Level One Tutorials

First Tutorial

We will be adding to this as your questions come in. Please feel free to email tom@netaim.info and if your question has common appeal to beginners it will appear in this section, however, your questions will still be answered personally for the next 3 days even if they don’t appear in this section.

Although this may seem basic, it is a good refresher for everyone.  For level 2 and above, we are looking for specific questions you want answered so please let us know what you would like Tom to address in future tutorials.

What is a website?
A website is a collection of webpages that are usually linked together so that a visitor to the site can “navigate” or get around the site to find what they want.

What is a web page?
A webpage is a basic unit of a website, i.e., most websites are made up of many webpages. An exception to this would be a one-page website that’s just one long salesletter.

What is a homepage?
A home page is the main page of your site that comes up when someone types in or clicks on your domain name.

What is a domain name?
A domain name is the name of a website. Examples would be http://www.Antion.com , http://www.Public-Speaking.org  , http://www.NetAim.info

Note that capitalization does not matter in a domain name, i.e., http://www.antion.com with a small “a” and http://www.Antion.com with a capital “A” would still get you to my website.

What is a URL?
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. This is a fancy way to say “web address”.

Just like the house or apartment you live in has a unique address not found anywhere else in the world, a specific webpage on your site has an address not found anywhere else in the world. An example would be http://www.antion.com/public-speaking.htm This would take you to a specific WebPage on my WebSite.

  Note that capitalization DOES matter in a URL after the first slash mark “/” So if you put a capital “P” in the word “public” above it is most likely that you will get a “page not found” error.

What is a browser?
A browser is a piece of computer software that lets you look at web pages. The most popular is “Internet Explorer”. It comes with your “Windows” based computer. A less popular browser is “Netscape”. America On Line (AOL) also has its own browser. There are many other lesser known browsers that you don’t have to worry about.

What is a “Hit” ?
We joke that HITS stands for “How Idiots Track Success”  You will not be using “Hits” to tell how well your website is doing. A “Hit” is a file downloaded from the Internet. Let’s say your home page has 10 graphics on it and let’s also say that one person visited your home page. So the visitor could see your webpage the internet downloaded one web page and 10 graphics. That equals 11 hits. You can see that this number doesn’t mean much to you so don’t bother with it too much.

How do key words work?
People type in words to a search engine like Google when they are trying to find something on the Internet. Google's electronic spider goes out looking through all the pages that Google has in its index. When it finds pages with those words on them it displays them in the "search results". These words that are typed in by people looking for things are called "keywords".

Smart Internet marketers naturally want their website to come up the highest in the search results. To do that they learn how to place the keywords on their webpages so the search engine puts them in the top ten of the search results. As the owner of a website you must learn where to put the keywords on your webpage and how many times to put them there to please the search engines in your efforts to get a top ten ranking.

What spam checker do you use or do you recommend?
If you mean a tool to check your email before it goes out, I use Spam Assassin that is included with my http://www.KickStartCart.com

If you don't have KickStart, in the mean time you can use http://www.Lyris.com/contentchecker

If you mean a program that stops your incoming spam, I use Spam Arrest which you will find advertised on some of the pages at http://www.NetAim.Info

How much does it cost to start a website (what am I paying for)?
A small business website can be had for free or it can cost several thousand dollars. Through the method we teach at NetAim.info almost all websites will be less than $500.00 and many will cost below $100. If you diligently apply yourself, you will be able to quickly and easily make simple sales letter sites that are only one-page for almost nothing.

For expensive websites you are paying for custom graphics and in many cases you are paying for nothing. Some web designer is probably taking you for a ride if the cost is well into the thousands. On the other hand, if you keep making changes and ask for elements  that are time consuming to put on your site, you can run your bill up pretty high. We suggest keeping things simple.

You can buy website templates that look professional for less than $50.00 and be on your way quickly to having a good looking website.

Is Dreamweaver better than FrontPage? And what do you recommend for Mac users?
Yes, Dreamweaver is a better web design program if you are on a mac because Front Page isn't available for the mac.

That being said, Dreamweaver is more expensive and harder to learn, but a wonderful web design program.

Now to the issue of you being on a mac. I have no bias either way and I'm not in the which is better war. I can tell you absolutely though that you are shooting yourself in the foot if you really want to get serious about Information marketing on the web because all the powerful, cheap, free software for Internet marketing is made for the PC.

Pcs are so cheap (as low as $350.00) it would be worth it to get one just so you can use various pieces of Internet software and also to test products like multimedia Cds that you may want to create for sale.

"Dreamweaver" and "Front Page" are programs designed to make web pages.

Do you have some favorite hosting services? Do you use more than one?
For important sites, I use http://www.Verio.com

Yes, I use multiple hosting services because when you get lots of sites going, you don't want trouble with one service to put you totally out of business.

Also, when you use your own multiple websites to cross link to each other, the links look more legitimate to the search engines if they are coming from different IP addresses from different parts of the world.

What is the best way to start a web site for a specific field on a shoe string budget?
1. Identify the keywords that people would use to find the site. Use the Overture.com "Search Term Suggestion Tool" for this. Itwill also tell you how popular the keyword is.

2. Become an expert using "Google Adwords" which is a pay-per-click search engine. This will allow you to bid on the keywords above and see if anyone is interested in your idea. You could send the visitors to a page with a free special report about your topic. This test can be completed in a very short period of time. Sometimes it might only take one day.

3. If you can't get anybody interested, you should seriously consider dropping the idea.

8. Retire to the Bahamas . . . oops. That may be jumping the gun just a little.

What types of fees does it involve (monthly, annual)?
You will have to have your website “hosted” on a “Server”. This can be free or this can cost up to about $25.00 per month. The free servers are usually overloaded with many websites and have very little capability when it comes to creating your site in a professional manner. Cheap servers could have the same problems.

For important websites I like to use a server company that has 24 hour a day / 7 day per week tech support via toll free phone number. When you start bringing money in, you don’t want to have to wait until Monday to get something fixed if you have a problem on Friday evening.

The hosting services above would be selling you “shared” hosting which means your website is on a server computer along with many other websites belonging to other people.

When you get more advanced and have lots of websites you might want to lease a dedicated server where only your websites are on it. You still wouldn’t run this computer out of your basement. It would be housed and looked after by the company that leased it to you. This could run from $99.00 per month to as much as $500.00 per month and will almost always require help from a technical person that you hire separately to help you run it.

Who are you recommending these days for a website host for a newbie, a host who can give some help when the techie parts are a mystery? A host who works with KickStartCart program a lot.
you with much of anything. You can't call them up to see why your pop up boxes aren't working. They host your site and that's about it.

You must also understand that the typical host is not going to be well-versed in shopping cart operations or they are going to brag about giving you their "piece of junk" shopping cart. These people are not high end marketers and you are wasting your time with me if you listen to most of them when it comes to selling on the Internet.

You contact a person / company that has connections with hosting companies and hire that person or company to be your go between. That way you can have someone to call who is familiar with your situation when the "techie parts are a mystery".

I highly recommend Jason Saeler jason@saeler.com 520-325-2801

I have some domains that I want to start working with at KickStartDomains.

Is there a good tutorial that can get me fluent with creating web pages, dealing with a hosting service and uploading the pages to get me off of square one?
I am totally in favor of finding a local tutor. This can be a high school or college student. You need to learn the following:

How to add a page to your site. How to copy the navigation system (buttons) from the last page. How to add text. How to add a graphic How to add a hyperlink

This is all I knew how to do for the first two years to get me to $20,000.00 per month

Diligently searching for a young tutor will mean lots to your business. Look at stores like "Best Buy", "Comp USA" etc and visit high schools and colleges. Everyone who has diligently looked has found a suitable young person.

What types of software programs do I need to build a good website?  How much do they cost?

We recommend Microsoft FrontPage because of its combination of ease of use and ability to get the job done professionally. You can also go just about anywhere and you can find someone to help you if you need it.

Technical people and low to medium level web designers will normally try to discourage you from using Front Page.

Our bottom line we at NetAim.info only care if you can update your website yourself so that you aren’t delayed waiting for web designers and also so you don’t have to pay for simple changes on your site. Also, remember we are looking at your situation from the perspective of making lots of money for you. We don’t care a bit about technical purity.

Front Page costs about $150.00 or you can get an older or used copy on Ebay probably for around $50.00

Are they easy to use or will I need some professional help?

We recommend you use a professional to create the basic structure of your website so it doesn’t look homemade. At least the professional can help you install an inexpensive template until you get the skills to do it yourself.

Once you have your basic design created in Front Page or you have a template installed our best advice is for you to get a tutor to teach you how to do simple updates on your site. Your investment in this training will pay off enormously because you won’t pay over and over again for simple changes to your site.

Can’t I just use the free website builder given to me by my web host?

Yes you can if you want little control over what can be done on your site. You will not be able to do the things you need to do to sell information products if you use these overly simplified tools.

Do I simply create a website and it appears whenever people type in the address or do I need to register it with search engines?  If so, how much does that cost?

If someone knows the name of your website, they can type it directly into a browser and go right to your site whether you are registered with a search engine or not. They could also click on a link and go to the same place.

If they know the URL of a certain page in your site, they can type it directly into a browser and go directly to a specific page in your site. They could also click on a link and go to the same place.

Go ahead and try it. Click on the links below: (you must be connected to the Internet)
http://www.antion.com will take you directly to my home page.

http://www.antion.com/speakervideo.htm will take you directly to a specific page in my site.

How do I determine if the domain name I want to use is already taken? 

Visit http://www.KickStartDomains.com and put the name you want in the “check a name area”.

What is a merchant account?  Why would I need one?  What does it do?
A merchant account is the relationship you have with a company that processes credit cards and sends the money electronically to your bank account. You need a merchant account so that you can accept credit cards from customers. Older systems may send you a check, but I haven’t seen much of that in many years.

Merchant accounts handled by traditional banks may not be extremely competent in handling website sales. You are better off getting a merchant account that is used to handling website transactions.

American Express requires you to sign up with them separately. They can usually interface with your Visa and Mastercard merchant account.

How much does it cost to get a merchant account?  Are there any fees (monthly or annual) involved?

Online merchant accounts normally involve a one time set up fee, a monthly fee and a transaction charge. They also take a percentage of your sales. This is called your “discount rate”.

This may sound like quite a burden, but the fees are pretty much standard. One time set up fees can run from $150.00 -$400.00. Monthly fees $15.00- $50.00 and percentage of sales 2% to as much as 15% (ouch).

Beginning Internet marketers frequently get scared off by these fees. This is one of the tools you must have to be successful on the Internet. I look at these fees like they are chump change and you will too after you get profitable.

Do I need to have a business plan to get a merchant account?  Should I get my merchant account at the bank?
I did not need a business plan to get credit card merchant account.

I don't recommend going to the bank if you are doing business online. Most banks are traditional and you'll most likely have more trouble than simply applying for an online account. You can apply for an online account about half way down the page at http://www.KickStartCart.com

What is the difference between a merchant account and PayPal?
Paypal is a company that makes it very easy to send money to people and accept money from people without having your own merchant account. Paypal is a reputable company, but in our opinion could prove troublesome when it comes to your company having a professional image.

Paypal is owned by Ebay the auction company and Paypal is used by many auction sellers that can’t qualify for their own merchant account.

I have a Paypal account and use it for certain purposes, but I don’t use it for selling my information products. You still pay fees for using Paypal.

What is a shopping cart? 
A shopping cart is either a piece of software or a service that can handle the sales from your website, follow up with customers automatically, offer additional products to your customers and keep track of your database of customers. Really good ones can broadcast email to your customers and electronic newsletter subscribers and lots more.

Netaim.info supports http://www.KickStartCart.com and gives free training on setting up the cart. We also have free training that teaches you the sales strategies to get more money out of each customer.

What is the difference between a shopping cart and a merchant account?
The shopping cart takes the order from the customer on your website and passes it on to the merchant account that processes the credit card.

How does the shopping cart send the order to the merchant account?
Another service called an “Online Gateway” electronically connects your shopping cart to your merchant account. Usually you get your merchant account and gateway together so they are compatible. The gateway absolutely must be compatible with your shopping cart. You pick your shopping cart first and then find a compatible gateway to match your cart.

What is “real time” credit card processing?
When you have an online gateway the customer waits only about 10 or 15 seconds for their credit card to be cleared by the merchant account so their sale can be completed virtually immediately.

To recap: The shopping cart takes the order from the customer. The information travels to the merchant account over the online gateway to check to see if the credit card is good. If the credit card is good, the message is sent back to the shopping cart which tells the customer the sale is good.

If the credit card is “declined”, the cart sends notice back to the shopping cart to display a “declined” message to the customer and you can usually choose whether you want to get notice of the “attempted” sale.

If you are selling a digital product and the customer’s credit card clears, a good shopping cart will deliver the digital product to the customer automatically and send you an email telling you that you just made a sale.

If you are selling a physical product like a book or CD, you get the email telling you about the sale and you ship the product to the customer.

Can I only accept credit card payments as a method of payment or can I accept checks via the Internet?

With the right shopping cart and merchant account you can accept checks over the Internet.

What do I need to do to make my site secure (for accepting credit card payments)?
You have to have a secure environment to protect the personal information of your customers. A good shopping cart will provide its own secure server. Some companies will try to sell you this separately, but it can be very expensive and an unnecessary expense.

I have booklets that I would like to sell on the web.  Do I need any tool, other than adobe acrobat to turn it into a sellable file? Are ebooks a good strategy for a beginner?
To create ebooks we use Microsoft Word and then Adobe Acrobat to create the pdf file. We don't use any fancy ebook programs because many of them finish the book off in .exe format. People will be afraid of this kind of file because of viruses and they beginners will most likely  mess up the download.

 I want you to create quality ebooks as opposed to the junk you see all over the Internet. This won't take any more software to do a nice job.  Ebooks usually don't make a lot of money, but are low cost and low risk to create.  It allows you to keep trying until you find the real winners.

 Listen to my free audio training session at http://www.Public-Speaking.org/holidaygift.htm

 I want to create my own audio cassettes of programs I've already written and / or delivered as presentations. What's the best equipment to use?

I've looked at the Marantz PMD201, as recommended by another Info product seller, but it's nearly $300 new, and I don't necessarily want to invest quite that much in the beginning.
Is your intended market still heavily into cassette tapes. Mine was for a long time too, but now it's 98% CD. I'd be reluctant to buy an expensive tape player now.

Using an inexpensive piece of software you can record directly to your computer. I use SoundForge (about $69.00). There are other program.

With a half decent microphone you can do CD quality right on your computer and burn an Audio CD. You can also output to tape with a tape recorder, but it doesn't have to be the greatest pro grade deck if you are only recording the spoken voice which is relatively easy to record.