No matter what kind of work-at-home opportunity you choose, you will need some type of web presence in order to properly market yourself or your products online. Whether you are involved in Network Marketing, developing Affiliate Sites, promoting your own products, or marketing your service-based business - the first question when starting out is:
How do I create my website?
There are so many options that it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start. Should I hire a web designer? What would I expect to pay? How do I know who to hire? What will the website do for me?
A good web designer will sit down with you and develop both a website and marketing plan, based on your most general thoughts and questions. They will know what you should be asking, and will outline all of the details that you might not have even considered.
Unfortunately, since you dont know these details upfront, you have no way of knowing if you are working with a professional... or someone who just has basic knowledge of website design and "a package" to sell you.
Note: GOOD web designers know that they can earn far more developing their own websites (monetizing them with advertising or affiliate programs) than they can by charging you for their service. This leaves you weeding out those who love to make money upfront regardless of the results... from the designers who truly love design work. Your best bet is to work with web designers that are personally recommended to you, and to get quotes and information from several developers or companies. 😉
Should I design my own website?
This is certainly an option that you should seriously consider. It's much easier than you think, and you will benefit in the long run from having the basic knowledge and experience. Being involved in the development of your website, and in your marketing plan, means that you have more control over the results.
If you want to make a change, you'll know how to do that. If you decide to add a new page to your site, no problem. While you can always outsource these tasks, or any specific piece of your web development project, it is nice to be able to go in and make simple changes or additions when necessary.
Where do I start?
The absolute easiest and least expensive way to develop your own website is to use a template. You can get very nice templates at www.BasicTemplates.com for around $12. For that price you will get the graphics and the web page, and you can use this template to create each page of your website.
Since you probably dont 'know code', you will need an HTML Editor to edit the template and add your own content to each page. You can download NVU (a free editor) at www.NVU.com. If you can use Word, or create fancy emails, then you can use the NVU program - it's just as simple 😉 .
A popular solution to creating optimized websites easily is XSitePro. This program is affordable, easy to use, and gets highly positive reviews from newbies and seasoned professionals alike. Click here for more information...
I made a website... Now what?
Your next step is to put your new website on the web so that other people can see it. You will need a domain name (www dot something dot com), which will be the "address" of your website. You can register a domain name for $8.95 at www.GoDaddy.com. You want to choose something that describes your website or business, and that is easy to say and spell. It may take you awhile to find a domain name that is not already taken, but dont give up - get creative!
Once your domain is registered, you will need a hosting account. This is where you upload your files (your website and your images) and where your online business will be 'hosted'. I use and recommend HostGator, simply because they have tons of great features at a very low price - under $10.
With your HostGator account, you will get access to features such as: shopping carts, email accounts, blogs, forums, guestbooks, traffic statistics and much more. They even allow you to host multiple websites and domains on the one account, all for the same price.
Once you sign up with HostGator, simply log in and read through the information that they offer. They will show you how to upload your files to your new account, how to set up your email addresses, and anything else that you need to know.
If you have any questions along the way, whether it is about hiring a web designer or creating your own website, join us at the Discussion Forum. You can ask the most basic questions, get your new website reviewed by professionals, or learn the best internet marketing techniques. Its free and easy to register at the forum, and the members are very friendly and resourceful. I'll see you there!
Best,
About Lynn Terry
Hey Lynn, another solid article, well done.
Another angle can be to suggest that new comers forget about hiring a designer, forget about designing a site themselves, and forget about pretty much anything technical. Skip over the whole mess.
Find the easiest web based site builder you can, and focus almost all your energy on creating great content, and getting links to that great content.
Technology and artistic creativity are fun, but many people may be best served by ruthlessly ignoring both as much as they possibly can, so they can focus on content and links, content and links, content and links.
An interesting article Lynn. Another good tool to design websites if you decide to go it alone is XsitePro (www.xsitepro.com), a web design software designed for internet marketers. Don't need to know html coding etc
You're right! I added a link to it in the original article 😉
"The absolute easiest and least expensive way to develop your own website is to use a template. You can get very nice templates at http://www.BasicTemplates.com for around $12. For that price you will get the graphics and the web page, and you can use this template to create each page of your website."
Templates are definitely the way to go, but why not save $12 and use a perfectly good open source template?
Here is a list of some good template websites:
http://joshkaufmanblog.com/the-8-best-sources-for-free-website-templates
Cheers,
Josh Kaufman
Thanks for the link, Josh!
Why not use WordPress? Watch for specials as getting a domain name can be as little as $2.99. Another good web host is bluehost.com
WordPress is a great option, of course - but I was trying to outline the absolute easiest path for a complete newbie to get their first website online. 😉
Thanks Lynn for the sales and ideas.
I am a newbie and completely overwhelmed by this technological world of the internet. I'm an entrepreneur and have been researching Landing pages, who can build me an affordable one, my content, autoresponder, etc. Just when I think I have most of the info... bam! I find something new. Your affiliate basictemplates.com is great but it does not offer Landing page templates. Are there any you'd recommend that do not come with a lengthy sales pitch? Please help 🙂
If all you need is a landing page to build a list, then you need two things: Aweber, which is the industry leader in mailing list management. They have a free trial so feel free to check them out.
For the landing page, you just need a professional page template and header graphic. For that I would use someone like http://www.graphicsalien.com (who is not taking projects at the moment but will soon) or http://www.maxcovers.com/ or something similar.
Hi
I am hoping maybe you may be able to steer me to the right direction. I have a website, finished and fully functional for about a year now. Problem is, I have not had one sale to this day on it. I need to find someone who looks over sites and trouble shoot it to see why I haven't generated any sales. I don't want to build another site just fix the one that I currently have. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
I actually do that on my discussion forum in the Website Reviews section. Feel free to post your link there and the members and I will be happy to take a look at it!
Best,
Lynn Terry
Driving traffic into your website is what will determine your success. I believe that its the make or break situation.
Hi Angel,
Check out this post:
10 Free Ways to Drive Traffic to a Brand New Webiste
Enjoy! 😀
Hi Lynn!
What do you think of site build it?
Do you think it is worth spending all that money each month on them or trying to do a website without them?
Also would like to ask-- what do you think of James martell's resources?
Site Build It (SBI) has been around for many years, and there are thousands of happy customers. While it is not for me personally, I have seen some people build solid online businesses using their tools.
Even if you dont choose to use SBI as a site builder, the books and guides alone are a great help. I encourage my visitors to download them freely - and have for years.
I believe the fee is yearly, not monthly, but it includes hosting and use of their entire suite of tools. And yes, you can build a site any number of ways (as mentioned in the original post here)... so it boils down to preference - and individual learning/working styles.
James Martell has been around for years. I havent studied his material as closely as I have some others - Rosalind Gardner for example. That being the case, I cant give a fair comparison...
Am confused and Newbie. Can you start internet marketing with Landing page and set up web site later? What is the easiest and best way to start developing my list? Landing page? I need a course/tutorial about how to start internet marketing that includes all the steps. Any suggestions?
The best suggestion I can make is that you join us over at the SSWT Forum. Its free, and I check in there daily to answer questions. We can help you get started with each of those elements and have you online & list-building in no time!
To answer your question directly, yes you can start with a landing page and begin building your list that way as you develop your site further. You'll need a web host, a mailing list manager and a simple HTML editor to get started.
Thanks for this wonderful post. However, I am already ‘following’ some of your suggested tips. Right now I am a member of a wonderful affiliate program that gives us array of great tools such as professionally designed templates.
What I do is to select one for the templates and edit with NVU - pronto I upload to the server. My server? HOSTGATOR of course.
Sometimes ago the owner of XSitePro said he want to increase the price by another $100 - is this true?
I am not sure - I know he's coming out with a new version, so that may be part of the price increase if there is one.