Blogging Tools Week: StatCounter and Performancing

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A stat counting tool is vital for any website, let alone a blog. For me, my stats have shown me how my blog has matured and aged over the few months I have been posting on it.

The best stat counter which I would freely recommend to any person out there is the one at www.statcounter.com. They are the world's most popular stat counter and there reports are always spot on. There are a number of things which are important when it comes to viewing details on statcounter.

Pageviews: This tells you how many times your individual webpage has been loaded and has been viewed.
Unique Visitors: This shows how many visitors have come to your site, who have not previously visited before.
Returning Visitors: This shows how many visitors are coming back to your site, having visited it before.

However, as I am currently using a blog hosted by Blogger, I am not able to make full use of the functions on StatCounter. For example, I am unable to see where my visitors have come from. This is especially important, as I can link swap with any sites linking to one of my articles or posts. I can also check to see whether an article has been Dugg or added to del.ici.ous which is another tool which I will cover later on this week.

As a result, I found another Stat tool to compliment StatCounter called Performancing Metrics (www.performancing.com). Along with the normal visitor count and pag views, I am ble to record where my visitors are going to after visiting my page, and where they are arriving from.

Another brilliant tool which Performancing encorporates is an Adsense tracker. This shows you how many clicks you have had on your ads, and at what times of the day they have been clicked. I have often been notified of a click before it appears on Adsense, so this has also boosted my morale at some times!!!

I would thoroughly recommend that you use these 2 sites to track the state of your blog, and to see how it has developed over time. On the left is the first graph I have ever published for Blogtrepreneur that shows the exponential growth of Blogtrepreneur over the opening few months. Due to this growth I plan on expanding Blogtrepreneur!

Blogging Tools Week: Feedburner

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Following on from my previous post on Technorati, I now want to cover the importance of using Feedburner for your blogging, and I feel the tools that this site offers are the most important in terms of bringing returning readers to your site.
Now, I will define the most important term first, as it can be quite tricky to understand:

RSS or Really Simple Syndication allows you to subscribe to the feed of a website, blog, or most media content sites. This means that when the website is updated, you are automatically sent the new content via email, without having to visit the site to check. What is more useful about RSS, is that you can subscribe to all the feeds you want, and then you can use a feedreading software like Bloglines to view all your feeds in one place, saving you time and increasing efficiency.

Where Feedburner comes in is quite simple. As a publisher of information, all I had to do was sign up, and then create my feed by typing in the name of my blog and its address, and by finally naming my feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Blogtrepreneur.
I was then able to publicize my new feed by adding a chicklet or button which you can see in my sidebar. To make things really easy for my readers, I put a completely free email subscription box at the top of my sidebar, so that readers can quickly subscribe to my content if they like what they see.

Now, every time I write a new post or article, Feedburner automatically detects the new post on my site, and emails it to my subscribers. I didn't even have to pay for the service.

In a nutshell, Feedburner's services have greatly improved my blog's readership, and it is readership that helps to build a fantastic blogging community which will hopefully spread the Blogtrepreneur name.

Are you a naturally born blogger?

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I've been reading a lot this week, mostly focusing on the world of entrepreneurship and business blogging, and in doing so has taken me from sites like Problogger and Entrepreneurs Journey, to many of the sites that I link to on my blog.

However, what has struck me the most, are their individual abilities to write fluently, without hesitation, and with motivation and passion about their topic. This has led me to ask the question, are some people naturally born bloggers?

Now, I feel there are many different qualities that a communicator posseses for example the ability to put ideas into text, but in my opinion, bloggers are set apart from this field:

• Firstly, Bloggers have determination and goals. It would be extremely easy to think that by looking at high - profile blogs, that money and fame can be made within a short space of time. The reality is very different. What we see now is the result of hard years at work, often without sleeping, socialising and doing activities. These genuine bloggers spend hours upon hours, writing new material for their sites, browsing through the blogosphere for new information and news, commenting on other blogs, responding to questions and maintaining their rhythm. Fortunately for them, the strenuous work has paid off for the bloggers, and rightly so. Anyone who strives for a goal and achieves it through hard work deserves full praise and acknowledgement in my opinion.
• Bloggers are organised. Although they might not say in public, many bloggers follow a specific rhythm or tempo that helps cary them through the working week. It is usual for bloggers to write posts a few days in advance, so that if they have mind blanks or an off day, they have backup posts to rely on, and to maintain the stream of new information. I have seen the opposite of this theory work for some bloggers, but I myself always like to plan posts days in advance, or at least think of what I would write, so that I never run out of things to talk about.
• Bloggers write eloquently whilst encapturing their audience. This is a must for any successful blogger-to-be. If you do not have sufficient writing skills, or the skill to entice readers into your topic, then finding regular readers will always be tricky. For me, the key to writing gripping posts is the fact that I have genuine passion for entrepreneurship (as I consider myself one!), and feel the need to relay this passion onto you.
• Blogger have boundaries. Now this may be the most ambiguous of all the points, but in my mind, it is the most important factor in becoming a class blogger. You don't see writers of high traffic sites telling everyone everything about their personal lives, their daily habits...In fact, most people like to keep their work life and business life seperate. Again there are people out there who like to merge the two together, and in no way am I against this. It's just that having yor own privacy and personal space is good to shield you from the blogosphere when things get tough or when you hit a bad patch.

In short, I feel that only a few bloggers possess these skills, I myself feel (and maybe you'll back me up!) that readers can connect with me through my writing.

In the near future, I hope to build on my love for writing and for the business blogging world, and this is something which you will definitely come to see as this Blogtrepreneur grows! Watch this space!...

Blogging Tools Week: Technorati

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A few days back when I was writing one of my posts, I suddenly noticed how many different tools I make use of so that my blog can run smoothly. In fact, all the tools I use are completely free, so I've decided to start the "Blogging Tools Week" so that all of my readers can benefit from these great tools, which can help to expand your blog and offer the best comfort for the reader.
And I promise, no affiliate links!

The first tool that I'll touch upon is Technorati. You've probably seen their logo on nearly all blogs, but don't know what its about.
Technorati is the Google of the blogging world. The free service automatically tracks blogs every time they are changed or new posts are added. In addition, Technorati also keeps track of which other blogs are linking to you. This has proven to be very helpful to me, as I can discover whether people have been copying my articles, or simply whether people are being kind by doing a bit of link-loving.
By recording the amount of links you have to your blog from other sites, Technorati determines a rank for you. At the moment, my rank is 363,481, however I'm sure that this figure must be out of 10's of millions of blogs who do not have as much link power as mine.

Technorati also allows you to have a watchlist, a search on your favourite keywords or phrases, so that you can keep track of blogs who are talking about your similar interests.

Although I don't really utilize all of Technorati's search features, I still think that it helps me to keep track of the blogosphere and my progress.

Email back Dennis

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Please email back Dennis, I accidentally rejected your comment, I would love to link swap with you.
Anyone else who wants to swap links, please email me at adnan_278@hotmail.com.

Different ways to blog: Podcasting

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You may have read more and more about the growth of podcasting today on the internet, however all that technology can seem a little complicating at times, so I will try and break some of it down so you can discover the benefits and disadvantages of podcasting.

Firstly, what is a podcast?
The name podcasting really comes from the Ipod, and focuses around your ability to listen to audio content on your mp3 player, not only on the Ipod. If you get a bit bored of writing content on your site, then there are many programs such as Audacity, which allow you to record your own show, save it as a .mp3 file, then upload it to your webpage so that people can download your show and listen to it on the move.

Most high profile sites such as Engadget now have podcasting, so that readers do not always have to be connected to the internet to take advantage of valuable information. Programs such as iTunes also have pages where you can browse through many popular podcasts. In short, podcasting is becoming an alternative form of giving information to the final user.

So what are the advantages of using podcasting?
Well, as I mentioned, your readers or subscribers to your content can be on the move whilst listening to your show, and this can appeal to readers with short attention spans, or who simply prefer listening rather than reading.

Podcasting can also be fun for you, giving you a break from the constant writing that you have to do to maintain a growing demand for instant information. Visitors to your site will also have a positive reaction to this new type of alternative blogging.

According to Aaron Brazell, podcasting is also great for interviews, as the listener can distinguish the change in speaker, and can really listen to what they are saying, and enjoy a fascinating debate.

Are there any disadvantages to podcasting?
Unfortunately, podcasting and ads do not go well together. Unless you can find a way of integrating spoken ads into your podcast itself, then you are likely to find that your revenue will be less than with textual articles, where readers can navigate away from your page, if an advert looks appealing to them. Whilst listening to a podcast, if a reader attempts to click on an ads, then in most cases the podcast will stop as well.

Another problem is the amount of space a podcast can take up if you host the .mp3 file yourself. Although a few megabytes of space seems minimal, if you produce regular shows, then you may find that your diskspace and your bandwidth when people download the podcasts may get used up more quickly than with a textual article.

I hope this article has given all you Blogtrepreneurs an insight into different methods of blogging, and how adding podcasts to your site, may help a more diverse crowd of visitors come to your site. Please let me know if you have integrated a podcast into your site.

I myself will try podcasting once I have moved to a hosting plan which is only a few weeks away now. Please feel free to donate to help the Blogtrepreneur cause, and so I can continue to provide you with quality information about the business blogging world.

Google introduces Video Ads

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This week, after long anticipation, Google launched their video ads for both advertisers and publishers. In the Adwords menu, advertisers can choose to use video ads now to increase the exposure of the product.

For an Adsense user, how the process works is quite simple. You must firstly opt to have both text and image ads. Then all video, image and text ads will compete for placement on your site, with the ads that can potentially make the most money for you, appearing in your 300 x 250 Medium rectangle, 336 x 280 Large rectangle or 250 x 250 square. Unfortunately, these are the only ad sizes supported by the videos.

Then when a user comes to your site, a static image of the video will appear. If the user would like to view the ad, they will have to click on it so that the video will start to play. Publishers can watch their own videos, but only if they click on the play button and not on the URL of the advertiser. The videos will not use up your bandwidth or slow your site down, as they are all being hosted by Google

In terms of earnings, I would have to say that initially, all of us publisher's should notice an increase in revenue, due to the novelty of the video ads, and everyone wanting to see what they're like. According to Google, "Publishers will be paid for site-targeted video ads on a CPM basis. For contextually targeted video ads, publishers will be paid for clicks to the advertiser's landing page."

For more information, visit the Adsense Blog.

My Blogtrepreneuring Habits!

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This week at Problogger, Darren Rowse has highlighted the need for a blogging rhythm when it comes to writing posts, checking emails and the like. So I thought I would do my own mini-version of how I divide my time up each day.

Now unfortunately for me, I am not able to blog full time, as I go to college from 9-4 every week day. However this is my routine when I come back from school:

1. Check emails at Outlook and Hotmail, and respond to any queries and offers to swap links
2. Check my Stats at Statcounter to see how popular my blog has become!
3. Log into my Adsense account to see how my balance is growing (or not on some days!)
4. See what's going on in the blogging / business blogging world. This normally involved going to sites such as Problogger, Entrepreneurs-Journey and many others.
5. See what's happening at the sites that I've linked to (these sites are normally full of quality content).
6. Log into Small Business Forums to see if I can participate in any interesting threads
7. Finally, I decide to write a post for Blogtrepreneur, based on the information that I've just read in the blogosphere. In the week days, if I'm feeling tired, these posts are normally short and to the point, but on weekends when Im a bit more lively, I usually get on to doing some key posts.

I generally find that this routine helps me to relax from the hassle of college, but that it helps me to keep in touch with the important news that is happening throughout the internet.

I would love to find out what blogging rhythms other people have, so please feel free to leave a comment.

What are Adbrite and Text Link Ads

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If you've been following Blogtrepreneur for a while, you will have noticed the constant changes that I make to the site to optimize performance and to make reading my articles enjoyable and profitable!
As well as adding channels to my Google Ads, I have also attempted to sign up with the publisher programs at AdBrite and Text Link Ads (aff). Unfortunately they do not look very favourable on .blogspot.com domain names, so its a good job that I'll be changing that soon!

But many of you might be wondering what these two sites offer, and it is this which I will be explaining in this post...

Adbrite considers itself as an e-commerce site, but instead of selling items and electronics, it sells spaces on people's websites.

If you are an advertiser, you can visit Adbrite's marketplace, or visit the "Your Ads Here" link on the Publisher's website. Then you can pay for a certain period, and your ad will be placed on the publisher's site, with Adbrite taking a percentage of the sale price.

If you want to sell adspace on your site, then all you need to do is sign up with Adbrite, submit your site, and then put a snippet of html in the place you would like your ads to appear. Its pretty simple. Any money you earn will be sent to you in check form, so to sum up, Adbrite basically does all the hard work for you. Of course, you will be able to approve ads that appear on your site.

Text Link Ads, considers itself as a "premier targeted traffic and link popularity ad firm". The concept of the site is similar to that at Adbrite.
As an advertiser you can buy adspace on any site that is selling their webspace.
As a publisher you can sell adspace to anyone and you can drive people to TLA through their generous affiliate scheme. What I like most about TLA, is that fact that they pay directly through Paypal, so there's no waiting for checks to arrive!

To conclude, if you're looking for yet more ways to get more revenue off your blog, or infact, off any site that you own, then Adbrite and Text Link Ads (aff) certainly get high ratings from me!

Starting an E-Biz - Part 5: Marketing your E-Business

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Hi Guys,
Well here we are, the last and final part in my series of How To Start Your Own E-Business. In the series we have covered Planning, Domain Names and Hosting, Design and Content and Payment. In this last episode, I will discuss the importance of marketing your new e-site.

I will use this analagy once again, as it really proves the point of the sheer scale of the net. Imagine you have just set up a retail shop, but the problem is that it is in the middle of the desert. No-one knows you're there, and the only way you can bring customers to your shop is by spreading the word. Marketing, is the formal word for this method.

There are many different forms of marketing; by mouth, by telephone, but the form which we will focusing on the most is (you've guessed it) on the internet.
Now, there are two roads you can take with this:

• You can spend money on attracting more visitors to your site with PPC campaigns such as Google Adwords.
• You can optimize your site, in terms of content and processes, so that people can come through Search Engines (Google) and be able to quickly buy a product through your seamless shopping basket.

Of course, with any E-Business, you're more likely to want to spend no money on the site at first, especially if you're unsure about how well it will do. My first piece of advice is to optimize your site for search engines, as most companies get their traffic from MSN, Yahoo and Google. Start by writing text which is full of juicy keywords that describe your site best, so for example, if you are running a golf store, have a caption which says

"Golf Store: For the cheapest prices of golf tees, golf balls, golf clubs, and many more items which can help you lower your handicap".

Phrases like this will attract even the worst of golfers, as all are looking to lower their handicap and improve their game. Once you have added the juicy info. I thoroughly recommend linking to sites which have the same content as you. This does not necessarily mean that you link to a competitors golf shop, but that maybe you look for a blog on your topic and ask if you can swap links. Search engines like Google love sites that share links with as many sites as possible so make sure you do this to increase your rank in the search engines.

Other search engine optimization techniques include submitting your site to Google and adding Meta Tags to the header of your site, but do a search online for this.

I would also say that giving away free information can build up trust between the buyer and yourselves. By offering information or even a product which is completely no strings attached, the buyer feels that they have just got a great deal, and are more inclined to buy from you, as you seem generous in their opinion!

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, you can also choose to use PPC campaigns to promote your site. Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing Solutions are probably the best providers around. How they work is quite simple. Simply, go to their sites, select the keywords which you think best describe what your site is about, and then everytime a person clicks on yor advert with your keywords in it, you will have to pay a certain price. The good thing about PPC advertisers, is that you can set your daily limits to how much you spend, and you can also check to see your conversion rate (or put in simpler terms, how many people buy a product after they have arrived at your site through your advert).

The world of PPC is constantly changing, so make sure you do good research on the best keywords before you commit to spending any amount of money. Yaro Starak at Small Business Branding reports how he lost $500 marketing his business in the wrong way.

My final advice therefore is test, test, and test your site again, so that you can optimize the buying experience for your customers. Make sure that they can buy an item without hassle.

If any has made use of these articles and started up their own E-Business, I would love to hear from you, and if you feel these articles have benefited you, please donate to the Blogtrepreneur mission, to provide you aspiring entrepreneurs with easy to access and useful information...

Good luck with your new E-Business!

Blogtrepreneur Update

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Hello fellow Blogtrepreneurs!
I know I haven't been posting regularly but I have been planning the growth of Blogtrepreneur.
As you may know, I have been included in many Carnivals and competitions, and have been thrilled with the great feedback from one-off and recurring readers.

Due to this, I intend on growing Blogtrepreneur, by hopefully buying my own domain and hosting which should definitely boost traffic and search engine traffic, and as a result will encourage more clicks on Adsense, which is what everyone is after surely!!!

Im more excited about my series which is scheduled to start this summer, I won't give too much away, but what I will tell you all is that a blogging experiment will be setup with the addition of an e-book at the end of the run, which will hopefully increase my internet recognition.

If you feel that Blogtrepreneur has helped you in any way, or if you feel like helping me progress to the next stage of my blogging life, I would really appreciate it if you could donate to Blogtrepreneur through Paypal, the button is under my About Me section on my homepage sidebar.
Of course any donations would be featured on Blogtrepreneur, as I like to make you as my loyal readers feel special!

Thanks again, and keep up the blogging!

How often do you post on your blog?

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I was reading a great post by Darren Rowse (a.k.a. Problogger), about how he spends his time blogging, and the rhythm he uses on a day-to-day basis when writing new articles.
He writes:

"A year or so ago I used to spend a higher percentage of the time I dedicated to blogging actually writing content. I was blogging as a solo blogger (no network affiliations) and the administrative demands of my blogs were quite low. As a result I used to spread out my posting rate pretty evenly through the day. I would write a post, then move onto email, check RSS and then maybe write another post. I was averaging 25 or more posts per day.

The last month or so things have had to change. The changes have largely been the result of different circumstances and demands on my time (being a part of a large network of blogs like b5media has been a bit part of that). It’s also probably partially as a result of blogs growing which increases the administration levels needed to maintain them (ie moderating comments, responding to emails, participating in discussions etc)."

Darren goes on to explain how now he spends a larger part of his day preparing blog articles and writing them, rather than skipping between internet pages.

For me, I've always tried to write at least 1 post every 3 or so days, so as to keep visitors coming back for more information. At the worst, I post every week, and sometimes I find myself posting a few times a day. I think however, that it is important to keep a consistent blogging rhythm. If you do, readers, and subscribers to your blog feeds will know when to expect your next instalment or article, and so will be enthusiastic and keen to receive confirmation of a new post. If you write on an ad-hoc and unregular basis, I myself, have found that readers tend to lose interest in what your blog is saying.

Problogger comments on the need for advance posting too. I think that if you want to have a really reliable blog, and want to earn money off it, you should keep a few articles as a back up, just in case you have a mind blank one day, and cannot find any decent material to post.

So how am I going to sustain my level of readership you may ask? Well, my aim is to always post on interesting and unique topics, whilst also writing courses for the beginner on a number of topics, for example, How To Start Your Own E-Business.

In the mean time, Happy Blogtrepreneuring!

Technorati Tags : Blogtrepreneur, Blog, Adsense, Problogger

Starting an E-Biz - Part 4: Payment and Customer Service

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As promised, I will continue with my series of How To Start Your Own E-Business, for all you eager business people out there!
Please read my previous chapters: Part 1 - Planning, Part 2 - Domains and Hosting and Part 3 - Site Design.

In this article I will focus on the various payment methods that a customer can use in order to bring the most profit and revenue out of your site. I will also be looking at how your relationship with customers can affect your sales figures.

Firstly, what methods of payment are there? Like any businesses you can accept cheques, postal orders, banker's drafts or even cash if you're a bit risky, but if you want to get anywhere with your online enterprise, you need to be able to accept online payments. It has been proven that over 90% of people paying over the net use credit cards, so you must be able to accept credit card payments on your site.

How can I do that you may ask? Well, there are a number of options. Your local bank will be able to set up a merchant account for you, but normally they require a hefty safety deposit, and their rates per transaction are not that great. Let's say they charge you 5% per transaction. Then if you have a customer that pays £100 for an item then you will receive £95, and the bank will get £5 of that money. There are also number of online payment services, some of which are cheap and simple, others which are more expensive but a lot more advanced.

For me, Paypal has always been the easiest to use and to setup. In order to start taking payments with Paypal, you will need to register, and altogether the signup process takes about 5-6 days. After that you're free to easily add html code to your site. Paypal now has a shopping basket feature so that people can "Add To Cart" and "Checkout" just like in those sites which seem really professional. In terms of fees, the starting rate is £0.20 plus 3.9% per transaction, which for a third party account provider, is a very reasonable rate. Customers too can pay with credit card, debit card, or an e-cheque, which takes money from their account. Security-wise, Paypal is one of the safest online payment services around, so there are no problems there.
I would recommend Paypal to any new E-Business, however, if you get a lot of sales, I would recommend you look into a more professional solution, as I find that Paypal can scare some customers away due to its eBayish nature!

Once you have set up your Add to Cart buttons and Shopping Basket, which are all fully customisable then hopefully, you will start to see some sales. Note that people do not just turn up at your site just like that. Think of it in this way, having an online shop, is like having a retail store in the middle of the desert, unless people know you're out there, you'll find that you get few visitors, and even fewer sales. This is where marketing comes in, but we'll talk more about that in the next issue.

Customer service is a phrase that we hear a lot nowadays, especially since most of the world is turning to an online solution for their businesses. Without politeness and professionalism, you may not be able to build a very good reputation, and it is reputation that will result in repeat sales and the spreading of the word about your site by mouth.
Here are a few pointers:

• Get a freephone / tollfree number: people hate paying for calls, they would much rather move to a fellow competitors site.
• Respond to your emails quickly: again, customers are not prepared to wait more than 24 hours for a reply from the vendor, so don't miss out on a sales opportunity.
• Fast and reliable shipping: there is nothing more than a lost item in the post, so make sure this doesn't happen to you, unless you want a ton of complaints!
• Finally, make sure that your item is in stock: this only becomes a problem if you are dealing with physical items.

There are many more factors which can encourage or put off a buyer, so get in touch with a buyer and see what they think of your site, or get in touch with me, and I will happily review your new site. Stay tuned for the next in the series, and how you can market your business to success!

An update for my fellow bloggers...

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Hello all,
Well as you can see I have started to experiment more with my Adsense layouts. Instead of using the customary Blogger "I will place your Adsense for you" option, I decided to put a Leaderboard just below the Title Banner. Let me tell you all now that the results have been pleasing and I hope that lots of people continue to click on my links. Also I discovered that channels on Adsense are really useful whilst experimenting and analysing your Adsense.
Whenever you set up ads, just add a channel and that will enable you to analyse how for example your leaderboard is performing, or how many clicks your text link ads are getting for you.
I hope to finish my series on How To Start Your Own E-Business, so if you're waiting for the next instalment in the series, watch this space!
Away from blogging, I have been helping my mum with the new layout of her site www.rukhsanajewellery.com, where we hope to increase the amount of visitors to her site, and more sales!
Anyway, this post was just to let you know what was happening. Keep up the blogging!

Yahoo Publisher Network

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Throughout all of my posts here at Blogtrepreneur, I have always referred to Google Adsense as the major and best program for PPC campaigns. However, I there are others which have begun to gather publicity and more users, one of such is Yahoo Publisher Network or YPN for short.

In effect, YPN has the same priniciples as Adsense, in that it strives to display ads relevant to the content on your site. What's more is that you can integrate other Yahoo services into your site or blog, for example Add To My Yahoo, (RSS) and Y!Q.

Unfortunately the contextual ad service is only in its beta stages, and as a result is only open to invitation. Also there does seem to be some anger directed at Yahoo! due to the termination of some of their publishers' accounts on the network. According to Yahoo, they had"poor quality traffic".

Despite these problems, YPN is set to compete with Google and other companies for an ads-service.

In later articles I will try to uncover some of the facts surrounding other ads services, such as Text Link Ads and Chitika Mini Malls in the search to find the best paying site for Bloggers.

Google adds new Referrals and Graphics

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While I was browsing through my Adsense account, I noticed that Google had added new referral products. Among the Adsense, Adwords and Firefox schemes, you can now refer people to Google Pack and Picassa, which is a photo sharing program. For each person you refer to Google Pack you get a $2 commission whilst referring to Picassa will earn you $1, like the Firefox scheme.
The best reward is buy earning $100 every time you refer a customer to Adsense, when the customer himself reaches the $100 dollar mark. Also you earn $20 every time an advertisers uses $100 with Google Adwords.

On top of this exciting news, Google has also just launched the arrival of its new button graphics. In my opinion, they still don't look that appealing, but they are definitely better than the old style buttons.

Starting an E-Biz - Part 3: Site Design and Content

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Welcome to back to the third instalment in the series of How To Start Your Own E-Business. In this issue, we will be focusing on what I think is the most important aspect if you want to succeed in your new business, the design and content of your website. In Part 1, we talked about Planning Your Business, and in Part 2, we discussed the importance of Choosing a Domain Name and Hosting. Part 3 will show you how you can optimize your design in order to attract more visitors and more sales opportunities.

The first dilemna you may come across when starting your own website, is whether you should hire a designer to do all of your work for you, or whether you should save a bit of money by doing it yourself. In my opinion, I value both options; if you want to save time and want a top notch design within a limited timetable, then it would be better to look for a designer who can do the work for you. Browse various websites, ask for quotes and check out portfolios. Once you are happy with a designer, and have agreed on a price (which can range from £100s to even £1000s for a fully equipped ecommerce site where you will be selling your products), then plan out what you would like the site to achieve, whether it be to gain income from ads or gain sales from your products.

However, if you really want to get to grips with the world of web designing, and have quite a lot of time, and not a very deep pocket (!), then I suggest that you design your site yourself. In order to do this there are a few necessities which you cannot do without:
1) You need to have a decentl computer to be able to handle the amount of information that you're going to be making for your site.
2) You may need to buy in excess of £300 of web-editing software. I will explain this in more detail in a minute.
Most websites are comprised of images, text and maybe videos, but in order to put all of this information together, the computing language of HTML is used. This basically contains a set of instructions to the Internet Browser (eg. MSN Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Internet Explorer) telling them how to display all of the information. Anyway, the knowledge of HTML is a must have if you are going to be designing your own site. I advise you check out www.w3schools.com, for detailed tutorials for beginners.
In order to write the HTML you need to have an HTML editor, which is where the mass of software comes into the equation. I have always used and seen Macromedia Dreamweaver as the best of all HTML editors, and think it is comprehensible but yet has a wide variety of tools and options. In order to create those stunning images and logos for your site, I suggest buying Adobe Photoshop, which has always been a leader in image creation. Once you've got all of these programs, its time to get designing.

As I said in Part 1, it is essential that you have planned out a flow diagram showing how your site progresses from the Home Page through to Product Pages and then to Shopping Basket and Credit Card entering. If you don't have one, then you may create a site that has been mashed together without any real purpose.

Start by using Dreamweaver to make a HomePage, a Products Page, an About Page, and a Contact Page. People always want to see who they are dealing with when it comes to buying a product. Then start entering the information on each page, in simple black and white writing with a simple font. Once you have done this then you can start to spruce up your pages with colours and images.
Take pictures of your products and scale them to size in Photoshop, adding any borders that may add to the appeal of the item. Then save each picture in your hosting account and add the HTML to the image source in your HTML editor: www.w3schools.com will help you to code all of your pages. Some words of advice, try not to have any broken backlinks, don't make your site overly colourful, and finally, try not to add so many images that the pages load extremely slowly!
To finish add your shopping cart and some graphics using Photoshop and you raring to go. Upload all of your pages to net and spread the good word!
Please comment if you think I've missed anything out, and good luck with creating your new site. The next article will focus more on Marketing Your New Website.
In the mean time, happy blogtrepreneuring!