I have been spending most of my time lately building Build a Niche Store sites. That’s why my posts have been fewer and farther between here. The software is seriously so much fun and so easy to use. Also, using tips from Blogger Unleashed, my sites are indexed fast and already bringing in a healthy amount of organic search engine traffic - especially for brand new domains.
Until I start making a decent amount of money, though, I don’t want to spend any more money on this venture unless it is to buy more domain names to build more sites. In my situation, I needed to find some free tools to create professional-looking custom headers to match the professional stores that BANS creates. A custom header can make all the difference when it comes to really creating a trustworthy, professional storefront. In my dreams, I pay David Airey to create all my custom headers, but, as I said, this article is about free tools.
To create my custom templates, I use three free tools. These are very good tools, not some hokey-pokey got-it-free-from-a-reseller-site crap. As you try these tools out, you will find that they are filled with great options and you may even find you like them better than their often-overpriced counterparts.
It’s Like Photoshop … but Without the Scary Price Tag
The first free tool I use is the GIMP graphic editor. It is open-source and feels and works a lot like Photoshop. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but once you get to know it a bit you’ll realize that with the right add-ons and knowledge, you can do anything with GIMP that you can with Photoshop. I started using GIMP last year when I installed Ubuntu Linux on my laptop and ended up a total convert. Given their nearly-identical feature sets, I would choose GIMP over Photoshop any day simply because it uses much fewer system resources so it never makes my other applications slow down or hang altogether.
Search Engine Optimization Made Simple
The second free tool I use is an application called WebCEO. This application might seem like it has nothing to do with headers, but it really does. You will want to watch your stats very closely when you add a custom header to make sure you haven’t de-optimized your site by removing any keywords. Let me explain that a little better. You see, out-of-the-box, a BANS site asks you to determine the site title. It then uses this site title to populate your header. When you replace this header, the site title is in the way so you need to delete it. Sometimes this can affect your search engine rankings because you have removed some keywords. With WebCEO, you can keep a very close eye on your rankings to be sure they haven’t suffered because of your customization.
Let me be clear on this, though. If you have the money for Keyword Elite and SEO Elite, then those are the applications you should be using for this. I’m on a very limited budget right now so I haven’t yet purchased those tools. There is a paid version of WebCEO that might be a viable competitor for the other paid applications, but I haven’t tried it so I can’t vouch for it. For now I have found the free version suits me just fine. The application is just packed with search engine optimization, keyword research and all kinds of other killer tools to help you set up and keep track of your site’s rankings. The WebCEO dashboard is intuitive, so you probably won’t even need to read any user guide files. Each tools in the application walks you through a step-by-step up customization process so there is no guessing involved. And you only customize the tools as you begin using them. This means the setup time is very minimal and I just take a few moments to customize the new tool options as I need them. WebCEO connects to the web on a regular basis to update search engine information so you will always have super-fresh statistics.
Free, Fresh Fonts
Finally, sometimes you just get tired of the fonts you have. While you don’t want to go overboard or use these fonts outside of graphics, picking up some new free fonts can really spark your creativity and make a header look really great. The sites I use for free fonts are Simply the Best Fonts and 1001 Free Fonts. It is very easy to get lost in these sites for days because there are so many cool fonts to look at. The key here is to get in, quickly find a font you like and get out. Also, keep in mind that an overly garish or crazy font can make your website look amateurish and this can seriously kill your crediblity and, thus, your sales. If you aren’t sure if a header is overdone, then just assume it is and simplify. Better safe than broke.
As I have shown and explained on this site many times, I’m not a cheapskate. Yes, I love free tools that do great things, but I’m also not against paying for applications that are worth their price. A great example of this is BANS. Another is the PC Secret Formula. These are products I bought and really love. The thing is, I have to keep myself on a budget right now. I’m not a guru-millionaire, I’m just slowly working my way toward a respectable online income. If that’s where you are right now, then you can understand why I write these articles sharing free options for paid tools. If I had unlimited tools I would most likely buy the paid application. But I don’t. And I am very thankful for those programming folks who create these great, free options.
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[...] IMAO wrote an interesting post today on Build a Niche Store: Three Free Tools for Creating Professional HeadersHere’s a quick excerpt I have been spending most of my time lately building Build a Niche Store sites. That’s why my posts have been fewer and farther between here. The software is seriously so much fun and so easy to use. Also, using tips from Blogger Unleashed, my sites are indexed fast and already bringing in a healthy amount of organic search engine traffic - especially for brand new domains. Until I start making a decent amount of money, though, I don’t want to spend any more money on this venture unless it [...]
[...] is seriously so much fun and so easy to use. Also, using tips from Blogger Unleashed, my sites ahttp://pajamaprofessional.com/2008/05/09/three-free-tools-for-creating-professional-headers/Fees for `.org’ domain names to increase 10 pct San Francisco ChronicleWholesale fees for Internet [...]
Building a nieche store is very good for maximazing your income.
Good to see you have your BANS sites up and running now though. Have you managed to see any activity on the commissions front yet? Also, thanks for the links, some useful little tools.
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I keep trying Gimp. I just can’t seem to get it to do what I want. I’ll figure it out someday.
Linux will really start to take over when a few commercial developers like Adobe take it serious and make regular programs available.
I also just tried Ubuntu (running it off an external drive) and I am impressed. I would feel very good recommending this to someone looking for a inexpensive option.
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how are you doing with BANS? I have not yet tried it out but will get to it soon
I too am busy building bans sites. What a incredible tool. Thanks for the suggestion on Gimp, I’m going to give it a try.
Fresh idea, I should try this.
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Too much good stuff in the space of about 500 words. I’m trying out WebCEO right now. I hope it works out. I’m really new to all this. Those BANS sites seems a little too easy. I’ll keep checking back to see how they are doing so be sure to blog about them!
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All the things are getting so professional and people are really getting robotic. That is good in one way and bad in other way, anyway…. thanks for the information.
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I’ve been using gimp forever now and I love how it works. It’s still not as good as photoshop, but it has many useful features. Nice post!
I’ve not used BANS yet, but I have been building some sites with phpbay. Have not seen much traffic and profit yet from these sites, but I am building them some aged domains that should help. How are your BANS sites doing? Any good progress yet?
Oh yeah, thanks for the fonts link…should come in handy.
I’m curious … which bells and whistles of Photoshop do you find missing in The GIMP? Other than the GUI ( which is pretty sweet in CS 3 ! ) I haven’t really found it lacking. There are even some things that it beats PS in, hands-down. They’re probably all esoteric ones, but true 16-bit histograms, and the like, can be invaluable in challenging photography. In CS 2, the curves adjustment was a dialog box with a spline; in CS 3, they seem to have borrowed the idea to show a histogram in the background from the GIMP.
You might give Paint.net a try. It’s open source freeware for Windows, designed to mimic Photoshop Elements. It does a decent job … this one really is missing a great deal, but it has the basics. The two things it does better than GIMP, in my ever so humble opinion, are resource utilization on the PC, and having a user interface that doesn’t intimidate.
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