If you want to join the elite 2 percent of affiliate marketers who make very large incomes you MUST start with a plan or site outline
A site outline breaks down the parts of your work into a clear hierarchy of tasks. Presenting the material in a logical form will help organize your thoughts. With a good outline, site content becomes faster and easier to write.
Let's take a look at how the site might be ordered logically into categories and headings. In this example, I'll use the process I went through to build my Sage-Hearts.com site. Here are the six steps in the planning process. Even the planning process has a plan!
1. Theme - You should be able to state your site's theme or main focus in 4 words or less. 'How to make wine', 'all about dog training' and 'web site building software' are site objectives or theme statements. In this case my theme statement is 'online dating services reviewed'.
2. Brainstorm - During this part of the process, make a list of the topics you want to cover on your site, and products you might sell. Because this was to be a site appealing to singles of every race, color and creed, I wanted to include dating services that catered to the following demographics:
o Ethnic o Religious o Geographic o Age-related o Sexual Orientation
I also wanted to add products of interest to singles, such as:
o Flowers o Candy o Chocolate o Greeting Cards o Fiancée Visas o Books o Newsletter
3. Organize - Now you will add sub-categories under the major categories listed above. For example, under 'Ethnic' you might list:
o Asian o Hispanic o Russian o French o Italian o Indian o German
4. Order - Lists should be logically 'ordered' to make it easier for your visitors to find what they want. For example, the list above would be re-ordered alphabetically as follows:
o Asian o French o German o Hispanic o Italian o Indian o Russian
Use the resulting breakdown to establish your site navigation.
For example, using the list above, the major categories established under 'Brainstorm' above might appear as navigation buttons/links throughout the site. Third level items such as Christian dating sites would be accessed through the 'Religious' link on the homepage.
Caution: Do not add navigation links to the main page until the destination page is fully complete. Nothing is more frustrating when surfing the Web than 'Under Construction' pages or 'Page Not Found' errors.
I personally find planning somewhat tedious. Choosing a specific top-level category for some topics can be confusing, and occasionally you discover that some categories just won't fit into the plan at all.
For example, if you visit http://Sage-Hearts.com, you'll discover that the categorical list on my homepage ended up as follows:
• Alternative
• Christian
• Dating Services
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