Welcome to the web site design phase of our online curriculum. Here you’ll be guided through a step-by-step process that will help you to design an effective web site. You’ll also be pointed to the latest online tools that will assist you in developing your web site. Additionally, we’ve provided articles with additional information and tips on how to develop a web site that sells.

1. Secure a domain name (if necessary).

2. Design the look of your homepage.
* See Homepage Layout, Sample Homepage Layout.

3. Select the proper keyword phrases for search engine optimization.
* See Keyword Phrases Curriculum.

4. Write a persuasive ad copy.
* See Homepage Text and Sample Homepage Layout Curriculum.
* Insert your primary keyword phrase all throughout the text of your homepage – see Keyword Phrases Curriculum.
* Apply internal marketing throughout your homepage – see Internal Marketing Curriculum.

5. Develop the subpages.
* See Subpages Curriculum.

6. Get a Merchant Account (if needed).
* See Merchant Account Curriculum.

7. Make sure you have tracking software in place.
* See Tracking Statistics Curriculum.

8. Create the meta tags.
* See What Search Engines Look For Curriculum.

9. Review and send in all the paperwork and information needed to submit your site to the programmers / set-up team (if necessary).

10. Make sure you’ve applied all of the above strategies.
* See Website Design Final Checklist Curriculum

Overview

• What are crawlers?
• Submitting to Google
• Submitting to Ask Jeeves/Teoma
• Submitting to Gigablast

What are search engine crawlers?

• Crawlers are search engines that utilize “spider” technology to find and rank web pages. Each crawler search engine has its own algorithm or ranking formula for finding and ranking web pages. These algorithms are kept secret to prevent webmasters from manipulating search results, however, most search engines follow general rules for ranking pages:
  • Location and Frequency of keyword phrases – The most important location to use your keyword phrase is in the HTML Title of your site and as close to the top and bottom of your home page as possible. “Frequency” looks at how often your keyword phrase appears in the text versus the total number of text on the page. It is recommended that you use your keyword phrase 5% of the time to achieve optimal frequency.
  • Link Popularity – This measures the number of incoming links to your site. The more sites linking to your site and the quality of their link popularity determines your link popularity rating. The better your link popularity rating, the more likely you are to rank well in the search engines.

Overview

• What opt-in email is
• Why opt-in email is effective
• Companies that offer opt-in email lists
• Creating your own opt-in email lists through autoresponders or contests
• How to utilize autoresponders
• How to send opt-in email
• How to find autoresponders
• Things to keep in mind when sending out emails
• Other info

What opt-in email is

• Anytime you even buy something or register for something on the Internet, you’ll always be asked for your email address to receive more info about products/services that relate to what you’re buying. If you enter your email address, then you’ll start receiving ads through email because those lists are sold all over on the Internet as opt-in email lists. Therefore, an opt-in email list is a mailing list of email addresses.
• Opt-in email is an email mailing list of people who have “raised their hand” and given permission to be sent information on a specific category. It is not a “spam.” Unlike spamming, which consists of mass bulk emailing to a large untargeted list, this is a list you can purchase of people who are interested in what you have to offer.

Why opt-in email is effective

• The return rate for a good opt-in email list is about 7-15%, on average, which is very high. Opt-in emails create much higher response rates than traditional “bulk” mail. In direct bulk mail marketing, a response rate of 2% is normally considered good. However, because the return rate is so high, it can be quite expensive to purchase your own list.
• But there are methods of creating a good opt-email list instead of purchasing one (e.g., autoresponders, contests, etc.)
• A general rule for opt-in email lists is the more you pay, the better the list.

Overview

• Introduction
• Classifieds
• Flyers
• Business cards
• Door knob hangers
• eBay Trading Assistant

Introduction

Once you start seeing that certain types of products have been selling well for you it’s a great idea to actively pursue getting as many of these products as possible. Advertising yourself as someone who can help others liquidate their products can be a very successful way of sourcing product. Here are some suggested ways to get started.

Classifieds

Advertising in local classifieds is an easy way to find products locally. We recommend that you choose products that you already know something about. People will be contacting you with products to sell, and it will be much easier to quote an accurate price if you have had at least some experience with those products.

We have listed some sample newspaper ads you may want to try in your local classifieds. Advertising for specific items such as road signs and license plates, will generally produce better results.

• Local Newspapers
  • “Let me help you sell your antiques on eBay”
  • “Having a garage sale? See me first. I pay cash for trash.”
  • “Professional eBay seller. Let me help you turn ordinary products into extraordinary profits.”
  • “I pay cash for antique fountain pens.”

• Advertise in Thrifty Ads
  • Thrifty ads usually offer cheaper advertising rates, and they reach a large circulation of people who don’t subscribe to area newspapers. Go to www.thriftynickelads.com for an example.

  Reward I pay cash for antiques. Call Rod: 555-5555 Top dollar paid for road signs and license plates

Flyers

Flyers can be a cheap way to advertise to your local audience. Here are some tips on creating effective flyers:

• Put flyers in grocery stores
• Put flyers in home improvement stores
• Put them everywhere!
• Use colors that grab attention.
• Make sure you ask the business for permission to place the flyer
• Make tear off tabs for telephone numbers so they don’t have to take the whole flyer!

Business Cards

Every business owner should have a personalized business card.

• Put a slogan on the card (e.g., “Professional eBay Sales Assistant”)
• Leave these cards with real estate agents so they can hand them out to clients that will be selling their homes. They can then contact you to sell their products without having to go through the hassle of holding a garage sale.
• Hand out business cards to just about everyone. You’ll be surprised by some of the strange places that produce business.
• Talk to neighbors that will be holding garage sales and ask for permission to sell their products on eBay before they hold the sale. This gives you the opportunity to pick through the good stuff before the garage sale begins.
• You can go to www.vistaprint.com to have cards printed.
• The following is a title to a good book you may want to purchase that deals with creating effective business cards. “It’s in the Cards! Getting the biggest impact from your smallest ad” by Ivan R. Misner

Door Knob Hangers

• These do not need to be expensive. A simple flyer with a rubber band attached to the corner will suffice.
• Use colors that grab attention.
• Have your kids distribute these around the neighborhood.

Overview

• Homepage purposes & elements
• Navigation
• Graphics
• Text
• Choose a Template Design
• Web site design resources
• Merchant Account
• Assignments

Homepage purposes & elements

• There are 2 purposes of a homepage:
  1. To get people to it.
  2. To get people past it.
• There are 3 elements that make up an effective homepage:
  1. Navigation.
  2. Graphics.
  3. Text.

Navigation

• Navigation consists of links that allow movement from page to page within a site. Keys to effective navigation involve links that are clearly organized and simple for visitors to understand. The navigation bar or menu provides a list of link pages within a site. It is important that the navigation bar appears on each page within the site.
• Possible link pages within a navigation menu may include:
  • Home
  • Free stuff
  • FAQ
  • About Us
  • Testimonials
  • Products
  • Links
  • Contact Us

Overview

• Intro for multilevel marketers
• Keys to online success for MLM businesses
• Great MLM website resources
• Assignments

Intro for multi-level marketers

• Welcome network marketers! Some of you may be asking, “Can MLM companies find success on the Internet?” The answer is definitely yes! Here you’ll learn the tips that can bring you that success.
• There are many aspects of running an MLM business, many of which you are learning through your “upline.” In this section we will mainly focus on how to build your organization and sell products through the web.

Keys to online success for MLM businesses

1. Find out the rules and regulations regarding your specific MLM company
   • Many MLM companies have specific rules that you must follow in order to promote or sell their products online. For example, some companies don’t allow their company name or logo to be on independent distributors’ web sites.
2. Focus on the products on your homepage
   • Your site visitors will more likely become distributors after they are sold on the products.
   • Have a subpage that discusses the business opportunity, but try not to give extensive information about that on your homepage.
3. Don’t try to promote and sell every product available on your website
   • Many MLM companies have thousands of products available to sell. Instead of trying to sell everything, select niche products with niche markets and target those individuals.
   • By selecting and using the right keyword phrases in your site you’ll be able to target certain markets. Use the keyword phrases in your site that your target audience will be searching by. For more information on keyword phrases review that topic in the web site design section.
4. Have a separate subpage that explains the business opportunity
   • Testimonials by successful distributors would be fitting on this page. (The testimonials for the products should be on a navigation button titled Testimonials.)
   • Don’t forget to include contact info on this page. Most people will want to speak with you before they sign up.
5. Make the ordering process seamless
   • If you are linking to another web site; e.g., the corporate web site for ordering purposes, make sure the link is as seamless as possible. For example, try and use a color scheme similar to the corporate site. Also, try to avoid linking to a page that requires a person to register before accessing necessary information.
   • If necessary, make sure you program the link to include your distributor ID so that a visitor will go directly to the purchase page without having to enter it in once they are there.

Overview

• What are crawlers?
• Submitting to Google
• Submitting to Ask Jeeves/Teoma
• Submitting to Gigablast

What are search engine crawlers?

• Crawlers are search engines that utilize “spider” technology to find and rank web pages. Each crawler search engine has its own algorithm or ranking formula for finding and ranking web pages. These algorithms are kept secret to prevent webmasters from manipulating search results, however, most search engines follow general rules for ranking pages:
  • Location and Frequency of keyword phrases – The most important location to use your keyword phrase is in the HTML Title of your site and as close to the top and bottom of your home page as possible. “Frequency” looks at how often your keyword phrase appears in the text versus the total number of text on the page. It is recommended that you use your keyword phrase 5% of the time to achieve optimal frequency.
  • Link Popularity – This measures the number of incoming links to your site. The more sites linking to your site and the quality of their link popularity determines your link popularity rating. The better your link popularity rating, the more likely you are to rank well in the search engines.

Submitting to Google

• Google is considered the #1 search engine crawler on the web. It’s search results are used by some of the other major search engines including AOL Search and Netscape. Google also sponsors results found in Ask Jeeves/Teoma.
• There are 2 methods for getting your site listed in Google:
  1. Submit your URL for free through Google’s free submit page.
  2. Sign up with Google’s Ad Words program and pay for clicks to your site. When doing this consider not paying more than $0.15 per click until you determine what your per click profit is.
• Google’s search results are layed out with sites found through the free URL submission down the left side of the page and the Google Ad Words sites down the right side of the page under “Sponsored Links.”

Submitting to Ask Jeeves/Teoma

• Ask Jeeves is one of the fastest growing search engines on the web. Through acquisitions and partnerships, Ask Jeeves has expanded their search results to several other search engines. Ask Jeeves owns a crawler based search technology which powers their search results.
• Ask Jeeves requires a $30 annual fee for most sites to submit to their search engine. For more information about their site submit program, click here.

Submitting to Gigablast

• Gigablast is a new upstart search engine crawler. SearchEngineWatch.com, a leading resource on search engines, mentions it as one of the major search engines on the web.
• Submitting to gigablast.com is free and easy. Click here to submit.

Overview

• What is a DBA & a Federal/Tax ID number?
• Why establish a business name
• Choosing a business name
• Where to register
• Assignments

What are a DBA & a Federal/Tax ID number?

• DBA stands for “Doing Business As.” A DBA is also known as a Fictitious Business Name. If you plan to operate under a name other than your own given name you will want to register it as a DBA.
• In addition to registering a business name, you may also decide to apply for a Federal Tax ID number for your business. Some states allow you to use your Social Security number for your Tax ID number.

Why establish a business name

• Having a registered business name allows you to take advantage of many tax deductions associated with a home-based business. Many of those tax deductions are mentioned in the Accounting & Taxes Curriculum section.
• Most manufacturing or dropship companies will require you to be a registered business with a Tax ID # before they will work with you.

Overview

• What is a domain name?
• Free domain names
• Why have your own custom domain name?
• Tips on selecting a domain name
• Where to get your own domain name
• Assignments

What a domain name is

• A domain name, also known as a URL is a web address. It is the www.something.com.

Free site names

• Many web site building companies or host companies offer a free domain name with the hosting of your site. It’s usually either a “subdomain” (e.g., mystore.itcstore.com) or a unique URL based on the main hosting company’s domain name (e.g., www.storesonline.com/site/mystore).
• For specifics on the free domain name you have the option of using as well as the costs involved in getting a custom domain name ask your coach. Sometimes there is a set-up fee as well as a monthly domain-hosting fee with the web site hosting company.
• The benefit of a “subdomain” or unique URL name is that it’s free. Also, when it comes to marketing your site online your domain name doesn’t necessarily have to play a big role. The disadvantage of not having your own domain name is that when you apply offline marketing, a “subdomain” or unique URL is difficult for people to remember because it tends to be very long.

Why have your own domain name

• Better branding/name recognition ability.
• It’s easier for your visitors to remember.
• Some search engines may rank you higher.
• More effective in offline marketing tactics.

Tips on selecting a domain name

• Select a domain name that pertains to your site offering.
• Select one that is as short as possible.
• Select one that is easy to spell.
• Select one that is easy to remember
• Select one that has shock value or will leave an impression in the minds of your visitors.
• Select a domain name that includes your main keywords in it. Some search engines place importance on domains that use the searched-on keywords in the domain name. Visit www.searchengines.com/urlkeywords.html for more information.
• Try to select a domain name that ends with “. com.” A “. net” ending would be your second choice. A”.org” is generally used for nonprofit organizations.
• Check whether or not your preferred domain name is available at www.godaddy.com.

Where to get your own domain name

• One of the best and cheapest places to register a domain name is at www.godaddy.com. You can register your domain name there for $8.95/year. Another place for registering your domain name is at www.000domains.com.

Articles

• Check out the following article on choosing domain names: www.wilsonweb.com/wmta/domain-name.htm, inc.com’s article, and another article from inc.com.

Assignments

• Brainstorm possible domain names for your web site and check their availability.
• Ask your coach or the Internet hotline coaches what costs are involved in registering, setting up, and hosting your domain name.
• Register a domain name. (You may want to check with your coach 1st.)

]]> http://ivysuccess.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/domain-name-ivy-capital-inc/feed/ 0 ivycapital http://ivysuccess.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/ivy-capital-internet-security/ http://ivysuccess.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/ivy-capital-internet-security/#comments Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:02:00 +0000 ivycapital http://ivysuccess.wordpress.com/?p=32 ]]> “The number of cybersecurity attacks reported to the federal government jumped 543 percent in 2003 from 2000…” -(Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute)

“One in 4 personal computers will be hacked into this year alone.” -(FBI)

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