Computer idiot needs advice, tips, tricks for building a website and sales page.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Thats usually built into your template you normally don't have to worry about that, most new templates come with a mobile version built in, my template I use has iphone and android support built into it so users see a mobile version of the site if they access it that way.

Originally posted by roughycannon
reply to post by NewAgeMan

 

Thats usually built into your template you normally don't have to worry about that, most new templates come with a mobile version built in, my template I use has iphone and android support built into it so users see a mobile version of the site if they access it that way.

I suggest that you find a template that is responsive and will move elements in different locations on the screen depending upon your device.

Responsive Web Design Templates will look good on any device.

Originally posted by roughycannon
reply to post by NewAgeMan

 

Thats usually built into your template you normally don't have to worry about that, most new templates come with a mobile version built in, my template I use has iphone and android support built into it so users see a mobile version of the site if they access it that way.

Perfect!

I can see that the cool factor is all in the templates being used. Do you stick with just one template, or might a person use multiple templates in a single website?

Originally posted by earthalien50

Originally posted by NewAgeMan

 

That's good advice, but do I even need a server location? Isn't there a cloud solution with redundant backup? I thought it would be a case such that no one will be able to point at any particular machine and say that "it's in there".

It is wise to keep your own data locally. There are many reasons to do this. If you have an issue with your provider, they can hold your data hostage or just immediately terminate you: It's in everyone's agreement. Also, cloud computing does not mean that they guarantee your data 100%.

Again, good advice!

In regards to this comment by roughycannon

Originally posted by roughycannon
And BTW rochen host are the official hosts of the joomla.org website, their servers are optimized for Joomla and you can upgrade to faster servers if you need to in the future without having to move your site, starter hosting is $8.95 a month plus they have 1 click installs to install Joomla in seconds after you sign up

www.rochenhost.com...

..that would give me the hosting solution, but is there backup and data security with rochenhost and can I access and store a copy of my own data locally as part of the service agreeement, or is it "held hostage" by them? Or, does that question just show what a total computer idiot I really am!

You know, you guys have really put the wind in my sails with this help you've given me, thank you so much. I KNEW it was possible but now I have the pathway to making it happen for next to nothing, so I can save my money for future advertising, much of which isn't even necessary given the word of mouth aspect and standard Google search engine compiling etc. Articles articles and more articles containing a myriad of search terms is one way I plan to advertise for free. The Internet has just so much possibility, there are endless ways to market a new product, and once you build it, the whole thing just snowballs and keeps building and building on everything that works, while carving away what doesn't work.

I'm so excited about this, but alas I'm still in the R&D phase of my product development. I'm hoping to be up and live within six months, and I am going to try to do this largely on my own because it's doable. Also, with this info I can get well ahead of the curve website wise so that the launch date can occur that much sooner.

I'll be sure to report back though on my rags to riches story when the time comes and the vision is realized.

Question: On cross border sales (I'm in Canada) who pays the taxes, say from the US side? I don't even include a tax on internet sales, only on my income here in Canada in the form of after expense profit, right? But what about when I have an internet sales force of independant affiliate resellers - how does the tax work in that case? I'm confused about that aspect. Taxes. Ugh.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
Question: On cross border sales (I'm in Canada) who pays the taxes, say from the US side? I don't even include a tax on internet sales, only on my income here in Canada in the form of after expense profit, right? But what about when I have an internet sales force of independant affiliate resellers - how does the tax work in that case? I'm confused about that aspect. Taxes. Ugh.

I would imagine that Verisign or whatever service is used for the commercial transaction would factor that in, where applicable, but I don't see how I'd have to be responsible to remit a sales tax in the US or anywhere else for a product bought and sold from Canada. Canadian purchasers however would pay applicable taxes. Anyway, that's another matter altogether, easily resolved with the help of a cheap corporate lawyer and accountant.

Everything's possible.

And I'll betcha that we've got a few people thinking here, about the kind of business they might want to launch as a .com of their own.

Kudos to ATS!

I knew if I put it out there, I'd have my answer within a half a day and voila!

I'm very very grateful for your help, all who've contributed to this thread.

Cheers,

NAM

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Sure that's totally up to you.
There's tons of online tools that will let you create a pretty decent site from templates.
WYSIWYG editors are all over the place you just got to find one that suits your needs and skill level.

But I strongly suggest you find someone who has some years of experience under their belt to make a final site for you.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


It would seem my fellow computer-folk have made all the general web-related suggestions. (Woot @ Joomla) So let me give you a thought for the funding aspect of your project:

www.KickStarter.com

It's a site that allows one to post a concept for a project, define the amount of money you need to start it, and then sit back and see how many angel investors out there want to help. I suggest you check it out.

What is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of ambitious, innovative, and imaginative projects that are brought to life through the direct support of others. Since our launch on April 28, 2009, over $350 million has been pledged by more than 2.5 million people, funding more than 30,000 creative projects. If you like stats, there's lots more here.

www.kickstarter.com...


(Full Disclosure: I have absolutely NO ownership, investment, or affiliation with KickStarter.)

reply to post by grey580

All I need is either Joomla or Wordpress, master those and it's off to the races.

Then I go find a theme/template, and then start loading the thing up with content in the form predominantly of articles, so the theme will be that of an online magazine or newspaper, and finding one like that to build around shouldn't be too difficult.

Then I think I'll have to splurge for an excellent CRM (and Cloud Marketing) toolset, for building the customer database and harnessing those relationships and above all loyalty, at all levels, and there's a principal at the heart of it all which is going to be rather novel let us say when it comes to generating that loyalty. I can't fudge on that strategy, or just "wing it", it has to be really well mapped out, every one of those interactions and "conversions" I guess you'd call them.

Their movement through the site to the point of sale has to be just right, smooth as butter and the most interesting and entertaining thing that've seen and experienced in a long time if ever. I'm going to knock their socks off and then thank them for helping me (the company) to continue to R&D new and better product and develop the firm corporately. In other words their sales and/or donations will form the very seed capital and angel financing of the company itself, while saving the world in the form of clean water in impoverished towns and villages all over South America and Africa.

My poor customers are going to he helpless (and helpful) - they simply will not know what hit them, and they'll be back in a heartbeat waiting, panting, for more, and that's just the pre-launch launch! lol

As you can tell I'm excited about this possibility, as a possibility with a detailed plan of action.

Napolean Hill would be proud!

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by grey580

 

All I need is either Joomla or Wordpress, master those and it's off to the races.

If your site/project has "eCommerce" in it's future, I strongly suggest going with Joomla. In my opinion, it is much more extensible as an eCommerce platform.

Originally posted by Heliophant
reply to post by NewAgeMan

 

It would seem my fellow computer-folk have made all the general web-related suggestions. (Woot @ Joomla) So let me give you a thought for the funding aspect of your project:

www.KickStarter.com

It's a site that allows one to post a concept for a project, define the amount of money you need to start it, and then sit back and see how many angel investors out there want to help. I suggest you check it out.

Yes yes, that's the one, just as soon as the product is in hand AND the website and sales page, with the countdown clock to product launch.

I had thought of this, but before it seemed far off the idea of actually doing this and doing it this way.

Of course the dough would go into banner adds and youtube videos and adds, maybe even late night infomercial advertising, the sky's the limit.

But you have to have the prototype in hand, something tangible that they can touch or make use of in some way - then the dough would just POUR in, woudn't it? Everyone wants to be part of something good when it takes off, that's just human nature.

That would be the liftoff platform for the ultimate launch.

But as I pointed out, I've figured out a pricing and sales strategy whereby anyone will be able to be an angel financier and active participant in the formation of the company and it's further product releases, simply by making the first small (micro) purchase, for little more than change to start out with, and then with their vested interest level piqued, we'll outdo ourselves again when we finally launch the actual product itself, having already sold maybe 100's of 1000's (millions?) just on the semi-free trial alone, starting at only (said like announcer) $3.89! How can you lose? It's win win win all the way up, and at a 10.00 or more (will recieve donations or controbutions up to $50.00 max (the product is actually worth $79-$250), 25% of all proceeds goes to clean water in the third world, if that weren't enough already! My customers are going to love my company and product offerings and they will play along and play the game, and it will be fun and enjoyable to the max.

This suggestion of yours is right in line with the marketing strategy, even if only to help generate a buzz for the launch, and if 150 grand comes in at the same time that wouddn't be so bad either, hey I could move from the um higher-end hostel that I'm presenting staying at here in Vancouver, Lotus Land. But I'm not at the complete "rags" stage yet, in fact I just got a really nice but used computer for this project and have thus far invested $500.00 of my own money in the last month, to get to work on this project or what Napoleon Hill might refer to in the book Think and Grow Rich as "my life's chief definite aim and purpose."

Originally posted by Heliophant

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by grey580

 

All I need is either Joomla or Wordpress, master those and it's off to the races.

If your site/project has "eCommerce" in it's future, I strongly suggest going with Joomla. In my opinion, it is much more extensible as an eCommerce platform.

eCommerce is at the very heart of it, but I do want to also pour out a "jug" of clean water to those in need in the third world, so it's not all about me I just want to be clear. The company's entire mission statement can be summed up by saying "our primary purpose is to be helpful to others". If it can't line up with that then we're not into it. It's a good place to start and to generate some good will both at the same time.

I built a slick site with zero prior knowledge using Adobe Muse. It only took me the first few days of a free one month trial. From there you can take your site where you will. I mentioned this because you were interested in Adobe Business Catalyst integration: in the case of Muse sitebuilding tool, this integration is seamless, but subscription based and not free.

Originally posted by Heliophant

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by grey580

 

All I need is either Joomla or Wordpress, master those and it's off to the races.

If your site/project has "eCommerce" in it's future, I strongly suggest going with Joomla. In my opinion, it is much more extensible as an eCommerce platform.

Yes, that's what I've been able to gather, that Joomla is better for CRM (customer resource management) and eCommerce platform development.

Even if I were to hire a company to do it all for me, I've still got to come up with the content and find the graphics etc etc., might as well dive right in, no html required, and it's FREE, for the most part.

Thanks for your imput I really appreciate it.

reply to post by ecapsretuo

Thanks but I think the Joomla CMS will do just fine for my needs, and the Adobe Marketing Cloud product will work with any website and surely has whatever integration I'd need.

www.adobe.com...:20121129070510:s< br />
I'll be starting this whole process in about a month.

I wonder if it's also possible with Joomla and my web hoster, to build the site "off-line" so that I can pick the moment that it goes live on the web and starts getting picked up by search engine activity? Yes of course that's doable too.

I guess I've got my work cut out for me now eh? Ah nothing comes without effort, and without "persistent continuous action" (Napoleon Hill).

So far all good advise on the free CMS programs & how to register a domain & have it hosted, I would just add get a good FTP client like Filezilla(also free) & if you use a decent browser like Mozilla SeaMonkey it has a built in HTML editor.

Now with the advent of CMS programs you can drag & drop a site together but it's still a good idea to have some knowledge of HTML coding. (It's not that hard, it aint rocket science).

Here's a good site to learn the basics, with plenty of editable examples.
www.w3schools.com...

Don't worry about clouds, just make sure you have a decent host site, even the majors like Godaddy are very cheap.

For E-commerce, Zen cart is simple to use, it's free & most major hosting sites supply & support it.
www.zen-cart.com...

reply to post by aethertek

Thanks. Yes, will need a shopping cart checkout process. Does Zen Cart work easily with CMS like Joomla.

OMG this is so complicated and so much work, but I want and need to develop an intimate knowledge of everything that's going on.

I have a web-saavy friend, will ask her about this and try to gain her support.

Right now I'm still in the product development phase, oh sigh.

I guess the best things, even when they're free, always come with a price to be paid and this is no different.

And Rome wasn't built in a day..

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by roughycannon

 

Again, very helpful roughycannon! Thanks.

Question: Could a joomla site be converted into another format or framework later on, or at that point is it - start all over from scratch?

Don't be precious about what you want to achieve. Sometimes doing it the wrong way first is a whole lot better than not doing anything at all.

The business functionality is paramount!

Later if you MUST change, get a paid agency to do all the work for you. At least you'll have had some income and have a sample layout for the agency to work from.

There are stacks of "cloud" based services offered to the general public for free and it makes sense to build your business ideas on these until they no longer suit your needs.

Also, it pays to understand Google and Facebook marketing and strategies. Your customers are most likely to come from these and they usually only bill you for actual click-throughs, which, if you convert a high percentage of them to sales is fiscally painless.

Originally posted by earthalien50

Originally posted by roughycannon
reply to post by NewAgeMan

 

Thats usually built into your template you normally don't have to worry about that, most new templates come with a mobile version built in, my template I use has iphone and android support built into it so users see a mobile version of the site if they access it that way.

I suggest that you find a template that is responsive and will move elements in different locations on the screen depending upon your device.

Responsive Web Design Templates will look good on any device.

And what's the main issue with responsive web design? You are building 1 template that fits all, so when you have a header image for example which may be 960px x 100px or a banner advert of 728px x 90px and you are using a responsive type design, you are loading that entire image and squeezing it down which has what type of impact? Data. Data costs money, so although you are presenting a nice pretty layout to your customers, you are also costing them a fortune in data if they are not on a wi-fi network.

A workaround on this, of course is to use separate images for mobile devices. This starts to become a ball-ache though so what's the point? Having a minimal type design for your customers on mobile/tablet devices is far better than loading all of that content and simply hiding it from the user so they don't think it's there.

I would personally go with Wordpress for your first website, but cannot argue with the strudy Joomla.

However, I think that the website running, design, and maintenance are distracting you from the difficult task.

The marketing.

Google the Warrior forum, and see what these people do.

Take a good look at the special offers section, and you will most likely find someone that will offer design, hosting, SEO, and installs for you.

You will notice that nearly all the website focus is around Wordpress themes, and plugins.

Once you have your site, you need visitors, that is where it gets difficult.

You need to take into account search engine optimization, (SEO), keywords, demographics, sales funnels, with upsells, and downsells, autoresponder sequences, paid traffic (Google AdWords for example)

Payment processors, affiliate sales, drop shipping...

I could go on, but think I may have given you enough insight to be aware that the path you wish to take can be done, but will face difficulties, if going it alone.

If you were to consider a partner, that could take care of that side of your business, then that would be your quickest way forward.

It is down to you, to find a suitable, trustworthy candidate, or I can supply you with details of an affordable mentor with good credentials.

Whichever way you decide to go, I wish you all the success in the world.