| Building a web site isn't something that is | | | | advertisments such as banners. Infact, I've |
| really cut and dry. There's a huge variety of | | | | used it for everything except animation... |
| products and services that can either help | | | | But it also comes with Adobe Imageready which |
| you get your web site where you want it or | | | | is very good with animation. This software is |
| simply confuse you. It's also important that | | | | amazing, and if you're going to learn ANY |
| you make the right choices upfront so that | | | | image editing software I recommend you start |
| you don't end up having to restructure your | | | | with Photoshop because of it's widerange of |
| whole web site because of some problem in | | | | overall... usefulness! |
| your design layout. The level of time | | | | |
| investment neccessary for mastery in a lot of | | | | Let's get me some sales! |
| these software packages can range from little | | | | |
| to a VERY significant amount. Because of this | | | | Kick off your new web site you've gotten up |
| I feel it's important to be lead in the | | | | from your knowledge of webmastering and image |
| "right" direction to make sure you don't | | | | editing with a few new sales... Sounds like a |
| spend time in the wrong areas, or learning | | | | plan? Well a great way to do that quickly is |
| some software that might not be all that | | | | with pay-per-click advertising. BUT WAIT! |
| useful for you later on (*coughs* Frontpage | | | | Doesn't that cost money? Well... Yes. But |
| *coughs*). | | | | with the tools brought to us by some of the |
| | | | biggest pay-per-click advertisers out there |
| Where you should start greatly depends on | | | | we should be able to make a good evaluation |
| what you plan on attempting to do, and how | | | | of how much profit we're going to make |
| deep you're going to dive in. For a | | | | without much investment upfront. |
| moderately professional, clean looking web | | | | |
| site without a lot of automation or intensive | | | | The big question behind pay-per-click |
| animated graphics you can probably get by | | | | advertising is whether or not it's worth the |
| with some basic knowledge of html, ability | | | | cash when you can simply get traffic from |
| with a good WYSIWYG editor, and an image | | | | regular search engine ranking (otherwise |
| editting program. On the other hand, if | | | | known as organic traffic). Afterall, there |
| you're someone that's looking to build | | | | are plenty of companies out there that |
| something that will really wow your audience | | | | promise to help get you all the traffic you |
| then you might consider spending some major | | | | need through optimizing your web site for |
| time and developing some animation skills | | | | organic ranking. The answer to this question |
| with a program like Macromedia Flash. I | | | | is quite simple: profit is profit. Through |
| personally always spring for what I believe | | | | conversion tracking tools such as those |
| will bring me the greatest amount of profit | | | | offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing and Google |
| with a minimal amount of effort, and because | | | | Adwords anyone can calculate exactly what |
| of this I usually end up spending all of my | | | | their profit is after cost of PPC advertising |
| time diving in deeper with ONLY my WYSIWYG | | | | is taken out. In my opinion, Google Adwords |
| HTML editor, and my image editor. | | | | has the most user-friendly interface among |
| | | | the PPC advertisers. Google Adword's |
| What is a "WYSIWYG" editor? | | | | interface makes it very easy to see which |
| | | | keywords are pulling you in the most sales, |
| A WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML | | | | and which ones aren't even worth your |
| editor is what allows you to get by with | | | | advertising money. |
| minimal knowledge of HTML. Yes, that means | | | | |
| you don't have to know EVERYTHING about HTML | | | | Let us not forget, however, that in order to |
| to have a decent looking website. When you | | | | make those conversions we're going to be |
| use a WYSIWYG editor it interprets what | | | | needing a shopping cart! There's a lot of |
| you're doing (inserting an image for example) | | | | diverse software packages out there you can |
| as being a certain series of HTML tags with | | | | use, but I've been using Mal's E-Commerce |
| attributes, and does it for you... Thus, what | | | | Free shopping cart for a number of years with |
| you see on your screen is what you get. | | | | great success. The cart's server is hosted on |
| Instead of seeing a bunch of HTML code in | | | | their machines so that means you not only get |
| text format, you'll mostly see what will | | | | away with not having to pay for the software |
| actually show up in your browser once your | | | | itself, but you get out of having to buy an |
| web site is up WHILE you're making it. I | | | | SSL security ticket too! Nothing's a better |
| highly recommend using the latest version of | | | | bargain than free, eh? |
| dreamweaver -- it is well-known as one of the | | | | |
| best HTML editors by general consensus. | | | | Getting those sales leads you've been |
| Dreamweaver's interface is very friendly, has | | | | building up to BUY! |
| a built in FTP client, and is specifically | | | | |
| built to be flexible enough to suit both the | | | | Once you've scored a few sales it would |
| coder and the everyday amatuer webmaster. | | | | probably be a good idea to start using some |
| | | | kind of lead management services. I highly |
| Image editing? What do I need that for? | | | | recommend the use of autoresponders for this |
| | | | purpose. Autoresponders are, essentially, a |
| Okay, let's be realistic here: If you're | | | | newsletter sign-up that allows you to |
| going to make a professional *appearing* web | | | | strategically determine what you want to send |
| site it's important that you can make some | | | | each lead after a certain alotted amount of |
| basic, decent looking graphics. There's a lot | | | | time. For example, let's say someone visits |
| of graphics problems that can truly get the | | | | your web site and you offer them a free |
| job done, but as far as power and flexibility | | | | newsletter. If you were selling an ebook on |
| goes I recommend Adobe Photoshop. Adobe | | | | some very complicated topic, you might |
| Photoshop definitely takes some time getting | | | | consider sending them only information on the |
| used to, but in the end it's VERY rewarding. | | | | most basic concepts at first to get them |
| I've ended up using my knowledge of Photoshop | | | | interested. Slowly but surely, you can turn |
| to make not only graphics for multiple web | | | | those visitors that might have left your web |
| sites, but also touched up portraits, made | | | | site and never have returned into some |
| business cards, flyers, and other online | | | | serious revenue! |