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My ProductsWhich program should I use to build my website?
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simonslade - Posts: 126
- Joined: 13 Jun 06
- Location: New Zealand
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08 Oct 08 2:27 am
Which program should I use to build my website?
The most popular web design packages with Affilorama members are WordPress, Dreamweaver and XsitePro.
WordPress is an open source Content Management System (CMS) and is also the platform we currently recommend to use for building websites, and is incorporated into our AffiloJetpack. Our user-friendly theme, AffiloTheme, makes it easy for Affilojetpack members to build affiliate sites. The best thing about WordPress is that it is highly customizable and can be downloaded for free.
Dreamweaver is the most comprehensive and powerful web authoring software we've found, and it's the one we use. Learning Dreamweaver, however, can take quite a while. You should be prepared to make a mess when building your first site -- it's the only way to learn! Dreamweaver can also be rather pricey, depending on where you're purchasing from. Be aware that you can frequently purchase older versions of Dreamweaver for drastically reduced prices from places like eBay. An older version will still work just fine. You can also download a 30 day trial version of Dreamweaver -- this should be enough to give you a taste, and get you building your first site.
XSitePro is a web authoring software designed specifically for internet marketers. It greatly streamlines website production so that you can get to the actual money-making part of the business in double time.
XSitePro provides utilities and functionality for setting up Adsense, doing your SEO, managing links, uploading your site, creating redirects, updating navigation pages, creating pop-ups, etc. Basically all the dirty work! It's not as flexible as Dreamweaver, but then it's not designed for web designers who want to be able to do everything -- it's designed for internet marketers who have a fairly predictable set of needs and wants.
Affiliates with a bit of web-design experience might find the XSitePro is too restrictive, and the websites it produces too "samey". Others absolutely swear by it. At $197 it's less pricey than Dreamweaver, but still pricey. However, if you're serious about getting your sites out there as quickly as possible, and you're not all that interested in learning the nitty gritty aspects of web design, XSitePro might be a very worthwhile investment. There's a lot of information and screenshots of XSitePro on their website... go take a peek.
Frontpage: Traditionally the first port of call for aspiring web designers, Frontpage is/was part of the Microsoft Office suite (all version from 1997 - 2006). If you've got a copy of MS Office, then you could certainly give Frontpage a try to begin with, at least until you get your head around the basics of web authoring. Once you've come to grips with Frontpage it shouldn't be too much of a leap to a more powerful program like Dreamweaver.
Microsoft have discontinued Frontpage and have instead launched a new software: MS Expression Web which is getting mixed reviews. If you want to go the Microsoft route, we would recommend finding a copy of Frontpage rather than splashing out on the as-yet unproven MS Expression Web.
Nvu: A free open-source program based on the code from Mozilla Composer. This is a very good place to start if you're just learning the ropes of web design, and contains many of the features of Dreamweaver or Frontpage. It's especially designed for web design newbies, so it's pretty simple, but it provides an excellent stepping stone up to a more powerful authoring software like Dreamweaver. Visit the website
A note on learning HTML
You won’t get far as an affiliate without knowing the very basics of HTML. Things like -- how to write a hyperlink and insert your affiliate code into it, how to add "nofollow" tags to links, how to insert images into your website... These are all pretty simple things to learn, and if you can do it, you'll save yourself a whole heap of trouble later on.
Start with our Site Building lessons, which will give the nuts and bolts. After that, a basic search for "HTML tutorial" will turn up a mountain of websites. You'll have no difficulty whatsoever finding free lessons. One site we highly recommend for being educational, correct and entertaining to boot is http://www.yourhtmlsource.com. Otherwise you can go with good old http://www.w3.org/html/, and http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/ for a comprehensive HTML reference.
To your site building success!
Simon
WordPress is an open source Content Management System (CMS) and is also the platform we currently recommend to use for building websites, and is incorporated into our AffiloJetpack. Our user-friendly theme, AffiloTheme, makes it easy for Affilojetpack members to build affiliate sites. The best thing about WordPress is that it is highly customizable and can be downloaded for free.
Dreamweaver is the most comprehensive and powerful web authoring software we've found, and it's the one we use. Learning Dreamweaver, however, can take quite a while. You should be prepared to make a mess when building your first site -- it's the only way to learn! Dreamweaver can also be rather pricey, depending on where you're purchasing from. Be aware that you can frequently purchase older versions of Dreamweaver for drastically reduced prices from places like eBay. An older version will still work just fine. You can also download a 30 day trial version of Dreamweaver -- this should be enough to give you a taste, and get you building your first site.
XSitePro is a web authoring software designed specifically for internet marketers. It greatly streamlines website production so that you can get to the actual money-making part of the business in double time.
XSitePro provides utilities and functionality for setting up Adsense, doing your SEO, managing links, uploading your site, creating redirects, updating navigation pages, creating pop-ups, etc. Basically all the dirty work! It's not as flexible as Dreamweaver, but then it's not designed for web designers who want to be able to do everything -- it's designed for internet marketers who have a fairly predictable set of needs and wants.
Affiliates with a bit of web-design experience might find the XSitePro is too restrictive, and the websites it produces too "samey". Others absolutely swear by it. At $197 it's less pricey than Dreamweaver, but still pricey. However, if you're serious about getting your sites out there as quickly as possible, and you're not all that interested in learning the nitty gritty aspects of web design, XSitePro might be a very worthwhile investment. There's a lot of information and screenshots of XSitePro on their website... go take a peek.
Frontpage: Traditionally the first port of call for aspiring web designers, Frontpage is/was part of the Microsoft Office suite (all version from 1997 - 2006). If you've got a copy of MS Office, then you could certainly give Frontpage a try to begin with, at least until you get your head around the basics of web authoring. Once you've come to grips with Frontpage it shouldn't be too much of a leap to a more powerful program like Dreamweaver.
Microsoft have discontinued Frontpage and have instead launched a new software: MS Expression Web which is getting mixed reviews. If you want to go the Microsoft route, we would recommend finding a copy of Frontpage rather than splashing out on the as-yet unproven MS Expression Web.
Nvu: A free open-source program based on the code from Mozilla Composer. This is a very good place to start if you're just learning the ropes of web design, and contains many of the features of Dreamweaver or Frontpage. It's especially designed for web design newbies, so it's pretty simple, but it provides an excellent stepping stone up to a more powerful authoring software like Dreamweaver. Visit the website
A note on learning HTML
You won’t get far as an affiliate without knowing the very basics of HTML. Things like -- how to write a hyperlink and insert your affiliate code into it, how to add "nofollow" tags to links, how to insert images into your website... These are all pretty simple things to learn, and if you can do it, you'll save yourself a whole heap of trouble later on.
Start with our Site Building lessons, which will give the nuts and bolts. After that, a basic search for "HTML tutorial" will turn up a mountain of websites. You'll have no difficulty whatsoever finding free lessons. One site we highly recommend for being educational, correct and entertaining to boot is http://www.yourhtmlsource.com. Otherwise you can go with good old http://www.w3.org/html/, and http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/ for a comprehensive HTML reference.
To your site building success!
Simon
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