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7 IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN BUILDING A WEBSITE MICHAEL SZAPKIW PRO at BUILDINGAWEBSITEPRO.COM ©2012 Michael Szapkiw. All Rights Reserved.

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Page 1: 7 Important Things You Need tobuildingawebsitepro.com/download/Michael-Szapkiw-Ebook-7-Import… · expand, and maintain your website. My goal is to help save you from paying an overpriced

7 Important thIngs You need to ConsIder when BuIldIng a weBsItemIChael sZapKIwpro at BuIldIngaweBsItepro.Com

©2012 michael szapkiw. all rights reserved.

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My name is Michael Szapkiw and I LOVE building a website. I also love bringing the power of a business or personal website into the hands of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and individuals who want a website and are motivated to take control, take action, and establish themselves on the Internet.

Like many website designers, I started designing sites as a hobby. As the public demand for information on the Internet grew and competition for quality jobs increased, my wife and I quickly realized we needed to have our own professional websites in which to market ourselves.

I immediately bought (expensive) Web design software and began teaching myself how to code and create a website. Coding was not my favorite thing in the world, but I loved the creativity in Web design coupled with graphic design. I also enjoyed the neurology and business strategies behind an effective website.

After several years of self-training and watching hours of videos, I landed a full-time job as a Web Designer and Web Marketer. Still, I thought, “There has to be a better way to create a website.”

And there was. That’s when I discovered WordPress.

WordPress gave me a solution for quickly building my own websites and quickly helping others build their websites too.

And the users did not have to learn HTML coding and did not need to buy expensive software to build and maintain their own sites!

Unfortunately, I still spent way too much time and energy learning WordPress. I was wasting time on matters that were irrelevant, spending countless hours searching for the best strategies, setups, plugins, themes, and much more just to get to the core of what I really needed to know.

Good news! You don’t have to learn the hard way! Now, with my experience in your back pocket, you can get to the core essentials of building your website, and I can save you the time and money that I invested learning the hard way. You deserve the easy way. And I’m excited to bring it to you in this guide and in all my resources at BuildingAWebsitePro.com.

My goal is to share my expertise with you for creating websites with easy-to-follow instructions so that you can, single-handedly, create your own business or personal website.

Let me say right now that YOU CAN DO IT! Building your own website with your own personal or business domain name is much easier than you may think. And I am here to help.

Ready to join me? Let’s do it!

ABOUT MICHAEL SZAPKIW

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WHAT’S INSIDE? IMPORTANT THING 1: CUSTOM DOMAIN NAME

3

IMPORTANT THING 2: CLEAR OUTCOME

5

IMPORTANT THING 3: PROFESSIONAL DESIGN

6

IMPORTANT THING 4: KNOW YOUR THRESHOLD FOR TIMELINESS

7

IMPORTANT THING 5: KNOW THE MINIMUM TOP 5 ELEMENTS

9

IMPORTANT THING 6: BE A PERSON. AND BE PERSONABLE.

13

IMPORTANT THING 7: DO NOT FEAR FAILURE.

14

BONUS! IMPORTANT THING 8: TAKE ACTION!

16

FINAL WORD 17

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I have spent hundreds of hours learning how to host and build my own websites using WordPress the hard way, so that I can teach you how to do it in the simplest and least expensive way.

This free guide to creating a great website comes to you from www.BuildingAWebsitePro.com. The tips found in this guide are what I consider the 7 must-know items for you to understand before you start your website. Even if you already have a website or once you build your website, you will still want to reference this guide as you continue to develop, expand, and maintain your website.

My goal is to help save you from paying an overpriced designer, who sells you an overpriced website that fails to serve you or your business needs. It happens, but it does not need to happen to you.

I also want to help you save time by avoiding the often endless search online for valuable, practical, and applicable information that you can trust for building a website.

Even if you have already started your website or have an existing website, these 7 important things will help you discover potential weak areas in your strategies as well as encourage your existing efforts in the things in which you are already kicking pixels and taking names (i.e. those things you’re already conquering)! :)

Here are the 7 Important Things You Need to Consider When Building a Website:

Important Thing 1: Custom Domain Name

Important Thing 2: Clear Outcome

Important Thing 3: Professional Design

Important Thing 4: Know Your Threshold for Timeliness

Important Thing 5: Know the Minimum Top 5 Elements

Important Thing 6: Be a Person. And Be Personable.

Important Thing 7: Do Not Fear Failure.

Bonus! Important Thing 8: Take Action!

INTRO

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Important thing 1 is a custom domain name because you absolutely must have your own domain name.

Just like www.BuildingAWebsitePro.com is the professional domain name I chose for my website and business, you want to have a domain name that is personal to you or branded for your business. You do not want an unprofessional domain name with someone else’s name branded in it like “www.buildingawebsitepro.BLOGSPOT.com” (note the “Blogspot” part). Even though you can create a website for free with services like that, it’s never truly your own website, and you give up a lot of flexibility and freedom in the goals you want to accomplish with your website.

In a brick and mortar setting, this would be like owning a cubicle in someone else’s office building. Yes, you may have that professional little cubicle to call “yours” for your business, but you’re still in the building of another business… and it’s better to have your own professional business space just for you that’s under your control. Ultimately, I’m sure you would agree that a Web domain name is much more

professional without another companies name in it.

How to Easily Setup Your Own Domain Name AND Web Hosting in 3 MinutesWhen you sign up for your Web hosting (see my free video showing you exactly where and how to start a website in 3 minutes), you will get one free domain name of your choice, depending on availability, with your Web hosting account purchase.

Before I continue, I know some of you may be thinking, “I knew it! I need to purchase something!” :) The truth is, yes, you need to spend just a little bit of money to have a custom domain name and website. But I show you how to setup your website as inexpensively as possible.

Most people that you would pay to setup your website do NOT want you to know how quick, easy, and inexpensively you can start your own website!

All you really need to start your own website is:

1. A Web host (which can be as low as $4.95 per month),

2. WordPress to help you easily manage your website (which is FREE), and

3. Your custom domain name (which is also free with the purchase of your Web hosting).

So for about $60.00 per year, you can have your

CUSTOM DOMAIN NAME

IMPORTANT THING 1

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own professional website! It honestly doesn’t get any cheaper than that. :) AND, with your one Web hosting account, you can host unlimited domain names. This means that if you want to create additional sites in the future, you can buy several more domain names and just add them to your account at no additional charge other than the cost of buying the domain names.

The Web host I use and highly recommend is Bluehost. They have inexpensive and reliable Web hosting plans, great customer service whenever I’ve had any questions, and they make it super easy to start a self-hosted website with Wordpress as the content management system. And, trust me, you want to use WordPress for your website. It’s free, and it will allow you to take control of your website with an easy-to-use Web interface. It truly is amazing.

Searching and Purchasing Additional Domain NamesIf you decide you want more than the initial domain name that you will get with Bluehost, I recommend buying them through GoDaddy.com.

GoDaddy.com makes domain name purchasing very easy and you can almost ALWAYS purchase domain names cheaper through GoDaddy than anywhere else. They also provide bulk domain buying discounts if you’re really serious about stocking up on your favorite available domains. Even if you choose to buy your domains somewhere other than GoDaddy,

it is still a great resource for just searching available domain names.

At the very least, I always recommend that people purchase their desired domain name if it is still available. You don’t even have to build a website with it right away. Just purchase it before someone else does!

I recommend that people always get the “.com” version if possible. This is what people are used to seeing and is the most common and professional-looking domain extension. If you absolutely cannot get the .com, I recommend the “.net.” The “.org” would be my third choice. Also, if you are in a country that uses a country extension, that could work just as well for you as a .com (e.g. YourSite.co.uk).

This will be harder for people with more common names or common business names. But for people with a unique last name like mine, “Szapkiw,” it was definitely not taken and very easy to purchase. :) I also purchased the combination of my first and last name: michaelszapkiw.com. If you can’t get your exact name, there are always ways to be creative. But ultimately, it will serve you long-term to own your name or business name on the Internet.

Visit GoDaddy.com now to buy a domain or at least start searching to see what domains might be available in which you are interested.

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Important thing 2 is a clear outcome because you need to decide early on what you truly want to accomplish with your website.

This may seem obvious, but so many people pay a lot of money for a website, but they never actively decide what outcome (or outcomes) they truly want to see as a result of the website. And if they do have goals, they may be very general, such as “We just want people to be able to find us online.” While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that goal, hopefully there’s some deeper goal desired by that business owner.

A better goal could be this: “I want customers to find my business online when they search landscaping service in my local area, and then I want them to call us for a free estimate.” Each page on your website, especially your home page, should have at least one well-defined goal in mind. Always be deliberate in what you want to make happen. Planning your outcomes can be as simple as sketching out a drawing of pages on your website or creating a mind map of what you want to include on your website.

Take it from me, it’s easier to plan out what you want before you start your website instead of recreating everything later.

CLEAR OUTCOME

IMPORTANT THING 2

?

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Important thing 3 is a professional design because you will lose people immediately with a poor design. Spend money upfront for a professional theme to avoid the potential headaches of free themes that are usually not as effective.

Everyone loves “free.” I know I do! :) There truly are some decent free WordPress themes; two of which actually come pre-installed with WordPress called “TwentyTen” and “TwentyEleven.”

WordPress “Themes” are essentially templates that give your website its unique and professional look. They can also add additional functionality for you when customizing your website in the administration panel.

Professional Web designers create themes and then make them available for free or for a small fee. Companies such as WooThemes (who I highly recommend) offer free themes and premium themes. Elegant Themes is also a great company. They even offer multiple themes for one low price giving you the option to try several on your site until you find the one

that’s perfect for you! Or you can use them for multiple sites.

Although free themes are fine when starting with WordPress, I have learned from experience that buying a professional theme early on is well worth it long-term in terms of professionalism and customization options.

If you want to spend some time getting used to using WordPress with a free theme, then that is totally fine. But then do yourself a favor and upgrade to a paid theme shortly thereafter to really create a beautifully polished website. The paid themes companies I mentioned before both offer support and they are continually updating their themes to keep up with the latest changes to WordPress.

PROFESSIONAL DESIGN

IMPORTANT THING 3

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Important thing 4 is to know your threshold for timeliness on your website because you need to know whether regular updates are important to you on your site.

Some businesses and individuals only want basic information on their website and then they don’t want to look at it again for a long time. If that’s you, then maybe you’re fine just hiring someone to build your website and then pay them when you need updates. For most businesses, however, their websites are like living, breathing entities that will likely need regular updates, even if they are minor.

I actually encourage people to create new content for their websites regularly to help increase traffic to their websites and provide new value to visitors. This can be in the form of blog posts or written articles on their websites.

Even if you don’t plan to add articles to your website, consider some of these common reasons for updating a website.

Reasons for a Business website update:

• A product offering has changed

• Listed prices have changed

• You would like to post news, events, or special offers on your website

• Someone listed on your site no longer works for you

• A new hire needs to be added to the site as a member of your team

Reasons for a personal website update:

• You would like to update your picture on your site

Know Your Threshold for Timeliness

IMPORTANT THING 4

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• You need to update your resume regularly

• You have a recent accomplishment that would be beneficial to potential employers

• You want to blog on a regular basis

Whether your site is for business or personal use, there are always reasons for website updates. If you know you will need to update your website regularly, you want to be able to take control and edit your own website. Or, if you don’t want to update your website yourself, you might want a colleague or staff member to do it for you.

Enter the power of a WordPress website!

With WordPress installed (as I demonstrated in my free video), you have the power to make your own updates without hiring a Web designer every time

you have a change. And using WordPress is as easy as editing a word processing document.

Even if you just make one update a month, there is something nice about not being at the mercy of a Web designer for every change… especially if they are not available when you need them quickly. And even if you do decide that you have a website need that is beyond your own scope or ability, you can always hire a professional for those special projects. Just make sure they know WordPress.

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Important thing 5 is to know the minimum top 5 elements you should have on your website for maximum impact.

At a minimum, you should have these top 5 elements on your website for maximum impact.

Element 1: Brand IdentificationBrand identification at the top of your website that appears on every page. This will likely be your business logo, business name, or your name (if it’s an eportfolio or personal site).

Element 2: Immediate, Clear PurposeImmediate, clear purpose. In business, you’ve likely heard that you should have an elevator pitch, which is about 30 seconds. It’s even shorter online. I’ve heard it quoted that the average time spent on a website is around seven seconds. Yes, seven (7) seconds! So, make them count to ensure they stay longer to see what you have to offer! :)

Make sure people can look at your site and know, within seven seconds, the purpose of your website

and/or business. This can be accomplished with a clear statement of what you do very near to the top of your home page. Better yet, focus on the value a prospect/customer will gain from you and/or your business. Your value statement should be CONCISE, CLEAR, and COMPELLING.

In Web design, you will hear the phrase “above the fold” used a lot. This refers to the entire area of a webpage that you see on your screen without scrolling down the page. To many, this is considered the most valuable area of a webpage because this is what every user will see and is what every user with see first.

Use the above the fold area wisely. The actual dimensions of this area will vary depending on screen dimensions. Since over 85% of users have screen dimensions higher than 1024x768 (W3Schools.com), most designers consider “above the fold” to be anywhere between 500 pixels tall and 700 pixels tall. In general, make sure you have your logo, tagline, navigation menu, and a call to action above the fold.

Element 3: Clean Overall DesignClean overall design. If you have already taken the advice for “Important Thing 3: Professional Design,” then you likely have this element covered. Simple Web designs with intuitive structures and layouts are very effective. Just because you have an entire computer screen available to you for design and content does not mean you need to fill it up! :) When there is too much imagery or content on one screen, it becomes

KNOW THE MINIMUM TOP 5 ELEMENTS

IMPORTANT THING 5

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confusing and painful to look at. And what does this cause your potential customer to do? Leave your website.

Remember, your website visitors are always one click or one “Back” button away from leaving your site. Make their experience on your site a pleasant one.

Element 4: Intuitive Navigation Menu and Core Pages.Navigation menus are typically near the top of your site, in the left sidebar, or in the right sidebar. Make sure they are easy to read and easy to understand. Don’t make users try to guess your intentions with confusing menu item labels.

Clarity always trumps cleverness.

For example, if you’re creating a menu item linking to a video page, call it “Videos” not “30 Frames Per Second.” If you think people won’t understand something right away, change it.

The core pages you will want on your site and in your menu include: Home, About, Contact, and maybe a Blog/Articles page. You will also want your contact information and copyright text in the footer section of every page on your website, such as: Copyright 2012 BuildingAWebsitePro.com. All rights reserved.

Home

The home page is always the page visitors see at your

main web address. In WordPress, this can be a static page or it may be a list of your latest blog posts.

About

Give people an opportunity to learn more about you and/or your business by including your information on an “About” or “About Us” page. Visit nearly any website for examples.

One big mistake people make on an About page is to make it boring, corporate, or about things that are irrelevant to the needs of the person visiting your website. Most visitors don’t want a detailed timeline of your business history. They are asking themselves questions like, “Why should I trust this company? Do they offer what I need? What’s in it for me?” These are the types of questions you should be answering on your About page.

Also, avoid going to the opposite extreme of “corporate detail” and getting into grave detail about your stuffed monkey collection. Connect with people on a personal level, but don’t take it too far.

Definitely include pictures of yourself, your company, and your employees as appropriate.

Here’s a great tip for your About page: Include a call to action to sign up (opt-in) for your email list. Even if you already have your opt-in form on the sidebar, include another opt-in request in the middle or end of your About page. This has been proven to greatly increase opt-in rates.

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Contact

Always provide a way for your visitors to contact you. I recommend an actual contact page, but even if you don’t have a contact page, make sure you have your contact information at the top or bottom of your website. You can also keep it in the sidebar. Depending on your website, you may want your contact information on every page of your website. In short, make it easy for people to find the information they need to contact you.

Blog/Articles

If you plan to add content to your website regularly (which I highly recommend), then you will have a blog/articles page. Whether you call them “blog posts” or “articles,” this page is all about fresh content. If you have WordPress display your latest blog posts on the home page of your website, you won’t need a separate page for this; however, if you have a static home page, then you will need a blog page. Your blog page will always be dynamically generated with blog posts based on your WordPress settings.

Archives

An archives page is important if you plan to have many blogs/articles on your website. After time, you could have hundreds of posts and pages on your site. An archives page can help you organize all of your previous content so visitors can find older articles that interest them. This will also help keep them engaged

longer on your site. Many WordPress themes have a built-in archives template. Create a blank “Archives” page and assign the archives page template to it to add a dynamic archives page to your site.

Note: WordPress has a widget for “Archives” as well, but I do not recommend having your full archives in your sidebar due to aesthetics and usability.

Element 5: Opt-In FormIf you plan to use your website for business, to make money, and to build an audience of customers, then you MUST have a method for collecting visitors’ email addresses. Without a method for collecting email addresses, people may visit your website today and never return, and you would have no way to contact them again.

For example, my website, BuildingAWebsitePro.com, offers you quality information, video tutorials, trainings, and podcasts for building and maintaining your own website. When an ideal customer (such as you) visits my website, you should (hopefully) find much value in what I have to offer. You may even decide you’d like to come back to my website later for more information as you get further along in building your website. The problem is, with so many websites online, it’s easy for you and other users to just move on to the next website and never return even if you found value in my website. And if I didn’t do my job to ask you to sign up for my email list to further develop a professional relationship with you as a valued guest, it is very unlikely that I

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would see you on my website again in the future.

The same can happen to you and your customers. Avoid this by creating an opt-in form on your website that gives customers the opportunity to fill out their name and email address (or just email address) and receive information from you in the future. When people are truly interested in your products/services, they will be happy to share their information with you. Creating opt-in forms is beyond the scope of this ebook but know that WordPress makes it easy to add elements such as forms to your website.

To drastically increase the number of email subscribers you receive, add an opt-in incentive for visitors that sign up. This ebook you are reading right now is an example of an opt-in incentive. When you signed up for my newsletter, you got this guide for free.

Consider your own valuable offer that you could provide to your prospects. It could be an ebook, a whitepaper, an audio recording, a video presentation, a recorded webinar or anything that your ideal customers would love to have for free that provides massive value to them. Not only does it help provide an added incentive for signing up to your email list, it also gives you, as the business owner, a chance to position yourself as an expert in your chosen market to the customer.

Realize, however, that you will often get people who sign up just to get your opt-in incentive, and then they just unsubscribe from your list. You can’t always control that. Again, the goal is to provide massive value in

your opt-in offer, so that even if the user immediately unsubscribed from your list, they may actually sign up again because they appreciated your product! Trust me – it happens everyday! :)

By the way, did you immediately unsubscribe from my list? Feel free to sign back up on my homepage. :)

My goal is to provide incredible value in all the products and trainings I create so that you and others will be more than happy to receive regular updates from me. When you first provide value to your customers and prospective customers, they will be more likely to engage with you and, perhaps, buy from you in the future.

A solid business is built on people getting to know, like, and trust you and your products/services. When you have that, you are on your way to success in your business website.

One final thought on customer lists. You may have heard the quote, “The money is in the list.” While there truly is long-term value in your email list, I prefer to say there are “people in the list.” Even though it’s easy to just see another email or number, always remember there are real people on the receiving end of your transactions online.

Keep an eye on BuildingAWebsitePro.com and my email newsletters to learn more about effectively setting up your email opt-in form and managing your email list.

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Important thing 6 is to be a person and to be personable because whether you deal with Fortune 500 companies or small-town locals, there are still real people behind the brand names and behind the computers looking at your website.

Write and speak to your customers, clients and prospects as though they are people… because they are!

When you write a page of content or write an article for your blog, think of one person that you are talking to. This will not only improve your writing, it will help you connect better with your audience.

Would you say to your friend that the Best HD Video Camera “…lets you capture your friends in their best light with smart face tracking technology?” Or would you just say, “This camera’s easy to use and the quality is great”? While there’s definitely a time and place for detailed specifications, people connect with people and not with lofty business language and jargon.

By the way, that link above takes you to the HD video

camera I own and enjoy using. I love capturing friends in their best light, ha, ha! :)

As I mentioned in number 5, always remember there are real people on the receiving end of all your transactions online. While this does not mean you share your entire personal life with your customers, though some personal tidbits can be good on occasion, it does mean you need to see your customers as real and speak to them as individuals. You will see the long-term benefits of this with loyal customers and in your bottom line.

BE A PERSON. AND BE PERSONABLE.

IMPORTANT THING 6

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Important thing 7 is to not fear failure because there’s no such thing as long-term failure if you say you’ll never quit.

Actively decide that you will take control, build your website and continue moving forward until it meets your goal(s).

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” -Thomas A. Edison

“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” -Abraham Lincoln

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” -Dale Carnegie

“I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” -George Burns

“Do what you love. Enjoy the journey. Fail often to succeed often. And find the ultimate success you desire by learning from those mistakes and quickly moving forward despite them.” –Michael Szapkiw

Most people have heard the phrase, “Ready, aim, fire.” Have you ever spent so much time getting an idea ready, and trying to find the perfect way to aim your idea that it falls flat because you never actually fire (i.e. take action)? I suggest the “Ready, fire, aim” approach to business.

1. Ready. Decide what you want to do and prepare to do it in its least viable format.

2. Fire. Take immediate action to avoid over-analysis and to test your actions.

3. Aim. Measure the results (including failures) of your actions and adjust accordingly for your next “fire.”

Don’t fear failure. Learn from it quickly, and keep going forward. When you’re building your website, don’t be afraid to try things.

Many people get fearful that they’ll break something, or get discouraged by the learning process, but you can do it! Most things that you can change on your website can be changed back. I say “push all the buttons in WordPress” early on before you get all your content up and active. Then, it’s less painful if something needs restored.

If you’re absolutely unsure what to do or what may be the result of changing something on your website, you can always use your favorite search engine for answers. Also, WordPress.org has a great online WordPress support community. Use it. You can always contact your hosting provider for assistance as well.

DO NOT FEAR FAILURE.

IMPORTANT THING 7

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My Web host, Bluehost, has always offered me great support. If you get your hosting through them, I know you will too.

Applying Number 7 Right Now!

1. Ready! a. Write down 3 desired outcomes you want for your new website b. Write down several domain name ideas c. Find a domain name on your list that’s available by searching at GoDaddy.com (You don’t have to buy it there, just use it to find a domain you want.)

2. Fire! a. Follow my Website in Three Minutes video to start your website today b. Starting playing around in your new WordPress website!

3. Aim a. Keep moving forward with your plan (adjusting as needed) b. Find helpful training on my website c. Keep taking action

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Important thing 8 is to take action because all ideas are worthless without taking action.

I always like to add something extra, hence, the “Important Thing Number 8” of 7. Whenever you can, under-promise and over-deliver. :)

Number 8 flows directly out of Number 7, and it’s this: Take action.

How many times have you said or heard someone else see a new product or service and say, “That was my idea!” Well, it may have been your idea, but that’s all it was… an idea.

You provide no value to yourself or to others if you have great ideas and never take action on any of them.

That last sentence strikes really close to home for me and is something in which I’m always reminding myself. If it speaks to you too, I totally understand how you feel.

There’s a time for analysis, and calculating risks, but there is also a time to just take action, test your

actions, measure results, and improve on your original actions to increase future results. Don’t find yourself in analysis paralysis.

Focus on progress not perfection.

“An imperfect job completed now is always going to be better than that perfect job that never happens.” -Jason Van Orden

I definitely struggle with this from time to time. I hope it’s a helpful reminder for you as much as it is for me.

TAKE ACTION!BONUS! IMPORTANT THING 8

16BuildingAWebsitePro.com

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So, have you started your new website yet?

You haven’t?! :)

Start it now with help from my Website in Three Minutes video!

FINAL WORD

Thanks for reading this website guide!

I’m excited to be able to offer this to you for free, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it and found at least a few golden nuggets of value that you can begin applying to your

website even today!

If you’re interested in learning more about WordPress and building your website with valuable tips and training, you can always visit my website at http://BuildingAWebsitePro.com. And feel free to comment on my Web articles or on my Contact page if you have anything to share or ask. I always read my comments and will respond as soon as I can.

You can also contact me and join the conversations on the Building a Website Pro Facebook page by going to http://buildingawebsitepro.com/fb.

Or follow me on Twitter by going to http://buildingawebsitepro.com/twitter.

I’m inspired by your willingness to read this ebook and to take action! I sincerely appreciate you and wish you all the best in your website success!

Ciao for niao,

Michael Szapkiw (pronounced “Zap-Q”) [email protected]

©2012 michael szapkiw. all rights reserved. 17BuildingAWebsitePro.com