LESSON #27: 5 Ways to Build a Website
Back in lesson 23 I talked about why you need to have your own website.
Since then, we’ve covered several of the prerequisites for having a website (getting a domain, hosting, etc). Today we’re going to talk about your options for building a website, and then we’re going to make it a reality.
(Watch this video…)
Main points:
IMPORTANT: I did not mention this in the video, because it sort of goes without saying. But I think I may need to offer this reminder:
A website does not constitute a business. It is an essential component of your business, but it is not a business by itself.
So please keep that in mind throughout the next several lessons as we focus on building your website.
- Getting your website online is a milestone
- You can start marketing it before the product is done
1) Build it from scratch (using a web language like HTML)
Do you need to know HTML to be an internet marketer? No, but it can be very helpful.
2) Use a web authoring program (ex. An HTML editor such as FrontPage)
WYSIWYG = What You See is What You Get (ex. NVU)
3) Use a template or site builder (ex. HostGator’s site builder)
Template = shortcut
My favorite site builder for non-techies: XSitePro
4) Use a script or CMS (ex. WordPress)
Great website script for internet marketers: Butterfly Marketing
Forums: phpBB, Vbulletin, etc.
WordPress: my favorite free publishing application
5) Outsource it (pay someone else to do it for you)
Action step:
1) Choose a method that you will use to build your website
Think about all these options, do some research if you need to, and choose ONE to start with. We’ll start building your website in the next lesson.
By the way, if you DO have a website already… be sure comment and let us know what worked or didn’t work well for you!
As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 
Have a great day!
Yes it is very helpful to know some html, even using an editor. I find myself frequently tweaking FrontPage generated code. I wanted to mention that Elizabeth Castro writes very easy to read books on html and other programming languages. I have one of her early html books from 1998 and still refer to it. It’s filled with examples and visual illustrations.
Question about Hostgator: if I use one of their templates to build a site, can I add a phpBB forum with that template?
Yes and no. Technically you can add a phpBB forum to any site. However, the forum would not look like the rest of the template unless you did some considerable “skinning” of the forum template files (you could probably have it done for under $100 on rentacoder). So it just depends on whether you want it all match seamlessly or if you don’t care if the forum looks different from the rest of the site.
Hi! Eric, great to have you back,
Lesson 27, is clear and useful. I am just a little above this level. I built a couple of websites up till now, but in the last week I learn to use WordPress. I have built a Blog with WordPress for the first time. (Up till now I used only blogger.com)
Now I use Fantastico from my cPanel, and it was so easy to start. To keep adding staff is different, but the creation was so simple, it looks ridiculous that I didn’t do it up till now.
By the way I discovered how to make the Blog “DoFollow”; it is a plug-in we need to upload, I did it.
The Blog is generic under a domain which is my name, and is about Internet and Affiliate Marketing in general, was done to learn, and has nothing to do with my next product. I’ll build other websites for that product.
Anyway, I like you to look it over for a minute and please do any critic you consider that is useful for me, because this was the purpose of it all, to learn how to use WordPress effectively and learn how to create a good blog:
http://michaelacernescu.com
Now when you said “we will build a Website for the product”, you mean: a blog, a squeeze and/or landing page or a membership site in which we will pre-sell/review/handle affiliates and so on, anything under the sun related with the next product we are working on.
Thanks and I am grateful that we continue our lessons.
Michaela
I think your Wordpress blog looks good
It’s a nice theme. The one thing I would caution about is be careful about putting too many ads and widgets in the sidebars of your blog. A lot of new bloggers take their example from the famous bloggers like John Chow and they think it will make their blog look more professional if it has a bunch of “stuff” on it.
But I think the truth is that most readers just want a clean interface with few distractions from the content. Only if you have a loyal following will they be willing to put up with all the stuff. I don’t think yours is too extreme, but the combination of many colors and several ads/widgets does make it look a bit busy. Of course not everyone has to be a minimalist or make their blog boring colors like mine, but the key to keep in mind is that when it comes to blogs–the content must be the focus.
Thank you Eric, You are right:
1) more content will follow, I just started from a week or so and I’ll keep going adding content
2) I was thinking to have a new page “Recommended” or something like this and put all the affiliate links there, because in time the affiliate links will increase and even now I didn’t put all of them because I didn’t have enough time. I’ll definitely create a page for it, and who wants to look it over will open it, the people who aren’t interested… they won’t. It is fair, and a page named “recommended” is avis what will get on it.
I like the theme as well; I have a single problem unsolved. From time to time I need to collapse the 2 site bars in just one, I don’t know how to do it, is it a plug-in for it? or is it a property of the theme itself?, you have it or you don’t! I saw a lot of examples of collapsing site bars in other Blogs but I have no idea how is done.
Thanks a lot
Michaela
I don’t know how to do a collapsing sidebar. What I usually do if I see something in a WP theme that I like, and if I don’t know how to do it, I’ll download that theme and look at the code until I figure it out.
I did exactly as you said, I found one example and I looked to the code. I am so disappointed, they didn’t collapse anything, they have just one sidebar and within they use a table with border = 0, to make some portions to look as 2 sidebars. Very cheap shot!
Well, this is it! Now I am laughing!
Michaela
hey Eric. These lessons are great. I look forward to the next one.
As far as free HTML editors, i suggest KompoZer. The NVU project finished a while back: 1.0 was released on June 28, 2005. Since July 2006, open source development continues under the project KompoZer.
cheers.
thanks for the heads up on KompoZer, I’ll definitely check that out.
The biggest obstacles are often the smallest obstacles–well, that sounds silly but we make the proverbial mountain out of a molehill by thinking that the website is the hardest part of getting online. It actually is so easy–that is once you know how! The harder parts come after that. My easy method? Check it out here:
http://www.pappashop.com/whmcs/aff.php?aff=053
or go to my blog for more:
http://www.How2BooksandVideos.com
Thanks Eric, you make it easier to move along with confidence.
Jay
Creating Web sites can be very frustrating and time consuming if you don’t know what you’re doing. I’ve tried both Frontpage and NVU and there is a learning curve. I’ve used a template and just played around with it mainly in the WYSISYG editor and then look at the HTML code. It’s still something that I need to really take time to learn. I agree with you that it’s a good idea to know this stuff.
Wordpress has many plusses but it to can be improved by learning how to tweak it. I’m having some troble adding a email subscription form because I want to add a picture of a free ebook or video. I’m almost there now.
Sometimes I worry too much about the look of my site to the point that I’ve been delaying updating the content.
I’m learning and realize that it’s not an overnight thing. The good thing is that once we get it down the next niche site will be that much easier.
Thanks for the lesson - nice to see you back
Sorry for the double post but I came accross a video that I beleive your readers will enjoy.
I posted it to my site http://reachsuccessonline.com/ you may have seen it already it’s called The Validation Movie
Hi Eric,
Me,I prefer WP and Dreamweaver…
About Butterfly Marketing-are you used it?
If “yes”,can you show me this link?
Thanks again,
Andy
Yes I have several sites running the Butterfly Marketing script. I haven’t updated them in almost 3 years, but they are still running and still grow daily. For example http://www.howtosellhosting.com
Thanks,Eric!
You know,I’m sure,it was a trap question…
Sorry
Best Regards,
Andy
I have done web design for many years, and have used frontpage and several others only to find that for the beginner when I am teaching the best tool for beginners can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/5ldwpr
and I use it myself EVERY day to get professional looking results. Using Fantastico is good for beginners, but watch out for a security loop when doing this. Take a look at a post from my friend Michael Savoie that teaches you how to get around the fantastico security loop at: http://michealsavoie.com/welcome/index.php/2008/11/21/fixing-the-fantastico-security-flaw/ he is AWESOME at blogging.
Eric….thanks for letting me in on your lessons. Joel Comm talks highly of you all the time! YOU ROCK and always provide good quality information to your readers. Great Job!
Watch for me soon at thesiteteacher.com!
Even tho I’m an HTML programmer, I also use xsitepro. I don’t really care how the wysiwyg stuff works, but it’s great for navigation and headers and footers, plus it’s got great SEO help. Learning some HTML is useful too. You can use my free guides on http://www.Myminisites.net.
Eric, thanks for your Tips! You Rock!
Eric,
Soooo glad to have you back. I know you have been busy. I am using Wordpress for both of my websites. I would like your honest opinion on them so if you would please go to http://www.efficaciousearnings.com and http://www.thesanctuarynow.com please leave comment on blogs. I’m not too sure of the Internet marketing blog anymore, I have hit a rut and I am a bit discouraged. Internet marketing blogs come a dime a dozen and I dont know what I was thinking when I chose that niche. I feel like a little bitty worm on a really big hook! Anyway, I am really excited about the Sanctuary. I have big ideas for it. I wanted to initially do something in the religion niche but chose the Internet marketing instead, I believe God is trying to tell me something. I was going to ask you, before in one of your lessons you said that we should not worry about our first niche choice because we would not be married to it, so what do you think I should do about my Internet marketing blog, should I keep going or should I give it up? Please let me know what you think. Your lessons are always great. Thank you so much
Melissa
Your IM blog actually looks really cool. I would not give it up at this point, but maybe you could just post to it in your spare time. After all, you will be learning new internet marketing techniques for whatever business you are pursuing, so you might as well make use of your IM knowledge and post it to your blog. Who knows, in a few years it might get some traction and become more valuable. Just so it’s not disctracting you or taking time away from the aspects of your business that you want to focus on. Also I would put your opt-in form in the sidebar to maximize the list building capability of it. If you can pick up a few subscribers here and there, that could also pay off in the long run.
Thanks for the video. I used Dreamweaver to create my site but there’s so much in that program that I still need to learn. Education and practice is the key. I’m considering taking a course to learn more
Did you create this video with C6.0?
I just upgraded to C6.0 and mess around with all the features.
Wonder how to optimize filesizes, please tell us, how you create your videos.
Obviously you use powerpoint? Recorded directly (have some resolution probs)or with images of the slides, more flexibility?
The Camtasia tutorials are good, but your advice would be better!
Actually I made this one in C3, but my next one will probably be in C6. I just started playing with C6 yesterday, and its pretty sweet. Instead of Powerpoint I actually use Impress, which is free from openoffice.org
I record it directly while I am talking.
As for optimizing file size, here are some things I do…
- make it smaller size. Even though I record almost my full screen, I shrink it down to about 600px wide in output.
-colors 16 bit
- Usually I use SWF.
- If there is very little motion (like this lesson) I leave the frame rate automatic. But if there’s a lot of motion I may slow down the frame rate to make the file smaller.
- Audio I’m using MP3, 22.050kHz, Stereo, 48kbps (I could do mono and make it slightly smaller, but I think this is a decent blend of quality vs size)
The video above for example is 15.5 minutes long, but is only 5.9MB
I have been for almost three years doing things on the internet.
But have been mostly jumping around things.
I have been for over almost two years building a site. Since the hosting package is a biz opp in MLM.
It has taken me months to learn the basics of using SohoLaunch Site Builder (the WYSIWYG thing).
Now the host provider has changed to RV Site Builder (supposedly it is easier to use and more up to date).
Now I don’t want to mess things up.
I have not been good using FTP software.
How can I transfer my Website from Soho to RV without damaging things?
Sincerely,
Antonios
Fixearnings
I am not familiar with RV site builder, but if your host is making the switch it would be nice if they would offer you the support to move your site to it
Hello Eric, good to see you back. I have been learning a lot online but you are so easy to learn from. Happy Holidays all.
Hrml ia fun to learn to especially when you get into css and java
Hey Eric,
Here’s a quote:
“Sabrina, YOU are the weakest link in your own company.”
You know the guy who would dare say such a thing to my face…and you know why he said it don’t you?
Just to let your readers in on the conversation, it was you, Eric Holmlund who told me that a few years back. To tell you the truth, it kinda hurt my pride to hear that, but you were right.
My absolute, stubborn refusal to even learn HTML was holding my whole company back from reaching any significant online goals.
I outsourced everything - and justified it saying that I was maximizing my strengths by outsourcing my weaknesses. A brilliant strategy IF it really works like that. And in my case, it hadn’t because we had been in the red for three straight years, spending far more than we made.
Next Quote:
“An ignorant person in charge is a liability to the entire organization.” -That’s a Sabrina original quote.
The fact that I couldn’t even spell HTML prevented so many things from getting done, moving forward, etc.
Finally, out of desperation, I decided I’d take your advice and enroll my lazy (or shall I say overwhelmed) self in some community college “web design” classes.
Even though I never intended to ever design a website, (and still don’t, mind you) things really turned around once I had some understanding of what I was doing AND what I ought to be asking the people working for me to do. Just being able to speak the same language, and even pitch hit and do some things myself if a time-sensitive situation arises has been invaluable.
I still outsource almost everything technical…but now I can do it with a greater understanding of what’s involved.
My advice to the newbies and veterans is that you spend some time learning a bit about various programming languages, SEO, and design elements. It’ll only help you in the long run.
-Sabrina
Cool Sabrina… I’m glad I said something right
Hello Eric,
I’m a beginner and I have a very basic question, what do I create first…a website or an squeeze or landing page?
Can’t figure it out, and I want to know before I pay for web hosting. Thank you.
A squeeze page or a landing page is a part of a website. The website could consist of just a squeeze page or a landing page, or it may have many more pages.
In the case of landing pages for PPC, it is actually preferred by Google that you have a “real” website behind it, so I’d suggest starting off with a website focused on your topic, and then you can add squeeze pages and/or landing pages as needed.
Hello Eric,
A good tutorial. I do have some websites, created in net Objects Fusion version 9. In this I never have to use HTML, it is so easy to create a multi-page site. Just type in the text wherever you want it, and drop photos in anywhere as well.
The latest version 11 lets you set up a shopping cart, PayPal button etc.
No, I am not an affiliate for this product, just love it enough to pass it on to others.
Another of my sites is this one: http://hastingswatch.net
Thanks Eric, keep up the good work.
Jeff
Hi Eric,
I have used nvu in the past and know a little html, but I think XsitePro is a much easier way to go. It’s real easy to update your site, the training material is excellent and they have all the bells and whistles.
All these sites are mine and are created and maintained with XSitePro:
http://www.sullivansmountain.com/ (My new board game)
http://www.your-traffic-booster.com/ (An information site on how to get website traffic)
http://www.valleyministriesnz.org/ (A Christain Charitable Trust promoting the gospel message)
Kind comments welcome
Cool sites Ray, nice to see the examples of what you did with XSitePro
yes, xsite pro does build really nice websites. they now have XHeader, too. It helps you build your header files.
I built my site http://www.jtcomputerservices.com with xsite pro. also built http://www.thesiteteacher.com with it as well
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the great lesson. As Ian said abouve NVU is no longer available as I have found out just a few hours ago when in search of good software for newbies. The internet did recommend KompoZer in it’s place but I had lots of trouble downloading it for Vista
In the end I have resorted to using Trellion WebPage and so far so good. I just hope it will let me publish to Hostgator as I have found that many are only useful with their hosting services. Fingers Crossed!
Actually NVU is still available, I just downloaded it yesterday from
http://net2.com/nvu/
But it looks like I’ll be doing a demo of KompoZer instead, as it is more up to date.
http://kompozer.net/download.php
eric,thanx..
Hi Eric,
Glad to have you back. I have been learning and using XSitepro. I am a newbie. Have been developing my website but have not posted it at this time. My site will be used to promote my existing business and to try and create additional revenue selling information and products in the healing profession. I have to say your recommendation of Xsitepro has been easy to use and understand so far and will be my program of choice to use.
From your last lesson I now have a business email address that is up and running and look forward to more of the lessons.
Thanks Mark
Hi Eric,
I have one other quick comment.
There is a free program that you can use for outlook that filters out spam if you do not have one at this time.
It is called SpamBayes. It is very user friendly.
I found the best way to teach it is to have it learn spam as you go.
Hope this may be of help.
Thanks Mark
Hi Eric,
I like your Tips and articles, it broadens my thinking in marketing and learning. look forward to all your tip and articles
Hi Eric,
As you indicated the argument that IM’ers dont need tech skills such as HTML is appealling. The reality is of course that an net based based business DOES need those skills.
The question is how are they to be provided, by the owner him/herself personally, by outsourcing, by hiring employees?
Even if you outsource or hire employees you still need to know eneough to manage and supervise such relationships.
How will you know if you’re getting a job done well at a fair price if you dont understand the issues?
There are plenty of people willing to charge premium rates for relatively simple tasks.
Like most work at home types on a tight budget I have a ‘if I cant do it, then it dont get done attitude’.
Thankfully your videos help me to learn and aquire the skills I need.
Harry
Hey Eric, I am learning. I want to be a webmaster so I need to know more about HTML. Thank you for the good info. God bless you.
Mary
I must say Eric well said. I personally use Xsitepro and it is amazing, if it was not for xsitepro I would never have been able to make so much progress with my site
This number 27 is the first of these lessons I have received. How can I get the other 26 lessons?
Hey Eric,
Thanks so much for the great lessons! You draw from so much experience.
I started using SBI for one year, then I broke away, learned a little html and redesigned my site. I also, like another commenter, used Nvu and Kompozer. While there are some neatness issues, they’re not bad because they’re free! Ad to that Gimp for doing your graphics and photo editing and you have a complete web developer’s suite — for free. Also, I often just resort to Notepad++ when I’ve just got to know what’s going on in the code and I feel the need for control over it.
WordPress has also been really fun. On a couple of sites I’ve combined a Wordpress blog with my website. Php is still a bit of a mystery to me, but I can figure enough of it out to get along and make simple modifications. There’s a ton of help if you just Google Wordpress with your problem. Somebody has also had it and has written about it.
Finally, there are a lot of great free tools, blogs and websites to help with CSS coding and design. My sites are probably not the best, but I don’t think I’ve done too bad being an amateur.
Thanks again
[…] In the previous lesson I talked about 5 different ways to build a website. […]
Eric,
Thanks again for all the lessons. I already have a few niche’s in mind t make websites for and You have been a humongous help. I do have a question. I have been playing around with KompoZer but I am having trouble publishing my page. I dont know what I am doing wrong. I thought I was inserting the correct info for my publishing settings and address but dont seem to have it right. I am using HostGator (per your recommendation), I have been following along with your lessons and look forward to the next lesson. If you could please address this issue in your lesson regarding pulishing you page I am sure many would benifit.
Thanks again,
Tom 3
Hi Eric,
You are real knowledgeable man that we could learned from & there is not so many that we can find.
Thanks for the great lessons & we are sure many more to come. May you given good health always & too your love one.
Regards
Mohd
hay eric,
I just got on board with your lesson’s and I have a few Q for you I have a web site I got from john p from jump lanch I have two clickbank products and two blogger blogs one for each now i what to use wordpress becouse i dont seem to be gettig anything going useing blogger and with wordprees I would like to link it to my web site but I what to do more then one product sell do I need more the one web site,and I have a ton of resell rights stuff ebooks,audio videos ect .and 12 product web sites though your biz .com, anyway I guess I just have a overlosd going on ,but I really want to get something going on with all this I managed to get,just I’am haveing a hard getting started,so I’am hopeing going through your lessons will get me started thanks scott
WYSIWYG = What You See is What You Get (ex. NVU)is the best tool for newbies to create their first website to start business online. They can create their website by using WYSIWYG as long as they know how to use Ms.Word.
To Your Success
Bryan Hee
[…] lesson 27 I covered several different methods of building a website. If you’re not yet sure which […]
this question isnt so much about a web site but i was wondering about finding a tool to do keywords serches for demand ,does anyone know if there is a free site that might have a good one to try thanks
Yup… watch this lesson:
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/lesson20/
Google has a free keyword tool. Also this one
Hi Chris
I am very new on comments and I have been watching your videos on tips. I have been trying to play video lesson 27 several times and it just stop at 11:38. I think it needs to be checked. One other thing, you said these lessons go up to 120, I have been ahead of myself trying to listen to watch other videos, from 31, cannot be found.
One last thing,when I was watching lesson 30 yesterday, I heard myself saying loudly, “I just love this guy”.
Keep up the good job. I with you the best of everything, I mean everything in your life.
Cheers
Phyllis in South Africa
Hey Eric, Phyllis here. I don’t know why I called you Chris. This guy must be driving me crazy. Sorry man.
Phyllis
I have a website built and hosted by tafiti builder on which i can only make certain changes. So I am going to set up any future websites on my own. I planned on starting with NVU. Do you recommend this? I didn’t know anything about websites, internet marketing, etc. etc. and have learned a lot in less than a year, but I have so much more to learn. The best way to do that is by doing in my humble opinion (for what that’s worth!). Thanks for all your tips.
I do think NVU/KompoZer is a good tool, so yes I would recommend it. I cover it in lesson #30, so you might want to watch it first. And it’s nice to know a bit of basic HTML too (lesson #28), so you may actually want to just keep watching the lessons in order
Hi Eric and all,
Newbie here. Eric, great posts, it’s valuable. By the way, maybe you know what is the recommended business models for Wordpress? I found out that some bloggers are using BANS mix with Adsense and affiliate business.
Any advice?
Cheers,
there are various ways of monetizing a wordpress blog, and it really depends on where the blog fits into your overall business strategy. If you’re building many blogs and getting SEO traffic, then Adsense and affiliate stuff is a good way to monetize it. But if it’s part of the core of your business (like this Eric’s Tips site), then I recommend keeping the monetization more on the back end. Keep the ads off your blog, so the readers can focus on the content and come back for more
I know there are a lot of high profile bloggers like John Chow who plaster their sites with ads, but I don’t think that’s a good business model for most people, because unless you have the clout of those guys, your readers won’t tolerate the ads so well. And I think those high profile bloggers would actually make more money if they took most of the ads off their blogs and monetized their business in other ways.
Eric;
Many, many thanks for the lessons you make available. You have a knack for making the difficulties of Internet creation simple and straight forward.
Prior to finding your lessons I floundered around for months not knowing how or in what order to do things…now I have a positive direction to getting things done.
I find that I have unknowingly done some of the things you are recommending, I have an account at HostGator, (not an active site yet) and a WordPress blog, (under construction) that I did not know how to edit, and I have more how-to Ebooks than I should have. But I am determined to get all of this stuff down and become a member of the Internet Web Developer Commercial Community real soon.
I have a background in MainFrame software management and WordPress is a problem for me. The copy of WordPress I have installed is 2.5, the latest and greatest is 2.7. It seems every version has a different look and feel. How can you manage anything developed under WordPress when the next version is incompatible with the last.
I was seriously considering WordPress MU as an option, for multiple sites, rather than separate copies but now I am not so sure. How do you manage your multiple WordPress sites.
Looking forward to completing your current lessons and anything in the future.
Regards;
Allen
I’ve found that it’s easy to update wordpress. However, there is no need to install each new version unless there’s a major security update.
I manage all my wordpress sites seperately, because they are not related. But a multi-WP manager is not a bad idea. There are also other multi-blog platforms out there such as B2E.
simplemente gracias por tus lecciones eric..
thanks for your lessons eric very , very helpfull
thanks a lot
Hi Eric,
Somewhere in AFFILIATE CLOAK MAGIC advises us to hide our precious affiliate ID & link and prevent affiliate commission theft. Is it true in reality our sale is made through our affiliate link and our website, on our domain? When will you guide us about its 100% cloaking after focusing lesson #27? I personally believe it is equally important to us because if it is not cleverly cloaked, it is likened to a money-changer shop without an armed security-guard at all. Having a beautiful business website without protecting our butts against such theft is an absolute jerk and definitely, lame!
Please advise.
I do not think that commission theft is a big problem. People who actually know how to hijack an affiliate link will figure out how to do so, regardless of whether it’s cloaked or not.
The bigger reason to cloak them is just to make them look nicer so the average person is not afraid to click on it.
I generally use PHP redirects to cloak links. I wrote about it a few years ago at:
cloaking affiliate links
Hay Eric, I wish that I would have known about this lesson before i had my site built. I probably would have done things a little differently. But known the less, now that I’ve been under your teaching, I feel a lot more in control of my business which puts me at rest in many ways. I’m changing my design to open the door for Christians to write down their history with Christ and how God’s love changed their lives. It will be an extension of the bible stories of old. To exhalt His glory. Peace, and I will continue to be a student of yours, each one teach one! my site is “AllofMyHistory.com
Thank for the lesson and advise you gave to your members which I have read with interest . I am a newbie and still in the dark .I just have my Wordpress blog setup last four days with the aim to promote affiliate product and adsense but I don’t know how to put the link and the ads on it .Don’t forget to comment on my new blog .
Yes Eric,
Keep on .It is so great to have you as a Coach.You make it so easy for us to be a part of this global Market.
As a newbie, if I want to register a domain name with hostgator which web hosting plan should I take to start an online business and can I upgrade my web hosting plan if my business improves and when and how can I do it? The hostgator has so many hosting plans with offers and do we need cPanel to build our website according to our wish? Please give me a good advice only to newbie like me.
I cover this in lesson #24: http://www.ericstips.com/tips/lesson24/
If you plan on building multiple sites, I recommend one of the reseller plans. If you’re starting with just one site, any plan is fine, even the smallest one. You can upgrade at any time.
I definitely do recommend Cpanel, which is one of the reasons I like Hostgator.
Sorry! How do you cloak an affiliate link to protect our commissions?
I normally use a PHP redirect.
I wrote about cloaking here:
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/cloaking-affiliate-links-and-avoiding-the-tiny-url-syndrome/
Okay Eric,
I have domain, hostgator, working email on squirrel mail and just started writing html. I want my website to mirror my wordpress blog because every post on my blog will generate Amazon product ads, and other affiliate ads. I’d also like to add videos from Harvesteating.com. How can I use the wordpress function in fantastico to accomplish this? My blog is not connected to my website yet.
Rather than your website mirroring your WP blog, your WP blog should physically be on your website.
The wordpress function in fantasico is an installer, which installs WP onto your domain. You can then move your existing WP blog onto it.
Some people asked questions about this in the comments after the upcoming WP lessons, and I provided some resource links in my replies.
You can post syndicated videos within WP posts… like a video blog.
We need to improve!
I found the best thing to my sister’s birthday… It’s really hard to find cool and still unique.
So today I saw this thing from ZTARLET on facebook where you can name a real star in heaven and have the certificate and a teddy bear sent to you and pay it by a single SMS. So awesome
Hello,
What are the cheapest web hosting company?
I’m need to build a web site for my new business.
thank you in advance,
-Francis
My recommended web host is this one
I talked about it in lesson #24:
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/lesson24/
i had a question about to web disk program.when i open it and it says “select a certificate” what should i put in that box or should i wait for a future lesson on that subject?
I’m not sure which program you’re referring to. Can you be more specific? thanks
Hellow Eric, how can i build my own web server on my PC. so that i will become my own host?
You *could* set up a server on your own computer if you have a dedicated connection to the internet. HOWEVER, I would not recommend it for business purposes. Every bit of data would be pulled through your internet connection, and it could get maxed out from just a few visitors. Big web hosts like Hostgator have their servers in major datacenters, which are connected directly to the big Internet backbone pipes.
Can I shorten a hoplink from clickbank with a tiny url and still get credit?
Yes you can.
I have a ton of ebooks with resell rights. Can i use these to make money with and will you be talking about this in future lessons?
Yes you can, and yes I will
I have side-stepped or bypassed the whole webpage creation thing altogether.
I have hosted and created websites for over 20 years (Before there was a “World Wide Web”, and I scrapped all that for what I use now.
http://www.NING.com
They offer not only website creation but, Social Network creation. Imagine building your own Facebook network or Myspace network (I said NETWORK, not Page), for people to come hang out and do nothing but talk about your products.
Oh it takes about 15 min to start a network and another hour to do branding and whatever copy you want on the site. I luv it!
If ning is working for you and you’re making money that’s great.
But for most people, I would not recommend it as an alternative to having their own website on their own domain. Rather it is a good ancillary source of leads/traffic.
COMPLIMENTS ERIC’S…
AM HAPPY FOR RESPONDING TO MY EMAIL AS REGARDS HAVING A WEBSITE, IT REVEALS INDEED THAT YOU ARE MAKING A FOLLOWUP.
TO RESPOND TO WHAT YOU ASKED, I DON’T HAVE A WEBSITE YET, BUT THEN I’LL BE HAPPY JUST AS YOU PROMISED IF IN THE NEXT LESSON IF IT WILL BE A REALITY IN HAVING IT.
YOU MAY ASKED, WHY DON’T PAY OTHERS TO HELP ME OUT, THE TRUTH THERE IS JUST I HAVE GONE THROUGH SOME SITUATION THAT KEPT ME BANKRUPTY… BE PASSIONATE IN LETTING MY WEBSITE A REALITY. MANY THANK,
GODWIN.
Eric, appreciate your efforts on these lessons. It is surprising that there are so few putting something like this together.
Currently I do have a couple of sites that are not through hostgator. One is a Hubsite that provides a blog, putting together singular pages, one-time-offer pages, video, etc. What is your opinion of these types vs. the hostgator you are recommending? As a newbie, I am liking versatility, and as income grows, I will look to branch out for specific sites for niche products.
I appreciate your input.
Tim
Hello Tim,
Typically we stay away from webhosting, if it looks like we will be locked into using templates for what may be included in our sites. We enjoy the freedom of being able to manage our websites in any way we wish with Hostgator.
Eric you seem to be making this training interesting each night, and there are alot of things which you stated do make alot of sense
still hanging in here. went to hostgator thought i was setting up an acount and became an affiliate without an account.ifound out when i couldn’t find my sites i called them they had no record of me setting up an account.well that wasted an afternoon!now i’m going back and try again maybe i’ll get it right this time.however i am an affiliate.will you be showing ow to be an affiliate for click bank and hostgator any time soon?i do like taking your lessons and telling my fasmily what a great person you are.i want to set my daughter up in im before i move out of state i’m going to insist she take these lessons i’m also trying to get my son-in-law involed with taking these lessons beside being a good business model this is also a good lifestyle model thank you very much for all i’ve learned i’m sure i’ll start making money on this in time.
Hello Robert,
You can learn how to become an affiliate for ClickBank in Eric’s free Writing Cash Program available here:
http://www.writingcash.com/
Eric,
thanks again for the great info.
h i have a website and i have been building it for 5 weeks now, i need hlp with framing fm afiliates, and also transfering my free website from web.com to the host and omaincompany i boughtmine from, BIG problem though no matter how hard i try and follow seteps i ont know what im ding, i got very frustrated as i have lots of affilate things to do and ad on , and im left in tears, its the coding and computer lange i dont understand, and i feel stuck, aso my replies are fom o mny people in customer service and some say different to others ??????im in a mess
My advice would be to either…
a) take a step back and slow down, and don’t stress yourself out. It can really take awhile to become good at these skills.
b) hire someone to help you. It would be nice if you could hire someone who could sit down with you and walk you through it, but if money is tight, your next best option would probably be to hire a cheap freelancer on a site like Rentacoder
Hi Eric,
Although I’ve been using Dreamweaver a little bit and Thrive’s Site Builder a bit…while doing their course(heavy sigh another story for another time)…decided to purchase XSitePro tool. When I’m creating an infoproduct and worrying about writing and keywords and SEO and driving traffic …I think the templates are really handy to take some of the stress away. I enjoy being artistic but can’t afford Photoshop and Illustrator and don’t have time to spend mastering the complicated tools…I like the idea of getting a leg up with a template.
Thanks for suugesting Xsitepro…I want to put up several sites and I think it will save me lots of time…although I do want to try Wordpress and Butterfly Marketing Scripts.
Thanks for the great class…let’s keep going!
Hello Eric
Yes it is good to have knowledge of HTML, you can do your work with more ease and perfectly. On the other hand some people prefer to use WYSISYG (What you see is what you get) like Dreamweaver or use site builders, but using these tool you do not have much control in your hand for website design. When you view site in browser, created using WYSISYG, there may be little difference in it and what you made.
If you know properly these tools and comfortable with these, you can carry on. So it is individual choice.
But I use HTML editor Notepad, It gives more control over layout. I create my own site using HTML and full CSS. Developer Site and FreeFotoFul.com
I am a freelancer developer and going to star my work on net. So I want know some legal issues, Eric’s Tips are very valuable for me.
I thank you Very much, Dear Eric
Hi Eric, I learned html just by studying source codes and experimenting with paypal buttons and popups etc. I got a hold of a free website builder watched some demo’s and put up my own built website. Not fancy however all the links work and videos load and links to other plr and mrr sites i have uploaded. I now have a ton of templates both html and wordpress so I had to learn wordpress then. There is no way around it everything has to be tested and paypal tested. However not always that Explorer sees what firefox browser gives you. I guess that is one of the advantages of Wordpress. I have used scripts as well. I have invested in pre-made review sites I receive on a monthly basis as well as beta tester for a digital products store. I also teaching myself graphics with GIMP. Pretty cool free program , not as big as Photoshop however still practicable.If any of your subscribers want GIMP Tutorial videos I have them via a sales page ( I am uploading), I wont give my address until you authorize it. I actually made my own logo and prepared a screen shot into a reflective image, so I am having fun. I like learning new software. Thanks for your help.
I have a site but what worked better for me was to buy a template. I first tried Vistaprint which was great since I was such a newbee on making site and the net and business in general! They had everything ready and I could do few clicks and I had my site ready and very cheap. The problem was that it was very limited in fonts and space and other things. For my type of products, I needed a much better looking site. So I bought a template that totally got me attracted. But as I was a total new bee, I went through a very hard time building it. By the way, hostgator was cool but for me they did not answer the phone and I needed help and did not have your lessons then and could not get through the building in the time needed. I guess they were so busy. So I went to Justhost which was a utter complete painful disaster. Then I went to Bluehost which was a breeze in many aspects! I finally got my site together with the help - that time! - of a net frick! and I finally could get a more pro looking site! This is not ready since I need more legal docs and probably more stuff too. And I need to test my price. But the market is sometimes much more expensive than on my site, so it should be fine. I will survey though soon.
I am trying to consolidate to save time and energy; my question- which is better: Obtain a website and host a blog on it; obtain a blog and devote a page to the information originally on the website, or retain both, individually?
You’ve already answered my second question as to which hosting site would be the best one. I will check out your suggestion.
Thanks
Mrs. D. Barron
Hello Mrs. D.,
That would depend on whether or not you want the blog to be the main thrust of your business. In the case of EricTips.com, the blog is why people come to the site. You could follow a similar strategy. However, if your online business is in selling merchandise, a regular website, with storefront pages would be more fitting.
Hey Eric,
As always I enjoyed this lesson! I am really getting interested/excited because you are finally making it into so of the lessons that I am really interested in and believe will go along ways to answering some of my questions as well as some of my readers questions!Thanks for such a great site and wealth of info and I’ll see you menyana!
Al The Best,
Jason
http://www.affiliatextreme.info
Hi, Eric. I’ve downloaded your eBook on webhosting reseller and I think it’s the best reseller guide ever!
I also want to continue with the lessons that are sent to my email from your website. But since my internet connection speed is low, I cannot watch the videos. I wonder if you have them in text. Please let me know.
Thanx
Thanks!
For now you can read the main points below each video. When I am done creating the lesson series I am planning on releasing it with the full transcripts.
Hi Eric,
I have had my own site with another provider for about 6 months and came across your courses by sheer luck. I was looking for legal documents.
My site was built to be a “front” for a landing page & I now realize that I have made many mistakes to learn from.
The Hostgator set up looks like it has a far lower learning curve and is more flexible than the one I am using.
I would like to share some of the pluses & minuses;
Plus:
One of the best things needed, as you have remarked, is service & support. My current provider seems pretty good at this using chat, phone & email. I had a major problem at the start and it was fixed with one hour of contacting them. In fact, the product itself is not what I would call state of the art and is more unwieldy than the ones you are showing. The support is the only thing that is making me undecided about changing.
Minus:
I had the site set up for me as a review site with an IM course about 8 months ago. It was difficult to change & add things. E.g. to edit text I had to learn to edit the php and use File Manger. This led to many time consuming mistakes (typos, positioning etc.)
There was a website set up tool CM4all which was fairly easy but rigid. There are templates, but not as many as Hostgator.
The pages using the website tool were difficult to manage if you wanted to add code in. The naming of the pages as very complex numbers rather than names for example.
Additionally, something people should look out for is the “added value” charges in some packages. To get features & manage websites always seems to be an extra cost. I.e. more websites, limits to the number of pages etc. With the charging you have to know how to structure to avoid being stung every time you need to make a change.
Thank you for your material it’s great.
Question: My new host can’t upload Frontpage because my version is too old. I have a working copy of my multiple page site in a document file. Is some program where I can load the file have it uploaded to my host, so I can make changes when necessary and create additional pages?
I would recommend asking your host’s support department. I would think there is a way to do it.
Actually I think you can export the HTML files from Frontpage to your hard drive. Then you can just upload them via FTP to your web host.
Then I would recommend using a new system to manage your site, whether it be a CMS like Wordpress, or a new site builder such as XSitePro.
Hi Eric
Today’s lesson #27 was very interesting one.I’m looking forward to next one.
Regards Buren
I used google sites. It has been great so far. So many applications are integrated, Analytics and Webmaster, to help me in making the site stronger for crawling (I admit I need to work on that more)and analyzing traffic patterns. There have been a couple hangups with adding html codes, but overall the ease of use has been suprising.
you are so great of giving your best to help us to be a successful internet marketer….
this is second time that i reply your lesson in eric’s tips, i might have a lot of messages soon….
thanks & regards,
louie lopez
Your timing couldn’t be any better! I am waiting for the webmaster that I hired to turn the website over to me this week and he is using CMS. He will also be giving me a CD to show me how to make changes to my website and with the lessons you are currently giving us will help me understand the concept more fully! I am ecstatic that I found your website and please keep up the good work.
A very nice lesson on website building and looking forward to more, but I can’t help wondering why you’re recommending Xsite Pro when you were promoting Site Bot Pro, not long ago.
XsitePro is more of a web authoring software with a ton of flexibility to build many different types of sites.
Site Profit Bot is more of a pushbutton site builder, which is great for FAST websites in a pinch, particularly for monetizing unused domains. But you would not use it for building, let’s say, a sales site.
hi what would you recommend for a membership website drupal or wordpress?
between those two options I would go with Wordpress and I would use either a WP membership plugin like this one:
Wordpress Wishlist
Or I would use Amember: http://www.ericstips.com/amember/ For example this membership site is Wordpress and I protect it with Amember: http://dailyma.com
I talk about membership sites in lesson #32:
http://www.ericstips.com/tips/lesson32/
Hello, super course, I really am learning at last with your easy to follow lessons, thanks a million,best regards Nuala
Dear Eric
Hi
Thank you so much for your beneficial lessons. Dear Eric I would like build website for online business. This lesson said ways build website but you didn’t say how can build , I need to a lesson that educate how build step to step a website.
Dr Narges Delafrooz
The upcoming lessons will show you how
Thanks Eric… very interesting lesson, although I already know html.
All the best,
Arne
Good morning Mr Eric, i m frm Malaysia, i m a newbie in all this, thank you so much for all your tutorial videos, it’s so helpful, i have purchase the Xsitepro thru your link u recommanded , it is such a great and easy to use website buiding software, i recommanded to my friends which is also newbies like me, and they also agreed that XsitePro is a great website building program.
i would like to ask for some advcie pls, if i want to build a monthly subsccription membership website, can i build my website using X-sitepro, and plug in the butterfly marketing script or should i buy the A-memberpro and plug in the a-memberpro script to my XsitePro build website ?
Thank You.
Thank You so much for the great lessons, i would like to enquire please, i have purchase the Xsitepro thru your link, and it is a great website building software,
can i use Xsitepro to build my membership website and install in the butterfly marketing script or should i purchase the Amember and install in the script ?
Thank You for any advice.
Amember would be more compatible with XsitePro, because you can use Amember to protect any pages or directories that you create with XsitePro.