Web Guy 303

Nobody like to have to build anything from scratch, especially when it comes to web sites. I have a need to make multi-page web sites on a continual basis, when testing campaigns. I don’t want to have to do a lot of that stuff over and over again.

That is why I have begun work on a full featured template that I can re-use over and over again. I plan on sharing it with the public when I have it ready and refined.

I am currently in the beginning stages, assembling the frameworks and building the general template that the site will follow.

The end goal of the web site template is this: To have a set of files that can quickly be converted into a small web site for affiliate use.

There will be a little bit of work required to build a site using the template, but not much.

About the template layout

I will construct the template with a typical header/sidebar/content/footer structure. It will be a two column layout with header and footer.

The layout will be straightforward enough that it welcomes customization.

I will be using the Blueprint CSS framework to ensure that the layout code is simple to view and modify. I hate web site templates that are a big mess of tables. I want the code to be easy to read and modify, so affiliate marketers can add content and modify it easily.

Graphics

In addition to the clean code, I will probably include some graphics files too. I haven’t quite pounded out the list yet, but I will include .jpg and .psd versions of a lot of the common types of graphics that would be needed to promote various products.

In addition to those supporting graphics, I will also include some header graphics files as a .psd that can be easily modified to create the header graphics needed for a web site.

Site pages

What pages will I include in the template? More than likely this will be pretty close to what I actually end up with:

• Home page
• Contact page
• About page
• 3 additional content pages
• Privacy policy
• Disclaimer
• Site map

I would also suggest adding a Wordpress blog to this type of site structure, just to get the benefits of what a few good blog posts on a Wordpress blog can offer. But, I probably won’t include the files or anything like that in this site package at this time.

Web site tracking needs

I want this web site template to be mostly static pages, and NOT based on any particular CMS, such as Wordpress.

Why?

The main reason is that I find it much easier to work with different tracking codes and keyword tracking systems when I have static HTML or PHP pages that make up my site. I’ve tried using stuff such as Affiliate Prophet and Google Cash Automator with Wordpress, for example, and wasn’t too happy with the results.

I find that it’s best if it’s possible to just edit a single landing page and put any PHP, javascript or other type of code on that page only without having to worry about a full code framework that might complicate things.

Using the web site template package

Once the template is put together, what actions will need to be taken to convert it to a site?

1. Add page content to the pre-made page files
2. Edit the graphics files to customize and replace any of the default graphics in the site template
3. Rename page files if needed, for SEO or otherwise
4. Edit any links to reflect page file renaming

What you won’t need to do:

1. Code any templates
2. Mess around with crazy table laced code
3. Create a bunch site layouts or page files
4. Start from scratch with your affiliate sites

When it’s ready…

Within a certain amount of days or weeks I will be already implementing the template into some campaigns I will be testing. Once I’ve used the template on a few sites and feel that it’s where it needs to be in terms of being easy to use, I’ll release a package for public consumption. The site template will definitely require somebody with HTML and PHP knowledge to operate, but you won’t need to know those things at the level you would to build something like this from scratch.

This may even be a good package for affiliate marketers to provide to their developers (if they outsource development) in order to save a little time and money on the development of affiliate sites.

I’ll publish more info here when I have something worth presenting!

Related posts:

1. It’s time to test a new campaign
2. My landing pages need some work
3. A Beginner Approach to Affiliate Marketing
4. Cleaning House
5. Google Cash Detective Delivers