Essential Website Blueprint

31 Pages·2014·4.86 MB·English

JULIAZASLOW.COM
t
n
i
r
p
e Your Essential
u
l
B

e Website Blueprint
t
i
s
b
e for More Clients, More Sales
W

l and More Profit!
a
i
t
n
e
s
s
E
(c)2011 Julia Zaslow
www.juliazaslow.com

n Is Your Website Working For You?
o
i
t
c bad website = bad business
u
d
By Julia Zaslow
o
r
t Remember when you used to reach for your 3 inch thick phone book to find a
n
I doctor, plumber, or the phone number of the local pizza place in town?
My, how times have changed…
In today’s digital age, the #1 way that people now search for professionals, service
providers, or products is ONLINE.
That means that your website is the first introduction to you that people see when
they are looking for services or products that you provide.
A good website will draw them in and immediately convert them to a lead or
customer; a bad website will turn them away faster than you can blink an eye…
and they’re off to your competition.
1

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com
T
N (And if you don’t have a website at all, you might as well not exist!)
RI
P
E So… you know you need a website and it’s probably been a big thorn in your side that you don’t
U
L
B have one (or you have one that you’re ashamed of).

E
T
SI But where to start?
B
E
W
Would you believe me if I told you could have a professional looking, quality website up in as
L
A little as a week with the right tools and resources? And that you don’t have to spend an arm and a
TI
N leg to do it?
E
S
S
E It’s true, and not as hard as it seems at first blush. I’m going to tell you everything you need to
know, but first, a quick introduction...
About Julia Zaslow
internet marketing expert
In high school, I was a nerd. Seriously, I just
loved learning and studying. I liked a lot of
subjects, but particularly excelled in science
and math.
When I got to college, I was excited about the
prospect of branching out, so in my first year
took 8 courses in 8 different subjects,
including political science, art, dance,
literature, ethics, logic, and more. I enjoyed all
of of them, but was surprised to feel that
something was missing. It turns out I really Before I could start to doubt myself, lucky for
missed science and math! me, I was assigned a fabulous female advisor
who was a kick-butt seismologist. With her
So literally the week before classes started support, I stuck with it.
sophomore year, I was studying the course
catalog and noticed a major that looked I specialized in seismology like her, and
unbelievably exciting. It was called “Geology- discovered that seismology actually involves
Physics/Mathematics”. very little field work (maybe the occasional
trip to the country to place an array of
“What?” I can hear you asking. Yes, a full seismometers or return months later to check
course load of geology, chemistry, math, and why one’s not working) and mostly a lot of
physics really TURNED ME ON. long lonely hours in a windowless lab in front
of a computer writing software programs to
Weird, I know. analyze waveform data. I became
disenchanted.
2

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com
T About Julia Zaslow, Con’t
N
RI
P internet marketing expert
E
U
L
B
After a soul sucking post-college year been a vegetarian, a raw foodie, a no-fried

E
T analyzing wave form data in one of those militant, a paleo, a chronic cleanser…
SI
B windowless labs, I looked around for what
E
W was next. This was in 1997, the year that the One day my friend asked me: “Have you ever

L internet exploded and every company in the thought of being a nutritionist?”
A
TI world was looking for a webmaster to create
N
E their website or run their existing one. Amazingly, this had never occurred to me.
S
S
E
It seemed to me that being a webmaster She was right. I was obsessed with nutrition
would be a great balance for me, allowing me and loved teaching (admonishing) others
to combine my technical abilities with design about their dietary habits.
and creativity, which I also loved. Plus,
working with a team would be a lot more In a weird coincidence, around that same
social. time, a Bauman College marketing brochure
landed on my kitchen table. I had never heard
So I jumped on the train and became a of the school, but it turns out they were
webmaster. (By the way, this was a thrilling located right there in Santa Cruz where I was
job title back in those days—it garnered a lot living at the time. Their brochure advertised a
of respect and jokes about whips). two year nutrition consulting program that
resonated with me immediately. I enrolled the
I was lucky to work for a high tech company next week.
that was actually making tons of dough and
growing like gangbusters. Four years into it, I Two happy years later, I left Bauman with a
was managing a web team comprised of 7 Nutrition Consultant certificate in hand and
people, had moved from IT to marketing, and big dreams of a flourishing nutrition practice,
had the more grown-up title of “Web busy with clients flowing in and out the door
Producer.” all day long.
Despite being in my 20s, however, the long I promptly went broke. (Or nearly so)
hours, commute, and intense nature of this
job just about killed me. I was worn out, so I Had I ever launched a small service-based
abandoned ship in 2001. business, by myself, from scratch?
After an interlude that included a whole No.
bunch of things that had nothing to do with
computer or the internet, I was looking for my Did I have any clue how to do it?
next move when my best friend pointed out
that I had been fascinated with nutrition since It turns out no.
I was 14. I was that super annoying friend who
was always reporting on what the latest book I thought I did from my years in corporate
said you should eat/not eat and was marketing and involvement in founding a
continually trying the latest diet-du-jour. I’d
3

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com
T About Julia Zaslow, Con’t
N
RI
P internet marketing expert
E
U
L
B
vineyard and winery, but in this venture, I was design and marketing that were sorely
E
T
SI lost. needed. So over time, I gave up my coaching
B duties and transitioned into marketing and
E
W
I did all the things you’re told to do — set up a launch management.

L
website, get business cards, find a space to see
A
TI clients, etc — but still, the clients and income Along the way, we got some things horribly
N
E weren’t coming in quickly enough. wrong and some things fabulously right. We
S
S experimented, tweaked, and refined. We
E
I realized that although I wasn’t giving up on studied successful entrepreneurs and learned
my dream of my own nutrition practice, I also from some of the biggest names in internet
needed to earn some money, pronto. marketing. We learned.
So when an email landed in my inbox one day So that’s how I’ve ended up back in the world
announcing that a well known nutrition and of internet marketing. Today I live and
fitness expert was looking for a Wellness breathe it. I coach and manage launches for
Coach, I applied immediately. Lucky for me, I doctors, nutritionists, wellness professionals,
got the job. self-help gurus, authors, and entrepreneurs all
over the country.
I came to work for this person believing that
here was someone who had it all figured out. What I’ve realized is that there’s not a
She had a successful business and I would business in the world that can afford to be
learn everything I needed to know from her. ignorant about internet marketing. It’s not
just important — it’s mission-critical.
Isn’t the truth always more interesting?
The difference between businesses that are
The truth was that she did have a great many thriving in this economy versus those that are
things figured out, but… business was just surviving or worse, comes down to how
evolving and she found herself the same well they are leveraging the key areas of
position that many business owners find internet marketing, including website design,
themselves in eventually — they aren’t email marketing, joint ventures, social media,
satisfied with the current level of their and more.
business.
My goal is to help you to leverage the power of
They’re burnt out from too much work and an internet marketing for more clients, more
incommensurate amount of profit. So this sales, and more profits.
expert was re-inventing her business and I
was in the fortunate position of getting to be a Let’s get started!
part of the transformation.
Although I joined the team to coach clients in
nutrition and lifestyle changes, it became clear
that I had valuable skills from my years in web
4

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com
T Table of Contents
N
RI
P what you can expect
E
U
L
B

E
T
SI
B
E
W Website Creation..................................................................................................................6

L
A
TI The Joys of Wordpress.........................................................................................................7
N
E
S
Choosing a Web Hosting Company.....................................................................................8
S
E
Choosing a Domain Name...................................................................................................9
Getting WordPress Installed..............................................................................................10
Customizing Your Site.........................................................................................................11
About Fonts.........................................................................................................................12
Colors...................................................................................................................................13
Website Design Takeaways.................................................................................................14
Essential Elements of Your Site..........................................................................................15
Website Examples...............................................................................................................17
Home Page Organization....................................................................................................23
Hiring a Graphic Designer..................................................................................................25
Your Email Opt-In..............................................................................................................26
Your Website Copy.............................................................................................................29
Recommended....................................................................................................................31
5

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com
TT
NN Website Creation
RIRI
PP a brief history
EE
UU
LL
BB

EE
TT It used to be that for a small business to get a clean and functional website up in a matter of
SISI
BB quality website that didn’t look like a piece of hours.
EE
WW dog doo-doo, you had to hire a professional

LL graphic designer and a web developer (HTML
AA “Area Man Consults Internet
TITI coder) and spend thousands of dollars —
NN Whenever Possible.”
$4,000 to $10,000 — at least.
EE
SS
SS
EE (You think that’s bad? When I first worked as a “48 Hour Internet Outage Plunges
webmaster for a fast growing internet startup Nation Into Productivity.”
in 1997, we spent $25,000 on our first site
redesign, and then another $35,000 on the
“Factual Error Found On Internet.”
next one just 1.5 years later!)
“Getting Mom Onto Internet a
Here’s the good news. Things have changed
Sisyphean Ordeal.”
since then, drastically. There are now powerful
tools that allow for almost instantaneous
- Headlines from The Onion fake news site
website creation. In the hands of an
experienced developer, you can have a simple,
Definitions
Domain: A domain is your internet address, Website: Your calling card on the internet.
such as juliazaslow.com. This is what people Where people come to learn about you and
type into their web browser to get to your what products/services you offer. Your
website. website is “hosted” on a server at an ISP, or
web hosting company.
It used to be that you always had to include
“www.” in front of your domain name, but ISP: Internet Service Provider. The folks who
technically that is not part of the domain connect you to the internet.
name (it’s the name of a particular server on
the domain) and nowadays it’s assumed by Hosting: Your website needs to “live” on a
default if you leave it out. I’ll talk about web server somewhere. A web server is both
registering your domain later if you don’t a physical computer (or distributed “cloud” of
already have one. computers) and a piece of software that
“serves” web pages to your browser. It’s
Not all domains end in .com (the domain important to choose a reliable web hosting
suffix). You can register .net, .us, .co, and company that has good dependability (up
more. I always recommend choosing a .com time greater than 99.9%) and responsive
name whenever possible, unless the domain customer service. More on web hosting later.
you absolutely have to have (because it’s
your personal name or company name, for
example), in which case you can check if the
other domain suffixes are available.
6

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com
T
N The Joys of WordPress
RI
P the new website platform
E
U
L
B

E My favorite of these powerful new tools for
T
SI easily building and managing a website? Here’s the nitty gritty on WordPress…
B
E WordPress. Maybe you’ve heard of it before.
W
You can host your WordPress site at
L
A WordPress got it’s start as a blogging platform, wordpress.com, or you can host it privately
TI
N and that’s still one of it’s primary features and with one of many hosting companies using your
E
S benefits, but it’s much more than that. It’s also own domain. I recommend the latter, even
S
E a flexible, powerful and complete “web content though is takes a few more steps.
management system.”
Why? Because if you host your site at
What’s a web content management system, you wordpress.com, you don’t have your own
ask? domain. For example, if I choose this option,
my website address would be
Basically, it’s a flexible framework that juliazaslow.wordpress.com. However, if I
separates the design of your website (logo, choose to install my WordPress site with
banner, masthead, colors, font styles, etc) from another web host, I can have my own domain:
the content of your site (your articles, www.juliazaslow.com.
marketing copy, videos, etc). This means that
you can easily change the “look and feel” of I prefer the second choice for two reasons: 1)
your site practically with the click of a button. my own domain is simpler and better for
marketing, and 2) I own my website 100% - no
A web content management system is also a one can take it away from me.
framework that makes is easy for non-technical
users to update or change content, without
knowing anything about the underlying HTML A Quick Note About WordPress:
code. This is a nice feature, because if your job
is anything other than a web developer, why
Although I do love WordPress, no
should you be required to master web
software is without its quirks. WordPress
publishing software and HTML markup code
is not perfect. But, because it is open-
just to update your bio?
source software supported by an uber
intelligent network of programmers
(Aside: I would have killed for a web content
around the world, it is constantly being
management system when I was a webmaster.
updated, expanded and bugs fixed.
My team and I had to manage literally
THOUSANDS of web pages, all by hand. At the I believe it is truly the best low-cost
time, the available options for professional web solution for small to medium size
content management systems cost $50,000 to businesses on the market today (and by
$100,000. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t the way, even some very large
convince even an enormously profitable companies use WordPress, such as
Sony, Ford, and the Wall Street Journal.
internet company to pony up for it. Did I
mention that WordPress is FREE?)
7

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com
T
N Choosing a Web Hosting Company
RI
P where your website lives
E
U
L
B

E You should choose a web hosting company and your website if you’re not happy. It’s
T
SI based on the following criteria: much easier to pick a good one right off the
B
E bat than to change horses mid-stream.
W
• Reliabililty
L
A
• Ease of use
TI
N • Customer support
E “If at first you don’t succeed,
S • Price
S call it version 1.0.”
E
There are a lot of web hosting companies in
the market today in the $10-$20/month price
range. Unless you’ve got a really high traffic e-
commerce site, you don’t need to spend any
“A computer lets you make
more than that.
mistakes faster than any
The ones that I recommend you check out are invention in human history,
HostGator and MediaTemple. There are other with the possible exception
good hosts out there, and if you already have of handguns and tequila.”
one you’re happy with, by all means keep ‘em
(it can be a hassle to switch).
I recommend these particular two because a
Recommended Web Hosting
lot of big names in the internet marketing
Companies:
world have found them to be dependable and
easy to work with. I have personally used
MediaTemple for myself and many clients and MediaTemple
been very happy with their user interface, www.mediatemple.com
uptime, and customer service. A friend of
mine who is an experienced internet HostGator
marketing expert swears by HostGator. www.hostgator.com
Another reason I like these hosts is that they
Others:
support “1 Click” WordPress installation
which makes it super easy to get your
1and1 (be sure to order a Linux
WordPress site up and running. No need to package, not NT)
FTP your WordPress software up to the server www.1and1.com
and manually install. Just click a button,
answer a few questions, and you’re done. Rackspace
High-end web host known for
it’s dependability and uptime.
If you’re just starting out, it’s important to
www.rackspace.com
pick your web host carefully, because it’s not
necessarily a cake walk to switch your domain
8

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com
T
N Choosing a Domain Name
RI
P your website address, or URL
E
U
L
B

E Do you know what domain you want? deal. Domains can be transferred, it just takes
T
SI a little know-how. Your web or tech team can
B
E Do you know how to pick a good domain? do this for you.
W

L
A If you already have your domain and are (Note: choose “Private Registration” for your
TI
N happy with it, then you can skip to the next domain. This means your name and personal
E
S section. information will not be available for anyone
S
E on the internet to see when they look up your
If not, here are some pointers on picking a domain. It cuts down on domain related
good domain name: spam, too.)
First: do your keyword research, and if
possible, choose a domain name that includes How to Look Up a Domain
your final selection of keywords. (Not sure
what keyword research is? Grab my soon-to-
be-released product Essential Keyword Use the Domain Lookup Tool:
Research: An Easy How-To Guide.) http://whois.domaintools.com/
For example, if you are a nutrition coach and Type in: yourdomain.com
your niche is weight loss for women over 40,
then you might look for a domain such as For example: weightlossforlife.com
“weightlossforwomenover40.com”
(Don’t type “www.” at the beginning)
(I just made that up. Just for kicks, I looked
up whether the domain was available. No go. If the .com domain you want is taken,
It’s already registered. This will happen to you you can search for yourdomain.co
a lot if you’re searching for a name that isn’t or .net. Those can be perfectly
super unique. Don’t fret. You can try the .co acceptable alternatives. I wouldn’t
or .net alternatives, and there’s always the recommend registering .org, which is
option of using yourname.com for which the meant for non-profit organizations.
competition is less fierce.)
NOTE: If you find that the domain
Second: Check to see if the domain is you want is NOT registered, then that
available. See sidebar to the right. means it’s available. I recommend
that you register the domain with the
Third: If the domain you want is available web hosting company that you are
(not registered), then grab it right away. I using or plan to use for your website.
recommend that you register the domain with This makes things easier, and it’s
the web hosting company that you are tidier to have your registrations and
currently using or plan to use. If you register it web hosting all in one place.
somewhere else, don’t worry, it’s not a huge
9

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com
T
N Getting WordPress Installed
RI
P do-it-yourself or hire a pro
E
U
L
B

E WordPress is simple enough that if you’re a
T
SI techie type, you probably won’t have much
B Finding a WordPress Expert
E trouble getting it installed. You can get the
W
software package and instructions from
L To find a WordPress expert, try the following
A wordpress.org. You’ll need to be familiar with
TI sites:
N such basic operations as FTP and know how to
E
S login to your hosting account to manage your
elance.com
S
E domain settings and view your website file
structure.
odesk.com
If, on the other hand, you don’t have time to
freelance.com
spend a couple of hours messing around with
the software or your expertise is other than
Also try googling “WordPress web developer” or
internet technical, you can hire a WordPress
“WordPress designer” and see who you find.
expert to do your installation for you. This same
person will know how to customize your site’s
When considering working with someone,
look and feel so it doesn’t look just like the
always ask to see a recent portfolio of work and
WordPress site next door.
ask for 2-3 client references.

For most businesses, I strongly recommend

hiring a pro. They know the ins and outs of the
software, are familiar with the quirks, and can
get you up and running much more quickly
than you could do it yourself. They also have
access to dozens of different ready to install
“themes” that will instantly make your site look
unique and match your desired style. You could
find these themes yourself by researching
online, and you could almost definitely figure
out how to install them, but it would probably
take you many hours, if not a solid half day. Is
this the most valuable use of your time?
10

© 2012 Julia Zaslow
All Rights Reserved w
ww.juliazaslow.com