional web site.
Part Six: Search Engine Preparation
An important part of developing a
successful web site is
attracting a steady stream of targeted traffic.
A significant amount of web site traffic originates from the
major Search Engines. A Search Engine is a web site that
indexes web pages. These sites run software programs called
"Spiders" or "Robots" that continuously crawl the Internet
in search of new web pages to index.
When you visit a Search Engine and you're looking for
something in particular, you type in a few words that best
describe what you're looking for. These words are known as
keywords. The Search Engine will return a list of web sites
that are most relevant to your keywords.
When a Search Engine indexes a web page, it scans the page
in search of specific keywords. The pages that rank high
when a search is returned are the pages that are most
relevant to the search query.
If your page doesn't rank in the top 10 or 20 results when
doing a keyword search at the Search Engines, your target
audience won't be able to find you.
When designing your web pages, you must specifically
optimize each page of your web site. Each page should target
one specific subject and be optimized with keywords that
best describe the subject.
When designing your web pages, you must specifically
optimize each page of your web site. Each page should target
one specific subject and be optimized with keywords that
best describe the subject.
Optimizing your web pages will include all of the following:
• Selecting the most relevant keywords for each page
• Placing the META keyword and description tags within the
head section of each page
• Using your primary keywords as your page title
• Placing keywords within your image ALT tags
• Placing your primary keywords within heading tags
• Using your primary keywords as image names
• Using your primary keywords as page names for hyperlinks
• Using keywords within your body text
Keywords/Keyword Phrases
A keyword is a word that best describes your web page. For
example, if your web page is focusing on dogs, your best
keyword will be "dogs."
A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe
your web page. If your web page is focusing on grooming a
dog, your best keyword phrase will be "dog grooming."
When optimizing your web pages, you should concentrate on
just a few keyword phrases for each page. These keyword
phrases should directly relate to your subject. Avoid using
general one-word keywords, as you definitely won't rank high
in the Search Engines.
When you begin optimizing your web pages, each page should
be optimized for a different primary keyword phrase. For
example, if you're selling dog grooming products, your main
page would of course be optimized for dog grooming products.
However, you might have another page that targets dog
grooming tables. And, another that targets dog grooming kit.
And, another that targets dog grooming scissors. See how
that works? A highly targeted keyword phrase will attract
highly targeted traffic.
The key to ranking high in the Search Engines and driving
highly targeted traffic to your site is to select highly
targeted, product specific keyword phrases that are less
competitive and less generalized. You don't want to target
every little possible keyword; you want to focus on your
primary keyword phrases for each page.
Your first step towards optimizing your web pages will be to
download a great little tool called Good Keywords
http://www.goodkeywords.com. This
is a free software program
that will enable you to type in a specific keyword and it
will return a list of keyword phrases.
As the competition for highly popular keywords is fierce,
you will significantly increase your chances of receiving a
high ranking in the Search Engines by targeting the less
popular keyword phrases. And in turn, significantly increase
your traffic.
For example, if your web page focuses on grooming a dog, you
would type the general keywords "dog grooming" into the Good
Keywords search box. The search would return a variety of
more targeted keyword phrases. The keyword phrases that
should be selected are those that are a little less popular,
yet much more targeted.
Selecting the right keyword phrases is the first step
towards ranking high in the Search Engines.
Part Seven: Web
Page Optimization
Selecting the right keyword phrases
for each page of your
web site is the first step towards ranking high in the
Search Engines. However, it is only the first step.
In addition to selecting targeted keyword phrases, you must
also strategically optimize your page including:
• META description tag
• META keyword tag
• Title
• Image ALT tags
• Heading tags
• Image names
• Hyperlinks
• Body text
<META>
The META description tag will contain a description of your
site. This description will be visible in some of the Search
Engines when your site is returned in a search.
Your description should include your site's most important
keyword phrases.
Example:
<META name="DESCRIPTION" content="Providing dog grooming
tips, supplies and training.">
The META Keywords tag will contain a list of your keyword
phrases separated with a comma. Your primary keyword phrase
should be first, followed by one or two secondary keyword
phrases.
Example:
<META name="KEYWORDS" content="dog grooming tips, dog
grooming supplies, dog grooming training">
<IMG ALT>
An image Alt tag follows your graphic address or URL in your
HTML code. These words will be displayed in place of your
graphics through an older browser or when your visitors have
their graphics turned off.
To fully optimize your graphics, insert your keyword phrases
within the Alt tags of your graphics. At a bare minimum,
make sure you use enough images to display all of your
keyword phrases. Remember...your primary keyword phrase
should always come first.
Example Images (Notice the images are named using the three
primary keyword phrases):
dog_grooming_tips.jpg
dog_grooming_supplies.jpg
dog_grooming_training.jpg
Example:
<IMG SRC="WIDTH="80" HEIGHT="105" dog_grooming_tips.jpg
ALT="dog grooming tips">
<IMG SRC="WIDTH="80" HEIGHT="105" dog_grooming_supplies.jpg
ALT="dog grooming supplies">
<IMG SRC="WIDTH="80" HEIGHT="105" dog_grooming_training.jpg
ALT="dog grooming training">
<TITLE> Tag
Just as you must place your keyword phrases within your META
description and keyword tags, you must also use your primary
keyword phrase as your web page title. Nothing more should
appear between the <TITLE> and </TITLE> tags except your
primary keyword phrase.
<H?> Tag
Heading tags are used to separate topics and range from <H1>
being very large and bold to <H6> which is very small and
bold. Some Search Engines place relevance on text displayed
within the heading tags. Top priority is placed on the
highest listed heading tag.
Your keyword phrases should each be used as a heading for
sections within your web page (placed in the same order as
your keyword phrases within your META keywords tag) and
placed within an appropriate heading tag. These headings
should be followed by some descriptive text.
Your headings should look something like this:
<H?>Dog Grooming Tips</H?>
Your descriptive content containing your keyword phrase.
<H?>Dog Grooming Supplies</H?>
Your descriptive content containing your keyword phrase.
<H?>Dog Grooming Training</H?>
Your descriptive content containing your keyword phrase.
<A HREF> Tag
When creating links on your web page, your links should be
displayed together with a small image in front of each link.
This image might be a graphic bullet, arrow, or whatever
you'd like. These images will not only enhance your web
page, but they will also enable you to place your keyword
phrases within the Alt tags.
When you begin creating your links, make sure the page name,
image name and page description text all contain your
keyword phrases.
Your HTML code might look something like this:
<img src="dog_grooming_tips.gif" alt="dog grooming tips"><a
href="dog_grooming_tips.htm">Dog Grooming Tips</a>
<img src="dog_grooming_supplies.gif" alt="dog grooming
supplies"><a href="dog_grooming_supplies.htm">Dog Grooming
Supplies</a>
<img src="dog_grooming_training.gif" alt="dog grooming
training"><a href="dog_grooming_training.htm">Dog Grooming
Training</a>
<BODY>Text</BODY>
Optimizing your text is another important step towards
ranking higher in the Search Engines. Your web page should
contain plenty of text and should contain each of your
keywords and keyword phrases used in different variations.
If all of your keyword phrases you've listed within your
META tags aren't found within your text, the Search Engines
will simply ignore them.
Search Engine Submissions
Once you've optimized your web pages and uploaded them to
your server, your next step will be to submit your main
pages to the Search Engines. However, don't submit your
pages to Google. Your pages will rank much higher if you
allow this Search Engine to find your pages on its own.
You may want to consider creating a site map for your site
and submit this page to Google instead. A site map is a page
that outlines how your pages are set up and linked together.
If you design a site map with links to all of your pages,
the Search Engine robots can easily spider and index them.
Taking the time to optimize each of your web pages is the
most important step you can take towards ranking high in the
Search Engines and driving your more traffic to your web
site.
Part
Eight: Writing Effective Sales Copy
A professional looking web site is a
very important part of
developing a profitable Internet business. However, your
sales copy is just as important -- each will play a major
role in your success.
The key to writing effective sales copy is simply learning
how to write persuasive words specifically written for your
targeted potential customer. You must feel their needs and
write your copy with passion, excitement and benefits. Tell
them exactly what's in it for them by writing copy that
evokes a specific emotion and stresses your product's
benefits.
Use the following formula when writing your sales copy:
A - Attention - Use a powerful headline that demands
attention
I - Interest - Intrigue interest and create curiosity
D - Detail - Provide details about your product or service
A - Action - Call for action
When you begin writing your copy, your text should be
written in a black, legible font with a light background.
Avoid using fancy fonts or backgrounds that will make your
text difficult to read. Write in small blocks of text with a
space between each block. There is nothing that will make
your visitor click away faster than a sea of black text --so
make sure you use plenty of white space.
A great way to write your copy and come up with new benefits
is to use the "so what" strategy. After each sentence, say
to yourself, "so what" and then elaborate.
Example:
XYZ computers are lightning fast. (so what) They can process
information faster than any other computer on the market.
(so what) Your programs will instantly load on command, (so
what) saving you hours of valuable time and frustration over
the life of your computer.
Remember...benefits sell not features.
Headline
The first and most important part of your sales copy is the
headline. If your headline doesn't instantly capture your
targeted potential customers' attention, and arouse a
specific emotion, the rest of your sales copy will be
useless.
In order to write an effective headline, you must learn how
to use specific words to achieve a specific reaction.
Before writing your headline, you must first learn a little
bit about the basic human motivators. According to
psychologist Abraham Maslow, human behavior is always the
result of one or more of five basic needs. He listed these
needs in a sequence that he refers to as "the hierarchy of
human needs."
He believes that until a less important need is met there
won't be any desire to pursue a more important need. Below
are the five human motivators, beginning with the basic
needs and continuing to the most important needs.
Physiological - Basic human needs include hunger, thirst,
shelter, clothing and sex.
Safety (Security) - Human need for physical, emotional and
financial security.
Social (Affiliation) - Human need for love, affection,
companionship and acceptance.
Esteem (Self Esteem) - Human need for achievement,
recognition, attention and respect.
Self-actualization - Human need to reach their full
potential.
When you are aware of the basic human needs, you can
incorporate these needs into your writing. A great headline
will appeal to your potential customers' emotions. You must
feel their needs, wants and desires and write your headlines
with passion and emotion.
Introduction
Just as your headline is a very important part of your sales
copy, the first paragraph is just as important. Studies have
shown that if your headline attracts your potential
customers' attention, and you can maintain their attention
through the first paragraph, chances are they'll read the
rest of your copy.
The first paragraph should clearly define the benefits that
will be outlined within your sales copy -- identify a
problem and promote your product or service as the solution.
Subheadings
Subheadings are basically just smaller headlines used to
break up your text blocks. They also provide your readers
with important highlights of your paragraphs.
Use plenty of subheadings throughout your copy, as not all
of your visitors will read your copy word for word. They'll
simply scan it and only read what catches their attention.
Remove the Risk
You must provide your potential customers with a solid, no
risk, money back guarantee. In addition, provide a limited
time free trial or download that will completely remove
their risk. This will build your potential customers'
confidence in you and put their mind at ease.
Call for Action
Once your potential customer has read your sales copy, you
must direct them to your order page by asking for the order.
Use a P.S.
When your visitor scans your sales message, chances are
they'll read your headline, sub headlines and your
PostScript message. Place your most important benefits
within your PS message.
Provide Testimonials
Testimonials provide a great way to reassure your visitors.
Blend your testimonials in with your sales message. Avoid
making your visitors have to click to another page to view
your testimonials -- chances are, they won't. By blending
your testimonials in with your sales message, you can ensure
they will be read.
Long Copy verses Short Copy
It is a proven fact that long sales copy out-sells short
sales copy. However, some visitors do prefer a short sales
letter. You can provide your visitors with both. For those
who prefer a short sales letter, provide opportunities to
click through to your order page prior to ending your sales
letter.
Try to keep your sales letter all on one page. Your visitors
would much rather have to scroll through your letter than
click through and load another page. With each additional
click, you'll lose a percentage of your potential customers.
Your words should seamlessly flow together from your
headline through to your order page. Every word, sentence
and headline should have one specific purpose -- to lead
your potential customer to your order page. The simple,
well-designed web sites with killer sales copy make the
sales.
Part Nine:
Launching Your Web Site On the Internet
When you're ready to launch your web
site, you'll need to
make two very important decisions -- what your domain name
will be and where you will host your new site.
A domain name is used to locate a particular web site on the
Internet. It is a part of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
and instructs the browser as to where to find a particular
web page.
When a web address (http://www.domain.com) is typed into the
browser, the web server will look for a page called index.
This page may have different extensions, such as .htm,
.html, or .shtml and will be displayed when the URL is
called.
Additional pages within the site are called by including the
URL followed by a forward slash and the page name.
http://www.domain.com/page.htm
Selecting a quality domain name is of the utmost of
importance. Not only will it tell your potential customers
what your business is all about, but it will also play a
role in branding.
A good domain name is one that will be immediately
remembered by your visitors, as it connects with something
they're interested in.
A great domain name is one that can be guessed by a
potential visitor looking for something in particular. For
example, if someone is looking for information on dog
grooming, they might type in: http://www.doggrooming.com. A
great domain name will enable a potential visitor to guess
the web address and will contain your most relevant keyword
phrase.
Here are some basic guidelines to assist you in selecting a
great domain name:
1) Select a domain name that contains your most relevant
keyword phrase.
2) Your domain name should be easily remembered.
3) Avoid using abbreviations or anything that will be
difficult for your visitors to remember.
4) Keep your domain name as short as possible.
5) Select a quality domain name that will grow with your
business.
Although there are many new domain extensions available,
dot.com is still the best choice.
There are many companies online that will enable you to
register a domain name. Although Network Solutions is the
original domain name registrant, there are now many less
expensive options available. You may want to do some
research to find a registrant that meets your needs.
http://www.networksolutions.com
If you're just starting out, you may want to select a
hosting company prior to registering your domain name, as
many hosting companies will register the name for you when
you set up your hosting account.
Web Hosts
A Web Host is a company that provides you with server space
for your web site. This includes all of your web pages,
graphics, scripts and files.
When your web address is typed into a browser, your web host
is being contacted to locate and display the requested page.
Free verses Professional Web Hosts
All Web Hosts are not created equally. There are a number of
free hosting services available on the Internet. However, if
you're designing a web site for business purposes, you
should NEVER host your web site with a free host.
In order to establish credibility, you must be willing to
invest in your own domain name and professional web hosting.
Web sites hosted on free servers are not taken seriously and
will suffer a serious loss of business.
Your visitors may feel that if you don't have your own
domain, you may not be a credible company. They'll simply
take their business elsewhere.
Not only is professional credibility a great reason not to
host with a free service, but many Search Engines won't even
index a site hosted on a free server.
If you're serious about your business and you have a sincere
desire to succeed, having your own domain name and
professional hosting is a must.
Selecting a Web Host
When selecting a professional web host, your first
consideration should be the company. Check out their
background. Talk with some of their customers and ask them
if they've been satisfied with their service.
Do some research:
• How many customers do they serve?
• What is their uptime percentage?
• Do they require you to make payments in advance?
• Do they charge set up fees?
• How is their customer support? Test them.
• Do they offer fast connections?
• How much daily transfer do they allow?
• Will you be charged additional fees if you exceed your
daily transfer?
• Do they offer shopping cart software to process your
orders?
• Do they offer secure servers?
• Will you be provided with your own CGI-bin?
• Can you upgrade free of charge?
Web hosting prices vary greatly. When selecting a host, make
sure you're getting exactly what you're paying for. Keep in
mind, a lower monthly rate will not benefit you if your site
is down a lot, slow, or customer service is poor.
Selecting a professional web host is a very important
decision. Make sure you do your homework and ensure the host
you select offers exactly what you need.
Here are some basic features you should look for when
selecting a web host:
1) 24/7 reliable tech support
2) Your own domain name (www.yourname.com)
3) At least 10GB of monthly transfer (traffic)
4) A minimum of 20MB - 50MB of server space
5) Unlimited true POP email accounts - name@yourdomain.com
6) Unlimited email aliases
7) Email forwarding
8) Unlimited autoresponders
9) Your own unrestricted CGI-Bin
10) Access to SSL Encryption for secure transactions
11) MySQL Database
12) PHP
13) Perl
14) htaccess password protection
15) Server Side Includes (SSI) support
16) Design (and upload to) your site using Netscape or
other HTML editing software
17) Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions for those
utilizing FrontPage
18) Unlimited free access to your server via FTP/Telnet
19) Easy access to your log files
20) Statistics on visits to your site
Some additional features you may want are:
• Web control panel
• Custom error pages
• Ability to run Cron events
• Sub-domains
• Mailing list/newsletter support
• URL redirect
• Web mail
• Shopping cart
• Referral program
Although there are many web hosting companies online, there
are only two that I can recommend. They are as follows:
Adgrafix - Professional web hosting starting at $19.95/mo.
for a 50MB web hosting package.
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/t.cgi?l=wh
Host4Profit - Professional web hosting specifically designed
for the Internet marketer. $24.95/mo. for 300MB
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/t.cgi?l=h4p
When selecting a domain name and hosting company, take your
time and do some research before making a decision. It will
be well worth your time and effort in the long run.
Part Ten:
Promoting Your Web Site
Creating a successful Internet
presence involves much more
than designing a great web site or having the "perfect"
product. Listing your web site with the Search Engines is
your first step; however, you must not solely rely on the
Search Engines to bring you traffic.
You must design a complete promotional strategy and work it
every day. If you're launching a new web site, your first
step will be to submit your site to the Search Engines and
Directories.
Although there are many auto-submission software programs
available on the Internet, make sure you manually submit
your site to the main Search Engines and Directories:
Google http://www.google.com/addurl.html
(Although you can
submit your site map to Google, you will receive a higher
ranking by allowing their robots to find your pages on their
own.)
The Open Directory Project http://dmoz.org/add.html
AltaVista http://www.altavista.com/addurl
Lycos http://www.lycos.com/addasite.html
Hotbot http://hotbot.lycos.com/addurl.asp
Once you've manually submitted your main pages, visit
SelfPromotion.com http://www.selfpromotion.com to
automatically submit your pages to a number of additional
Search Engines and Directories.
A good way to organize your promotions is to set up a web
page, for your personal use, that will contain your complete
strategy. This page should be stored on your hard drive and
not uploaded to your server. Your page should contain four
sections.
1. Daily Promotions
2. Weekly Promotions
3. Monthly Promotions
4. Miscellaneous Promotions
Each of these four sections should contain the appropriate
information for each of your promotional resources, such as
web site name, user ID, password (if applicable) and
hyperlinked web addresses for each web site you plan to use
for your promotions. This will enable you to open your web
page each day and visit the sites you have listed.
-> Daily Promotions
Discussion Boards
Visit some popular discussion boards and share your
expertise. Although you may not advertise on discussion
boards, you can include your signature file with your post.
Before you begin posting to discussion boards, make sure you
lurk a while and see exactly how the board functions.
Visit http://www.web-source.net/web/Discussion_Forums/
for a
complete listing of some of the top discussion boards.
-> Weekly Promotions
Ezine Advertising / Ad Swaps
Your weekly promotions should consist of placing a paid
ezine advertisement and/or arranging ad swaps with fellow
publishers.
Visit the Directory of Ezines for a complete listing of
hundreds of publishers and contact information for
advertising. http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/t.cgi?l=doe
To organize your ad placements and swaps, place the
publication names, publisher names, ad dates and hyperlinked
web addresses within your weekly promotions list.
-> Monthly Promotions
Your monthly promotions should include writing an article in
the area of your expertise, promotional exchanges with
similar web sites, and offline promotions.
To organize your monthly promotions, place the names and
hyperlinked web addresses for each of your promotional
resources within your monthly promotions section.
Writing Articles
Writing articles that may be freely published with your
bylines is one of the best promotional methods online. Your
article may be published in hundreds of ezines, on web sites
or even in magazines.
For further information on writing articles, visit:
http://www.web-source.net/write.htm
Promotional Exchanges
Cross promoting is a powerful technique used by many
Internet marketers to increase the exposure of their
products, services or publications. You simply decide what
type of promotional exchange you would be interested in and
contact fellow marketers to discuss an exchange.
The most effective technique used in cross promotions is
recommendations. By providing each other with a personal
recommendation you can increase your response rates
tremendously.
Here are some popular cross promoting techniques you can use
to boost your business:
Link Exchanges
Exchange links with web sites similar to yours, but not in
competition. Many Search Engines are now utilizing a system
that tracks and ranks sites according to the number of
quality links pointing to a particular web site. By
exchanging links with similar web sites, you will not only
increase your Search Engine ranking, but you will also
increase your web site traffic.
Ezine Ad Swaps
Exchange subscription ads with other ezine publishers. Ezine
advertising is one of the best forms of advertising on the
Internet. By swapping ads with fellow ezine publishers, you
can run your ad in other publications free of charge.
Subscription Exchanges
Exchange subscription information with fellow ezine
publishers. Provide recommendations within your ezine's
welcome message, thank you page and even on your multiple
subscription ezine form.
Ezine Column
Partner with a similar publication and provide content for
each other. This may be a weekly tips column, question and
answer column or whatever you'd like.
Ebook Exchanges
Partner with fellow Internet marketers and create free
ebooks to freely distribute. The ebook should mutually
benefit and promote both of you, while providing valuable
information for your visitors.
Ride Alongs
A ride along is any extra information (advertisements) sent
along with a direct mailing. You can use this same technique
with any ezine solo mailings you may run by including an
exchange recommendation within your mailing. In addition,
you can include recommendations within your thank you
letters you send out when you deliver your products.
Up sells
An up sell is used when your customer is in the process of
ordering your product. Another product is introduced, for a
small additional cost, just as you're closing the sale. This
technique is used with many infomercials when the customer
calls in their order. The operator will introduce an
additional product for a minimal extra charge. You can use
this same technique on your order page by trading product
recommendations with fellow marketers.
A quality recommendation will pull a much higher response
rate than just a link or banner. Cross promote with
individuals you truly respect and believe in, as your
professional reputation is on the line.
Offline Promotions
Promoting your web site offline is another great way to
increase your traffic. Below are several resources to assist
you:
IDit Plates http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/t.cgi?l=idit
Put your web address on your vehicle. IDit Plates are a
great way to continuously promote your web site. They're
triple chrome plated and blend in well with your vehicle.
Visit iPrint http://www.iprint.com for
your printing needs.
From business print items to promotional items, iPrint has
it all.
Place ads in newspapers, magazines, on the radio, or on TV.
Visit these links for complete listings:
Gebbie Press http://www.gebbieinc.com
Newspapers Online http://www.newspapers.com
For even more promotional products, PromoCity can add your
logo to any one of over 500,000 items.
http://www.promocity.com
Miscellaneous Promotions
Your miscellaneous promotions might include paying for
traffic, text and banner advertising.
Visit the following web addresses for further information:
http://www.web-source.net/ad_camp.htm
http://www.web-source.net/pay_traffic.htm
Once you've implemented your promotional strategy and
continuously work it each day, you'll be amazed with the
results of your efforts. Consistency will be the key to
driving massive traffic to your site.
----------------------------------
Copyright © Shelley Lowery 2003.
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the highly acclaimed ebook
series, Web Design
Mastery -- An eight volume (500+ pages)
in-depth guide to professional web design. Web Design
Mastery is being hailed as the "Bible" for professional web
design.
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