Web design!
Before a few weeks ago, when I heard those words, they went into my "other" category!
"Other" people, with "other" educations, with "other" minds -- brilliant minds, unlike mine(!) -- were the designers of webpages.
Certainly NOT me!

But that was before I ran across a simple process that taught me to do it myself!
This process claimed that I could develop a website.
They claimed it took "no prior web technical experience."
Sounds like so much fluff, doesn't it?!

But here I am, a few weeks later, a new website (of my own!!), with 45 pages of content! And more to come! (Here's the website I'm talking about http://www.ordinaryrunner.com/ so you can see that even you can do it!)
And guess what? It makes money. No, not millions(!) in 3 days, like a lot of websites claim. But certainly, slowly and steadily, I've built a website that will return profits.
All by following a simple plan, spelled out step by step, that even I (with a basketball coaching degree, no less!) have been able to follow. Here's the plan: (http://www.sitesell.com/ksb.html/)
I'm still wondering if I've really done this.

The best plan for making a website is to write VERY GOOD content for your visitors.
If you're just out to make money, to gouge customers, etc., then you're going to be smelled out! Web users are savvy!
You've got to deliver a superior product about an area that you know something about, and provide, along with your information, resources for your readers to use.
They have to feel that they are important... And they better be important to you! Keep the focus on the visitor, or they'll click you off!

The problem is, most people don't know how to write good content for web users! (Not to mention they don't know how to do all the technical stuff!) And I didn't either!
I had to learn.

Another thing: How do I get people to come? I mean, it wasn't like I could build a store on a busy corner, put out a big flashing sign ("Eat at Bob's!!"), and wait for people to show up!
I had no idea how to get people to come to a website!

Lucky for me, I learned this technique as well.
And I can't believe it, but people are starting to come. At first only a trickle... but then more and more.
And I had to learn how to get listed with search engines, and directories. You can't just expect people to stumble across your website! They've got to find you by finding you when they search!

So these are big issues if you're going to develop a website!
Unfortunately, they're tough things to learn on your own! There are people out there who know these things, but their services are expensive...
Or, I could have tried to learn it all on my own, the old-fashioned way, by trial and error... but that would take hours and hours and hours.
And besides, I wasn't looking for a way to learn to design a website anyway!

So here, in a nutshell, is what I've learned:
1) I must OVERdeliver, and OVERinform with the content of my webpages. If there's no value in my content, people aren't going to stick around.
What people are really looking for on the web is information, and they want to find the information they're searching for.
So when they type in a keyword and get a page of fluff that's just trying to sell them something, they are immediately turned off.
But...
When they come to your website, and they find not only the info they are searching for, but much more... and helpful links to other valuable websites -- Well, they stand up and applaud you!
That creates devoted visitors who return.
2) This kind of content also makes them trust you. You are credible in their eyes.
3) Then (and ONLY then) will they trust you when you recommend a product!
And then, with a quick click on a link on your site, they go to the product or service or information that you want them to find. And often they respond with the very thing you want -- a purchase!

One last thing: It actually took work on my part to design my own website. And I'm still learning, and still working!
Promises that you'll get rich quickly and with no effort are empty ones!
But writing excellent content works!
And if I did it, I know YOU can!!
About the Author
Kely Braswell is a newbie at web design, and recently developed Ordinary Runner (http://ordinaryrunner.com), a site with simple advice about running for beginners and mere mortals! Even with no web savvy, he developed his site using SiteSell technology, which you can check out at http://www.sitesell.com/ksb.html.