Hostgator Black Friday Firesale 50% – 80% Off Everything!

Hostgator is having a once in a lifetime sale on Black Friday giving all first time customers 50 – 80% off all hosting plans!

This includes Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, VPS Hosting AND even Dedicated Servers! Never before have they allowed discounts on EVERYTHING including reseller, vps and dedicated servers.

This applies to ALL Accounts and ALL Term Lengths. So you have the opportunity to receive up to 80% off of up to 3 years worth of Hosting! That would come out to $35.64 for 3 FULL YEARS!

Why Should You Care?

Well, if there has ever been a a perfect time to start an internet business or a a hobby website, it’s now. How many times have you put off starting a website because you just didn’t have the money? There are tons of ways to start a business with no money, and here is another option to add to the list.

Okay, Well What are The Deals?

• Shared Hosting – $4.95/month AS LOW AS $0.99/month
• Reseller Hosting – $24.95/month AS LOW AS $4.99/month
• VPS Hosting – $19.95/month AS LOW AS $3.99 First Month
• Dedicated Servers – $174/month AS LOW AS $34.80 First Month

I Hate Black Friday

No really I do. I firmly believe there is nothing at the store that I need so bad, which would require me to get up at 4 am to stand in line and fight an angry mob. I don’t have the energy or the patience. I remember one time standing in line for tickets to the Price Is Right (don’t judge me lol) , before Bob Barker left and stood in line for about 10 hours and I vowed I would never do it again. And I haven’t.

So Why Am I Promoting  Black Friday Sale?

It’s simple. It’s a “helluva” good deal. I currently have a reseller account with Hostgator and I WISH I had a discount at the time of signing up. Now you already know why I Love Hostgator and today you have a great and cheap chance to  find this out for yourself.

How Long Does This Sale Last?

Remember this offer is only running for 1 DAY on Black Friday. November 26^th CST (-6 GMT) and will run until 11:59PM CST (-6 GMT) 11/26/2010. Sign up with Hostgator today and get started today! You do NOT want to miss out on this offer.

How to Make a Website for Kids

Kids are becoming introduced to technology at a much earlier age than their parents were, so it’s no wonder that websites are being built exclusively for them.

If you are interested in learning how to make a website for kids, then there are a few tips to get you started.

Step by Step Instructions on How to Make a Website for Kids

Learning how to make a website is the same regardless of which topic you choose, but in this case we are building a kids website. The general instructions will be the same, but the content of a kids site would vary greatly.

1. Register a Domain – The first step making a kids website is registering a domain. The domain (or url) is the place where your visitors will find you online, similar to an address – www.yourdomain.com. Domains typically cost around $10 to register and they need to be renewed each year. Domains cannot be owned outright, they are leased. If you fail to renew your domain registration every year, someone else can register your domain name. Domains should be purchased at the same time as your hosting (step 2). For more information on domains, tips on domain selection and a little bit of domain history, go to Register a Domain or Go Register Your Domain at Hostgator Now!
2. Purchase Hosting – Hosting refers to the computer (or shared server) owned by a hosting provider, which houses all of the necessary files you need to have your website shown on the web. The files needed to run your website (e.g., html, images, videos or audio) are stored on a shared server and when a visitor types in your domain name, the files are populated in their web browser, so they may view your content. Hosting costs around $5-8 dollars a month. You can pay each month or annually. If you have any trouble with your website, it gets hacked, or your website is down you would contact your hosting provider. Sign up for Hosting at Hostgator Today! Discount Code: If you sign up today at Hostgator for hosting and a domain, use the code ‘brandbuild‘ and receive almost $10 off your first payment!
3. Build a New Website – There are several options to building a new website. You can learn to hard code html yourself, pay a web designer to design a site for you, or use a free and simple cms (content management system) like WordPress or Joomla. For the beginner starting out, I would suggest WordPress. It’s easy to setup, there are tons of great FREE WordPress themes available, and it only takes a few minutes to get started. Here are a few tutorials to get you going.

What cool features should I include?

Kids like to be “wowed” and entertained. Their minds are moving a mile a minute and need to be stimulated every step of the way. Your new kids website should have photos, tons of pictures of kids, drawings, animations, videos, flashy graphics, sound and definitely games.

What topics do kids care about?

Kids are interested in many different topics, so you really could build a website about anything under the sun! Here is a list of possibly topics to consider while making a kids website.

• Animals/Pets – Great for kids who like all kids of animals and love to share photos, stories and information.
• Arts/Crafts – Especially great for children who like drawing, painting, scrapbooking, pottery, designing, sewing, drawing cartoons or writing.
• Books/Stories – Children who love to read can list their favorite books or even write their own stories with drawings included.
• Dinosaurs – Some kids love anything related to the prehistoric era. They are amazed at dinosaurs and how huge and powerful they were. This site can share stories, exhibits and books related these prehistoric creatures.
• Music – Create a website for kids who love playing instruments, singing or performing. You can gather information on local concerts, clubs and even equipment to rent.
• School Subjects – Many kids love to learn. Create a website on science projects, math problems or history lessons to stimulate their brains.
• Outer Space – Topics for kids would include space camps, history, photos from the moon, astronauts and even aliens!
• Physical Activities – This kind of website for kids is geared around outdoor activities like skateboarding, rollerblading, bicycling, hiking and walking. You can give tips on the best equipment, the best places to go and share photos or videos.
• Coloring – Kids love to color. A great website idea is to allow kids to create pictures online, add color and print the final results.
• Comics – Favorite superheroes like Spiderman, Superman, Ironman, the Transformers and much more!
• Girls Interests – Makeup, dressing up, sleep overs, hairstyles, dancing, clothes, gossips, and BOYS are all topics which girls are interested in.
• Boys Interests – Sports, baseball cards, skateboards, video games and afterschool activities could be some possible website topics for boys.
• Online Games – Online gaming sites are just as popular as traditional gaming systems. Create a site where kids can come, play games and record their scores.
• Reviews – This could be a kids website about their favorite books, movies, video games, pets and hobbies.
• Sports Teams – You can create a website around kids sports teams, upload the team schedule, contact info, weekly scores and photos from recent games.
• Television/Movies – Create a website for kids about their favorite tv shoes, movies and cartoons. Kids love watching tv and love swapping stories with friends.
• Video Games – A kids website  on the latest Wii, Playstation, Xbox or NintendoDS games. You can even create a place to sell or exchange games with other users.

5 Tips on What NOT to put on a kids website

1. Confusing language – Kids need information that’s easy for them to understand. Use language and jargin they can relate to without jumping into different topics on one page.
2. Large animations or graphics – Don’t overload your website with too many animations or flashing objects. Not only do they take time to load, depending on how fast a visitors internet speed is, the website may not load at all.
3. Pop-ups – Kids are unaware of how pop-ups work and don’t realize they maybe opening up their home computer to viruses and/or inappropriate content. Don’t confuse kids by tricking them into clicking advertising.
4. Broken links – Kids are savvy with computers, but having broken links on your website is confusing and will eventually cause a new visitor to leave your site. Be sure that all internal and external links are in working order and send users to the correct pages.
5. Loud music or sounds – Music can add to the excitement of your website, but just in case a visitor doesn’t want to hear it, always have a mute or stop button visible.

5 Tips to Keep Kids Safe Online

There are many ways to ensure kids safety while visiting your website. With all the news about kids being harmed via the internet, you always have to make sure you are doing everything to keep them out of harms way.

1. Always make sure they have their parent permission to sign up at your website, by entering their parents email address for confirmation.
2. Do not ask for a child’s full name, address, phone number or the name of their school. Keep personal information private while online.
3. Do not allow kids to post photos of themselves which can be viewed as in appropriate and don’t have anything to do with the purpose of the website.
4. Monitor conversations, chat and comments posted by kids and report any harmful  or potentially threatening messages to authorities.
5. It’s hard to verify the real ages of people online, so try to limit personal and private chats between underage visitors, which may include instant messaging and chat rooms.

Great Kids Examples of Kids Websites

American Girl

Sesame Street

Disney Playhouse

Lego Games

Nick Jr.

Cartoon Network

Elements of an Effective Landing Page Design

People decide to build their first website for many different reasons – to share a hobby, keep up with their families, or to even start a new business venture. Depending on your reason for learning how to make a website will determine if designing a landing page is an option for you.

When entrepreneurs what to archive results and make sales, the most effective way is to build a landing page.

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is similar to a website (or web page) but has a completely different purpose than a standard website.

A typical website would include information about your services or product and information about your company. It will usually have an easy navigation that would help guide a new visitor through your website to explore and learn as much about your offering as possible.

On the other hand a landing page only has one function, a call to action and nothing else. Everything on this one page would focus on a visitor completing one specific task – making a sale. This might include, watching a video, reading a testimonial, giving your their email address or visiting an affiliate website.

Landing pages most likely will not have a navigation, except a link to whatever it is you want them to view. The less options a new visitors have to click away from the message of the landing page the better. This way you would be laser targeting your audience to focus on one track and one track only.

Having a landing page with little to no options, is an effective way to generate leads for a specific product. Many times a new visitor will be offered a free gift on this page for filling out a form, completing a survey or joining a mailing list. If any of those options are your goal, then the main focus of the page would be to provide supporting evidence and compelling information about that free gift and the benefits of signing up.

Types of Landing Pages and Examples

So now that you have a basic understanding of the purpose of a landing page, lets discuss a few types. There are 7 basics types of landing pages with examples of each type.

Click Throughs –  This is a the simplest type of landing page. The purpose is to provide details about an offer or product, explaining the benefits and features with the hopes it will convince a prospect to make a purchase.

Lead Capturing – Also referred to as squeeze pages, the purpose of these types of landing pages is to gather personal information for the visitor (e.g name, email address, phone number, etc.) Normally there are no links or navigation, only a form to submit your details and often an incentive is offered in exchange for this data.

The Infomercial - Just as the name states these are considered the equivalent to infomercials in the online marketing world. They tend to be narrow and extremely long so that a visitor has all the information they need to make an informed purchased all on one page. The more a person reads, the more they get sucked into the sales message, which ultimately ends with a call to action (BUY NOW!) button at the bottom.

Viral – Often created by large companies in order to create an internet buzz about a new product or service. This type of landing page in done in order to build brand awareness and usually include flashy games or funny videos.

Microsite (or Minisities) – A microsite is a small and supplementary website which provides specific information to a larger campaign or business. Its usually more than a single page, but is still considered a type of landing page. You will often see this type of landing page utilized by car manufactures and motion pictures.

Product Information – This is a common style of landing page used in the retail industry. This the main page of a website that houses all information related to the product for sale. This kind of landing age will also come come with a navigation, links and well designed graphics.

Website as a Landing Page – This is the least effective type of landing of of all the options listed above. Why? Because it has way too many distractions and can often confuse a first time visitor. It often has link, videos, features, graphics, advertising and maybe even a few interactive elements. When a new visitor arrives to your homepages it easier for them to become overwhelmed by the choices and leave the page without viewing your intended message.

Which Type of Landing Page is the Best?

Well, that hard to answer because it really just depends on the nature of your business and your ultimate goals. While some may argue sending visitors to your homepage may be less effective than a standalone landing page, the product you’re selling and your audience should really be the deciding factor.

1. Find a Goal – Before even considering creating your first landing page you should figure  out your ultimate goal. Whether it’s to sell a products, collect personal information, increase mailing list subscribers or visiting an affiliates website – the goal should be highly focus, so your visitors won’t get lost in an array of unnecessary information.

2. Design a Direct Path to the Call to Action – The last thing you visitors to do is visitors wandering off to another page before completing the call to action. It’s best to remove all distractions include links to other pages or outside advertisers.

3. Stay Consistent – Your message, style of writing and overall design should be the same across all forms of media – whether it’s print, email or online. New visitors don’t want to guess if they are on the right website because it’s looks completely different than the flyer they saw on a bulletin board. For the best results, be sure to reuse the same headlines, snippets of the content and graphics, so that people know they’ve arrived at the right place.

4. Keep the Message Simple and Direct – It’s best to keep the message of your landing page simple and above the fold – meaning at the top half of your website. If a user has to scroll down too many times to figure out what your offer is about, or than likely they will get frustrated and leave.

5. Make the Content “Scan-able”- Most readers want access to information quickly and often don’t have time read each and every word on your website, which is why making websites scan-able is so important. Make sure headlines, sub-headings, graphics and other multimedia quickly lead to the call to action so visitors can learn about the offer, how it will benefit them and take action.

6. Use Graphics and Other Multimedia – Minimize the use of empty white space by adding graphics, videos, and other multimedia. Also use various font sizes and colors (in the headings) to show the importance of certain content and increase “scan-ability”. It’s best to stick with a color scheme of no ore than 2 to 3 colors (including black) to reduce the busyness of the page.

7. Use Forms to Collect Personal Information – Using web forms helps engage a website visitor to complete the form, by keeping it brief. Online forms are typically the first step of the sales process, not to scare your visitor or deter a potential sale. Start by asking for a person’s name and email address in order to keep in contact in the future.

8. Use a Privacy Policy – If you decide to collect personal information through your landing page, it’s important to let your visitors know how their information will be used. The last thing a person wants is to sign up for future updates on a product or service, to find out they have just been added to the national junk mail list. Provide a link to your privacy policy so that users can be reassured that their personal information won’t be sold or shared with another company.

9. Track Your Results – Implement a website analytics program, Like Google Analytics (which is free). These types of program allow you to understand how your website is performing. It gives you a birds-eye view of who came to your site, what pages they visited and what links they clicked on. This information will have you determine which areas of your landing page need to be improved.

10. Develop a Test Plan - Add and remove different elements on your landing page, including multimedia and copy to learn which placements work best.

How to Make a Favicon

Have you ever noticed those little icons next to the address bar while visitng your favorite website? Well thats a favicon. This is mine.

Wikipedia definition:

A favicon (short for favorites icon), also known as a website icon, shortcut icon, url icon, or bookmark icon is a 16×16, 32×32 or 64×64 pixel square icon associated with a particular website or webpage. A web designer can create such an icon and install it into a website (or webpage) by several means, and most graphical web browsers will then make use of it. Browsers that provide favicon support typically display a page’s favicon in the browser’s address bar and next to the page’s name in a list of bookmarks. Browsers that support a tabbed document interface typically show a page’s favicon next to the page’s title on the tab. Some programs allow the user to select an icon of his own from the hard drive and associate it with a website.

I typically make my favicons using a Photoshop plugin, but I wanted to show you guys how to make a favicon if you have no graphic experience. It’s super easy, online and FREE at Favicon Generator.

Here are the steps make your first favicon.

Step 1. Locate the image that you would like to use as your Favicon and make sure that the dimensions are perfectly square (ie. 100 Pixels x 100 Pixels). This image should typically be your logo or another image directly associated with your website.

Step 2. Browse to the file’s location on your computer and select the image at Favicon Generator.

Step 3. Press the Generate Favicon and DOWNLOAD!

Easy right? Well jump on over to Favicon Generator and make your first favicon.

TIP: If by chance you are unable to find a suitable graphic to use as a favicon, go to Iconfinder.net. They have the best free icons online!

AddThis Labs presents the Sharebar

So I’m trying something new. The AddThis Sharebar (located at the bottom of the page). If you have visited my site in the past then you know I’m not really into this kind of trendy website gimics like these. I like to add content and functionality that I feel will add value to my readers.

I’m not interested in building a huge list of Facebook fans, a ton of Twitter followers or an unbelievable amount of RSS readers. I like new visitors from sent to me directly from Google, Yahoo or Bing (MSN). If this site somehow grows into a community, that’s great. But that’s not my ultimate goal.

My only goal for this site is to finally give people a honest answer about how to make a website, with little to no fluff. Just truth.

With that being said. I liked this AddThis Sharebar. Why? It’s unobtrusive and it took me only about 3 minutes to install. So why not try it?

Trust me if I see that it becomes annoying, I’ll delete it just as fast as I added it on.

Now about the bar.

The AddThis Sharebar is a different way of making your content shareable using the AddThis platform. As a persistent utility at the bottom of your pages, the Sharebar keeps your users’ favorite services front and center to help increase sharing.

It’s a handy little bar that has irect links to Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Tumblr and many more social networking sites to allow users to share your content with their audience. The Sharebar is a AddThis labs project so they is no support for it and they suggest you submit any technical question to their forum.

Add Sharebar to your Site in 3 Minutes

To install Sharebar, copy and paste the following Javascript and DHTML code into your page – it can go anywhere in your page template. An AddThis username is only needed if you want tracking/analytics. You can use your current AddThis username, create a new account, or ignore the username setting.

If you feel this will add value to your site grab one here, then feel free to send me a link to your site if you are using it and or give me a feedback if your like it.

Make Your First Post on Blog Action Day

You’ve started your first website, installed WordPress or Joomla, uploaded and tweaked your theme, researched your keywords and now a few weeks have passed and you still haven’t posted your first article. Why?

Do you have writer’s block? Lost for words? Consider writing a post for Blog Action Day on October 15th, 2009.

From the Blog Action Day website:

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.

Our Goal

First and last, the purpose of Blog Action Day is to create a discussion. We ask bloggers to take a single day out of their schedule and focus it on an important issue.

By doing so on the same day, the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue.

Out of this discussion naturally flow ideas, advice, plans, and action. In 2007 on the theme of the Environment, we saw bloggers running environmental experiments, detailing innovative ideas on creating sustainable practices, and focusing their audience’s attention on organizations and companies promoting green agendas. In 2008 we covered the theme of Poverty, and similarly focused the blogging community’s energies around discussing the wide breadth of the issue from many perspectives and identifying innovative and unexpected solutions. This year we aim to do the same for Climate Change, an issue that threatens us all.

This years topic for Blog Action Day is Climate Change:

Why Climate Change?

Climate change affects us all and it threatens more than the environment. It threatens to cause famine, flooding, war, and millions of refugees.

Given the urgency of the issue of climate change and the upcoming international climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December, we think the blogosphere has the unique opportunity to mobilize millions of people around expressing support for finding a sustainable solution to the climate crisis.

Suggested Posts

We encourage you to write about climate change in the context of how it relates to the topic of your blog. To help you start thinking, here are a few ideas about how you might connect climate change to things that you might already write about:

• A Technology or Business blog might write about emerging clean tech and how innovative companies might be able to help address the problem of climate change.
• A Health or Lifestyle blog might write about how climate change will affect our children’s health and daily living.
• A Nonprofit or Political blog might write about how climate change is deeply connected to many other issues – such as poverty and conflict.
• A Design blog might write about new trends in eco-friendly or sustainable design.
• A Travel blog might write about the places you want to see now before climate change makes them difficult to access or, well, under the sea.

So what do you have to lose? Get started with your blog today. Besides, in exchange for your entry you receive a free anchored link to your site, from a PR7 blog. If you have no idea what I’m talking about then you need to take some time and read my Intro to Link Building page. However if you know exactly what I’m referring to, go ahead and sign up here.

Free High Quality Photos from PicApp

While visiting one of my favorite sites Lost Ball in High Weeds, I learned about a new site that has high quality photos to spruce up your website, called PicApp. I’m always interested in giving my readers access to valuable freebies for website building, so I immediately took a look and was pleasantly surprised. They have some of the best quality photos online, by far and they are all for FREE!

No more “borrowing” images from your favorite blogs. Now you have access to the same great photos they do without the risk of copyright infringement.

From the PicApp website:

Add the best news and stock photos to your blog.

Picapp is all about more opportunities and choices:

Where You– the publisher get access to millions of premium, legal images, updated by the minute and can use them in your posts- for free!

Where You– content owner enjoys this innovative yet monitored distribution channel to reach new users and increase revenue

Where You– advertiser reaches targeted, well segmented audience and access to premium ad inventory

A true Win-Win.

We have over 20 million premium images, editorial and creative, covering any imaginable category—from news, sports, to celebrity, travel fashion and more.

Our content partners include Getty Images, Corbis, Splash News, Pacific Coast News, Newscom, Image Source and more. We support the largest blog platforms: WordPress, Blogger, TypePad and more.

What’s also great about PicApp is that they already have a super cool WordPress plugin, which allows website owners to easily add photos to their websites or blogs directly from the PicApp database.

Here are a few video videos to get you started with using their service.

How to Use the PicApp WordPress Plugin

How to Search for Images on the PicApp Website

In addition to the WordPress Plugin, they also have a PicApp Toolbar which enables you to search for free images from your Firefox browser.

Try them out and let me know what you think! This is a definite add to my recommendations page.

How To Make a Website That Makes Money

Just my opinion here folks.

People ask me all this the time. How do I make a website that earns money? How do I make a websites so I can leave my crappy 9-5?

Typically I would use this opportunity to tell about my web design services and offer to help them create a website. But after I tell them how much I charge they almost always change their mind. Why? Because most people are cheap and lazy. Most web newbies tend to think if you create a website, then people will magically show up to buy their goods.

I wish! It’s true that tons of people have been able to make a comfortable living online after creating a website, but it takes hours and hours of work, research and dedication to achieve this.

So lesson 1 of How to Make a Website is, have REAL expectations. Don’t think that you can just sign up for hosting, pick a cool sounding domain name, install WordPress and create some content and the people will come. Your blog or website will be one of a billion online, so how will people find you? You want to make your own website, but what is it going to be about? What’s your topic?

Start by reading posts located on the right. Start with Getting Started Online and don’t stop reading until you reach the last line of When To Call A Professional.

What? You don’t like reading? How to do you expect to make your own website without first figuring out if you even need one?

Lesson 2 is read more. lol. Easy right? The easiest way to create a website is just read! There are tons of details tutorials, tips and tricks all over the web that will show you how to do this, including this site. Just stop by the tutorials sections and look for wordpress help.

Lesson 3, the final lesson, is the hardest – start working today! You never be a success in life if you are scared of failing. You want to know how to make a website but are too scared to try anything new. What if I create a website, then break it!

No problem. Build another one. Believe me, it goes a lot faster the second time around. I can’t you how many times I have created a website and done something completely stupid to mess it up. One minute it’s working fine, the next minute my site is gone! Frustrating yes! Helped in the learned process? Most definitely!

I know this post isn’t probably not what you thought it was going to be. It’s really just a rant hoping to inspire a generation of slackers and pessimists to get off the couch and do something.

Tis’ All!