By Ken
Leonard Jr.
© KLJ Online
Developing
websites for selling products online can be much different from designing the
glitzy, effects-driven sites of today. A website designer may not realize the
requirements of online marketing related, or product selling/reselling sites.
They may sell you a design that looks great, but makes no sales for you. A
website, like any other method of online promotion, has to be experimented with,
fine-tuned, and then "tweaked" some more. It is a work forever under
construction. Paying a webmaster to edit your site frequently can get very
expensive, especially for those of you that are building your online business
"on a shoestring".
Designing a website may seem to be quite a task for a non-techie. Well, it
doesn't have to be, even if you know nothing about web design or HTML coding
(the language of web pages).
Website design software known as "WYSIWYG" (What You See Is What You
Get) is available to let the beginner design a great site, without having to pay
a webmaster. The GUI (Graphical User Interface) allows the user to see exactly
what changes in coding look like, on the fly.
Instead of writing HTML code to form pages,(etc.), simple tools are used to
easily create (after you've spent the time to learn how a very complex piece of
software works) website pages, place images and text where you want them, work
with color "palates", and create "header tags" that will
allow you to get ranked highly (with a lot of work) in the major search engines.
These programs have many features that you may think don't apply to a productive
sales-oriented website, but you may find them useful to create other sites that
may not be sales sites, but are more image and effects-driven by design.
Purchasing a good website creation program will set you back from $100 US to
over $500 US, depending on the functionality. This wise investment, though, will
pay for itself many times, giving you an edge over the competition. Paying a
designer for just one website (plus a few edits) can cost you as much or more as
buying and learning to use a great website design tool.
These programs involve quite a learning process to become a proficient user, but
if you weren't willing to learn for the good of building a successful online
business, you wouldn't be reading this article right now, would you?
As far as product recommendations go, there are many, depending on your needs
and budget. Try to read up on different programs, from reliable third-party tech
sites (like C|NET or ZDNet), to get unbiased opinions and user ratings.
Stay away from any programs that are producers of "bloated code",
which is extra, unneeded code, that makes pages load and operate more slowly.
After reading, you will see that one of the most notable examples of this is
Microsoft's FrontPage. I know a lot of you have a version of FrontPage already,
from your install of Windows or MS Office, but I really recommend to go with a
non-Microsoft product. The reviews and user comments back me up on this. Read
for yourself.
Check out these three website design apps. They rank highly with users and
reviewers, and after learning them, are easy to use. Use the links below to
visit their respective homepages.
At the low end of our price range is HotDog Professional, from Sausage Software.
This has a very loyal following, has nice features, and will cost you under $150
US.
http://sausagetools.com/professional/overview.html
The mid-priced pick has got to be GoLive, from the great software minds at
Adobe. This full-featured, highly functional creation tool can do some great
things. It comes in around $300 US, and integrates nicely with other Adobe apps,
like Photoshop. The online tutorials on the Adobe site are video-based, with the
actions happening on the screen captures, along with audio narration.
http://www.adobe.com/products/golive/main.html
At the top of our price range is the very popular Dreamweaver from Macromedia.
This app is used by many of the top online marketers, and it integrates with
other
Macromedia graphics products, like Flash (produces most of the cool animated
graphics that you see on the web today). This is a plus if you plan on designing
other non-sales oriented sites that make use of Flash animation, or wish to
design websites for profit. You can also get the Studio version, that comes with
Macromedia's graphic editing/creation app Fireworks. Highly recommended. Highly
priced. (Around $400 US by itself, $799 US with Flash, Fireworks, ColdFusion and
more.)
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/
Whichever software you choose, you will probably find a free demo download
available, so take it on a test run. There are also tons of free resources and
tutorials online to help you learn and to use your favorite one like a pro!
How do YOU
get results online with little or no business experience? Get Ken Leonard Jr.'s
new mini-course, "7 Essential Steps To Business Success". End your
frustration, get going in the right direction!
www.kenleonardjr.com