Obviously the Internet's time has come! You can't turn on your TV without
seeing a commercial with a web site address prominently featured. When
my tiny town even developed a web site, I knew the web page had come
into it's own..
I'm sure you already know, if you don't have a web site to market your
business to your community and the world, it's time to get one. There
is a lot of web space offered for free on the Internet. However these
sites typically place pop-up windows or advertising banners on your
pages, something you want to take into consideration when deciding where
you want to host your site. (You may want to look at our design packages
which include a year of FREE Hosting and we do NOT place any advertising
anywhere on your site.) If you would like to design your own site there
are HTML editors that make designing web pages a less daunting task.
Here are two quick and easy ways to get a good-looking web site in
less than a week (and that's if you take your time doing it!).
1. If you need to get your web site up NOW, and you don't have time
to deal with it yourself, have a web designer
build your first few pages. Be very clear as to what you want to accomplish
with your site. Keep the design simple and promise not to ask for many
changes after the job is done. Many designers will knock out a professional
looking starter site for a few hundred dollars. Later when you have
the time, you can add more pages to your site using the original pages
as a template, or by following the suggestions below.
2. Or design your web site from scratch yourself. Keep the concept
simple and use construction aids developed especially for beginning
web builders. First you need a place to put your site. Keep in mind
that you want to convey a professional appearance to your visitors.
Although it may be that a company is just being frugal, I'm sure we
have all been guilty of questioning a company's stability when it appears
as though it can't afford to pay for it's web space. That being said
there are tons of free space offered by http://www.tripod.com,
http://www.geocities.com, and
http://www.angelfire.com Once
again, there are a few ways that you can secure FREE
Hosting with us. The difference being that with us no one would
know that your company is hosting for free!
Many services also provide beginner directions on how to design a site.
We provide our clients with SiteBuilder which allows you to build your
own web site using nothing more than your favorite browser. The novice
can begin with one of the basic, fill in the blank templates of EasyPage,
while the more experienced user may wish to jump right in with the more
flexible and robust PowerPage.We also include over 400 images to use
to design your pages. Geocities provides their web building directions
at several levels of difficulty (or maybe I should say "simplicity")--start-up,
basic, E-Z, and advanced. Tripod sends newbies directly to their Homepage
Builder. They also provide you with places to get free graphics to spruce
up your pages. We are more than willing to help our customers, and we
do so on a more personal basis. Note: We also provide 18 pre-installed
cgi scripts in each account's own cgi-bin so you can have an interactive
site without having to learn programming.
If you are a member of AOL or Prodigy, those services provide both
web space and adequate HTML editors free for your use.
Even those who aren't AOL members can download a free copy of the highly
acclaimed and easy to learn AOL Press 2.0 (http://www.aolpress.com).
In fact, if you're brand new to HTML editors, AOL Press is a quick way
to a professional look.
Word processing and desktop publishing programs now offer web design
features, too. I've actually seen nice looking sites turned out with
World Perfect and Microsoft Publisher. But for an excellent WYSIWYG
(What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor, we suggest using Dreamweaver.
Others that are popular are Microsoft Front-page, Adobe Page Mill, and
Hot Dog.
For best results keep your web site information-packed and text intensive.
Limit the graphics to one or two per page. Use colored text boxes and
bullets, which will load much faster, and give the appearance of a more
graphically designed page. Most of the fancy graphic loaded web sites
you see are done by expensive web design experts with a development
budget in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. And who
are often more concerned with impressing their contemporaries than communicating
well to readers. There's no need to compete with fancy site's of the
week. In fact, research has found that simple sites which load quickly
are visited more often, keep visitors around longer and are more commercially
successful. As long as your site has good information or entertainment
to offer, readers will appreciate it and your ability to succeed will
be greatly enhanced.
There are many on-line tutorials and books that can help you learn
HTML. The University of Illinois has been kind enough to allow us to
provide a link to their Beginner's
Guide to HTML at the NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications)
don't let the name scare you away. This is a very instructive and helpful
tutorial that leads you by the hand through the world of HTML. This
is where I learned most of my HTML skills. Other resources include the
book "Web Design for Dummies" which puts HTML design in the simple
terms. And for those in a real hurry, Lisa Schmeiser's "Web Design Template
Sourcebook" provides you with a CD-ROM of web designs. Lisa says, "This
book isn't a definitive be-all, end-all of web design: it's meant for
those of us who get tossed a web site task with little lead time for
preparation."
One of the truly great things about the web is the ability to easily
share and borrow information. If you like the way a page looks or handles
information, etc. you can email the webmaster and see if they will allow
you to use their script or whatever on your page. I've have found that
most are more than willing to share. Usually all that they ask is that
you include credit for the work by hiding it in the "source code"
of your page (which means that no one will actually even see it on your
web page.)
Which brings us to another method often used, which is to copy other
sites that you like. How? It's actually very simple but you must be
careful not to plagiarize another person's art work or copy. Most web
browsers have drop down menus that include a "View" command. Located
on that menu is a command "View Source." When you click this, you will
see the underlying HTML code that creates the page. You can copy the
entire code or portion you wish to use, replacing the text and graphics
with your own, and you've quickly build a nice-looking page. (To copy:
With your mouse highlight the HTML, press control + "c", open a word
processing page for example: notepad, press control + "v" to paste the
code into your page, when you close notepad be sure to "save"
as an htm or html file.)
Always use the basics of good web design. Remember to include lots
of free helpful information (that's what has driven the net from day
one.) Give each and every page a title and headline that accurately
describes what the page or site is about. Clearly define what you sell
and how it benefits the buyer. Be certain to tell your visitors who
you are and why your company is in the business it is in and how that
came to be. Make it easy and encourage people to contact you, plaster
your email address and phone number all over your site. Get you prospects
to know you by putting your picture on your page. The more customers
know about you, the more trust you will earn. And earning trust on the
Internet has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks for many businesses.
It is fact, that web sites are rapidly becoming an essential part of
marketing. As millions of people discover the Internet every few weeks,
you will need your business represented by your own custom web site.
Send an or give him a call now at 517-447-4080 and we will do
all we can to help you.
Grayling provides marketing advice and copy writing for those wanting
to succeed at business.
Visit http://www.yourbizwiz.com
for more FREE advice and for all your e-commerce solutions!
YourBizWiz.com provides FAST Low-Cost Hosting and is committed
to your Online Success.
Grayling Lathrop is YourBizWiz!
Email him for FREE advice here:
or call him at (517) 447-4080.
