|
The Birth of a
Professional Web Site
Part One The Learning
Process
by Shelley Lowery
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.
(Continued in part two)
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. http://www.webdesignmastery.com
|