Create Your Affiliate Website Easily with Top Website Builders
Creating a website can seem like a daunting task, but with today’s tools and services, it’s actually something that is within your grasp and something you can get started on today. Instead of going the traditional route of paying a hefty fee for hiring a designer and developer, many small businesses and affiliates are choosing to go with an easy to use
Website Builder.
These Website Builders include hosting in their packages, and many of them are intuitive to use and affordable. Even better than that is these builders put the control and power back into your hands to create and update your website quickly and easily. The user interface of each of these builders makes it possible to create your website without seeing one line of code. A few of these top website builders include Yola.com, Homestead and SquareSpace.
To make your website creation process easy, the first step is to prepare. Five tips to keep in mind before creating your website are:
1. Claim your domain name before someone else does. A memorable domain is invaluable to your business and can help
SEO rankings. You can buy it from a website builder or from any domain company. You may also consider securing different extensions including .net, .biz, and .co so that you can protect your name.
2. Competitive research:
• Researching your competitors' websites will give you a lot of insight into what others in your industry or topic area find to be important. This isn't about stealing content or copying someone else's ideas (which you should never do.) When you are looking at your competitor's websites ask yourself these questions:
- What do I find to be useful on this site?
- What type of information is being provided?
- What information is not being provided that I think should be?
- What do I do better than my competitor
- What can I do differently to my competitor, what will make my website unique?
3. “Websites I love” research:
• Are there certain websites that you like and visit often? It can be extremely helpful to look closely at sites that you really like (even if they are not in your website's topic area) to get some ideas for your website. This research is about appreciating something about another website and possibly incorporating your own spin on the concept into your website.
4. Content:
• Content before design - Sometimes when
creating a website, it can be tempting to do your design first, as this is a fun part of the process. But, if you plan your content before choosing and tweaking your design, you will ensure your design evolves from your content, and that your design intensifies the information you are providing.
Content is king - People come to the Internet looking for information on everything from where they will eat next, to home buying tips, to what hairstyle best suits a face shape. You have an area of expertise and your website is where you can show this. Tap into this and make it the basis of your website and you will be successful!
• Defining your niche - What is your area of expertise and what type of information can you provide to your site visitors that will give them the answers they are looking for, and keep them coming back?
5. Navigation planning
• Navigation is an extremely important piece of a website. Your site visitors need to be able to easily and intuitively navigate through the pages of your site. Make sure it’s easy for someone to find your information, contact page, etc.
Now that the preparation is done, you’re ready to create your website. Using Yola’s website builder as an example, I’ll demonstrate the ease of creating and publishing your site. There are number of key elements to start from such as selecting a style and layout. I’ll then cover how to add images, links,
SEO elements and then publishing.
First, sign up and select a Style:
Select a Column layout:
Now that the foundation has been laid, it’s time to add the content. Yola has a drag and drop interface, so to add text, an image, a banner or link, you just drag the widget from the right-hand toolbar and drop it onto the location of the page you want it to be shown.
Adding an image to the page will look like the following:
Once the image is added, you can add a link or affiliate link to it by clicking on the image, click on ‘Choose A Link’:
If you have an internal link you would add it from the page or if you have an affiliate link, you can enter it in the ‘External link’ field below:
Once your content is in, you can add in your
SEO meta-tags including the Heading, Title, Description, and Keywords within the page properties section for each page on your website. These fields will help increase the
SEO ranking for your website.
When your content is ready and your website is ready, then it’s easy to publish. You simply click on the green publish button up top.
and your website is live!
Getting your website online shouldn’t be a blocker to getting your business up and running. Easy to use website builders like Yola.com, Homestead, and SquareSpace make it easier and faster for you to take your business online without any technical skills.
If you’d like to learn more about these type of website builders, you can find more information on each company here: Yola.com, Homestead.com, SquareSpace.com.
About Yola
Yola is changing the way businesses get online. Yola is fast becoming the leading choice globally to create and grow an online business presence by offering its easy-to-use, free website builder and innovative premium hosting and feature sets to its millions of customers worldwide. Privately-held Yola, backed by Reinet Investments, is the recipient of numerous industry accolades including Business Week's 50 Best Tech Start-ups, The Industry Standard 100, and Fast Company's Fast 50 Reader Favorites. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. For additional information, please visit
www.yola.com.
