Leva
Duell
You'll
need the following items to start designing a web site to sell
your products and services.
A
computer with an Internet connection and an email address
to receive orders.
A
domain name. Having your own domain name is a must for
a commercial web site.
Hosting.
You'll need a reliable hosting company that can handle your current
and future needs.
A
merchant account processor, payment gateway, and shopping
cart to accept payments online. Most online customers pay by credit
card, debit card, electronic check, or Paypal. Very few people
will mail in a check. The shopping cart on your web site collects
the payment information, communicated with the payment processor
and gateway, verifies that the credit card or echeck is good,
and returns the authorization or denial to your site. This all
happens very fast. You can set up a thank you page that will automatically
appear when the payment is authorized. When selling ebooks or
software, you can put your download links in your thank you page
and automate the complete ordering process.
To
take payments online through a shopping cart you'll typically
need a merchant account. Some order processors like Paypal, Clickbank
and 2checkout will process the payments for you without needing
a merchant account.
Web
design software. You can design your web site yourself
or hire a professional web designer. Hiring a professional allows
you to focus on running your company instead of the numerous technical
issues involved in web design.
If
you want to design your own web site, you can either learn HTML
and hand-code your web pages, or you can use a web editor. A web
editor is software that creates the HTML code for you. But even
when using a web editor, it helps to learn the basics of HTML
to solve some design problems. WYSIWYG editors allow you to design
your web site using a What You See Is What You Get interface.
This is similar to a word processor where you can see what your
page will look like as you're typing it.
Dreamweaver
is the most popular professional web editor today but has a steep
learning curve. FrontPage is popular for non-professional users.
However, it is incompatible with other programs and will cause
problems if you need help from a professional designer.
Some
hosting companies offer free online wizards and template-based
software that will guide you through setting up web pages. Using
those makes it easy to start creating web pages but it will be
difficult to make changes. Also, you may have problems moving
your pages when switching providers.
If
you plan on creating a simple web site, you can use one of the
many free web editors that are available on the web. Below are
resources for free HTML editors, WYSIWYG editors, and trial web
page editors.
Nvu
- http://nvu.com/
Netscape Composer - http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/
Arachnophilia - http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/
First Page 2006 - http://www.evrsoft.com/
HTML-Kit - http://www.chami.com/html-kit/
Free trial of Dreamweaver - http://www.Macromedia.com
Images.
Your web site wouldn't be complete without images. These can be
photos, illustrations or clipart. The inclusion of the right images
will have a positive impact on the success of your site. The two
most important guidelines to keep in mind are: Always use high
quality images that are appropriate for the content they are illustrating;
and always try to use original, or at least not overly used images.
A picture can be worth a thousand words.
Statistics.
You need to know the number of visitors you receive and where
they come from. Make sure you ask for this feature when selecting
a hosting service.
Arming
yourself with the right knowledge and the right tools will make
it easier to create and maintain a successful site.
About
the Author:
Boost
your ebook sales with quality 3D ebook covers!
FREE 34+ clipart and photo resources.
http://www.QualityEbookCovers.com
Ebook
Cover Resources
The
best option for designers: Use PhotoShop Actions to create ebook covers.
Amazing
Ebook Covers is a great package that will show you how to use PhotoShop
like a pro in minutes. Since I've been using action scripts, I haven't used
anything else. They are simply amazing. Click here to get more information about
using PhotoShop Actions to create ebook
cover images.
The
best option for the graphically challenged: Use specialized ebook cover
generators to create ebook covers. eCover
Generator is easy to use and generates quality ebook cover images. Visit
eCover Generator
for more information.
