It\u2019s always a good idea to start out with a clean piece of paper and a pencil so that you can draw out a rough sketch of what you want your landing page to look like.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are creating an affiliate website take look at the product vendor\u2019s site and other similar sites. <\/span><\/p>\n

Find what works, and what doesn\u2019t work on these sites and try to find areas where you can create additional value for your landing page. <\/span><\/p>\n

Decide on the look for the header, body content and positioning of forms and banners etc. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then look for a free html template which most closely fits the look and feel of the landing page you want to create. <\/span><\/p>\n

The advantage of using a template is that it will have a style sheet.ccs file, page layout, menu buttons and theme colouring. <\/span><\/p>\n

One thing to check is the width of the template.\u00a0 If you\u2019re an affiliate site you may want to a theme that closely resembles that of your product vendor.\u00a0 Size can also affect the placement of body content and to resize a template takes a little more time add some css scripting knowledge. <\/span><\/p>\n

HTML Tools:<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

I find that there are very few tools that provide all the features that I like and therefore I use a number of tools for creating html web pages and editing graphics. <\/span><\/p>\n

For this project I am going to be using KompoZer and Microsoft Visual Web Developer for HTML editing and Gimp 2 for creating a new header image.
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Tip: Don\u2019t get \u201chung up\u201d by the technical aspects of this project. The easiest way to learn is to not think about the code, or graphical issues, just break the project down into its small component parts.\u00a0 This way the \u201chow to\u201d will reveal itself as you progress with the project. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tip: Don\u2019t try to reinvent things, always look for something that you can copy and improve upon. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tip: Use the http:\/\/www.w3schools.com website as a comprehensive guide to website scripting
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Summary: <\/span>
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In this blog we have covered the groundwork for defining functionality of a landing page and how we want it to look and feel. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now you should at least know what to look for to find an HTML template that fits your requirements to kick start your landing page project. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tip: it\u2019s easier to remove features from a template than to add new ones in.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the next blog I will cover creating a header image, adding body text, forms, banners, links and SEO scripts. <\/span><\/p>\n

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