LESSON #30: Using Web Authoring Software

By | January 11, 2009
164 Comments

In the past couple of lessons, I showed you how to build a basic website with HTML and upload it to the web.

But what if you don’t want to become an HTML expert and write your website code from scratch?

One solution for you would be to use a web authoring software program…

(Watch this video…)

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Main points:

  • Web authoring software (aka. HTML editor) helps you build a website

    For example…
    -Microsoft FrontPage
    -Adobe Dreamweaver

  • I recommend XSitePro which is a hybrid HTML editor/ site builder/ site management platform.

  • Free option:

    NVU (old version)
    KompoZer (recommended) – http://kompozer.sourceforge.net

    (see demo using KompoZer on video)

  • WYSIWYG HTML editor (such as KompoZer) enables you to build a site without writing any code.

    Action step:

    1) Decide if you would like to use a web authoring program to build your site.

    2) If yes, choose a program and start using it.

    In lesson 27 I covered several different methods of building a website. If you’re not yet sure which method you want to use, I recommend reviewing that lesson.

    We’ve covered the first two methods so far. Next on the list are templates and site builders, and I’ll be covering those in the next lesson.

    As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 🙂

    Have a great day!

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    • 164 thoughts on “LESSON #30: Using Web Authoring Software”

    1. Eric Post author

      In general I would agree, which is part of why I don’t usually use WYSIWYG. I also prefer the clean clode, and beleive the SE’s do too.

      The worst is if you create it in MS Word and save it as an HTML file. MS Publisher is also bad in that sense.

      KompoZer isn’t too bad though, it’s pretty clean.

      Reply ↓

    2. Pingback: LESSON #31: Using Templates and Site Builders | Eric’s Tips

    3. Tora

      Hi Eric,

      Great discussions. I like Xsitpro2 very much but the problem I just found that it can not build PHP base Dynamic Landing page. Please advice if there is way to build PHP base Dynamic Landing page with Xsitepro2. Will highly appreciate your help. All the best.

      B.Regards,
      TORA

      Reply ↓
    4. Tom

      Hi Eric,

      I love your lessons they really help a non techy like me. I was wondering when you will be giving the lesson on WordPress? That’s what I’m trying to learn now.

      Thanks,

      Tom

      Reply ↓
    5. Valentin

      Hi Eric.

      I’m a novice don’t know much about internet marketing.
      I need an Outsourcing service to help me out plz connect me with one.
      I’ve things to read educate myself about :building list,traffic,building website,videos…
      Best regards,
      Valentin

      Reply ↓
    6. Rush Young

      Hi Eric, I just had to say that every time I hear the music that starts and ends the lessons, I am waiting to see Fred Sandford and LaMont come driving through in their old pickup. A lot of you may have no idea what this means, I guess you may have to be at least 35, sorry. By the way, LOVE the lessons, you are a very good teacher!

      Reply ↓
    9. dawn

      i was wondering if any one has heard of synthasite.com. some one mentioned it in a forum so i thought that i would check it out. its a free website that you can change unlike the website i got when i joined home cash course, which you can only promote. I was wondeing if this was a good place to get some practice for a newbie like me before i start buying domain names and web hosting. i still want to get my own site though. thank you for the lessons. i am following them and cant wait to get to the end. thank you for what you are doing because most people with your knowledge would charge a lot for it. thank you again for all that you do

      Reply ↓
    10. Kaz Fisher

      Just bought XSitePro and I LOVE it! Thanks Eric. You’re a star.

      Reply ↓
    11. Don

      Hi Eric,
      All I can say is W@W! If there were more money in it, you should have been a teacher. I have spent hundreds of dollars on crap lessons about HTML and PHP. These little 5-10 minute lessons are much more valuable. This proves, ONCE AGAIN that the most expensive is not necessarily the best. THANKS a bunch!
      Don

      Reply ↓
    12. Jean Joseph

      Erick, I learned a lot from your tutorials.It is really amazing to listing to you.I don,t understand: your perseverance, your patience and time to teach people free of charge.Why do you do that?
      Thanks a lot.

      Reply ↓
    13. Eric Post author

      Thank you, I really do want to help people. Also I am monetizing these lessons through some product recommendations. Also I will be selling them in the future 🙂

      Reply ↓
    15. Theresa

      Hi, Eric,
      I’m completely new to internet marketing and have been learning a lot on my own (reading blogs like yours and other info from other marketers that I’ve picked up here and there over the last several weeks.)
      I’m very curious to know your opinion on SiteSell.com (Site Build It! specifically). Is there any benefit from programs like this, or is it better to just keep working on my own — and Why? for either position.
      Thanks very much.

      Reply ↓
    16. Eric Post author

      I’ve commented on SBI a few times. Generally speaking, I do not recommend it. I would rather get my hosting and everything seperately, and have full control over my website. One stop shops like SBI can be OK for newbies, but such systems generally don’t allow the level of freedom you will want once you know what you’re doing. In general I would not want to build a business on a proprietary platform.

      Reply ↓
    17. Theresa

      Thanks very much. And sorry. I’d tried to search your blog for commentary on Site Build It!, but I guess I did it wrong.
      So, any website someone puts together with SBI is THEIRS (i.e. SBI’s)? If you decided to move on a year later or whatever, you have to abandon your website with them?

      Reply ↓
    18. Eric Post author

      No problem… and actually comments do not show up in the search results for some reason. Maybe I need to find a plugin for that 🙂

      I do not think SBI would own your content. However, it could be very difficult to move your site elsewhere.

      Reply ↓
    19. Theresa

      Oh, I see. Thanks very much. I’ll keeping learning internet marketing on my own then with the intention of building my own business as soon and as successfully as I can.

      Reply ↓
    20. Elliott

      Eric,
      I need help singing into the web traffic machine program.Can You Please Help

      Thanks

      Reply ↓
    23. Anne

      Hi Eric,
      I have been out of action for the last 8 days but now back on deck and working very hard to catch up. Thank you for all your emails, have a great day. Will talk to you again soon.
      Best regards,
      Anne.

      Reply ↓
    24. L C

      woo hooo! So far I’ve been able to follow all the steps up to this lesson. I’ve downloaded filezilla, nvu and kompozer and did manage to upload a very simple “Coming Soon” index page. I think my next step is to backtrack a bit and get more proficient with these programs. I’m struggling with what I want to present on the page. My main goal for this website is to help me build a list of eco minded clients and offer the infoproduct I’ll learn how to build from the lessons. Beyond that my mind isn’t very clear on how to progress.

      I want to thank you again Eric! I’m so excited to have a .com website, even if it just says “coming soon” at the moment!

      Reply ↓
    25. robert

      i signed up for ohloh yesterday when i got on my computer it was still downloading is this right or what?i’m going to check out komposer today and word press today.thanks micah for your help paul got back to me same day srevice wasn’t excepting that.i’m looking forward to his tutourial.i’m waiting for a lesson on clickbank assocate program will it be part of this training?i look forward to these lessons and comments its like being at school with classmates its good when i see someones website and i know whos it is from class then i can recomend it to people knowing they will get an honest deal.you teach more than just how to sell or develop a product you also show how a good person can suceed in marketing with out underhanded tricks taught by most other so called gurus.its good that you have micah to help you with these lessons when your off or tending to other matters family is always important.keep up the good work guys

      Reply ↓
    28. Claudia

      Hi Eric,

      I’ve got Dreamweaver, but will familiarize myself with Kompozer and XsitePro too. It’s nice to have knowledge of a few tools, I think.
      I’m still thrashing about trying to find a niche that is interesting for this project.

      Reply ↓
    29. kenny

      Yeah Eric!! You are far too kind. Thanx for the great revelations. you have succeeded in making me a potential millionaire in internet marketing. And I’d love to pay you back and also learn more by purchasing some of your materials, but its pretty hard for me cos I’m based in Nigeria and I cant access paypal…Is there any other way I can do this?? thanx a lot.

      Reply ↓
    30. Arlan

      Hi Eric,

      Can I directly post an article in my website without informing the author but I will acknowledge him/her as the author of that article?

      I’ve already done a website in the the wordpress but when I saw you doing it on the kompozer.sourceforge.net I want to try it also there, will it be alright or wordpress is better?

      Reply ↓
    31. Eric Post author

      It depends on where you got the article. If it’s from a site like Ezine articles, where the articles are intended for syndication then you don’t have to tell the author, as long as the credit is intact. But if it’s just from someone’s website, you better ask their permission.

      The site method/platform is really your preference. I prefer WordPress for most applications. One of the very few things I generally don’t use it for is sales pages.

      Reply ↓
    32. Richard

      Hi Eric, great video I have been using My freewebsite builder program from Ewan Chia. Totally easy to use and has not let me down. In fact I learned to understand the html coding using this program. Has tutorials as well. I recommend this WYSIWYG editor http://www.myfreewebsitebuilder.com
      Gracias.

      Reply ↓
    33. Lea

      Great Video once again Eric. Does Kompozer let you make an opt in box? It seems that when I enter my Aweber Code it doesn’t show up as an opt in. Also, how would I link to other pages, for example if I want to make a website with 3 or 4 pages consisting of a contact page, sitemap and privacy policy?

      Reply ↓
    35. dickson

      Dear Eric:
      I have look (only peruse and listen but have no hands on experience)into the methods of website building.On the other hand there is the Incomedia X5 evolution software which i saw on the free dvd of a british magazine PC utilities or was it computer shopper,I wrote to them,and yes also to Incomedia which i think is also british,i got no replies except a short response from the latter to try out the free trial. That was months ago,Now i struggle to come up with a website but i wish it would be easier and well, the Incomedia people made it look simple but thats advertising; i don’t want to end up with w software that looks deceptively simple but may come out formidable and just too technical. What do you think of the Incomedia x5?
      p.s. Eric I am very very grateful for your unconditional lessons/tips they are equivalent to their weight in gold; I can’t repay you moneywise but just wait when my income begins.Moreover, i have templates from Killer presell templates as well as from Niche review templates..but cant seem to get started and going. Your golden advice is most appreciated.
      Thank you very much,
      dickson

      Would you kindly please send me a quick note when you do reply,will it be in your newest installment of eric’s tips?

      Reply ↓
    37. dickson

      Dear Eric:
      The website is: http://www.websitex5.com or http://www.websitex5.com/en/buy.html

      I brought this website builder up for your examination since there is a free trial period and the features are streamlined and neatly tucked in so to speak. In any case your evaluation of the capabilities of this software is highly appreciated since our objective is eventually to upload or published our website and earn income. Thank you for your response and hope to hear from you soon.
      dickson

      Reply ↓
    38. Eric Post author

      It looks interesting. In my opinion it does not look as good for marketers as Xsite Pro 2, but if you try it be sure to let us know how it works for you.

      Reply ↓
    39. louie

      Hi Eric,

      I am trying to download the komposer, unfortunately i can’t open it because the file name is kompozer-0.8b1-src.tar.bz2. How could i make it kompozer.exe?

      Thanks once again.

      Reply ↓
    40. Eric Post author

      You need to unzip it first. Try doing a right-click ‘extract all’, or else try navigating into the file and then copying and pasting it’s contents outside of the file. If you need a zip program you can get one for free at http://www.7-zip.org

      Reply ↓
    41. Alaa

      Hello,

      I am using wordpress for my sit and There is an image with an affiliate link that I want to put in the side bar, so I used (front page) and linked the pic with the link and copied the source to the text widget of my site and by using the filezilla I uploaded the pic (with the same name as in the html code) once in the folder called (images in the public_html) and once again directly in the (public_html) folder. But when I open the site it does not appear.
      I do not where is the problem, my site is (bodybadodor.com).

      Thanks

      Reply ↓
    44. Eric Post author

      I wish I could tell you but I am not familiar with PageBreeze. So if you have any input please let us know 🙂

      Reply ↓
    45. make own music

      Hello Eric… I am using Dreamweaver, and I think it is a very good html editor. I am also using WordPress and Joomla somtimes.
      Thanks for the tip with the free html editor.

      All the best,
      Arne

      Reply ↓
    46. Juergen

      hi Eric
      that was a cool lesson for me, as I was kind of messing around using front page to no avail, just didn’t know how to make use of it, thanks to your lessn I’ll be able now to may be get some thing going the way I like it.
      thank you so much
      Juergen

      Reply ↓
    47. Casper

      Hey Eric,
      I love what you’re doin. Where were you when I was strarting out back in ’07? Goodness! I’d wasted so much money on programs that didn’t help but further confused me 🙁 Only started to make money last year and managed to quit my job by June… yey!

      Reply ↓
    49. hana

      hi Eric
      this video is realy greate,and i wana thank u
      4 giving these valuable information 4 free,
      but i download the kompozer and its not runing
      it keep showing a popup box which say:
      (js3250.dll was not found) what can i do?

      Reply ↓
    50. Eric Post author

      It sounds like your Windows is missing that dll file. If you do a search for it, you should be able to find it and install it.

      Reply ↓

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