e-Business-Formula Internet Marketing Discussion Forum

[August]

I have spent some hours reading all of the informative posts on the forum, I have gained a lot of understanding in regards to various marketing topics in doing so but I have not found the answer to my question.

As the title of this post suggests my knowledge level is very Basic when it comes to online marketing and all of the essentials that go with it.

I want to get online with the least amount of cost bearing in mind my lack of technical skill.

Is there a simple paint by numbers type plan that I can follow to get myself started?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks

August

[Steve MacLellan]

There is an old article on my blog titled [url=http://www.homebusiness-websites.com/myarchives/2004/11/a_quick_way_to_1.html]A Quick Way to Get Started on the Internet[/url] that you could read. I understand there is a lot of information available to you and it can be a bit overwhelming. If you have a more specific question, please post it. For example: "Where can I register a domain name?"

I would choose 000domains.com, and stay away from godaddy.com and the others.

Best Regards,
Steve MacLellan

[August]

Thank you Steve,

You are right, the amount of information available online is overwhelming and one does not really know where to start.

It appears from what I can see that a Blog might be an easy way for me to get online and progressively develop some skills.

Wordpress seems to be the preferred, do you have any experience with it?

Is it difficult to set up?

Question, I note your comment about domain names, why 000domains.com as opposed to GoDaddy.com?

Can you recommend a good company that can provide economical reliable hosting?

Thanks

August

[Steve MacLellan]

[quote]Wordpress seems to be the preferred, do you have any experience with it?[/quote]

I have some experience with WordPress. I have two blogs that use it, and I've installed it for other clients. But I'm not one of those who are fanatical about it. These people study every aspect of it and know all of the tricks.

[quote]Is it difficult to set up?[/quote]

Some hosting accounts come with it pre-installed, so it is just a matter of clicking a couple of buttons to install it. These type of hosting accounts are typically on Linux servers running Apache Server Software with Cpanel/Fantastico control panel. On hosting accounts where is isn't pre-installed it only takes about 5-15 minutes to install it providing your hosting account meets the system requirements -- and most do. Once it is installed, regardless of which method you use, you will find you can spend quite a bit of time tweaking it by adding plug ins, customizing it, etc... To be able to install it yourself, you would have to have a basic working knowledge of scripts.

[quote]why 000domains.com as opposed to GoDaddy.com[/quote]

I've read too many horror stories about GoDaddy playing "Lord and Master" over someones business by disabling their domain name simple because they don't agree with the customers use of their website. Although I'm in favor of them disabling the domain names of spammer websites, it isn't their business to do so. As a result of their interference, several legitimate customers who were wrongly accused have ended up with their sites suspended. This can cause a lot of frustration and loss of income. This doesn't mean you would have a negative experience if you decided to use them to register your domain name. Still, the possibility exists, so it is one less thing you don't have to think about if you avoid them altogether.

[quote]Can you recommend a good company that can provide economical reliable hosting?[/quote]

For the last nine years I've been putting clients who need hosting on the servers operated by AMS Computer Services. You can visit their website here: http://sitehost4u.com. I'm not an affiliate. I don't want clients thinking I've recommended the hosting service to them simply because I make a few extra dollars being a re-seller. Over the years I've built a good working relationship with the owner and technical staff there, and if I ask them to make some changes to a clients account, they don't question it. Their accounts start at $5.99 per month and they have a Cpanel/Fantastico control panel so it would make it easy to install WordPress yourself.

Best Regards,
Steve MacLellan

[Lucky]

OK I'm a bit like August looking to get a start online.

I have read here what has been said about Wordpress and I might give it a go, but in another post I saw mention of Squidoo which is another free package.

Can you tell me please, what is the difference between Wordpress and Squidoo and for a beginner like me which would be the best choice to start with?

Lucky

Happy Easter

[Steve MacLellan]

There was an [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/technology/10ecom.html?ex=1302321600&en=af552cdcdbbae6e5&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss]article published in the The New York Times[/url] that does a good job of explaining Squidoo. It says:

[quote]Squidoo, which is based in Irvington, N.Y., features more than 21,000 so-called lenses, or sites devoted to various subjects, with many more being added daily. Each lens author is responsible for his postings, and according to Squidoo's chief executive, Seth Godin, the site offers technology that is intended to make the pages easier for authors to maintain — and more useful to readers — than conventional blogs.

For instance, if an author builds a lens around the band U2, Squidoo lets the author easily plug in a module showing the best-selling U2 CD's on Amazon or links to new blog postings on the same topic.

"That way, the site is updated every day without you having to do anything," said Mr. Godin,...[/quote]

You don't install Squidoo on your hosting account, like you do Wordpress. You have to sign up for a free account.

I don't know much about it, but it may be worthwhile to look into a little more.

Best Regards,
Steve MacLellan

[Lucky]

OK,

Then does it still make sense for me to learn HTML and consider building a "real" website or would Wordpress or Squidoo be capable of offering a good enough base for me to try my hand at marketing online?

I really don't want to have to find out later that I made the wrong choice.

What are the pro's and con's when it comes to choosing a Website as opposed Wordpress or Squidoo?

Lucky

[SageMother]

[quote="Steve MacLellan"]There is an old article on my blog titled [url=http://www.homebusiness-websites.com/myarchives/2004/11/a_quick_way_to_1.html]A Quick Way to Get Started on the Internet[/url] that you could read. I understand there is a lot of information available to you and it can be a bit overwhelming. If you have a more specific question, please post it. For example: "Where can I register a domain name?"

I would choose 000domains.com, and stay away from godaddy.com and the others.

Best Regards,
Steve MacLellan[/quote]

What is are the differences between godaddy and 000domains.com? I haven't heard of the domains.com before.

[Steve MacLellan]

[quote]Then does it still make sense for me to learn HTML Rolling Eyes and consider building a "real" website or would Wordpress or Squidoo be capable of offering a good enough base for me to try my hand at marketing online?[/quote]

It depends on what you want to market, and how you plan on targeting your niche of buyers. For example, if you were offering a program that reduces stress, you might want to setup a website that has various squeeze pages that target sub-niches of the market segment. i.e. doctors, students, mothers, etc...

Then in other sections on the website you might have landing pages that offer other goods and services to these sub-niches, that will be promoted through a mailing list. This type of activity would be best suited to a website, but that doesn't mean you can't use a blog and Squidoo lenses to promote it.

Sagemother said:
[quote]What is are the differences between godaddy and 000domains.com?[/quote]

000domains doesn't micro manage your business activities like GoDaddy has been accused of.

Best Regards,
Steve MacLellan

[Chris (cat)]

Hi August,

Some good advise from Steve! Here is a few thoughts on blogging/html and setting up - http://ebusinessformula.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1073

Squidoo is no good as it's not hosted by you (as far as I know). Blogs are better used for content sites and services as in writing, etc.

Html sites are good for both content sites and product sites although when I say good, some may argue with that.

Blogs also in general hold a lot more code per page than html, something to think about with SEO.

1. General idea is to build the site keeping it small, maybe 10 to 20 pages to start.

2. Marketing it and get traffic coming in.

3. Tweak the copy (split test) to get a higher ratio of sales to vistors.

4. Get maximum traffic for those pages, maximum sales and then build some more pages.

Be good if I had realised that years ago!

If you need some help with setting up wordpress on your domain, give me yell.


Cheers, Chris.

[PamelaR]

Squidoo is a great little site. It's easy to create lenses and it's not too hard to get them to rank in the search engine. Still, you should use squidoo as a compliment to your site or blog. It's not something you base your online business on.

I have a wordpress blog set up on my site. I use hostgator and it was easy to install.

[xendi]

I think everyone should learn basic html, no matter how they build a website. The html for linking a website is very useful, even if you aren't using it on your own website. When I write articles, I use html in my resource box so that the link to my website contains the anchor text that I want it to.

Say I have a free auction site and it's domain name is qbay.com. Instead of showing qbay.com as the link, I would have the words free auction site be a link taking the visitor to qbay.

[Keith Winton]

I'm sure you have heard the old saying "Rome was not built in a Day" well nor was an online presence!

You cannot learn everything...just learn something, get proficient at it and then learn some more!

Many here have suggested a Blog as the best place to start and I agree, just have a go it is not as difficult as you might think and you can quickly develop your skills using the Wordpress platform.

Good Luck.

If you have any questions ask away.

Regards

Keith Winton