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IBM 41 | 7 Tips For Creating Your Own Killer Website Design

08 May 2008 Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) 32 Comments

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newIBMsite

In this episode of Internet Business Mastery we talk about the launch of our brand new site design and give 7 tips for creating your own killer site design, plus a quick tip for quickly and efficiently capturing ideas that you have on the go to be sure you don’t lose a single one.

Items mentioned in this episode:

For finding a designer:

This post is in: Podcast, Web Site Creation & Design

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32 Comments Leave a Comment


Interesting tips for the web designers,who are improve there skills.I got good information for here.


It would be nice to have a link to the new site here.


Thanks for this episode of your podcast. I’ve been listening for over 6 months now, and THIS was your BEST episode ever! So much great information. I’m saving this episode and listening to it just about every month!

Wayne
Wayne’s Take on LOST podcast at http://waynestakeonlost.libsyn.com/


Yeah - the dan kennedy dvd site is definitely doing the sneaky “Forced Continuity” thing and it is coming onto peoples radar and they don’t like it. (google for “dan kennedy Forced Continuity”) recently Joel Comm tried it with his ebook and got blasted. He at least apologized and changed his copy and his order form (google for “Joel Comm apology”)

love your podcast tho, Megan


First let me preface with …WOW! You guys provide the most comprehensive and detailed information about internet business that I have ever had the pleasure of partaking. I just found you recently and have begun to listen to all your podcasts. As a blind man, I am being forced to find new work. A need to reinvent myself out of necessity has arisen. Armed with the information you provide in a step by step fashion, I am no longer worried about what path to take. Thank you so much.

Brian in Nashville TN


Hi Guys,

Have either of you looked at http://www.ning.com for developing a online
community?

I look forward to a review.

Best,

Mark


I look forward to your new site. I really love your guys Podcast. Just gave you a shout out on my site. I also look forward to your new website April 15th is right around my Birthday so thanks for the early birthday present - let me know if you need ever need a guest blogger.

“Reggie”


@Brian,

The new site design will have the same address. If you return hear on Thursday at Noon (Eastern time) the new site will be available.

@Wayne,

Wow! Kind words. We’re glad you like it so much. What made it the best episode ever for you? That might help us duplicate the experience again in the future :).

@Megan,

It is interesting to see the consumer response to the “forced continuity” method. You’re right, that Google search turned up some intriguing reading.

@Brian,

Thanks for the kind words. We recently had a blind man take our coaching course. As our community expands, we run into all kinds of people with different circumstances. Having a podcast as one of our primary channels, it’s no surprise that it appeals to the blind.

Please let us know if there are things that we can do better to provide accessibility for the blind.

@Mark,

A review of Ning and other services is a great idea. It is something we talk about more extensively in our coaching course. The biggest hold up I have with Ning is that I usually prefer to host things on my own servers where I have more control. Their are advantages, however, to using hosted services such as Ning (e.g. updates are automatically taken care of for you).

@Reggie,

Thanks for mentioning us on your site.


I just read that the Dan Kennedy sales letter was in fact changed to have clearer language about the continuity, but the copy was not always like that. It’s disappointing to hear that they were remiss in their duty of properly notifying the consumer.

We apologize to anyone who was affected by this. This is oddly out of character for Glazer/Kennedy. We had no reason to thing that this is what would occur. I mean, they do use renegade marketing techniques, but there are lines (if not with the FTC then ethically).

I also want to be clear that we made ZERO money for the recommendation.

All the same, I still stand by Dan Kennedy’s teachings as a whole and will continue to recommend his books and teachings. I plan to share many of the insights that I gleaned from The Phenomenon including a mind map in the near future.

I want to be clear that I in no way condone hidden continuity. This is a BAD way to market and make money. Continuity, when properly disclosed and opted in for, is a great business model as GK has done in the past with their newsletter.

I’m not sure why things were handled in this way in this case. I do know that a lot of different people were involved in The Phenomenon project and have heard that some things were not always handled as they should be. Perhaps this is one of them.


[...] ; An interesting exchange came up in the comments to the Internet Business Mastery podcast’s most recent episode regarding the hidden nature of a forced continuity program that was added on to Dan Kennedy’s [...]


I’m very excited to see the new site design tomorrow. I’ve always thought the content you guys provide is much more valuable than any other internet business realted site, but that you’re site design was lacking. The screenshot teaser above looks pretty promising.


@Xavier,

You’re 100% right. Our current site design was really only appropriate for the few weeks when we were launching fast and then seeing what happened with the show.

We are looooong overdue for a new site design. We’re as excited as you are!


Let us know what wordpress plugins you used to build your new site. I’m always looking for plugins that make my life easier.


the site looks…(wait for it)….”NICE!”


I love kuler, I tend to loiter in there a couple of times a week…

Another useful site for the colour-pickingly challenged is colorblender - http://www.colorblender.com - it’s very easy to use and like kuler you can save swatches of the colour schemes you create.


Hey guys! I discovered this website via your podcasts on itunes. You have been a tremendous help in assisting me on the right track for my new business.

I just went through a consulting firm called Eureka! Ranch and we’ve developed some great ideas for my business. It’s been a long hard road for 1.5 years trying to find out what it is my customers want.

I appreciate the Jott.com and mind mapping techniques to work when I’m driving and in situations I’m not at my computer or able to type on my blackberry.

Anyway, I’ve run through 3 web designers now and the most difficult thing I’m going through is finding a web designer that is on time, eager to help and provide details and suggestions with out putting me on retainer.

We’ve decided to fail fast and fail cheap with every new move we make.

I need a web designer and a person who owns a CMS that will license it out to me for providing simple websites to help generate usage to my business.

Does anybody have suggestions? Even Craigs List seemed give me some duds.


@bryan

What type of business do you have?


@Bryan,

Have you tried http://www.elance.com or http://www.rentacoder.com.

Concerning a CMS, I recommend trying WordPress. It’s free, flexible and I use it on all my sites now.


We started out connecting sports fans of like teams from transient cities. We tried 3 different models one in San Diego, one in Las Vegas and one in Austin.

We now know where we need to lead to next. One things for sure. Our webdesigner was decent but our programmer stunk it up. There is no continuity in our site.

So, we are ready for the next trial. The biggest thing is finding a CMS to license so that we can use it until we build our own later.

Any ideas?


I don’t see where word press offers CMS capabilities.


@Bryan,

WordPress provides for all the following CMS features:

  • Identification of all key users and their content management roles
  • The ability to assign roles and responsibilities to different content categories or types.
  • Allowing editors to check content before publishing
  • Facilitate the publishing of content to the site
  • Separation of the content from the layout. The content is in the database and the layout is separate from this in a template system

Here’s a helpful resource on CMSs.

http://www.opensourcecms.com/

I just did extensive research on CMSs to decide what to use on our membership site. In the end I decided that WordPress was the best choice for us.

WordPress can be used for far more than blogs.


Thanks Jay! I’ll have my tech guys look into this


Great episode, guys. I’m a new listener and I’ve learned so much from the podcast. I thought this episode was particularly well-timed (for me), since I am in the process of changing my site design and making it more reader-centric. Gotta give those readers a reason to come back.

Thanks for doing such great work!

- Caleb


Bryan - Wordpress IS a type of CMS (Content Management System)- there are different kinds - to try out some different open source CMS’s visit http://www.opensourcecms.com/ - maybe you’ll find something there that will fit your needs - there’s a menu for the CMS Demos in the left column

hth ~megan


oops I must have been typing my post when Jay was typing his - sorry about that - megan


What version of Wordpress are you guys using for your new site? Also, any info about the plugins you are using would be great too.


@Dale,

We use the latest version right now, 2.5.1.

Here are a few of the most important plugins we use:

AddThis: for social bookmarking
AllinOne SEO: for SEO
Top Commenters
Democracy: for the polls
Google SiteMaps

There are many others that we discuss on the course. Maybe I’ll do a blog post in the future to chat about some others.


@Jay

Thanks for the list of plugins. That helps me a lot. What plugin are you using to subscribe people to the comment stream of a post when they add a new comment? I would like to use “Subscribe to Comments” but it is currently broken for WP 2.5


@Dale,

We’re using the “Subscribe to Comments Plugin”, actually. Either there is a fix out there, or our designer did something to make it work.


@Jay

I guess I’ll just have to try it. I was led to believe that it was broken but I hadn’t actually tried it. Thanks again.

Do you guys plan to add a forum where I can ask the community questions like this? Currently I have to attach my questions to a blog post, so it’s not clear if or where I should post a question unrelated to one of your blog posts.

Or would you guys like to reserve the forum for people who sign up for your course?


@Dale,

We’re definitely installing a forum for the upcoming membership site. We’re still thinking over whether there will be a free forum or not. There will be more details on that soon.


I’m very confused and need some help from some of you experts. I searched on Craigslist for designers and programmers by soliciting them. As you can imagine I received many emails. What I’m trying to figure out is this:

1. How do I protect my business idea and still present what I want. I know getting a non-compete clause signed is one way.

2. How do I go about finding the right one. How do I know who’s the most qualified for the right dollar amount?

3. How do I know what price is best?

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