Finally - a website for you to see! - Page 2

katy111 · 03-04-08

Welllllll, we have since published a brand new homepage, if its not asking too much, can you all please look once more too see if this is an improvement?

(keeping in mind it isn't finished, the picture isnt a link as of yet, and also the navigation bar isnt what it should be, nor is the rest of the site - there arent even any banners on the homepage yet!)

Quick question, should we put a contact email address on the homepage? Or just leave it to our "contact us" page?

babrees · 03-04-08

Site is completely down now

Personally I never put email addresses on sites (coz of spammers) but use a contact form instead, then I have a link to that form on all pages

katy111 · 04-04-08

We've took the site down to fix the problems with it.

Thanks for the advice with the links.

mjp3000 · 04-04-08

Quality of the design is very important, and as such, I would get your hands on some HTML and CSS training. I personally wouldn't pay for Dreamweaver training, but that's only because once you know HTML, 90% of Dreamweaver's features become obvious in how you use them. I'm not a fan of Contribute - found it bloated and no quicker than updating sites manually. Ditched the trial version after about 2 days.

Lynda.com do some good training for a low fee, especially if you subscribe monthly - it's the most comprehensive and best quality I've come across (for video training). Not as in depth as books, obviously.

Once you know the basics of HTML and CSS, it is easy to make simple, clean sites that look good and are well organised. Relying on packages to do everything means that when things go wrong, you won't know why. And if things need tweaking, you won't know how to do it. Much better to understand it from the bottom up.

If you really want nothing to do with the coding side of things, just use Wordpress

Good first attempt though - my first website was significantly worse than that, I can assure you!

katy111 · 07-04-08

Thanks for the advice we really do appreciate it.

Still having a problem with the links. Where on Commission Junction do I find the piece of code to make sure we get our commission?

Thanks.

mainlime · 07-04-08

Log in to CJ. Bottom of the page, select the merchant from the dropdown, click OK. New window opens from which you can find links.

You probably want to do deep linking though (direct to a page on the merchant's website other than the homepage). They're not easy to find on CJ, seems to vary between merchants and some times not there at all. Usually it's easier to download the product feed and take the links from there but CJ manage to make even that an ordeal. If you can get the products you want on a different network I'd advise you to change.

Affi Liate · 07-04-08

I could sit here all night saying what I don't like about this but thought I'd try a different approach.

What is more important are the positives. I'll re-word that; THE positive.

I am impressed at your efforts. You seem determined...

You have made it clear you are totally new to this.

You've made the effort totally off your own back (I'm assuming) and under your own steam - picked a niche, had a go at site building, learned deeplinking (sort of), done some network research, signed up to some merchants, blah, blah, blah

First thing: crack the deeplinking. Make sure you KNOW that the links you have in place will track, same with all future ones.

By doing what you have done with this effort (and I couldn't do that) you have learned a whole bunch of stuff.

I read some of the comments - sure I would look at some software such as dreamweaver/wordpress (or whatever the general consensus is). That will eliminate many of the time consuming design/coding bits you are clearly learning.

Get the aesthetics right before you go nutso with SEO.

Then think about the SEO side of things.

(I wouldn't really advise doing PPC personally, not untill you get the site looking more professional/appealing).

Don't forget you've put hard work into this and are ON THE LEARNING CURVE.

SEO: Once the site is as you want it:

Think about page names

/id10.html will do very little for SEO (even with good content on the pages)

/candles-holders.html is going to have more long term benefit.

Make sure the page meta sections are slick in terms of not too much, but quality content, keywords, informative relevant page description etc (often what Google will use in the results). Disclaimer: you may have already done this I aint got time to check...

From an SEO point of view you will need to get TEXT,TEXT and more TEXT on each of the pages. certainly the ones that relate to the higher search volumes in this sector.

Sure these things will take time BUT you are making the effort. Good on you...

Summary:

[1]Make sure the links are good.

[2]Get the design right

[3]Page names/meta sections nailed

[4]Page names.html

[5]Think how you can integrate some text for SEO

Keep at it, you've made a good effort with a large-ish project for a first attempt.

Good niche, great domain name, good luck.

Affi Ever After

dave21 · 07-04-08

Hi.

I really can't comment too much on your site since I don't have much track record in making money. However, I have a quick tip that might help out - ignore if not...

I'm a web application developer and work alongside a web designer. Now, as far as applications go, I can write what ever you like, but when it comes to design, I think this is something that you've either got or not - I err strongly on the not side.

However, something that my mate has taught me is that simple design is in fact quite easy. One of the first things is to do is to pick a colour scheme that is basic and where each colour complements each other. This isn't easy if you pick the colours yourself, so try using a tool like this:

[ws] Color Scheme Generator 2

3 colours is usually a good start and it can really tie a site together.

The reason why I made this comment is that although you have 3 colours in your design, 2 of the browns are maybe too close a match and you're not getting the contrast that you should have.

Hope that is useful.
Dave.

katy111 · 08-04-08

Thanks again for all the help and advice. We are working on everything you have said to us and are rebuilding the website. It really is appreciated.

Still having problems with our links though. We've got the links from the advertiser but can't find the piece of link to make sure it tracks and we get our commission from commission junction?

Thanks again.

katy111 · 24-04-08

hiya everyone, doing lot sof new things to the website at the moment trying to figure out dreamweaver, a little bit stuck so if anyone could help it would be great many thanks

PrincessConsuela · 24-04-08

I haven't read through all the replies, but in case no one else has mentioned it
DON'T USE FRAMES!!!!! they are deprecated web techonolgy and make your site look old fashioned. Also they are very inaccessible and search engine unfriendly

Sorry it was just the first thing that jumped out at me!