professional look/copyrights/English

[Chris]

Hi,

First I grab the opportunity to thank Rosalind and others for the inspiration they gave in setting up a business of your own. The book 'superaffiliates' is fantastic! I would never have started something like that without someone showing me that it is possible. Now I have belief desire to put it in practice!

Question 1: professional looking site
My website is almost finished. No affiliatepartners yet but the content is ready. Now I feel myself a little scared. When I look at it is seems a little amateuristic. Aren't there simple tools and tricks to make it look more professional? I'm testing my first website so I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars/euro's for design. I first have to see if it works and generates traffic.

Question 2: first partners
How are the experiences with first partners? Because they will see a website with no other merchant.

Question 3: how to safeguard copyrights
How to arrange that? I really don't know but I don't want hassle with pirates claiming to have the copyright on my written subjects etc.

Question 4: English
I don't know anyone who can check the site and give the English a native look. How to arrange that, is there help for that? I'm not a native English speaker. I'm Dutch and I'm a little scared to be rejected by companies because of language mistakes.

Thanks and I appreciate this forum

[Will]

Hi Chris,

1) Feel the fear and do it anyway! It's perfectly naturally to feel a little apprehensive the first time you try something new, but it's just another thing that you'll get over. Without being able to see your website (and I don't suggest you post it's URL in a public forum), I can only think that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. As long as your website is presentable, legible and doesn't distract from the important bit i.e. the content then I don't think it will be an issue.

You mention generating traffic in a question about design. I hope you're not thinking that only pretty websites attract traffic! If someone isn't aware your website exists then it won't matter how ugly or pretty it is they will not visit it! If a tree falls in a forest does it really make a sound? Of course it does! It's just that no one is there to hear it just as no one will know how your website looks unless you do something to get them to look e.g. pay per click advertising.

2) It's going to depend on the individual merchant, but then why would a merchant turn you down just because you don't have any existing partners? As long as you cause them no harm or cost them anything then they seemingly have little to lose. I'd say, just ask!

3) Generally, you automatically get assigned copyright as soon as you create something (as long as it's not a derivative of something else with licensing restrictions).

As for protecting your copyright, if it can be seen then it can be copied. There are measures you can take to enforce your copyright and make it more difficult to copy your content, but there are usually pro's and con's involved.

A good tool checking whether or not your website content is being copied on another website is http://www.copyscape.com. The website also provides information about what to do if you find someone is infringing your copyright.

4) Your grasp of English is a lot better than a lot of native speakers I know! The are plenty of proof reading services available. As well as getting recommendations, you could try searching on Google or posting your requirements on somewhere like http://www.elance.com.

You'll achieve a whole lot more by taking action that a million other affiliate wannabes who dream the dream, but can't be bothered to walk the walk.

Good luck!

[callie47]

Hi Chris

There is a "Review my Site" thread in this forum that you could feel reasonably secure posting your url for members of this forum to have a look at your site, and comment. There are a number of website developers in the forum, myself included, who have been trained to develop good looking websites and give you hints on what you could do to improve the look of your site. Even though I'm a website developer by trade... I still use templates... why re-invent the wheel? They save me a ton of time and you can use them over and over again with minor modifications to tailor them to a new theme.

Whether you hard code your site or use a template... it's always nice to have others opinions to help improve your site.

Best of luck!