Template Document

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Template Document

Create Your Own Website
Permission from Mobileguru Limited required for distribution and resale of this
document, its content s and information.
Copyright © 2009, Mobileguru Limited, All Rights Reserved
Contents
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1
Our Background ............................................................................................................................... 1
What can you learn?......................................................................................................................... 1
Website Development ...................................................................................................................... 1
2
2.1
Software Tools................................................................................................................................ 2
Web Design Software ....................................................................................................................... 2
2.1.1
Dreamweaver ................................................................................................................ 2
2.1.2
Microsoft Expression Web 2 .......................................................................................... 2
Catalog Design Software .................................................................................................................. 3
2.2.1
Actinic ........................................................................................................................... 3
2.2.2
X-Cart ............................................................................................................................ 4
2.2
3
3.1
3.2
Hosting Services ............................................................................................................................ 5
Hosting Packages ............................................................................................................................ 5
Hosting Requirements ...................................................................................................................... 6
3.2.1
Hardware ....................................................................................................................... 6
3.2.2
Space ............................................................................................................................ 6
3.2.3
Bandwidth ..................................................................................................................... 6
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
Domain Names ............................................................................................................................... 7
Types of Domain Names .................................................................................................................. 7
Companies offering Domain Names ................................................................................................. 7
Managing Domain Names ................................................................................................................ 7
5
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
Dreamweaver Website Design ....................................................................................................... 8
Website Structure ............................................................................................................................. 8
Template Page Design ..................................................................................................................... 8
Source Code Editing......................................................................................................................... 9
Dreamweaver Tools ......................................................................................................................... 9
CSS Styling .................................................................................................................................... 10
Defining Site and Server Details ..................................................................................................... 10
6
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
Actinic Catalog Design................................................................................................................. 11
Actinic Basic Catalog Features ....................................................................................................... 11
Actinic Business Catalog Features.................................................................................................. 11
Catalog Themes ............................................................................................................................. 11
Website Structure & Business Settings ........................................................................................... 12
6.4.1
Design Options ............................................................................................................ 13
6.4.2
Business Settings ........................................................................................................ 13
6.4.3
Configure Website ....................................................................................................... 18
Catalog Design ............................................................................................................................... 18
6.5.1
Basic User Guidance ................................................................................................... 18
6.5.2
Advanced User Guidance ............................................................................................ 18
6.5
Glossary of Terms .................................................................................................................................... 19
ii
1 Introduction
1.1 Our Background
MobileGuru has been developing websites since 2002. Over the years we have
accumulated vast amount of experience in website development and online
marketing. Mobileguru.co.uk is a real online business generating thousands of
pounds each week from its online mobile accessories sales alone. This document
will provide you with a detailed understanding of the steps involved in building your
own website. You will receive practical advice based on our collective experience
which you can apply almost immediately. Whether you are new to website
development or have some basic knowledge but want to improve your skills, we can
provide you with the necessary tools and knowledge to build your own website.
1.2 What can you learn?
You will learn about website development, tools to use and skills necessary to setup
your own website. Our aim is to share our experience to help others while charging
a small fee for this service.
Building your own online website can be easy but requires some basic
understanding of html and website development. Simple single page or multiple
page sites can be easily built with little technical skills.
Building an online shopping cart requires slightly more technical skills though c an
be learnt if you are determined enough. There are many companies offering
shopping carts software tools that are easy to build and secure. If you are a
complete novice to website development then I would suggest you get few books
from your local library or even join an evening class at your local college. It will be
worth learning the basics even if you decide to use a developer as this will give you
better understanding of the whole process.
1.3 Website Development
So you want to build your own website. The fact that you have downloaded this
document gives you an advantage and will allow you to plan the steps necessary to
start creating web pages. In the coming chapters we have organised this document
in simple step by step approach.
This is the best time to start an online business. While the high street sales are
reducing due to global recession, one sector is seeing significant growth and that is
online internet sales.
So let’s begin on the journey to success and plan the next steps to a successful
business.
1
2 Software Tools
2.1 Web Design Software
There are many web design software available in the market but two of the most
popular tools used by beginners and experts alike are Dreamweaver and Microsoft
Expression Web 2.
2.1.1 Dreamweaver
If you simply want to have an online presence with information about your company
and contact details, you can use software tools such as Microsoft Expression Web
2 or Dreamweaver. There are many other tools available but Dreamweaver is very
user friendly and suitable for beginners and experts.
You can find more information at http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/dreamweaver/
2.1.2 Microsoft Expression Web 2
Microsoft Expression Web 2 is a website development tool which can be used to
design your website. This is a very user friendly tool with pre-defined templates
which can be easily created with limited knowledge of website development.
However these easy to use features also mean it is very difficult to customise.
Key Features

Professional Design Environment

Standards Based Site Design

CSS Layout
2

CSS Site Templates

CSS Style Application

CSS Management

Property Task Pane

Rich Data Presentation

ASP.NET 3.5

Edit PHP pages
You can find more information by visiting Microsoft’s website following this link
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/features/Default.aspx?key=web
2.2 Catalog Design Software
Building your own online shopping catalog requires the use of software tools or an
expert knowledge of programming. There are hundreds of different software tools
for building a shopping catalog. Simply search for shopping cart on any of the
search engines. You can download 30 day trial versions and test out the features
and functionalities.
2.2.1 Actinic
One of the most popular and scalable shopping cart development software is
available from Actinic. This is a very user friendly tool with intuitive features and
functionalities used by beginners and developers.
Visit http://www.actinic.co.uk for more details.
3
2.2.2 X-Cart
X-Cart shopping carts software and e-commerce solution offers an alternative to
Actinic solution. You can download a demo store and using the test accounts you
can add/delete/modify products and edit the store configuration as you like
Key Features
X-Cart shopping cart software is based on PHP Smarty templates, this
makes it very flexible and easy to modify. The data is stored in MySQL
database.
W3C-compliant storefront design with a CSS-based layout.
You receive a complete source code and SQL tables for MySQL database
to make them extended or customized easily.
X-Cart is a turnkey package. Installation is handled by web-based step-bystep wizard to make the system running immediately after receiving it.
X-Cart is search engine friendly. A merchant can specify meta tags and
define custom URLs for product and category pages that results in higher
search engine rankings.
The software bundle comes with free technical support for beginners.
They have experts ready to answer questions and even handle installation
& configuration tasks.
You can also request customized programming services from this
company.
For more information visit their website at http://www.x-cart.com/
4
3 Hosting Services
Hosting selection is mainly dictated by the software tool you use, your budget and
the features and functionalities you want to offer on your website. Once you have
selected the software tool, ask the tool supplier for suggestions and
recommendations about hosting solutions. Also visit some of the forums and check
out feedback from other customers before buying any hosting packages.
3.1
Hosting Packages
There are many types of hosting packages from shared servers to your own
dedicated server. You can pay annually or monthly for hosting packages. Your
budget will be the limit as the server hosting solutions can be costly if you go down
the route of dedicated solutions. If you are starting a new business where the
amount of traffic it will generate is unknown then use, a shared server solution. You
can later upgrade to better packages as your traffic grows.
It is very important that you select a hosting company that offers scalable solution
that will not stifle growth. There are many companies offering free or very cheap
solutions with unlimited bandwidth. Be careful as some of them have hundreds of
different sites sharing the same server and your website may not be accessible
most of the time. In many cases these hosts offer shared IP address and can get
blocked by service providers if any of the companies on that server misbehave.
There are many companies offering hosting solutions and you can find them by
searching for website hosting. One of the companies we have used and found to be
offering value for money and reliability is http://mediatemple.net/ . This company is
used by small and large businesses. The hosting packages support both
Dreamweaver and Actinic software solutions.
5
3.2
Hosting Requirements
Hosting your website on any server requires some thought before you buy any hosting
package. Some of the basic considerations are listed below.
3.2.1 Hardware
You need to assess your hardware requirements based on applications, traffic and
features you plan to install. Think of it like your PC and the minimum specification you
may need to support the software you plan to operate.
Example

Dual Pentuim III processor

512MB RAM (web server), 1GB RAM (database server)

Mirrored/RAID disk sub-system (around 10GB of effective storage is
required)

Duplex 100Mbit Ethernet adapters
3.2.2 Space
On average, most web sites take up very little space, especially for the site itself. It's
quite feasible to have a web site containing 100 pages that uses less than 5MB of web
space. It's always a good rule of thumb to make sure you allocate at least double your
initial web space requirement to allow for future growth.
3.2.3 Bandwidth
Data transfer or bandwidth is the term given to usage. When someone downloads
anything from your site whether it is a single web page, several pictures or music files,
this is counted as data transfer. This is really driven by the amount of traffic you expect
from your site and file transfers you may initiate. A new website is very likely to have
few visitors at the beginning so the initial requirements will be low and you can always
increase your bandwidth by upgrading later.
6
4 Domain Names
Choosing the right domain name for your business is very important. You should try
to use a name that easily explains the nature of your business. It should be short
and easy to remember. This will help your positioning on search engines and will
make it easier for people to return to your site.
4.1
Types of Domain Names
You need to decide whether you want a .co.uk, .com or any of the other country or
business related code. The nature of your business and your target audience can be
used to decide the code you use.
Most popular domains are .com followed by .co.uk. If you are running a business in
the UK but want to market worldwide then consider having both .com and .co.uk and
re-direct one domain to your main site.
4.2
Companies offering Domain Names
There are many companies offering domain names and sometimes even for free and
with hosting packages. Make sure the domain name can be easily transferred without
any restrictions. If your website is successful then this domain name will be an
integral part of your business.
Usually first time registration of domain names are for two years and then you can
renew annually or for more years.
We have used the services of http://www.register.com/ and found it to be very cost
effective and reliable.
4.3
Managing Domain Names
Most domain name Registrar’s offer online management features to control, direct
and renew your domain name.
7
5 Dreamweaver Website Design
The tool of choice for many web developers and novices alike. In this section you
can find examples of key activities involved in designing your website.
5.1
Website Structure
The structure of your website, files and folders can be created very similar to how
you would use Microsoft explorer on your PC.
5.2
Template Page Design
Dreamweaver has a good interactive help section which can guide you in creating
web pages. You can individually build each page or create one or several template
pages and apply it to each page. The advantage of a template is clearer when it
comes to making changes to your website globally.
In the example above only the text areas in the middle can be individually
customized on each web page. The top section, left and right navigation bars
remain the same throughout the site.
8
5.3
Source Code Editing
If you are familiar with html then you can edit your web pages at source level.
Dreamweaver is very flexible and therefore allows developers of all technical abilities
to customise web pages.
5.4
Dreamweaver Tools
You can see below some of the tools available in Dreamweaver. These are very easy
to use and in some cases similar to Microsoft Word in terms of how they operate.
The object tool, CSS Styles tool and Behaviours tool combined provides a very
comprehensive set of tools for designing your website.
9
5.5
CSS Styling
CSS styling is a key feature of website design. You can specify global formats of
texts, tables and forms. Dreamweaver has a CSS styling tool to allow you to easily
create styles for text, tables and forms which you can apply to your web pages. The
advantages of CSS styling is that you can globally make changes to the appearance
of your web page contents.
5.6
Defining Site and Server Details
The site definition option allows you to specify web server access details,
directories and site map layout. You can also specify the root directory on your
hosting server where the website will be located.
10
6 Actinic Catalog Design
You can download a 30 day trial version of their latest software by visiting
http://www.actinic.co.uk/products/ecommerce-software-packages.htm. The latest
Actinic catalog (v9) prices start from £399 + VAT. We recommend you download
the trial version and test the features and functionalities available before making a
purchase.
6.1
6.2
Actinic Basic Catalog Features
 Easy to use and intuitive Windows interface with Start Up and Design Wizards to
get you up and running quickly

Flexible product catalogue supports up to 20,000 products including digital
products.

Complete design and store layout flexibility to create your own unique,
customized store.

Extensive store management functionality for easy and efficient store operation.

Powerful marketing and merchandising features to assist in growing your online
business.

Independence to integrate with the leading online payment gateways and
commercial hosting providers.
Actinic Business Catalog Features
 Flexible product catalogue supports up to 20,000 products including digital
products such as MP3s and PDFs
 Complete design and store layout flexibility to create your own unique store.
 Extensive store management functionality for easy and efficient online store
operation
 Single-page order entry form and direct credit card payment processing (requires
Actinic Payments account) for telephone, phone, fax and mail orders
 Sophisticated marketing and customer management functionality, including
advanced discounting features and customer specific pricing
 Dynamically link to spreadsheets and databases
 Includes Link to Sage Line 50 and QuickBooks accounts packages
 Includes Ecommerce-EPOS Link with Actinic point of sale systems
 Upgrade to Actinic Business Plus for multi-site and multi-user operation
6.3
Catalog Themes
Once you have installed the software and activated the catalog by entering the
Authorisation Key, you can begin by selecting a Theme.
There is a large selection of pre-defined Themes which you can select and adapt to
cater for your specific requirements. You can also buy Templates from many
companies who specialise in creating Themes and other supporting software for
Actinic catalog.
11
Template design can be bought from many companies, actinic have a list of
companies at http://www.actinic.co.uk/services/ecommerce-templates.htm.
6.4
Website Structure & Business Settings
The structure of the catalog is an essential part of shopping cart design. The
website example below has a home page and shopping catalog.
12
6.4.1 Design Options
You can define the site and how it will operate through the Design Options. You can
specify how you display quantity of products, whether your shopping catalog is also
your home page or you have a completely different home page.
6.4.2 Business Settings
The business settings section is one of the most important areas for defining your
business activities. This is divided into the following business areas.
 Company or Contact
 Tax
 Options
 Ordering
 Order Processing
 Shipping and Handling
 Terms and Conditions
 Payment and Security
We will cover each one of these areas in more detail and will use our example
which is a real working website.
13
6.4.2.1 Company or Contact Details
This is self explanatory and the screen snapshot below provides all the necessary
information you require.
6.4.2.2 Tax Details
If you are VAT registered then in this section you need to specify how VAT should
be charged to your customer.
14
6.4.2.3 Operating Options
These operating options define how you manage your website and its products.
You can specify access details and enable stock monitoring.
6.4.2.4 Shipping and Handling
The method of shipping method used and how you would like to charge your
customers would determine what setting you specify.
15
6.4.2.5 Order Settings
How your customer places orders online can be customised through this business
settings tab.
6.4.2.6 Order Processing
Setting your order processing and reporting would allow smooth operation of your
business.
16
6.4.2.7 Terms and Conditions
Depending on which country you operate, there are strict requirements for running a
business. You may need to consult a solicitor before setting these options.
6.4.2.8 Payment and Security
Payment and security settings depend on the methods you will use. If you decide to
use your own or a third party payment processing company.
17
6.4.3 Configure Website
Actinic has a website configuration tool to help you setup your website on your
hosting server. This tool takes away the complexities involved by asking you some
basic questions about your server and access details.
6.5
Catalog Design
Actinic provides a very comprehensive list of documents. You can find them by
following the link supplied http://www.actinic.co.uk/support/downloads.htm.
6.5.1 Basic User Guidance
Getting started with Actinic user guide comes with each version and provides an
easy to follow instructions to setup your website, create product pages and operate
site.
6.5.2 Advanced User Guidance
The advanced document provides more detailed information and requires a good
knowledge of website design and development. This is useful for enabling
advanced features and functionalities. Please back up your catalog before starting
this activity.
18
Glossary of Terms
Term
Definition
WWW
World Wide Web
VAT
Value Added Tax
URL
Uniform Resource Locator
SEO
Search Engine Optimisation
PPC
Pay Per Click
PPS
Pay Per Sale
PPL
Pay Per Lead
19

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