Episode 007 - Making your website live, using content management systems, and setting conversion goals.
Building a website can be intimidating for the first time. There are many languages and programs that are used. A short list of these languages and programs include: Flash, Dreamweaver, Frontpage, Photoshop, CSS, PHP, HTML, Java Script, and MySQL. It would take years of training to understand and use these languages proficiently.
The question becomes, do you want to spend your time reinventing the wheel or working on strategic direction for your business? Most small business owners will try to learn the languages and the true entrepreneur will leverage other peoples’ skill and ability. Your ability to distinguish between busywork and leadership will have a huge impact on your future business.
These tips will help you publish a great website:
- Avoid 100% Flash website – Not only are they uncrawlable by the search engines data has shown that Flash websites convert worse than other sites.
- Use existing technologies – Wordpress and Joomla are free under the GPL (general public license). By using these types of sites you leverage thousands of programming hours instantly. Microsoft has a comparable CMS program for $25,000. If you use one of these hosting companies, Blue Host or DreamHost, they have one click installs for both Joomla and Wordpress.
- Try to find templates that are 100% CSS – Search engines love to crawl CSS websites. Traditional sites with tables are difficult for a bot to index. There are some free one’s available but purchasing a CSS template for $35 is worth every penny.
- Define your conversion goal – Every page on your site should lead to a specific conversion goal (i.e. complete a sale, lead generation, mailing list opt-in, subscribe to RSS feed, membership, or spreading viral content.)
- Don’t have multiple conversion goals competing on the same page. One page should point to one conversion goal. If you want multiple conversion offers space them out so they don’t conflict on the same path. For instance, after a visitor places an order then hit them up for the newsletter signup on the order confirmation page.
- Build for user experience. Defend your users experience over all other priorities. An ugly website that works is a hundred times better then a beautiful site that’s broken. Ads, selfish copy, and popups destroy user experience.
- Will most my traffic come from search engines or word of mouth?
- How big do I want my website to be?
- Will I ever do any traditional advertising? (i.e. print, radio, TV).
- Will visitors come back to my website by typing in my URL
- How much repeat traffic do I anticipate
When choosing a domain, there are two schools of thought. On one hand, people say your name should be short and easy to remember with absolutely no hyphens. On the other hand, some people like to have a keyword rich domain with hyphens. So, which one is right and which one is wrong? To answer this you have to go back to your business goals. Ask your self the following questions:
You can see that there is no absolute rule when choosing your domain. I admit that I’ve gone back and forth on this issue and haven’t come to any definite conclusions. I will say that I am leaning more towards the “short and sweet” domain over the “keyword rich” domain. One article that changed my mind is Brad Fallon’s Google’s new link trap article. In addition to that I think the “short and sweet” domain will be more valuable in the long run.
One hosting company can host multiple domains. If you want multiple domains One & One has the lowest private registration for domains anywhere. You will need to point your new domains to the hosting company so everything lines up. If there is enough demand/interest I would gladly record a video tutorial to post on the site.
Best of Luck,
Matthew Ryan
11 Comments
March 8th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Great CMS suggestion about Joomla. I am always interested in see an expirienced “admin” work in the backend of a CMS. I vote for a screencast.
A comment about the Flash sites. I agree that Flash site are not great for content. They work great for Musician Website or Artsy Fartsy kind of content. Spiders don’t like them and usually will go running. Spider like fast food.
Brandon
April 13th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Hi Matt. I discovered your podcast recently and I really enjoy it! It’s motivating and clearly explain the required steps one by one. I just want to say thanks, and keep up the good work!
July 11th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Matt:
I have just installed Joomla on one site I own and Wordpress on another…and plan to compare ease of use…then decide which I will prefer moving forward. As you said, it is a bit overwhelming on the joomla site at first just figuring out where to begin. I would love a super basic where to start guide from you - even a simple bullet point list would be great for now. Wordpress too if you feel like it.
I found that GODADDY hosting also has one click install options for both of these. I am used to doing my web design with Dreamweaver, so am not quite sure where to start the process with these two, but as you said, it will probably take a day of research/tutorials, etc.
I have been slowing overhauling our website proctorsurf.com from all FLASH to html diversified….let me know what you think if you get a chance.
Enjoying the podcast - thanks!
July 11th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
any comment on whether or not it would be worth it to purchase the full user manual joomla has available for $27?
July 11th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Hey Charissa,
The feedback from everyone is great. I really need to do a Joomla and Wordpress screencast tutorial.
I checked out proctorsurf.com and its a great site. I like the videos and the music that goes with them. If I were to give one suggestion it would be to include a link to an HTML sitemap kind of like xango.com has in the bottom right of the page. The direct link is http://www.xango.com/misc/site_map.html.
As for the $27 manual from Joomla? I haven’t looked through it so I don’t know. I’ve been impressed with the free help that everyone has to offer on joomlas main site. The forums are a little technical but still answer the hard questions.
Thanks,
Matt
July 11th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
HI I have just recently found your podcasts and have been enjoying them very much. I just wanted to chip in and say yes I would love a screencast on the joomla subject. One last question, when you download joomla is it possible to create a site before you get hosting as sort of a way to test it out in terms of design and functionality. I am aware they have test versions but I just wanted to play around with it and see what I can do. Thanks for your help.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Thanks Matt. Yes, I did create a sitemap link a while back, I don’t know if you noticed it on the homepage below the flash box? It’s just a really basic HTML page, but I am going to work on making it really user friendly. Appreciate the insight.
I look forward to the joomla/wordpress screencast tutorial…I guess i’ll start by doing a search for starting out with joomla or beginning with joomla?
Best,
July 12th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Hey Matt:
Is there any way you could provide a link to a thread or tutorial on the joomla site about how to just begin the basic setup of a joomla site. I am used to creating an index page in Dreamweaver and going from there. I can’t find anything on just how to approach building a site with joomla…I see all the template stuff, but where do you start? That admin console for building the site? Where is that? I’m whirling…..
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I’m setting up Joomla on a few sites now both for myself and clients. The learning curve can be daunting but it is well worth it.
From what I’ve read in the Amazon book reviews most Joomla books are a re-hashing of the Joomla website documentation.
There are some tutorials on the Joomla website and www.joomladesigns.co.uk have 300 templates to choose from - it costs 25 Euros (about 32 dollars?) but you have access to 300 templates for that - I just download a handful at a time and try them out as you can switch templates so easily in Joomla.
July 26th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I have just discovered some daunting articles regarding serious security vulnerabilities with using Joomla. On my joomla site admin I noticed this message: Following PHP Server Settings are not optimal for Security and it is recommended to change them:
* Joomla! RG_EMULATION setting is `ON` instead of `OFF` in file globals.php
`ON` by default for compatibility reasons
Also, I installed with GoDaddy and now apparently need to upgrade the installation. The problem I have with the joomla forums is that the most basic introductory info seems really hard to get to. Maybe I just need to refigure my mental approach. I don’t know…but I am an avid user of tech forums on the web and have never had such a confusing time trying to find the right info. Any help would be appreciated.
Best.
July 31st, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Charissa, I’m afraid that the web was developed with the ‘trust everyone’ philosophy but has come to the ‘trust no-one’ philosophy now as there are so many people out there looking for vulnerabilities that nearly every software product has to be patched at some stage.
One good thing about Joomla is that it is open source so if there are security issues in there everyone can see them and this transparency helps Joomla be as secure as it can be.
The security warning Joomla is giving you is one I have seen a lot of times before and often it comes down to your host’s PHP settings. On a shared server your host may not be able to or willing to change these settings so sometimes it’s a case of either find a host where this isn’t a problem or accept that maybe your installation isn’t the optimal security configuration but take a view on just how high a risk or target you are.
I know what you mean about the forums, they do tend to be inhabited by Joomla experts and sometimes the basic questions are taken as read and don’t get addressed.
What version of Joomla are you using now if you are needing to upgrade?
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