04.30.08
Create Your Own Web Pages Quickly
Let’s accept it - to succeed in Internet Marketing today, one needs to know how to work with web pages. Not everyone can afford to hire a developer to get a web site/page up and running. Even if you can afford to get it outsourced, its always better to understand how this works and be able to make minor changes yourself.
Having said that, I know it’s not as easy to create web pages as many Internet Marketers will have you believe. BUt then again, its not so tough either. If you can work Microsoft Word, you can make a simple web page too.
There may be times when you want to quickly edit an existing web page, or maybe create a new squeeze page (to capture leads) or get that blog into shape. There are some softwares out there that can make this task quite simple for you.
Among others, I have tried Microsoft Frontpage, Dreamweaver and very recently, NVU.
Frontpage is easy to use and very similar to Microsoft Word. If you can work with MS Word, Frontpage should come easy to you. Personally, I used Frontpage right from the beginning of my Internet Marketing career till a few months back. Its user friendliness appealed to me… but lately I realized that it messes up the HTML codes, thus making the web pages less search engine friendly. Plus, this software comes at a cost.
Dreamweaver is an advanced piece of software and not that user friendly. It has a whole lot of features but it has a steep learning curve. Also, Dreamweaver can burn quite a hole in your pocket.
That brings us down to NVU. I have recently started using this software and am completely in love with it. It is as user-friendly as Frontpage, has some really nice, cool features (I love the little ‘crosses and arrows’ functionality next to each page element) and you can get started with it rather quickly. Plus, its completely free to use (just download it from www.nvu.com). And yes, it produces clean html codes that search engines love.
So, as of now, the clear choice is NVU. You dont have to know html coding or any other computer languages to get your first web page or squeeze page up. If you can work with MS Word, then you are fully qualified to create a web page with NVU.
I would love to hear your experiences with the different softwares listed here. Or maybe any others that I haven’t tried my hands at yet. Just go ahead and leave a comment below sharing your thoughts.
Ivan said,
May 4, 2008 at 7:53 am
how about xsitepro?? Is it as user friendly as NVU or frontpage? I heard xsitepro is targeted for Internet Marketer.. What do you think?
Regards,
Ivan Ong
Mark Kyzer said,
May 4, 2008 at 7:55 am
Alok,
I sure don’t want to burst your NVU bubble, as I have been a long time user, but
NVU is no longer being developed or supported.
But don’t panic.
KompoZer has taken over where NVU left off. You can check it out here:
http://www.kompozer.net/
Bottom line NVU lives on thru KompoZer. It is no different to use than NVU.
I love it.
Regards,
Mark
Internet Marketing Blog said,
May 4, 2008 at 8:02 am
I think one of the easiest ways to create web pages would simply be through a blog, like a WordPress blog. No coding at all, and no working with wysiwyg page editors. But if I did have to work with such Dreamweaver and NVU would be preferred.
Thanks for sharing.
Roy
Nick Marr said,
May 4, 2008 at 8:03 am
Hi interesting article I am using macromedia contribute to update my websites however I see that Vista is not compatible which is going to leave me with a problem. Dreamweaver looks very compliacted and any software where you can simply pick it up and get going sounds like a great option. I am about to check out your suggestion NVU unless anybody know how to make contribute compatible with Vista
Davion | Secrets of Affiliate Marketing said,
May 4, 2008 at 8:05 am
Hi, I am not high on web builders as I use blog content management in most cases. I build lots of blogs and absolutely love WordPress and Blogger. This way of building sites is the most dummy-proof method and everyone can get a hang of it really fast.
But if I need to edit my other HTML sites, I will use Dreamweaver. Yes it is expensive but well worth the money because of the features. It is extremely powerful but I guess that it does take a long time for anyone to grasp its uses. FrontPage works just fine as well. I have NVU but never really get down to using it.
Anik said,
May 4, 2008 at 8:19 am
If you really want to save money and build websites in a flash, then why not to try this new software which is actually free with personal mentorship of two Super Successful Affiliates…
Its the best way to build quality sites in just few minutes.
I have been using it for a lot time now and it has literally saved me 1000’s of dollars which I had to pay to web-designers…
You may want to follow this link
[snip: no self promotion pls]
Marilyn said,
May 4, 2008 at 8:21 am
Hi,
I found this very interesting. I don’t have a web site yet and I’ve been wondering if there was a way I could do it myself. I’m going to check this out.
Thanks for the info.
Marilyn
James - XSitePro SEO Bonus said,
May 4, 2008 at 8:23 am
Hi Alok,
You know XSitePro is about to be released in version 2 and although it is NOT free it has some pretty awesome features.
The easy to use design mode is also WYSIWYG and the software allows you to upload to your server with one click. (No extra ftp required etc…).
The other cool thing is it creates a sitemap and the naviagtion for all pages is built into it as you create pages. You can export pages to HTMl to edit with NVU etc…
You can make site-wide changes with one click to all pages in the site.
XSite Pro prompts you to insert seo tags in the right places and it uses an external .CSS file for SEO benefit.
With version 2 coming out in a few weeks (at a price increase) you will be stunned at the level of new features such as RSS and more….
Regards
James
Kristi Sayles said,
May 4, 2008 at 8:29 am
I too like NVU. I used to use Dreamweaver, but NVU does everything just as well. I recommend it to my list. Plus, like you said, it’s free. It even comes with a built-in FTP
Thanks,
Kristi
Jax Diamond said,
May 4, 2008 at 8:41 am
I have heard a lot of good things about NVU - I would suggest that everyone take the time to download the manual, print it out, and keep it handy. It can and will save you lots of time and effort. My copy is highlighted and dogeared.
P. Wilson said,
May 4, 2008 at 9:02 am
I just read your post and I must say that I was in this same situation. I was an old FrontPage user as well. Because everyone was talking about Dreamweaver as the high end web design tool, I decided to take the plunge. Unfortunately, the learning curve was steep versus FrontPage.
As I was learning Dreamweaver, I just wished that there was a better FrontPage. Well, there is. It’s called Expression Web and I’ve been using it for about a year and a half.
This is Microsoft’s high end web design program to compete with Dreamweaver. It really is a great program that does everything Dreamweaver does and the learning curve is not very steep at all because it acts kind of like Frontpage.
As far as cost is concerned, if you have FrontPage 2003 the upgrade to Expression Web is only $100.
If you are an old FrontPage user I would highly recommend Expression Web over Dreamweaver. You won’t regret it.
All the best
yusran said,
May 4, 2008 at 9:05 am
I just started to use NVU. It helps me a lot. Very user-friendly, I can use it right away without having to see the guide or tips.May be because I know the basic of html.And I would suggest everyone in online marketing to learn the basic html. It’s not that hard after all.
however, i just consider NVU to be good at website maintaining.never try to build website from scratch using NVU.
Eban Crawford said,
May 4, 2008 at 9:14 am
Hey Alok,
I too use NVU, and love it. Sometimes the software that comes out of the Open Source arena is just as good, or better than the commercial bits.
And Roy, yes, blogs are valuable, powerful, and cheap or free. But, the best course of action is a combination of tools. Squeeze pages and ad copy sites are very powerful and work in a completely different way than a blog. Both blogs and content rich static pages have a place in your marketing toolbox.
Cheers,
Eban
Pete K said,
May 4, 2008 at 10:04 am
Isn’t it fascinating how a subject as simple and uncomplicated as this can produce so many varied and diverse opinions. No wonder we all become a little confused from time to time. However, for those of us seeking information on this subject, this blog/forum has certainly provided several interesting options, though I don’t believe there is one clear winner.
One of the problems in our world of internet marketing is that the Big Names always seem to have all the answers, whilst the little guys/gals are still searching for the questions.
A question I would like to pose is: If blogs are so simple and easy, why and when is it still appropriate or necessary to build a traditional WebPage?
Best wishes and good marketing to everyone.
Pete K
“Lets hear it for the little guys/gals”
Affiliate Elite said,
May 4, 2008 at 2:01 pm
NVU is set-up almost exactly like the one Ewen Chia offers for free (since I can’t promo it here- there is a OTO involved- anyone interseted will have to Google it). The EC editor is really easy to use and is what I actually learned html on. You might check it out, Alok, if you really like NVU.
John | FreeMPGnow said,
May 4, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Yes! You’re right about NVU. I’ve built a few sites using NVU & do appreciate its user-friendliness. I recently fell for an advert re: “My Free Website Builder” & was shocked to see that it EXACTLY the same as NVU but privately branded.
That was a surprise — because the marketer is very well-respected in the field!
Tom said,
May 4, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Good people,
Now i am faced to dig through all these suggestions to find a practical anwser.
Never mind, all contributions are appreciated …
Do keep up the good work,
Tom
Lyn said,
May 4, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Well, I like Dreamweaver, because you can see both the code and the WYSIWYG views at the same time. It’s not difficult if you start by editing an existing page, so you can see what you are doing. XSitePro is good too, but I stopped using it as I couldn’t figure out how to have a page that did not have the identical layout to all other pages on the same site.
Lyn said,
May 4, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Oh, and I bought my DW on ebay, very cheaply. You don’t need the latest version.
Anita Martin said,
May 4, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I haven’t tried NVU, bit I have used frontpage, dreamweaver and other free editors. Web page Maker is my absolute favourite, so much so that I actually bought it! It is so much easier to use than frontpage and dreamweaver, I love how you can drag and drop anything and that is where it will be on your page. It is simple to add flash files, there is a slideshow plugin too. I don know some basic html, and it is easy to edit the code too. I have built sites using only html, frontpage, but now all I use is webpage maker 2.
Anita
cheaptimesharerental said,
May 4, 2008 at 8:26 pm
yea..NVU is really easy..
however, it does take practice.
I went for a website buidling workshop last yr and lernt to build website via NVU..then left it for few months…was kind of grappling about when I started using it again. but only for few minutes..
NVU is definitely easy to pick up for most non-techies.
-cheap timeshare rental-
Jim Martin said,
May 4, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I’m leaning more and more towards wordpress since it is so easy to get up and running. there are so many themes now and the plugins are really getting good now too. I still use dreamweaver for older html pages but I’m now starting to migrate those sites to Wordpress.
Alfred Fernandes said,
May 4, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Hi,
Reference post from Anik where he has recommended a free software for building websites in flash, but without an url. As such could not check out on this software. So what was the purpose of that post?
I am not sure whether he referred to Site Rubix which comes free with other affiliate marketing resources and mentorship from two Super Successful Affiliates at a nominal monthly fee.
Will I get some clarification?
Alfred Fernandes
Mike Thorne said,
May 4, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Alok,
I agree concerning Nvu.I use it on a daily basis.
I own X-Site Pro, but rarely use it.If you’re building a 100
page website, X-Site Pro may be best, but Nvu can whip out
pages in a flash.
Mike Thorne
Alok Jain said,
May 5, 2008 at 1:19 am
I had no idea there are so many options out there. Really glad I made this post. I hope readers find all the recommendations useful.
Alok
Ron Hirsu said,
May 5, 2008 at 1:29 am
Hi All,
I have used nvu and it is really easy to use but I with web design getting more towards web 2.0, nvu has it’s limitations. Now I use bv at
http://www.curioustoknow.com/nichemarketing/freeresource/bv.htm cos it also allow me to install wordpress via fantastico very easily.
Ron Hirsu
powerbiz (khalid) said,
May 5, 2008 at 4:26 am
Hi Alok,
Yes, There really are many options out there to create your blog page. I am using blogger.com and blog.co.in. I write blogs about advising people not to fall for get rich quick schemes. I am thinking of migrating all my blogs to blogger which I find easy to use. Wordpress is also other option which I want to try.
All the very best.
powerbiz
Mike said,
May 5, 2008 at 7:10 am
Unless you really know what you are doing and have your own profitable, unassailable nich carved out and you get a ton of regular, targeted traffic, one, or two websites will not make you a living - not even close.
Netfluence software makes proper, heavyweight websites fast enough that you are able to create and maintain them practically. It certainly isn’t free, but then the old adage “you get what you pay for” still stands the test of time. You hear stories of people starting ‘with nothing,’ well that’s rarely, if ever true. Business online, or offline remains still business - if it really were free and required no effort, nobody would need to work in this world.
Pete K said,
May 5, 2008 at 11:04 am
I’m a little disappointed, no one has posted an answer to my question which was included in my post yesterday (perhaps no one read it?)
In case you missed it, here it is again:
A question I would like to pose is: If blogs are so simple and easy, why and when is it still appropriate or necessary to build a traditional WebPage?
Best wishes and good marketing to everyone.
Pete K
“Lets hear it for the little guys/gals”
Alok Jain said,
May 6, 2008 at 1:41 am
Pete, blogs and traditional web pages serve different needs at most times. For example, you wouldn’t want to create a squeeze page in a blog. There’s nothing stopping you from doing that, but it wont solve the purpose. Same logic for an ecommerce web site. You can’t create one on a blog.
Yes, blogs make life a lot easier for the novice developer but they cannot accomplish everything. That’s why we need web pages
Alok
charles orajiaku said,
May 7, 2008 at 7:35 am
Quite an interesting piece.
But where do I start from here ?
HP van Duuren said,
May 8, 2008 at 12:54 pm
As you can see you can find several ‘Blogspots’ via the main site
‘HP’s Happy Blogspot’. Blogspots from Blogger are easy to maintain without the need to have a lot of programming knowledge.
All the Best,
HP
vivek kumar sappal said,
May 20, 2008 at 9:17 am
Really good discussion. But is there any software which can build website pages more easily without involving learning curve and which is economical for beginners?
Bryan Hee said,
June 26, 2008 at 2:50 pm
The WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) software is very user friendly. This software doesn’t require any HTML skills. Just copy, drag and paste. 3 simple steps only.
It’s just nice to create opt-in or sales page. Ewen Chia also offers free editor softwate and he also provides step-by step video training to guide you through the process of “3 simple steps”
To Your Success
Bryan Hee
Daggy said,
August 1, 2008 at 1:45 pm
well to tell you the truth kiss is still the work
keep it simple keep it sweet on blogs or in webpages
finding a program that works for you is the most important
each of us has unique needs. and sometimes not all programs
cover the needs of our pages. but for beginners I’d start with something
easy like my free website builder. and work up from there depending
on the needs of the page i’m making.
Godwin Allen Joseph said,
March 31, 2009 at 10:04 am
I should be blunt here. Most of these editors are ok! But the problem is the level of creativity of the person applying them. I’ve been using WPM for quite some time and am ok with it. No skin pain!
But sooner than later I will try out some of the suggested softwares here.
Natalie said,
April 6, 2009 at 11:37 pm
A self taught newbie here. I’m working on a blog project and I have worked on two designs for blogger and wordpress.
1. a US map with clickable states that go to different sites. I used image mapper in paint shop but I can’t figure a way to get it loaded and working on a blog. If I paste the code it won’t work.
2. a background pic at 40% trans. with all the state names as hyperlinks on top of pic. I did this in nvu using a table but once again the code would not work on the blogs.
What am I missing? I have spent hours trying to figure it out and nothing has worked.
Do you have any idea what I’m doing wrong? Any suggestions?
Thanks Natalie
Dinesh K Takyar said,
April 12, 2010 at 1:28 am
It’s a good idea to learn some HTML! It’s extremely easy.