Newbie Looking to Design Own Site

34 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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Hello,

As the subject line reads, I'm a newbie at internet marketing as well as website design. Since I am just getting started I would just like to focus on building my knowledge base of internet marketing and website design, website flipping, etc. So what I was wnanting to know was how do I build and effective website? I know I can google and find some guide, but I was just wondering what methods people use here on Warrior.

I'm not really looking to make an enourmous amount of money just yet, I just want to understand the fundementals of making money online.

Oh, and for my first webiste, the theme of it will be nutrition and fitness advice, with a few eBooks eventually, maybe a members area. Also looking into incorporating a forum and a blog maybe, if possible.

Thanks,
Brett
#design #newbie #site
  • Profile picture of the author talewins
    It sounds like all you need is wordpress.
    If you do need more check out all the free software I offer from Index of /software I'm changing servers, so if that site doesn't come up wait a bit and try again until the dns resolves.

    For professional software my suggestion is web plus x2 from serif.com
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    When you strive for greatness you will find that having a professional collaborator at your side can turn all the fuzzy preaching into writing that is smooth as silk and right as rain. http://www.talewins.com/LinStone.htm

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    • Profile picture of the author BenjaminSchrock
      Try also studying the code for the free website templates located at Open Source Web Design

      Many site "flippers" recommend to use the free site template there. Make sure you read the terms for any site template that you may use.
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  • Profile picture of the author petebolduc
    Righttech,

    I am just before pre-launch of a quality site development program which is presently being beta tested by individuals of varying different levels of design understanding.

    Being an absolute newbie, I would be interested in you beta testing this product before its launch.

    Here is a link to the site under construction. There is a video on it which explains the concept of the product and its intended design purpose.

    http://affiliate-niche-site-pro-deluxe.com

    If you are interested pm me with your phone number and convenient time of contact.

    pete
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  • Profile picture of the author Bryan
    Hey Brett,

    It's good to see that you are willing to learn the fundamentals of internet
    marketing and expect there is a learning curve before you make the big
    bucks.

    It's good to have at least a basic understanding of designing sites so even
    if you decide to outsource down the road, which is something to consider,
    you'll be able to take care of shop to make some quick changes and so forth.

    I use Dreamweaver and Fireworks for designing my websites. Dreamweaver is
    an WYSIWYG/html editor and Fireworks is the graphics program that is geared
    for web based graphics.

    They are a little pricey, but if you plan on buying any web design tools those
    are the ones to consider.

    I recommend beginners to use NVU which is an open source WYSWYG editor, and
    to outsource the graphic design, since it is very important to have a professional
    look and feel. If you feel you feel you have enough creativity to create decent logos
    an other graphics you could use try using the open source graphics editor Gimp.

    I run a free membership that will teach you many fundamentals, such as using NVU
    to design minisites and how to do other tasks, such as upload files, add a paybutton,
    traffic strategies and more. This should help take a big chunk out of the learning curve.

    In addition, if you have some money to invest in your business I recommend
    you consider outsourcing for your first site, and possibly the ad copy so you
    can get yourself online quickly and concentrate on learning and applying
    marketing strategies to increase traffic and conversions.

    If you have any questions you PM me. I would be happy to help you get started.

    Take care,

    Bryan
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    • Profile picture of the author bantayso
      Originally Posted by Bryan View Post

      Hey Brett,

      It's good to see that you are willing to learn the fundamentals of internet
      marketing and expect there is a learning curve before you make the big
      bucks.

      It's good to have at least a basic understanding of designing sites so even
      if you decide to outsource down the road, which is something to consider,
      you'll be able to take care of shop to make some quick changes and so forth.

      I use Dreamweaver and Fireworks for designing my websites. Dreamweaver is
      an WYSIWYG/html editor and Fireworks is the graphics program that is geared
      for web based graphics.

      They are a little pricey, but if you plan on buying any web design tools those
      are the ones to consider.

      I recommend beginners to use NVU which is an open source WYSWYG editor, and
      to outsource the graphic design, since it is very important to have a professional
      look and feel. If you feel you feel you have enough creativity to create decent logos
      an other graphics you could use try using the open source graphics editor Gimp.

      I run a free membership that will teach you many fundamentals, such as using NVU
      to design minisites and how to do other tasks, such as upload files, add a paybutton,
      traffic strategies and more. This should help take a big chunk out of the learning curve.

      In addition, if you have some money to invest in your business I recommend
      you consider outsourcing for your first site, and possibly the ad copy so you
      can get yourself online quickly and concentrate on learning and applying
      marketing strategies to increase traffic and conversions.

      If you have any questions you PM me. I would be happy to help you get started.

      Take care,

      Bryan
      I use notepadd++ because i have good knowledge abour HTML.
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  • Profile picture of the author awarepoint
    Yeah, it sounds like wordpress would be a good choice. You can start out by making blog posts and gaining readership, and have an About page set up. Then as you can start working on eBooks as well. If you decide to build a Web site, you can always link it to the blog and vice versa. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author awesometbn
    Originally Posted by righttech View Post

    Hello,

    As the subject line reads, I'm a newbie at internet marketing as well as website design. Since I am just getting started I would just like to focus on building my knowledge base of internet marketing and website design, website flipping, etc. So what I was wnanting to know was how do I build and effective website? I know I can google and find some guide, but I was just wondering what methods people use here on Warrior.
    Brett I would recommend trying to limit how much you are going to spend setting everything up, in order to make money. For example you might want to avoid paying a couple of hundred dollars for a website template or even more money on a web designer, when there are plenty of free templates that will serve your purposes nicely.

    Another idea is to actually make a plan of what you want to accomplish, and use it as a reference as you make progress. For example, you don't necessarily need to write a business plan for your idea if you can summarize what is called the entrepreneur's script. It's a 1-2-3 list of the steps you want to take, and how that will earn a profit. This is only an overview, or high level picture. In your case, it might look like:

    1. setup a website
    2. sell ebooks and membership subscriptions
    3. sell advertising space on each webpage
    4. earn money from sales and subscriptions
    5. reinvest profits to improve website or fund my ad campaigns

    Your entrepreneur script might be different, but this is the general idea. From there you can be more specific about domain registration, web hosting, membership management, advertising networks, and deciding how you are going to produce reports for yourself to know that things are working correctly.

    It helps to write things down if you really want to accomplish your goals. I know a lot of people do not do this, but I strongly recommend that you research and write your own business plan, develop a custom marketing plan, and put the measurement components in place so you will know for sure that you are not being lied to, and are on track to produce the right results. If something is not working, figure out why and make adjustments immediately. Listen to your customers and follow up quickly.

    There is a lot more to say, but since you are at the beginning, I'll wait to hear your feedback.
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  • Profile picture of the author sunwestdog
    I use webpro 5.0 editor. It will do most of the work for you. the greenest of the green can build a nice web page with this.
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    • Profile picture of the author Daveone
      Where can one find webpro 5.0 editor?
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      • Profile picture of the author cheap2art
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        • Profile picture of the author erbuc
          There are a lot of free tools out there to get you started. Coffee Cup software has a free and a paid version of an HTML editor. (CoffeeCup - HTML Editor, Flash & Web Design Software) Also, have a look at this list of free tools at
          Web Tools | Web Services and Tools.

          If you are looking to start a specific type of online business, there are also free tutorials on how to setup and run an online business in the Web University section.
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  • Profile picture of the author gimmick
    Wordpress is a good advice, also consider downloading a HTML editor to understand HTML and make your own pages. Try to Google the word coffeecup software and try the HTML editor, also if possible, get Dreamweawer from Adobe for best results.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cpt Jack Sparrow
    Some very good tips there Many recommending Wordpress .. Can someone list the best plugins for wordpress? or a link where the best plugins can be evaluated? Many Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author clicknow4cash
    Why spend a lot of unnecessary cash on HTML when there are so many great free sites on the web?

    For instance: W3Schools Online Web Tutorials
    The address is: www.w3schools.com/




    Good Luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author gdclarke
    take a look at our service -- simplweb.com

    we'll be rolling out a membership w/ subscription package in the soon.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Turner
    Hi - to get started use NVU - just to get the feel of it - it has been updated and and called Komposer -http://www.kompozer.net/
    google free add free hosting to find some free space to play with or
    get the hostgator baby hosting http://www.hostgator.com/
    I use WYSIWYG Web Builder - very easy to create sites
    For all other info re web marketing just search your topic on this forum
    this is where the gold is
    my tip: keep your credit card in your pocket unless you really need it right now
    good luck
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    • Profile picture of the author tayra
      wow - it looks like WYSIWYG Web Builder includes more features than the basic coffeecup program. Have you compared and/or used coffeecup?
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  • Profile picture of the author fourthavenue
    Banned
    try ning.com they provide easy to use website creator. its like blogger and wordpress but much better!
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  • Profile picture of the author pmore
    As some people have already stated, there are PLENTY of free tutorials online for you to start with. If you are really keen to begin from scratch you should try 'HTML 4 for Dummies'. It starts with the very basics and takes you on from there.

    You should also consider the possibility that you don't need to learn all of this to begin Internet Marketing. As somebody else aready suggested, Wordpress would fulfill most of your needs if not all and it's free. I use Wordpress to make all my sites and the host of add-ons available usually mean you can get it to do whatever you want.

    Also search engines love to index Wordpress blogs which is great if you plan on using your site for Internet Marketing purposes.

    It all ultimately depends on your personal goals.

    Hope I helped a little and good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author awarepoint
    One quick thing about Wordpress though, which I found out after I registered (I guess I should have looked at the TOS more closely). If you have WP host your blog/site for you, then you can't use Adsense, you have to self-host for that. Just to keep in mind if you want to start out with advertisments on a WP site.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rich Currie
      Nvu is a great free web editor to get your feet wet and learn some HTML.
      I use Dreamweaver but it can be pricey.

      I don't recommend free websites as they sometimes are limited in what you can change, As well as they are hard sometimes to get to rank well from an SEO (search engine optimazation) standpoint.
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      • Profile picture of the author Allen Bell
        There are several Free website editors out there that work very well. I have used one to build over 50 websites. They give me Free Domain Name. Free Hosting. Free Templates. Over 66,000 widgets to use. RSS, Audio, Video, A Store front. And so much more. Go to my homepage to read more.
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        • Profile picture of the author markstiff
          Hi, if you choose Wordpress You'll be succeed I think. Basically website design and internet marketing are two different matter. You'll find both in Wordpress.
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  • look online for some good tutorials...there are loads on youtube
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  • Profile picture of the author timeworks
    Wordpress may be a good choice for you. You can use Wordpress to both sell ebooks and also provide a place were people can interact with you via the blog posts. Check out the Flexiblity theme which is geared toward letting you setup to sell an ebook, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bex7175
    At the risk of echoing everyone else here I am a big fan of Wordpress, although I also strongly recommend that people supplement their knowledge of this CMS with some learning of HTML, CSS and PHP. Those languages can really help you to tweak your Wordpress sites to be unique and to look incredible.

    w3schools.com really is an invaluable resource when it comes to teaching yourself coding. For learning WordPress I'd recommend just finding yourself a couple of free themes and having a bit of a play around with how they work. There's hundreds of great tutorials about getting set up with WP and how to upload your chosen themes.

    Although I'd recommend starting cheaply, with free WP themes and tutorials from websites, I would also strongly suggest getting your own web hosting rather than using Wordpresses own. It's a good idea to have as much control over your domains as possible and with the fees for these services being so much lower these days than they used to be it's generally quite an affordable thing to do.

    Hope that helps a bit and best of luck with it!
    Bex
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  • Profile picture of the author ocsSEO01
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    • Profile picture of the author Bryan
      There is enough decent free WYSIWYG editors, that you'd be better off to stick with them, when comparing with Coffee Cup, which will do mostly everything that most people would need.

      If you are going spend any money on a WYSIWYG/HTML editor, buy Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver CS5 is head and shoulders above other editors and in that release they provided some great new features. The most notable feature would be the Integrated CMS support capability. Since most sites are going the route using CMS framework, such as Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla!, this will be a big game changer.

      This page has some of the new features included in CS5:

      Dreamweaver for web design projects | Adobe Dreamweaver CS5

      I hope this helps,

      Bryan
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  • Profile picture of the author jjw93
    I would go with dreamweaver, it may be difficult to get used to at first but in the long run you'll find its probably the best way to create completely unique websites
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    • Profile picture of the author colinph970
      Wordpress is just about the easiest way to build a website. I found the hardest part was to install without the help of Fantastico, but most hosting now provide it as a free option. Using this free installer makes it very easy and then its just a matter of installing a theme and some plugins, all of which can be done very easily.

      Check out video 1 and 2 at:

      $2 Wordpress Training! | Niche Blog Sales

      You'll then see just what I mean by how easy it actually is to use Wordpress.

      Good Luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author Norma Rickman
      My vote is for WordPress, particularly if you are a non-coder. The plugins add so much functionality without having to code yourself.

      And with WP 3.0, WordPress has truly become a content management system instead of just a blogging platform.
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  • Profile picture of the author cheap_hosting
    I suggest getting prebuilt free templates from sites like freecsstemplates and constructing on tehm, makes life easy a lot easy. But I recommend wordpress, its setup right out of the box and its extremely easy to use.
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  • Profile picture of the author gridley
    Start with WordPress, Joomla is also another good one that I found fairly easy to start off with. WP is still easier though.
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  • Profile picture of the author nichechic
    I am so glad I found this post! I've taken all the advice in and am extremely grateful for all the detailed information. I'm also interested in not only blogging but getting my own site out there and this information has been something I've needed for a long time!
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  • Profile picture of the author FreeZeo
    try w3school.com they have good tutorials on how to start your own website
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    • Profile picture of the author Bryan
      Originally Posted by FreeZeo View Post

      try w3school.com they have good tutorials on how to start your own website
      I agree that is a great resource. but why spend hours of hand coding when their are great WYSIWYG solutions like Dreamweaver (paid), KompoZer (free), and Wordpress. I usually only use premium Wordpress themes, for I use some powerful plugins. I do however, use http://www.w3schools.com/ as a reference to tweak my template the way I want it. Firebug, the firefox addon can be helpful in finding out what needs to be tweaked in WordPress.

      Just learning and building a site from scratch with tutorials, would take people a long time -- when if money is an issue -- they can use KompoZer for building static HTML sites or WordPress to create sites dynamic sites 10x fast that are generally more attractive. Most new web designers would need a good amount of practice to design an attractive Website by hand coding alone.

      Having a basic knowledge of HTML is good though to troubleshoot issues but people can always reference W3shools and learn as they go as they use automated means for the bulk of the work.
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