Imagine if you could shortcut the time it took for your website to go from good to great. You’d be on your way to reaching more customers and sales, or building your successful online business faster.
The best way to cut your learning time is to learn from other people’s mistakes. In this article, we’ll look at the top 10 mistakes that rookies make when creating their website.
1. Believing people care about you and your web site
Have you ever been on a bad date where your partner talks too much? He tells you about the intricacies of insurance policies and statistical significance and cumulative distributions… *snore*. And he wonders why he never gets any action.
When you’re out on a date, you shouldn’t talk about yourself all the time. Your date doesn’t really care all that much about you. Sad, but true. If you really want to impress your date, make the whole date about her. Not you.
Rookies who fall into this trap create a website that’s all me me me not realizing that visitors couldn’t care less. Make it easy to find what they are looking for, and your visitors will love you for it. We cover this in detail in our article: Website Goals Made SimpleContinue reading →
Compelling website content is like a gripping novel. You can’t put it down, and you can’t wait to get to the end.
Unfortunately too many website owners spend too much time focusing on the website design but neglect the content. Luckily, you know better and your website content is going to show visitors that you’re the best person for the job and win you more customers. Here’s how to do it.
Why your website needs compelling content
Besides grabbing the attention of visitors, compelling content has several other benefits.
Content helps to build trust with website visitors. Content that is free from hype and educational in nature goes a long way to establish your credibility for your visitors. If your website content is valuable and answers your visitors’ questions, they will remember it and even return to your website in the future. Continue reading →
Hi there champ! By now you would have identified your website goals, created a budget and have a solid idea of the essential elements to include on your website. Now let’s continue that by filling out your website with some must-have pages.
A website, by definition, is a group of connected web pages. This means that your hardworking homepage needs a few trustworthy teammates. Like the homepage, each teammate will also have a specific role to play and essential elements. Here’s how to ensure that your website pages are working together towards your goal. Continue reading →
Today we’re going to dig into the nuts and bolts of creating your website. Specifically, we’ll learn how to create a great homepage for your website that will draw your visitors in.
Arriving on a website’s homepage is like stepping into a restaurant that you’ve never visited before. If the ambiance is warm and inviting, the smells appetizing and the staff are welcoming, you’ll find yourself drawn to have a meal there. But if you step into the restaurant and no one attends to you, and the colors of the walls and tablecloth are clashing and the menu looks like a mess, you’d probably turn around and leave. Continue reading →
October 15 is the deadline to file a tax return if you got an extension in April. I don’t know about you, but filing tax returns isn’t something that I particularly enjoy. Same thing with paying bills, keeping the books in order and keeping the inventory updated.
Yet we do it anyway. We do it because these sometimes difficult, out-of-our-comfort-zone tasks are essential to running a business.
I say, having an effective web presence is just as essential to running a business today. Continue reading →
It’s time to talk money. The cost of a website can be a big roadblock for entrepreneurs and small businesses. As a result, the website remains a to-do list item which never gets done. Other times, unexpected costs can crop up and derail a website project before it gets launched.
In this article, we’ll learn that you don’t have to spend as much money as you think when creating a website. You’ll also get a clear picture of what it actually costs.
DIY vs Professionally Designed
The cost of your website can vary greatly depending on whether you are going with the do-it-yourself (DIY) route or if you plan to hire professionals to do it for you.
As you may suspect, you can cut costs by going the DIY route. You can also save money by leaving out features that are not critical. For example, do you really need an e-commerce solution when all you have is 2-3 products for sale? Skip the e-commerce system and go for E-junkie instead. Additionally, monetary costs are just one part of the equation. Many people forget to budget their time, to the detriment of their website.
In any case, expect to invest the following for your first website:
Cost of DIY website = $250 + more of your time
Cost of professionally designed website = $1500 onwards + your timeContinue reading →
Congratulations on taking this step towards creating your first website! I’m so glad that you made this decision. Now, onward!
Why does your website exist?
It’s important for you to define why your website exists. All other decisions concerning the website will need to support this website goal.
Here are common website goals, divided into 3 categories:
1. Have an online presence. You simply want a space on the web so that prospects or customers can find you if they look. Goals in this category would include:
Appear in the search engine results for relevant keywords
There’s a blank space on your business card where your website address should be. The problem is, your website doesn’t exist. Or maybe it’s a 2-page site that you’re too embarrassed to show others.
You know you need to get your website up, and you’ve done some research or even bought a book like Building a Web Site for Dummies or The Website Owner’s Manual, but that’s only left you overwhelmed and even more confused than when you started.
I can relate. The problem is that most guides and books are written for technical people, web designers or rocket scientists. They tell you to do audience research, spout terms like usability and content strategy while you, the solitary entrepreneur, are simply figuring out what to put on the home page!
Another problem that you may face after reading these guides are unrealistic expectations. Gosh, you’ve got to worry about SEO and microformats and project management that you’ll never be able to get your site up and running if you don’t have a million dollar budget.
And that’s why your website still doesn’t exist. It’s time for a kick start.
A Fat-free Guide to Creating Your Website
With the problems in mind, The ClickStarter will be publishing a series called Website ClickStart: Simplifying the Steps to Creating Your First Website.
This will be a plain English, no coding, series of articles aimed squarely at entrepreneurs and small business owners. This guide is not going to help you create the best website, it will merely show you how to create a website that is good enough because frankly, that is all you need. Keep that in mind: your website doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to get launched.
We’ll publish about 2 actionable, to-the-point articles a week so you should have all the info you need to create your website in about 6 weeks.
Ensuring A Successful Launch
The articles above will get you over the hump and equip you with the knowledge necessary to finally check your website off the to-do list. However knowledge itself will not result in action and that’s what you need to actually get your butt moving!
Therefore at the end of the series I will compile a workbook which you can download and print out so that you can work through the steps systematically and finally get your website launched.
In the meantime, please help other fellow entrepreneurs and small businesses finally launch their website by spreading the word. Share this article on Twitter and Facebook, or email it to your friends!
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The first article in the series is already out, but to make sure that you don’t miss any of them please sign up for our mailing list and we’ll notify you whenever new articles are published.
I’m writing this post to get this stuff off my chest, and also for some accountability.
The ClickStarter is the latest of the many blogs and websites that I publish. However in many ways, it is the 1st serious one. I’m banking on The ClickStarter network of sites to become my main income source in 1 year. So yes, it’s that serious.
I’ve got 3 main reasons for doing this:
1. Taking action
2 years ago, as I sat in the office after dark at 9pm at my full-time job in an interactive agency, I said to myself that there has to be a better way. At that point in my life, 12-14 hour days were pretty common, demanding clients were a given and job frustration was constant. Surely earning a living didn’t have to be so soul-sapping? Continue reading →
If there is one thing every entrepreneur needs, it is more time. More time allows you to improve your business, find more clients and make more money.
RSS is one way to help you with that problem. Learning how to use RSS is like learning how to use email or Google–you’ll become a more effective online entrepreneur. In this guide, I’ll explain to you what RSS is and show you how to get started with it.
By the way, did you know that The Clickstarter has a RSS feed? Subscribe by clicking here
What Is RSS
RSS is simply another way to read websites. You can read a website page by page in a web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox. If a website publishes a RSS feed you can also read that website in a RSS reader. Your RSS reader will notify you only when there are new articles or items to be read.
You can use RSS to subscribe all sorts of information that would be useful to you as an entrepreneur, for example: business and marketing tips, stock updates or eBay listings, track the weather, and even alerts when someone mentions your brand on the internet.
Oh yeah, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is why you should use it.
Why You Should Use RSS
1. Saves time
As I’ve implied above, RSS helps you save time. You don’t have to visit your 10 favorite websites to check if there’s anything new–your RSS reader notifies you only when there are new items.
If you follow many websites, subscribing to RSS allows you to read them from 1 single location–your RSS reader. It’s like checking multiple email accounts all from one place.
3. No spam
Unlike email newsletters, you don’t have to reveal your email address or any other personal information when subscribing to RSS feeds. And when you unsubscribe, you can be sure that the other party will never contact you again. With RSS feeds you get only the articles, with much fewer ads and other distractions.
3. Portable
Reading RSS is also a very portable activity, meaning that you can read RSS from many different locations. Your RSS reader will even download the articles so that you can read your feeds even if you’re not connected to the internet. And if you have a smartphone, you can install apps that downloads and stores your feeds for you to read at your convenience.
How To Read RSS Feeds
By now you’re hopefully beginning to see the benefits of using RSS. But how do you subscribe and read these RSS feeds?
Find The Feed URL
The first step is to find the URL of the RSS feed. The RSS feed will usually be indicated by RSS icons like these.
Right click on the icon and copy the link URL.
Subscribe in Your Email Client like Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook can also function as a RSS reader. Subscribed feeds appear as a folder in your Mail Folders. Click on the feed name and you will see the latest items in the reading pane.
To subscribe to a feed in Outlook, click on Tools » Account Settings. Select the RSS Feeds tab and click on New Feed. Provide the RSS feed URL you copied from above and click OK. Outlook then shows you the feed options.
Select the ‘Download the full article as a .html attachment to each item’ to store the entire page for offline reading. Detailed instructions: RSS feeds for Microsoft Outlook.
You can also subscribe and read RSS feeds in other popular email clients:
You can also subscribe to RSS feeds with web-based RSS readers like Google Reader. The benefit of a web-based reader is that you can access your feeds anywhere you have an internet connection with your web browser. This video shows you the basics of using Google Reader:
If you’ve read all the above but still prefer to receive updates via email, you can also subscribe to our free mailing list. Subscribers receive exclusive content not available on the site like special offers, downloads and more.
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