Getting Started - How to plan your website

VodaHost · #1 06-21-2005, 05:02 PM

Getting Started on your First Web Page

Welcome to VodaHost,

VodaHost is committed to helping you construct your first web page and getting you online as quickly as possible. Creating your first web page can be a daunting and confusing task. Where do I get started? What should I do? However, it does not have to be this way, creating a web page can be a fun and rewarding experience if you just follow a few simple guidelines, which we will outline for you here.

The first thing that you should do when getting ready to construct your first web page is to define it. What do you want your web page to do? Do not just start constructing your page, really think about it. You should think about how you want it to look, what information you want to provide to your prospective customer in order to persuade him to buy your product or service rather than going elsewhere.

Be sure that you organize the page well, think of your Home Page like the Table of Contents page in a book, it is there so that your customers know where to go in your site for their particular needs, or just to familiarize themselves with your product. Lastly, when defining your site you should do your research. Always visit your competitions web site to see how they have organized their site, so you can make yours better, whether it is just including more information about your product, or simply making a better designed site.

Now that you have given some serious thought to how you want your web site to look, and what you want to include in it, you need to think of a name for it. There are various approaches to finding the right name for your web site. The first is to make the name logical, for instance, abc’s web site is abc.com. Another approach is to make the name memorable so that your customers can type it in without thought, the name does not have to be descriptive of the product you sell, for example amazon.com sells books. Further, you should keep the name as short as possible so that it is easy for your customers to type into the url field.

Now that you have your web page named and given some thought into how you want it to look, here are some pointers for building your site. If you have pictures on your web page go over them first with a photo editing program, like pix resizer, www.vodahost.com/pix.htm so that the customer’s browser does not have to crunch them. This will also speed up the download speed of your page so that the customer can view quickly without having to wait for large picture files to appear on the screen.

One of the most annoying things for people surfing the web are pages that take a long time to download. All those fancy graphics will not do you any good if instead of waiting for the page to download the viewer closes his browser and goes elsewhere, so consider going light on the pictures and heavy on the information content.

You should also put some serious thought into what color fonts you are going to use, and the background color as well. When in doubt, remember that a white background with black text has been successful for thousands of years!

Your website should also be easy to navigate, all your links should be obvious to the viewer, and should be self explanatory or have information about where the link will take them. Try to keep the number of links you have low, the viewer does not want to spend a lot of time waiting for links to download, chances are, like you, he is pretty busy! Further, always link back to your homepage in order to make navigating your web page easier for your potential customers.

Now, before you even open up BlueVoda, you should construct your web site on paper. Decide the number of pages you want to have inside of your site, and determine logical titles for them. Think of any pictures that you might want to put on each page and where you are going to put them in order to be most effective. You should plan out your hyperlinks now, as it will make keeping track of them later a lot easier and save you time trying to figure out why they are not working properly. Decide where you want to put any buttons that you might create for hyperlinks as well. Lastly write out any information content you will be putting onto your web page in Microsoft Word first so you can detect any spelling errors you might have made. You can cut and paste parts into BlueVoda later.

Lastly, familiarize yourself with BlueVoda before you start using it. Watch the Video Tutorials that we offer so that you have an idea of what you can do with BlueVoda. Further, you should make a practice page first so that you can get a feel for BlueVoda and some experience using it before you start constructing a page which you will publish on the World Wide Web.

It takes two to three months to learn how to use DreamWeaver and at least a month to learn FrontPage, while you can learn BlueVoda in hours. Practice adding and deleting text, pictures, and hyperlinks until you can do these actions with ease.

Building a web site with BlueVoda is simple and easy if you follow the above steps. The most important part of the construction process actually takes place before you open BlueVoda. Think of constructing your web site like taking a test back in school, those who prepared before the test probably did better than those who just went in without even opening their books.

So be sure to prepare before you start, think of the content you want to put in, think about your links, think about your web site’s name, draw up an outline on paper before you start constructing the page and most importantly WATCH THE TUTORIALS!

In a nutshell

“Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan”

shabc · #2 08-14-2005, 07:46 PM

Hi Voda:
Thank you for your help!I will study the paper carefully!Recently I am very busy.But I shall take time to study the Cpanel,and try to design my web page.I know it is not easy for me.I hope you will help me when I meet problem.Thank you again!

sha

Diana · #3 08-15-2005, 04:40 AM

Thank you for a most informative post and for a GREAT site builder and hosting company.

Will certainly pass the word along about VodaHost!

VodaHost · #4 08-15-2005, 12:11 PM

The Latest News from VodaHost!

Click Here to View Video

nurajanty · #5 08-15-2005, 12:18 PM

Many many thanks for clear steps towards get started with my website. I am going to follow your instructions and soon I will do it, the level of support offered by your organization to begginers is trully remarkable.

VodaHost · #6 08-15-2005, 01:01 PM

My staff and I are committed to helping you build a fantastic website.

But we also need your help. Have you ever heard the saying "give me a fishand I will eat for a day, teach me to fish and I will eat for a lifetime"?

We are here to teach you to fish or should I say "build and publish a website"

Here is what you can do to help...

1) Watch all the tutorials that we have created for you. Yes I know they are as about as exciting as watching paint dry....But your only other alternative is to layout $500+ and get someone to build it for you.

If you want the independence of being able to build, edit and publish your own site. You first have got to learn a thing a few things.

2) Practice using BlueVoda...DO NOT try to build a website immediately. Practice opening and saving pages, adding text and images etc…How long should you practice for? Until you feel comfortable with the software.

Use this forum to its fullest potential. Ask questions, participate in discussions. And very importantly of all use the search feature on the top of this page. There are over 190,000 posts on this forum, chance are your questions have already been asked and answered by another member already.

Remember this is not a race…Take your time…Do not get stressed out and most important of all have fun and enjoy.

cajun_spice98 · #7 08-15-2005, 04:22 PM

I guess I will give it a go. Yes I will start with it on paper. Hope you have plenty of time to help as I will probably need it. LOL

VodaHost · #8 08-15-2005, 07:33 PM

Remember..."Plan your work and work your plan!"

Alli · #9 08-22-2005, 04:34 AM

Just wanted to say I have been reading heaps in here and I feel really confident to be able to do this myself. I can't wait to jot my ideas down and get started. Many thanks to you all at VodaHost cheers.
Alli

smekat · #10 08-24-2005, 03:30 PM

I want to say a BIG THANKU xxx
This is amazing, I have been looking for EASY web stuff for ages, have wanted my own site forever... even paid BIG money for design kits... but still got no-where... THANKU for making all so easy.. I'm off to build MY FIRST EVER web site!!!!

YAY.....

VodaHost · #11 08-24-2005, 04:30 PM

My pleasure my friend...Enjoy!

nabilou · #12 09-16-2005, 11:56 PM

i want to design a website but ineed a help from u plz

Steven.H · #13 09-17-2005, 03:28 AM

Watch all of the video tutorials. They will help you tremendously.

cpbansal · #14 09-26-2005, 11:21 AM

I am glad to be able to log in and send you the mail. Am looking forward to making a good site. regards and best wishes.

Ruben Estrada · #15 10-19-2005, 09:51 PM

Hi, I have a question; once you set the navigation buttons (using the site builder)
How do you set the URL or http? Do you have to wait until you have a domain name and a valid http in order to make the buttons work or what?

Thank You for your answer
Ruben Estrada

Sarah · #16 10-19-2005, 10:01 PM

correct

Ruben Estrada · #17 10-19-2005, 10:30 PM

Thanks for Your answer Sarah, I'm trying the site builder and I think it works great...
but I still have to learn some things so I'm afraid I'm going to ask You a few questions in the next days. Again... Thanks a lot!

Ruben Estrada
-from Mexico-

BIGGDEAL · #18 11-01-2005, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VodaHost

My pleasure my friend...Enjoy!

you are a verry nice person,good souls are far and few if ever found'

kperici2 · #19 11-27-2005, 03:12 AM

Mr.Brad,thank you so much for motivation me to built my site ,but as you say i am Columbo number one,i am so frustrat, i have so much pictures for my site and so much to learn,follow your instructions ,learning every day,but it is not easily.We have family busines-thanks to their 5o years long experiance and research in unique hand-made scale models of sailboats from the 9 to the 19 century.Some of them may be found throughout the world.i wish everyone enjoy in their beauty.My father have gold medal for sailing boats Omis arrow and he is prize-winner for life act this year, something about him you have find in the web site www.almissa.com by ugo matulić from ilinois,čikago ,my father is mirko peričić and he isfamous ...Mr.Brad thank you for your time and i am so grateful for your endurance with me,my english is not so good but i believe that you understand me.i love you,katrin from omiš

yburr · #20 11-28-2005, 08:16 AM

my father and i are planning to build a website about our family genealogy. although we are practicing the step by step tutorials from your website, but still admit that we need a professional website designer to materialize the plan. we are planning and collecting information up to 5-6 generations for this matter. hope that this may be enough to attract our visitors or relatives to come to our site. now, please help us to find the right person for this including the system of payment etc. fyi, we are filipinos. ty for ur quick action

Sarah · #21 11-28-2005, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yburr

my father and i are planning to build a website about our family genealogy. although we are practicing the step by step tutorials from your website, but still admit that we need a professional website designer to materialize the plan. we are planning and collecting information up to 5-6 generations for this matter. hope that this may be enough to attract our visitors or relatives to come to our site. now, please help us to find the right person for this including the system of payment etc. fyi, we are filipinos. ty for ur quick action

If you need to find a designer. Please click the below link and post a project.

www.VodaBids.com

nawa · #22 11-30-2005, 09:38 AM

i can hardly wait to build my own website

JanisV · #23 12-26-2005, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah

correct

How do i get a domain name and http so i can finish my site?

VodaHost · #24 12-26-2005, 06:40 PM

Please click the below link to create your VodaHost account.
Use the coupon code: freedomain

And you will receive a free domain name.

http://www.vodahost.com/order.htm

save_our_rodeos · #25 01-16-2006, 01:14 AM

thanks 4 all the advice

Dr Kraw · #26 01-16-2006, 04:55 PM

Hi there,
This is a very impressive, and professional website!
What I need in my website, is a forum exactly like this or some kind of message board, where other people can put up adds!
Can this be done with Bluevoda?
Johannes Kraw

VodaHost · #27 01-16-2006, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kraw

Hi there,
This is a very impressive, and professional website!
What I need in my website, is a forum exactly like this or some kind of message board, where other people can put up adds!
Can this be done with Bluevoda?
Johannes Kraw

Hello Dr. Kraw,

A forum is included with every account. Please click the below to learn more.

http://www.vodahost.com/tut_phpbb.htm

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