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Summary
A 9-session course that enables you to plan, design and develop a website that sells. You’ll not only acquire knowledge and skills you can apply to any home business online opportunity, but you will actually develop your own live website!
Introduction
There are websites... and there are websites that sell. Unfortunately, many websites - including many websites that are intended to sell (“ecommerce sites” if you like) don’t sell enough! And much of this is due to poor design.
You see, before a visitor reads a word of your copy, they are impacted by the overall presentation of your website... and if the presentation doesn’t appeal, they’re gone.
In fact, a study by cPulse found that 85% of visitors to a new website left due to poor design.
So, if you intend to pursue a home business opportunity online and run your own Internet based business – and especially if you plan to design your own website(s) – it’s essential you understand what “good design” is, and how to implement it.
Of course, “good design” means different things to different people. To the typical web designer, it means being attractive. To the usability expert, it means usable and functional. And to the Internet marketer it means “buyable” - meaning that it encourages people to buy, or, in other words, converts as many visitors into customers (or at least subscribers to your mailing list) as possible.
No question, in this course, you’ll learn how to design websites that sell. But that doesn’t mean you won’t learn some fundamentals about graphic design or usability. In fact, this is where many Internet marketers who don’t understand design, go wrong. They don’t grasp the need, let alone the how-to of attractiveness and usability...
For in reality, a website that sells is:
- Attractive to the eye;
- Functional; and
- “Buyable” (meaning that it encourages people to buy).
So get ready, because you’re about to put all three (3) of these elements together to create websites that sell. You’ll learn both the principles and the practical techniques – yes, you’ll roll up your sleeves, discover some key web programming and design skills, and create your own selling website!
Details
Prerequisites / Corequisites
Tools
- Computer with Internet connection (28.8 Kbps modem or faster).
- HTML editor (or “Web design program”) such as Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage.
If you intend to create or edit your own graphics:
- Image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop or PaintShop Pro.
- Vector based illustration program such as Adobe Illustrator.
Skills and Knowledge
- Basic proficiency in your web design program.
We also recommend you complete WAHB102 Internet Marketing Strategies before undertaking this course.
If you intend to create or edit your own graphics:
- Basic proficiency in your image editing program.
- Basic proficiency in vector based illustration program.
Objectives
By the end of this course you’ll know:
- The different types of websites and how to determine the most appropriate type of website for your home business online opportunity.
- How to plan a website project – from understanding the website user and their needs and expectations, to designing a “site map” (complete with global and local navigational structure), to designing the “wireframes” or blueprints for each of the main pages of your website.
- How to implement an appropriate look and color scheme for your website.
- Basic hypertext markup language (“HTML”) the coding language used to create webpages, webpage design elements, web image files, and how to create a table-based layout, using both absolute and resizable tables.
- How to design page layouts, streamline your website design process, and centrally manage design elements using cascading style sheets (CSS).
- How to add interactivity to your website using JavaScript code and dynamic HTML.
- How to create a website that sells, showcasing the skills you’ve developed in this course: information design, webpage blueprinting, web layout, navigation, XHTML and CSS code.
Course Outline
Session 1: Different Websites For Different Purposes
In this session, you’ll discover the various kinds of commercial websites and which are most suitable for which business objectives and home business online opportunity. You’ll clarify your own objectives and work out which kind of website is best for you. You’ll then identify the likely expectations of visitors to your website (and test and analyze these if possible) – including expectations about look, content, usability and functionality – evaluate competitor’s websites, and prepare a “mind map” of your ideal website. As your optional assignment, you’ll write down your thoughts in the form of a “mind map”. (You can use software or good, old-fashioned paper for this!) Optional Assignment: Prepare a mind map of your website.
Session 2: Designing Your Site Map
In Session 2, you’ll discover how to organize a website based on your goals and the content of the site. You’ll learn how to group content so that it’s modular and ready for the next step of the design process, and construct a clear and logical navigation scheme for your website. You’ll then create the site map for your website. Optional Assignment: Prepare a site map for your website.
Session 3: Blueprinting Your Webpages
In this session, you’ll learn how to blueprint a web interface by constructing a “wireframe”. Your wireframe is a visual layout of content and placement to guide you when coding your website. You’ll create wireframes for your home page and all the other “theme” pages. Optional Assignment: Prepare wireframes for your home page and one of your internal webpages.
Session 4: Branding, Look and Color
In Session 4, you’ll learn the principles of branding, look and color as they apply in web design. Based on this understanding, you’ll experiment with a few different looks and color schemes for your website, and then determine the most appropriate combination for your website. You’ll record this in your Website Style Guide. Optional Assignment: Prepare your Website Style Guide.
Session 5: Website Coding and Table-based Design
This session, you’ll get a primer on the main elements of a basic webpage, from a functional, code and visual perspective. You’ll learn how to create a table-based layout and determine the pros and cons of using an absolute or resizable tables, how to manipulate cell borders, spacing, and padding or add single pixel GIF images to achieve the layout you want. Optional Assignment: Prepare a webpage layout using tables.
Session 6: Designing with CSS
In this session, you’ll learn what cascading style sheets (CSS) do and how to implement them. You’ll discover their power - how to control the look or “style” of website elements from one or more central CSS files. You’ll then create your own CSS file to control the look of your webpages. Optional Assignment: Revise your webpage layout by creating a CSS file.
Session 7: Adding Interactivity
In Session 7, you’ll discover some basic tips and tricks for adding interactive elements to your website – from dynamic HTML (“DHTML”) rollover effects, to “pop under” layers, to popup windows. You’ll choose one or more interactive elements to add to your website. Optional Assignment: Add an interactive element of your choice to your webpage.
Session 8: Interactivity, Multimedia And The “Human” Element
In this session, we’ll discuss the trends towards more interactive, multimedia and “human” websites, and what they imply for your home business online opportunity. You’ll learn about the various approaches different Internet businesses are taking, the merits of Flash and other media formats, and some of the initiatives you can take to account for these trends in the evolution of your website. Optional Assignment: Brainstorm ideas for multimedia elements you could add to your website.
Session 9: Website Tracking
In this final session, you’ll learn the importance of monitoring usage of your website. We’ll discuss what statistics to keep track of, and what tools are available to help you do so. You’ll learn how to test elements of your website in order to improve your statistics and implement a process for innovating, testing and tracking on an ongoing basis. Optional Assignment: Define the metrics you will monitor and select tools to track them.
Tuition
Tuition: US $897
WAHB Members’ Tuition (15% Off): US $757
OR
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Tuition: US $3,297 (Enrolling separately: US $3,888 – You save 15%) WAHB Members’ Tuition (15% Off): US $2,797 |
