« Design Dashboard- the Best Place to Start

Four years ago, when I put up my first web site to market coaching (applying my new business knowledge along with my counseling skills), I  signed up for a hosting service with a site builder program available as part of the package. I wanted to have a web site quickly and I didn’t want to have to learn how to program HTML. The site builder worked and I still have that site today. As I became more aware of internet marketing sites I wanted more control over the design and function of the sites I was creating.

I’m an amateur at web design, really. I took a Front Page class five years ago but never really got to use it. I finally got my own copy of FrontPage last year and quickly become completely frustrated trying to create something that was close to what I envisioned. I started looking for templates on the internet that could be plugged in to FrontPage. Did I mention that I’ve been trying to do all of this on a shoestring budget? The templates were not up to my standards and design sensibilities. Hiring a professional seemed out of reach for me financially. I tried other HTML editor programs, like NetObjects Fusion, but I was just as frustrated trying to get what I wanted. Then I discovered the Design Dashboard, created by Marlon Sanders, an internet marketing wiz.

The Design Dashboard is a sweet little web program the helps complete novices to get any web site up and running with “dummy proof” step-by-step instructions. The Design Dashboard is especially useful for new internet marketers because the steps also walk you through writing sales copy and setting up everything you will need to build your list and make sales. Each step is laid out simply and clearly in the Dashboard. Clicking on each step takes you to well written instructions, video tutorials, resources and even free graphics to get you started.

The biggest confusion I had when I first saw the Design Dashboard was that it is NOT web site software. The Design Dashboard in a series of tutorials, cleverly organized to keep you engaged, moving forward and not overwhelmed. The information in the Design Dashboard will help you find all the software you need to follow the instructions if you don’t already own it-including an HTML editor similar to FrontPage. Most is either free or can be obtained for a nominal cost. The Design Dashboard makes heavy use of Adobe PhotoShop Elements and shows you how to download a free 30-day trial. I was so impressed with the usefulness of the program I purchased it after the 30-day trial.

I’ve added many more tools to my belt since the Design Dashboard, but the part the I find the most useful is the instruction on Adobe Elements, especially the how to create graphic headers. Today, even though I use several different platforms for content management, I still use this technique to create graphic headers and other graphics. Web Biz Diva, of course was created using the Design Dashboard technique.

Thanks to the Design Dashboard I learned many of the basic skills required to create effective sales pages and other types of web sites. It is an excellent place to begin as an internet marketer.

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