Why one should use CSS while designing website

CSS is an acronym for Cascading Style Sheets. CSS allows you to create fast loading pages, boost your search engine rankings, and alter your whole site with one style sheet. Then why don’t more people use them? This is for the reason that they got so used to html design and are afraid or too lazy to improve their skills. Some will also use ready made templates that contain flashy graphics, stuffed code and sometimes even contain hidden code embedded in the page.

CSS has been around for several years and is supported by all the major browsers available today, including Internet Explorer for the PC and Mac, Firefox, Safari and Opera. CSS has opened up tremendous possibilities for improving web site designs, web page layouts and adding new features. The HTML code can be made shorter, cleaner and simpler by CSS resulting in faster loading of web pages, and making them more accessible to search engines.

If you don't use CSS on your web pages and you have many tables and content on them, chances are that your HTML file size will be quite big. Fact is that we live in a busy world, and people are not willing to wait more than 5 seconds for web page to load.

Some benefits of using CSS

Which are the benefits of using CSS? List is quite long and I will list here only the most important.

• Your web page will load faster
• Web page will become more search engine friendly
• You can change you site appearance within minutes
• You can write separate CSS file for handheld devices which will be called up instead of the regular CSS file
• You can forget about creating printer friendly version of your site using separate CSS file when user chooses to print the web page.

If you are not using CSS it would be well worth your time learning the CSS tags and their properties. Think of it as a future investment, the time you spend now will pay for itself in better search engine ranking, saved bandwidth and you will cut down on your maintenance and development time for your new sites.

If your site is still mostly using tables for its design, you may want to consider doing a redesign. It may take a lot of work now but if you leave it for too long it will be much more work plus will be missing out on all the benefits of CSS outlined in the points mentioned above.

So for this kind of CSS design contact Bubblefish
Bubblefish is a website design boutique based in Sydney, Australia and has been successfully helping various companies with Web Development and design solutions since 2005. For more information visit http://www.bubblefish.com.au

How to get traffic by designing a Website

• Designing website is effective way to promote internet marketing and can make online money,it helps to it's people "What they really wants When thet want it".You should follow these steps if you want to get it.

• 1.Designing a web page :entails modeling, conceptualizing, planning and executing media content in electronic form and delivering it through the Internet by the use of technologies like markup languages and it is suitable for the presentation and rendering by the web browsers or other GUIs that are web based. Web design is used generally to mean or describe any of the tasks that are involved in the creation of a web site. In web design, there are two fundamental aspects that are located in any web page that is on the Internet. The first aspect is the presentation in which the user has to interact with, which is usually in visual form. The second one is the back-end which has information for the browsers that are non-human. Web design uses a fundamental markup language utilized in the browser to inform it of how presentation of information is carried out and it is known as the HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language.

• 2.Actually it is not only the design of the website: that mesmerizes the visitor but the user interface design also known as UI design. It is a human tendency to get inclined towards the beauty of the thing which in terms of website lies in its design and usability. According to a famous saying, "Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder", but when it comes to the website, it applies only to the web design experts who are well aware of the nitty-gritty of the design procedure and what makes the website exceptional amongst the flock of commons. For rest of all, beauty means some good combinations of color, graphics, pictures and some flash or JavaScript.

• 3.Functionality: Keep it simple. Try to create web pages that can be loaded in under 10 seconds. Utilize standard titles for your menu items, such as Home, About Us, Site Map and so on. Stay away from use of gimmicky or coy options. Furnish intuitive links at the base of each page.

• 4.Keep the difference in color between the text and background very distinct. Use either very dark (black) wording on a very light (white) backdrop or the inverse are ideal. Font sizes that are smaller than 10pt should not be used in the page's body portion. Stay away from use of fonts with serifs, such as Times Roman, since they are hard to decipher or make out on a computer monitor. Steer clear of using lengthy, uninterrupted sections of text.

5.The fact is that the public expects a business to have a professional looking web site that provides them with the information they need. Unless a business owner has the time and skills to create such a site, he or she should seriously consider hiring a web
519Studio is an independent, full service, digital creative agency. We specialize in website design,website development, online promotion, flash design, interactive marketing, 3D games, viral campaigns etc.

Designing A Website; The Dual Functionality Of SEO And Usability

Many businesses believe that their SEO or search engine optimisation efforts will yield almost instant results. Maybe with some of the more unscrupulous SEO methods this could be possible but if following a methodology that attempts to comply with the search engines rather than hoodwink them, the process will undoubtedly take a little longer. However, there is important factor that must be remembered should a website be successful; no matter how high it ranks in search engine listings, if the human user does not enjoy the website experience the site is bound to founder.

This is a problem for many SEO specialists who are asked to produce results quickly by clients. Understandably a business rarely wants to hear that its website is poorly made and not conducive to selling products or services. Unfortunately it is often the job of the optimisation specialist to inform companies that their website will have to be improved should the high rankings result in increased trade and hence profits.

To use a common analogy having a website that is brilliantly optimised but poorly designed is like having a bar that has been effectively advertised but when customers come through the door it neither has the staff nor the stocks to deal with the custom. In the industry the generally used term is 'usability'; it refers to the experience that the human user has when visiting a website.

Naturally businesses would not prefer to have the time or expense of re-designing a website; unfortunately it is a prerequisite of online trade success. Like SEO the design of a website requires a bespoke approach to the market or industry, it must be conducted with careful consideration of both technical advisors and business managers. It is only when great usability is combined with efficient SEO that a website will experience true success in online business.

The purpose of the optimisation process is to bring customers to a website; it is not the purpose of this process to ensure these visitors buy products or services. Conversion rates are highly important to online business and if a company can convert even half of its visits it is doing well. High conversion rates however can only be secured with good design and usability; if the customer cannot find their way around a website their chances of buying an item are severely diminished.

This usability is in some cases hard to quantify. One website designer may feel that their design is simple to use and effectively displays the products. This however may not be the case; it is only through effective testing that the usability of a site will be ascertained. While the human user is ultimately important the automated user, e.g. the search engine spiders should not be forgotten, hence it is important for your SEO team to be aware of any changes being made to the website, if they are not changes may be made that will harm rankings considerably.

Catering for the needs of both automated and human users is the name of the game. While it is important to keep the search engine algorithms happy it is equally important to create a site that is able to present products or services effectively, subsequently increasing sales. It is hoped that this article has set out the importance of this dual functionality in successful websites; it is only by subscribing to both that online business success will be attainable.

About the Author

Internet marketing expert Thomas Pretty looks at the importnace of SEO when combined with well designed websites.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Getting Motivated When Designing a Website

Whatever your skills, whatever your interests, everyone has the ability to be creative in their work. However, we can often lose our motivation and drive to create, making it difficult to stay focused on a particular work plan or project, especially in web design. So what is the best method for staying motivated?

The key to maintaining your own motivation to be creative is actually a long term effort. Starting out can be tough, and in most cases the most difficult part. But with the right methods and consistency you will be able to reach a point where staying motivated is easy. It is a simple case of knowing when to make the right choices at the right times.

Obviously everyone is unique and each of you will have your own methods and actions into being creative. But here is the chance to read something that offers some possible methods and solutions when getting motivated and staying motivated.

The main things to take into consideration are:

Set goals
You will find it is a lot easier to stay motivated when you feel like you’ve reached a target. Give yourself something to achieve and break the work load down. If it is a large website project you are working on, set yourself mini goals so you are reaching targets every few hours or days rather than spending weeks trying to get the lot done.

Small bite-sized objectives
As mentioned briefly above, set yourself up for more success than failure by being realistic in goal setting and come up with small, bite-sized tasks to start with. As you complete more tasks, start making your goals more ambitious.

Build a creative workstation
Whether you design websites at your desk, in a dark room or a home office, you need to assign a place to yourself where you can be creative. Once you’ve decided on that place, use it! Each creative task and success you achieve in your вЂ

About the Author

Contact me at Cheap Web Design UK - Design Oven http://www.designoven.co.uk/

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Designing A Website That Makes Sense For Your Business

When you finally make the decision to have a website designed for your business, you may be tempted to immediately start shopping for a good web design firm.

However, you need to make some very important decisions about what you want your web site to accomplish, before you start looking for a web designer.

You are the person who knows your business best. You know what your goals are and who your customers are. Your website designer will not know the ins and outs of what your website should achieve.

First of all, you need to decide what your website 's purpose is - and it should have more of a purpose than just announcing that you exist, although that 's important too.

All businesses want new customers and want to increase their volume of business.

If you have a local brick and mortar business, such as a restaurant, car repair shop, beauty salon, or any other business that needs people to walk in their door, your web site needs to accomplish a few things. It needs to be designed to be search engine friendly so - for example - when people look up a phrase like Orlando hair salons or best hair salon in Orlando or good hair salon in Orlando your salon appears on the first page of search engine results.

Then, when people come to your web site, you need to give them a reason to take that next step and come visit your business. You can have your web designer create special web-only printable coupons. You can set up a squeeze page to collect the customers information so that you can send them emails with news about sales and special offers and special events at your place of business. You could get the customer to give you the date of their birthday so you can send them a special offer on that day.

Can you see, now, why its important to make these decisions BEFORE you pick a web design company?

Now, lets say you have an online business. You may sell e-books, or graphic design services, or you may sell physical products that you ship from home.

You need to decide what action that you want your customers to take when they visit your website.

Your website needs to clearly communicate to a visitor what action they should take. Do you want them to order a product from you? Do you want them to join a membership site? You need to make it very easy for them to do so by having links to the order form in prominent places on your site.

You also need to come up with a way to capture those visitors who may need to take some time to think it over before they visit your site.

How do you stay in touch with a potential customer who has visited your web site? You can get your web designer to set up your site so that visitors can give you their name and email address. Your customer will do this if you offer to send them something for free: a free report, a free website template, a free weekly newsletter of some kind.

Then, you build a list of potential customers who have clearly demonstrated their interest in your services.

You also need to spend some time thinking about your target audience. Different styles of graphics and text will appeal to different audiences. If your web site is very targeted, say, to college students, or sports fans, or home schooling mothers, or gardeners...it makes sense to have a site designed very specifically to appeal to that target audience.

If your web site will have a broader appeal, such as pet lovers or car buyers, and could have visitors of all ages and all walks of life, you will want a more neutral, generic, design rather than say a bright, flashy, edgy design for a young crowd, or tasteful elegant graphics for rare book fans.

If you think all of this through before you select your web design firm, you will be in a much better position to communicate your needs and the scope of the project, and your web design will serve your business more efficiently.

About the Author

Richard James works for Just Web Designers. UK companies can receive quotes from up to 4 web development companies by completing one form. Visit http://www.justwebdesigners.co.uk for information.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Design Your Website for Online Marketing

Success in online promotions is anchored on one very important and fundamental requirement, a website. Your website must look professional and presentable. Do not overpopulate your website with banners and text links of all the affiliate promotion programs you sign up with.

Although some affiliate marketing programs provide their affiliates with websites, you should have your own in which to promote your merchant 's products or services. Having your own website is more advantageous than being provided with one. It prevents you from being locked in to the merchant provided website and allows you to create and maintain your own mailing list. Building a personal mailing list is one of the main advantages of owning website.

The very first step in getting a website is to register a domain name. A guiding rule in registering your domain name is to make sure that it should at least contain the main keywords of your website 's subject matter or area of focus. This way, whatever business you are in is reflected in your domain name, the user will type our domain name to get to your web address.

You will also require website hosting services. One of the cheap and readily available resources of domain name registration and website hosting is Yahoo! Small Business solutions; they have several basic and advanced packages tailored to meet most requirements of newbie e-commerce entrepreneurs and your wallet.

A word of advice, stay away from free web hosting and domain name registration companies. The reason? Since you are going into business, it is unprofessional if your website is hosted free of charge, besides, free web hosting services require their name to be included in the domain name.

Once you have registered a domain and signed up with a web hosting service, you are ALMOST ready to launch your website on the Internet. You can use either the web hosting service starter and advance templates, which you can easily modify online to design your website. Keep the design of your webpage as simple as possible. You do not have to finish the design in one sitting; in fact, you can immediately use a standard template and launch your website. You can do the modifications later on and then publish the revised design later.

If you have absolutely no knowledge about website building, you can familiarize yourself with point and click website builder tools that use templates and allow you to incorporate your own images and logo. Although you can pay someone to do it for you, it pays off to know how to add your own content and affiliate product html codes because it can be very expensive if you have to pay a designer every time to do it for you.

Important factors you have to integrate in the design of your website is the integration of client payment options, credit card, direct deposit, Paypal and other alternate methods, client support such as e-mail, chat and preferably a toll free number and autoresponders. Although these enhancements can be normally provided by the web hosting provider, it pays to ensure that they are working and functional the moment you publish your webpage on the Internet.

About the Author

Visit http://affiliatemarketingnews.net/ and http://optinforsuccess.com/ for the BEST money-making opportunities and internet home business programs! Subscribe to our FREE newsletter by sending an e-mail to optinforsuccess@aweber.com and receive a free gift!

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Basic Principles of Designing Website.

Every one like a easy life, right? Especially when one is going to create a website on his own. But that doesn't mean you want the site to look severe and just functional. Every one want it to be pretty, smart and also respond and move when you interact with it, while saying all that you want to say to its visitors. There are some of the little tips and Features incorporated into software that explains the basic principles of designing websites. All are well familiar with what Flash can do but don't know how to use
it.

What do you do if you need to optimize 150 images within an hour? No need to panic, image ready can help you out with a little droplet. Check out the different tips that make life easier or better for you as a Web designer. Dream weaver lets you create some custom vector graphics from within the software. You can make Flash and embed them into your Web pages.

There are different kinds of style that you can choose for these from the available set-play back type of buttons. Arrow shaped button, shopping cart button and so on, or make some of your own. Making a smart interactive button is simple in Dream weaver. Select insert-interactive Image-Flash Button. From the window that opens select different button style by looking at the preview image below. Customize the button the way you want it by adding the name of the button, the Font color and font size, then specify the URL that the button has to link to. The button is saved with SWF extension you can preview the button in your browser to see if it looks the way you want.

DHTML or Dynamic HTML offers some cool effects that could make your Web pages stand out click? Or your page to load with a transition Effect? DHTML will do this for you along with other little tricks. After you've built your Web page, from the menu bar, select Format-Dynamic HTML Effect. A tool bar appears in the work area. Choose an event from the first drop down list.

Most of the effect toggle Meaning if there was a font change on click, another click will change the font back to what it was before. However, some effects are one-time like the disappearing act of an image or button .you select 'fly out' from the effects list for this . On 'page load' you could have the selected text drop in word by word, or hop in, spiral in, zoom out, and so on. This is especially useful for advertisements or parts of the page that you want to draw the user's attention to.

You've made an animation using Image Ready-may be a twin of position, opacity or effects or a manually placed and manipulated animation backwards? No need to re-twin or manually place the frames backwards; simply click on the little arrow in the animated palette and select Reverse Frames. You can also create a rubber band effect by copying the forward sequence (small arrow > copy Frames), pasting it at the end of sequence (small arrow > Paste Frames > 'Paste after selection ') and then, by selecting the newly pasted sequence and applying Reverse Frames on this.

Open the optimize palette in Image Ready with your image open. Set the optimization to what you want-file type (JPG, GIF or PNG), quality (low, medium, high), lousiness, dither and so on while previewing the result in the "optimized" tab of the main in the Optimize palette. This creates what is called a "droplet" that contains your optimization settings. Save this droplet anywhere you want, say on your desktop.

Now drag the folder containing the images to be optimized onto this droplet. All the images in the folder will get optimized the way you specified. This may take a while depending on the number and size of the images in the folder. You can also drop images one at a time onto the droplet.

Say you're working on a Web page for children about the different parts of ancient castles. You would like the parts-dungeons; moat, guard towers, and so on-to have precise rollovers and links so that the information is conveyed correctly. Rather than slices such an images and allot links, use image maps, select the polygon Image Map tool in Image Ready and outline the part you want to talk about precisely.

Despite the cable Internet connections and high-speed modems, Web graphics are still limited speed-wise. The sites that load fastest and work most efficient have well-optimized graphics .GIF images are generally good for line drawings and illustrations while JPG ones are best suited for photographs.

We're all familiar with banner ads that we see all over the Web, a strip with an image and text that changes into another and another conveying some information. Clicking on this ad takes you to the site that the company is advertising for. You don't have to use GIF Builder or any other graphics software to animate such an ad. You can make it easily using Front Page.

This feature could also be used you want to share a few photographs coiled also be used when you want to share a few photographs or images but don't want the images to be save-able on the cline's side; right-click will not work on these images. Although the images may be found in the cache, at least they won't be able to be copied directly.

Making use of few important points can make a website look more cool and quicker then even the user have expected.

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About the Author: Kyle Newton is a professional internet marketing specialist and can launch and manage your complete web presence from Web Design to internet marketing and offers a free SEO E-Book download at his site.

Designing A Website That Sells

by: Nial Robbins

Would you buy meat from a grocery store that left the bad meat in with the good meat or wasn’t clean? Would you buy a car from a sales lot that had totaled automobiles on the front lot? I wouldn’t and neither would you. Your website is your grocery store; your car lot. You must have an atmosphere that is pleasing to buyers. One that tells that buyer that you are not an amateur, but instead a trained, seasoned professional. Your site is a direct reflection of your product and that is why that having a well designed website can make or break your sales.

The first thing to keep in mind when designing your website, is “surfability”. Take a few minutes a look around at several web pages. What makes them appealing? Were there some that you closed out of immediately? Why? Take notes and do your research. Keep in mind that when a person visits your site they have a goal in mind. They are either seeking information or shopping for a product. Give the person what they want without having to search for it. Be sure that all the information on your site is relevant to your product. Make the buyer think that they need your product to solve their problem.

Your main page serves a very specific purpose. It should be an avenue by which the customer can shop your site. It should be easy to view and load very quickly. This is your first impression and we all know that first impressions can either close the deal or loose the deal. Make it simple. It is best to have links that are easily viewable by the reader that will navigate them to where they want to be. Tables are often a great choice when deciding on a way to design the main page of your site. Your main page should load very quickly, chances are if it takes the page more than ten seconds to load even on a 56k modem, the customer will click away to save time, hoping to find the information or product elsewhere. To increase the loading speed of your main page you should avoid large graphics or excessive graphics. To many banners or special effects can cause a page to load slowly as well.

To make your web site more appealing to the eyes, you should stick to mild colors. If your site is a content site where the user will be doing a lot of reading, it is best to stick to black and white. Color can be added when using tables, as a way to brighten up the page, but remember to keep the overall look of the page professional and appealing to the audience that will be visiting most often. Since screen resolutions vary among monitors, it is a good idea to set the pixels to a standard 800x600. You may also choose to set the tables in your web page to span a percentage of the page rather than a set number of inches. This will be sure to accommodate all screen sizes. You should remember that a lot of Internet users will not use the same browser as you, and therefore you should be sure that your site looks as good on other browsers as it does your own. You can do this by downloading several browsers through which to look at your page.

Be aware of the fact that the overall look of your website is a way to make money. The appearance of the site, if designed properly, can be an excellent marketing strategy for your product or service.

About The Author

Nial Robbins can help YOU start your own profitable business on the Internet within the next 24 hours... To learn more, visit: http://www.NDR-HomeBiz.com/pips.html.

Tips to designing your own website

by: Bernice Ly

As the rate of information technology increases, many small business owners and individuals are now aiming to increase their communication and business with the use of the Internet. Some of the benefits of the Internet is that people can frequently improve their knowledge, be critical, and analyze new concepts and developments. Not only does the Internet provide an opportunity for people to access new and foreign knowledge, but people are also given the opportunity to share knowledge through the use of creating their own websites or visiting chat rooms.

The concept of building a website may at first seem to be foreign to the less technologically inclined, but once the basics of website building are mastered, then the concept becomes routine and easy to handle, especially with updates. However, the building of a website does not only involve conquering technology, but also the design of your website will largely affect how many visitors will stay on your site and the amount of information that is consequently attained. For example, a website that is offensive in their use of language or ideologies, or even which has unsuitable colors will deter viewers from going to the site. Below are some tips that need to be taken into consideration when building your website.

TIPS:

1. Make sure the color of the text on your website is not too bright and is suitable for the content of the website. For example, if you are designing a website to talk about the death penalty, a pink background with yellow text may not be the most appropriate format.

2. The pictures or images that are presented on your website also need to be taken into consideration. A website incorporating cartoons and pictures of Barbie but which is aimed at mature age people in the content may not be as successful. Remember, when people go to a website the first thing they will see will be the graphics, and just as easily as getting to the website, people can just as easily go to another website.

3. Make sure the links that you put on your website are relevant to your content. Although advertising is permitted and incorporated into some websites, too much advertising and propaganda will act as a deterrent and may compete for the attention of the viewer. Also, although advertising may pay for the cost of maintaining your website, remember the initial purpose of designing the website and don’t let in-your-face advertising overtake your valuable content.

4. Although most people feel that a website is made more interesting when there are graphics on the site, do not put in too many graphics and make the size of your website too large. Viewers can become frustrated if a website takes too long to download and will go to another website.

5. Remember to reference everything that you have researched and include a bibliography or a list of references. Do not plagiarize. Plagiarism can have consequences if you are an academic, or you may be liable for court action if it is too serious. Remember to indent long quotes that you may have gotten from a person or from research. Acknowledge help and all your sources.

6. Be mindful of different ideologies and cultures. Colors for backgrounds may have significance to the content. However, in another culture it may have a completely different meaning and may be misunderstood.

7. Ensure that the content is concise and attractive to the viewer. The content of websites can be written in formal as well as informal language. This will depend on the target audience and what you want to promote. For example, a person who is aiming at a teenage market may want to use less formal language, however, if you are aimed at academics or mature age people, correct referencing and research as well as formal language will be better appreciated.

8. Ensure that the links that are put on your website work and that your website is easy to navigate. For example, endless links that go nowhere can cause frustration and deter people from your website. Information that is not concise or inaccurate can cause misunderstandings. Hence, check all information before you put it on the website and check your links before you publish the website.

The building of your website can be a challenge at first, but the rewards are that many people will have the opportunity to share in your knowledge and communicate with you in relation to your ideas. For entrepreneurs, websites have the ability to promote your business and also ensure that consumers have the ability to gain better information about your goods and services.

About The Author

Bernice Ly is a technical writer working at M6.Net: ‘The web-hosting company for humans.’ M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Designing Your Website For Affiliate Marketing

by: Jude Wright

If you want to be successful as an affiliate marketer, you have to have your own website. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it does need to look professional.

Have you seen those websites that are completely filled with banners? I call them banner farms. How many of those banners do you think that YOU would click on? Enough said!

Now that you know that you need a website, how do you get one? The first thing you need is a domain name. Ideally, it should contain the main keywords of your website's topic. But, you can start with using your own name - or a variation of it.

You will also need website hosting. Somewhere your website files can reside. There are many web hosting companies, but be careful that you get one that is reputable. Ask some of your online acquaintances who they use.

What about the design itself? I believe that simple is best, especially when you're not quite sure what you are doing. All you really need is a nice header set in a simple template.

One of the most difficult tasks for a new affiliate marketer is to learn how to create and maintain his or her own website. But, there is software available these days that makes it almost easy. You can also use Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is pretty expensive, and difficult to learn, for a beginner. You could also host your website with a company that has a "Site Builder," complete with design templates, included with the package. You just point, click and type in your content.

Some affiliate programs will provide you with an affiliate website that you can promote. The problem with these sites is that there is no way to build your own mailing list. Building your list is the number one reason you need your own website.

If you really believe that it's impossible for you to learn how to "do it yourself," there are many designers that you can find online that you can hire to do it for you. However, you still should learn how to add your content and affiliate product html codes yourself because it can get very expensive to have a designer do it for you.

You can do a Google search for "website designers" to find someone. There can be quite a difference in their fees so do a comparison among them. Look at their design portfolio and then make a list of the top ten (or so) companies or individuals that you are interested in. Record their fee, what all is included in their design package, and their contact information. Contact them to see if they are responsive to your inquiry. Compare them and then choose - carefully- the one you want.

In the long run, it doesn't matter how you get your website built, as long as you build one. It IS necessary to your long-term affiliate marketing success.

About The Author

Jude Wright is an author and webmistress of 30 websites. Subscribe to her newsletter, "About Affiliates Ezine," at http://aboutaffiliates.com for information about how to succeed with affiliate marketing. Visit http://judewright.com/XSitePro.html for an easy way to create your own affiliate website.