Ideas on Home Page Content?? :)

[oregoncountry]

I am just so excited about having my website up but I realized I was pretty much in the dark as what to use in the way of home-page content. My pages are like so:

Home
About Us
The Mall
FAQ's
Contact Us

These are not written in stone yet but for now, until I see something I want to add or change, these will do. I am starting out as simply and to the point as possible. But the first thing I want to ask about is content for a good, home-page. I know that it would come in handy to be able to buy some package deal but I am unable to do that so I have to cruise the internet for ideas from others websites, and ask some Warriors

Any ideas where I can find a tutorial or suggestions? I don't want anything long or drawn out. Just a blurb welcoming people to the site, but not just "Welcome to the Site" LOL

Thank you in advance for any pointers denise

first link in signature is not working and I need to fix it

[Tyrus Antas]

You already have the domain but no content? That's bad. You should know what you want and only then search for an available domain. Have you decided on what niche you're going to be in?

Tyrus

[Droopy Dawg]

Put a couple images on your homepage... with links to your other pages. Cleverly throw your logo somewhere on the page.

[igorhelpsyousucceed]

You can have an introductionary post, introducing yourself
and what is your site about.

Pointing out some helpful links and encouraging the user
to investigate the content.

Igor

[morwanneg]

Maybe you can put some simple flash designs in your site containing your tag line?

Aside from your site's design, the text you throw into your homepage is very important as well so make sure that you carefully choose the words you will use and make sure the content on your homepage is SEO friendly.

[Festinho]

Introduce yourself and your business opportunity. Initially focus on videos if possible, articles are also fine. Try to plan ahead for your content. Do keyword research as quickly as possible and then start driving traffic to your site. Good luck.

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by Tyrus Antas

You already have the domain but no content? That's bad. You should know what you want and only then search for an available domain. Have you decided on what niche you're going to be in?

Tyrus

Ah the shoulds, I know a lot about those and I appreciate your feedback But now that I do have my domain, I want to focus on the solution. Get it populated. Yes, I have my niche. With my next site I will do better

denise

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by Droopy Dawg

Put a couple images on your homepage... with links to your other pages. Cleverly throw your logo somewhere on the page.

Ok, I am pretty much there. I was wondering about a short blurb though. Here is one I had planned but not published. Any one can critique it.

Welcome to From Here to Eden Travel Accessories. Our site is here to provide a "one-stop-shopping" experience for people on the go. We are a new site but eager to provide the very best in travel accessory needs to our visitors. We will be gathering only the latest and greatest products on our site from well-established, dependable manufacturers.

Go easy on me ok? I couldn't afford a package deal for A.M. and I am doing the research on my own with what time I have I am open and teachable, respect others that have succeeded in this biz. denise

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by Festinho

Introduce yourself and your business opportunity. Initially focus on videos if possible, articles are also fine. Try to plan ahead for your content. Do keyword research as quickly as possible and then start driving traffic to your site. Good luck.

Thank you for this. I pretty much have my content, it's the homepage/welcome thing I am having trouble with. I use adwords and if you have a better "free" tool you want to suggest I am open to that as well. I've written some articles of my own but wonder about maybe using others as well. Thank you, best of luck to you as well. denise

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by morwanneg

Maybe you can put some simple flash designs in your site containing your tag line?

Aside from your site's design, the text you throw into your homepage is very important as well so make sure that you carefully choose the words you will use and make sure the content on your homepage is SEO friendly.

flash designs? Sounds neat but not familiar with them. I was thinking a sort of "preview" of the actual product page. Is this what you are talking about but just have a few photos of product etc? I will google flash designs and see what I come up with. I have some great software to use and it may even have that capability also ty, denise

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by igorhelpsyousucceed

You can have an introductionary post, introducing yourself
and what is your site about.

Pointing out some helpful links and encouraging the user
to investigate the content.

Igor

Sounds good, something to motivate or encourage them to look further Thank you much!!!

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by oregoncountry

Ok, I am pretty much there. I was wondering about a short blurb though. Here is one I had planned but not published. Any one can critique it.

Welcome to From Here to Eden Travel Accessories. Our site is here to provide a "one-stop-shopping" experience for people on the go. We are a new site but eager to provide the very best in travel accessory needs to our visitors. We will be gathering only the latest and greatest products on our site from well-established, dependable manufacturers.

Go easy on me ok? I couldn't afford a package deal for A.M. and I am doing the research on my own with what time I have I am open and teachable, respect others that have succeeded in this biz. denise

Denise, I'll try to go easy on you.

Do not publish this blurb as posted. Period.

It has nothing to do with your visitors, and everything to do with you. There is no benefit for a reader, nothing to draw them further into the site.

If you want some guidance on crafting your content, take a look at the free guide Dan Theis publishes at Free SEO Book: Read SEO Fast Start by Dan Thies . the 2009 update just came out. Did I mention, it's free?

Another good source for some ideas is Ken Evoy's SiteBuildIt site at SBI! - What Is "It"? . I think he still offers his "Make Your Site Sell" ebook for free on the site. I paid for it years ago, and it was a smart purchase. You can also browse the sites in his galleries, look at the case studies. They'll give you some good ideas to jumpstart your own brain.

[ScottFox]

Hi Denise,
Try the references John mentions above.
Other thoughts include:
- talk about the benefits to the visitor, not about yourself
- don't use the future tense ("we're going to do this or that") - visitors are interested in what you have for them today
- do some keyword research (google this if you don't know what I mean) to determine appropriate keywords to use in your intro copy
- if you have a nice photo of yourself, include it to make your site more personal
- try looking at other successful sites to mimic their approach - these don't have to be in your niche
Hope that helps,
Scott

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Denise, I'll try to go easy on you.

Do not publish this blurb as posted. Period.

It has nothing to do with your visitors, and everything to do with you. There is no benefit for a reader, nothing to draw them further into the site.

If you want some guidance on crafting your content, take a look at the free guide Dan Theis publishes at Free SEO Book: Read SEO Fast Start by Dan Thies . the 2009 update just came out. Did I mention, it's free?

Another good source for some ideas is Ken Evoy's SiteBuildIt site at SBI! - What Is "It"? . I think he still offers his "Make Your Site Sell" ebook for free on the site. I paid for it years ago, and it was a smart purchase. You can also browse the sites in his galleries, look at the case studies. They'll give you some good ideas to jumpstart your own brain.

John, you just assume I have a brain Ok, I agree after reading my "blurb" that is not about the customer. I will go and read the material you offered and I appreciate your help I've already made some costly mistakes so I am paying attention to what is suggested

Thank you much, denise

Wow, I love this guy already, Dan Thies, just read a couple pages and what he has to say under "There Are Some Things I Can’t Fix" section?? How true. One HUGE reason I got away from some people I was "hangin" with. They were really starting to make the dough but I just felt sort of, well, dirty or under-handed. I am old-fashioned and still chose integrity over money(as she heads for the offramp with her cardboard sign). Thank you again John, I am going to enjoy reading this. I've heard a lot of good things about SBI and I will be sure to take a look at that as well. This should keep me busy

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by ScottFox

Hi Denise,
Try the references John mentions above.
Other thoughts include:
- talk about the benefits to the visitor, not about yourself
- don't use the future tense ("we're going to do this or that") - visitors are interested in what you have for them today
- do some keyword research (google this if you don't know what I mean) to determine appropriate keywords to use in your intro copy
- if you have a nice photo of yourself, include it to make your site more personal
- try looking at other successful sites to mimic their approach - these don't have to be in your niche
Hope that helps,
Scott

Yes, it helps a lot, thank you Scott. I am already a few pages into Dan Thies ebook, good stuff. I'll check back in when I have something composed. It will be awhile The first ebook is 100 pages but I am really glad to be given the info by John. I was doing google searches and got tired of looking and came to the Warriour Forum and that was the smartest thing I did all day

ty again, denise

[JohnMcCabe]

I was right. Dr. Evoy is offering MYSS as a free download. He doesn't even ask for an opt-in. This link is for the self-extracting zip file.

Denise, if you download this one, don't try to take it all in before doing anything. It's like drinking from a firehose...

Just check out the chapter on content for your home page to start with, as that's where you're currently stuck.

http://myss.sitesell.com/download/myss2002free.exe

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

I was right. Dr. Evoy is offering MYSS as a free download. He doesn't even ask for an opt-in. This link is for the self-extracting zip file.

Denise, if you download this one, don't try to take it all in before doing anything. It's like drinking from a firehose...

Just check out the chapter on content for your home page to start with, as that's where you're currently stuck.

http://myss.sitesell.com/download/myss2002free.exe

LOL, great minds! I was just coming to find you John I downloaded both books earllier when I got the links from you. I've been reading the other by Thies. Will do on your direction again, regarding Evoy's material. Thank you for all your help, I have already read so much good stuff. I've been flopping around like fish trying to listen to everyone's ideas on how to do this thing and not that it's bad info, it's just tooooooooo much info. So I thought sitting and reading one, single book, or two is the way to go. ttyl, denise

[dndoseller]

My best success has come from having a 2,500 word keyword rich article on the home page of a site...great Google traffic.

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by dndoseller

My best success has come from having a 2,500 word keyword rich article on the home page of a site...great Google traffic.

Makes sense to me and I was just reading about that by Thies or Evoy(splg)and it sounds like the trick is to place the words strategically throughout but not "overdo" it. Glad to hear you are succeeding I hope to be too but I can see it's going to take a lot of reading. I had my website long before I knew anything about Affiliate Marketing so now, I just want to use it for that. There's just so much information and for me it's easy to get brain-overload. Every time I think I am keeping it simple, I keep getting "big" ideas that I'm really not ready for, lol!

denise

[RentItNow]

"Welcome to From Here to Eden Travel Accessories. Our site is here to provide a "one-stop-shopping" experience for people on the go. We are a new site but eager to provide the very best in travel accessory needs to our visitors. We will be gathering only the latest and greatest products on our site from well-established, dependable manufacturers.
"
Aside from the fact you are focusing on you and not the customer, you need to explain why you are different from the 10,000 other travel places. What is your unique sales proposition? What is the Wow of your site that none other has? Play it up!

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by RentItNow

Aside from the fact you are focusing on you and not the customer, you need to explain why you are different from the 10,000 other travel places. What is your unique sales proposition? What is the Wow of your site that none other has? Play it up!

Yes, until yesterday, when I did this post, I didn't know anything at all about writing a homepage, obviously I'm reading those ebooks John suggested. The hardest thing is to find a few Affiliate's websites? I do a search for just something off the top of my head, and I get a lot of sites but I haven't landed on anyone's that is actually doing A.M. I plan on looking through the forum today, for signatures with peoples site links and go that route

Thank you a lot for your help, denise

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by oregoncountry

Yes, until yesterday, when I did this post, I didn't know anything at all about writing a homepage, obviously I'm reading those ebooks John suggested. The hardest thing is to find a few Affiliate's websites? I do a search for just something off the top of my head, and I get a lot of sites but I haven't landed on anyone's that is actually doing A.M. I plan on looking through the forum today, for signatures with peoples site links and go that route

Thank you a lot for your help, denise

Denise, article marketing is a means of getting/attracting traffic to your site. Your home page is a means of getting people from the front page to a page where you can make some money. Your home page on this type of site will be the same whether you use articles, PPC, or rely on SEO for traffic.

Here's a suggestion...

> Provide an opt-in form with an attached freebie, such as "Top Ten Travel Accessories for Frequent Flyers", where you run down 10 items and why they make travel easier/more pleasant. Link to those items using your affiliate links.

> Feature one of your accessories on the front page and give people a sample of your description showing why they want to own that accessory. Change this item periodically.

> If you have the accessories divided into different categories, list the categories with a short description and a link to the relevant category page (Tier 2 page).

> Add a little bit of your own story. Maybe your favorite trip, or your least favorite. Something funny that happened while traveling, or something that brought a lump to your throat. This is the place to show a little of your own personality and make a human connection. All things equal, people like to buy from people - especially people they know, like and trust.

Keep this bit short on your home page, but link it to your 'about' page or a blog...

Go back to the SBI site and explore the case studies for more ideas. You'll find a lot of sites marketing products as affiliates...

[chavis]

Someone must take the time to write quality web pages with a significant amount of content about a company's products or services. This also requires daily monitoring of search engine positions, an active interest in promoting the company's web presence, and keeping up with the latest techniques, tips, and tricks to keep the company's products and services at the top of the search engine results. Just buying a domain name, redirecting it to a web page, and telling the search engines about the website address will not get top search engine positions.

[oregoncountry]

Ok, makes sense, can I see your website? You have an affiliate marketing website right?

denise

[oregoncountry]

John, this really sounds great! Thank you for the info. Also, yes, I will go look at the case studies. Sounds like then I will see the websites of people like me.

Why do so few here have marketing sites? Is this just for teachers, not doers? Nothing wrong with that, I understand about the need for teachers Just misunderstood the forum I think denise

[Istvan Horvath]

Originally Posted by oregoncountry

JWhy do so few here have marketing sites?

I have asked you in your other thread but I will rephrase my question here, too:
What is what you would consider "marketing site"?

Everything is marketing site if it sells you something or makes you to take some action (subscribe, click etc.). It doesn't matter what they sell... a "teaching" product (e.g. How To Make Money Online) or a software or a physical product. They are all "marketing" their stuff. You find find way to many site around here that try to "market" something

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by The Pension Guy

I have asked you in your other thread but I will rephrase my question here, too:
What is what you would consider "marketing site"?

Everything is marketing site if it sells you something or makes you to take some action (subscribe, click etc.). It doesn't matter what they sell... a "teaching" product (e.g. How To Make Money Online) or a software or a physical product. They are all "marketing" their stuff. You find find way to many site around here that try to "market" something

Oh, sorry I didn't see the previous time you asked me Ok, well, I guess I want to see a site that is selling a product besides "how to market". I realize selling/preselling can be anything but I would like to see sites that were built to sell something like chocolate, LOL

denise

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by oregoncountry

John, this really sounds great! Thank you for the info. Also, yes, I will go look at the case studies. Sounds like then I will see the websites of people like me.

Why do so few here have marketing sites? Is this just for teachers, not doers? Nothing wrong with that, I understand about the need for teachers Just misunderstood the forum I think denise

Denise, one of the reasons you don't see more members here linking to actual product sites is a desire to avoid being copied. Not 'emulated' as in follow my example. Copied as in 'identical twins from different mothers'... In other words, stealing.

There are over 100,000 people registered on this forum. Not all of them are honest...

Another reason is the nature of the beast. From the description of the main forum - "where we talk about making money". I don't link to anything because the sites have nothing to do with making money.

This forum is one crossroads location for people wanting to make money and people wanting to be paid for teaching people to make money.

You find more examples by finding travel-related forums that allow sig links and following a few of those than you will here...

[oregoncountry]

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Denise, one of the reasons you don't see more members here linking to actual product sites is a desire to avoid being copied. Not 'emulated' as in follow my example. Copied as in 'identical twins from different mothers'... In other words, stealing.

There are over 100,000 people registered on this forum. Not all of them are honest...

Another reason is the nature of the beast. From the description of the main forum - "where we talk about making money". I don't link to anything because the sites have nothing to do with making money.

This forum is one crossroads location for people wanting to make money and people wanting to be paid for teaching people to make money.

You find more examples by finding travel-related forums that allow sig links and following a few of those than you will here...

ooooooooook, now that makes sense You are so smart John, how long have you been at this? Now you better tell me "more than a week" because it's just discouraging how long it takes me to learn thangs denise

Seriously, you have been a blessing!! I've copied and saved your info to wordpad so I can look back at your directions easily. Oh, I am now trying to pick a "form maker". I found a great list here CSS-Based Forms: Modern Solutions | CSS | Smashing Magazine
but don't know which to use for opt-in form? I don't see one named that. I did find another, "how to make an opt-in form" but the ready-mades are better for this newbie.

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by oregoncountry

ooooooooook, now that makes sense You are so smart John, how long have you been at this? Now you better tell me "more than a week" because it's just discouraging how long it takes me to learn thangs denise

Seriously, you have been a blessing!! I've copied and saved your info to wordpad so I can look back at your directions easily. Oh, I am now trying to pick a "form maker". I found a great list here CSS-Based Forms: Modern Solutions | CSS | Smashing Magazine
but don't know which to use for opt-in form? I don't see one named that. I did find another, "how to make an opt-in form" but the ready-mades are better for this newbie.

My first site went up in 1996, and I held sales and marketing jobs before that. Even as a mechanical design engineer, I found myself spending more time working with the marketing department and field reps than anyone else in my department.

Now I'm going to slip in one of my own secret weapons...

The Road (Website's Secret, not an affiliate link)

I've been one of Will's customers for years, and this membership site is one of the few I've stuck with for more than a few months. Not overly expensive, either - $60 for 6 months or $90 for 12; no autorenewal, either.

Lots of good stuff, including a form builder.

[oregoncountry]

Ok John, I will keep this link/info as well. Ty sooooooooo much! When I can afford it I will look into it denise

[oregoncountry]

Hey John and everyone! I am busy working on my content. My niche has changed a bit, narrowed down some. The only thing I regret is not being able to have a new website domain because this one is published and I just hope people don't accidently come across my "site under construction" and never come back.

Hope everyone had a great 4th! Denise