Tampa Site Build It Group
(Sorry this group is no longer meeting)
Some Tampa Florida area SBIers have formed an offline (and online) group to help each other with our sites. We meet twice per month to discuss Site Build It! and online marketing and how to make our SBI! businesses more successful. We have over 30 members with more coming all the time.
If you'd like to join this group we'd love to have you. It's entirely free and not sponsored in any way by SiteSell. We meet the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at the Tampa Bay Computer Society Resource Center in Clearwater Florida. Here's a link to a Google Map for how to get there.
This page will provide an ongoing resource for members of this group. Come here to learn what we have talked about and to find links to resources we have discussed. This page will constantly be updated as new ideas and resources are added.
Join The Meeting Online
If you can't make the meetings in person we broadcast the videos online. ยป Go to this page to join us on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at 1:00 PM EST.
Here's a link to the meeting video recordings...
Online Meeting Room
You can also attend the meeting via an online conference format via GoToMeeting.com. There's a limited number of "seats" available for these so contact me if you are interested and I will give you the details. Also feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Meeting Format
The format for the meetings is evolving but so far this is what we have come up with...
- The mission of each meeting is to offer help in the "pay it forward" spirit of Site Build It! Forums. Everyone is encouraged to contribute. Everyone is welcome whether they are a beginner or a seasoned Webmaster.
- We will meet on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at 1:00 PM at the Resource Center (see above for directions).
- During the 1st Sunday meeting we will discuss beginner issues and the 3rd Sunday we will discuss more advanced questions.
- From 1 PM - 3 PM we will have a group presentation via an overhead projection system. Typically we will start with a group review of someone's site.
- As we determine specific subjects of interest we will also cover them during this period.
- From 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM we will offer help on a 1-on-1 basis for specific questions or "humps" that members are having difficulty with. Anyone who knows the "answer" can offer to help. Again the "help and be helped" spirit of the SBI! Forums is the goal.
Our Group Website
We are developing a group website together. The idea is we can all contribute and learn as we build the site. It's built on the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) and we'll use the Site Build It! Action Guide as the process we will follow. We chose WordPress because it makes it easy for everyone to collaborate. The site is called www.website-building-workshop.com. Come join us and learn as we help each other build the site.
Answer The Poll >>>>
To the right you'll see two polls. The bottom one is for what beginner subjects you'd like to see covered in the 1st Sunday meetings and the latest is for what advanced subjects you'd like to see covered on the 3rd Sunday meetings. Please help and answer the polls.
Resources We've Discussed
We'll be adding links to various sites and resources as we find them. If you have suggestions please let me know via my email.
Links To Recordings of Meetings
The meetings we have on Sundays are now being recorded. You can view past meetings by going to the page below.
PowerPoint Presentations
Below you'll find the PowerPoint Presentations given in our meetings. Right-click to download them to your computer.
Monetization 2 - The M-P-T-C Model
Monetization - Intro to Affiliate Marketing
Online Marketing - The Big Picture
How To Connect With Your Visitors
Rick's 3-Column, CSS Template
I have a template available that works well for folks who want to begin to upload their own HTML to SBI!. Learn more here.
Link to get Kompozer
This is a basic WYSIWYG HTML editor. Seems to work OK and we will be using in meetings to discuss HTML and CSS. Here's where to download it for free.
Learning HTML and CSS
The World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) sets web standards for the Internet. They have an amazing site for learning not only HTML but also CSS, Javascript and other languages. Click here to go their schools site.
Lynda.com is my favorite learning resource. You pay a monthly fee to have access to all their training videos. They've got them on HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, Shopping Carts, and just about anything you need to learn to build a great site and become a professional webmaster. Click here to go to their site.
Getting Stock Images
Great images create credibility for you on your site. Here's some sources for inexpensive but quality images...
Photo Editing
Getting your images formatted correctly for your site can be a problem if you don't have something like PhotoShop. You want to keep the file size as low as possible so they will load quickly but you also want to retain maximum quality.
Here's some online sites that can help.
There's a program for Windows users called Image Resizer on this site. Thanks to Jack O'Connel for this tip.
Building Link Popularity and Link Exchanges
This is a subject that we will be talking more about in future meetings. Lori Krout suggested a good site for learning more about the importance of inbound links. Go here to learn more.
Don't forget about Value Exchange as well.
Site Build It! Tips
The Tips and Techniques Headquarters page is filled with articles to help with specific tasks to grow your Site Build It! site. It's filled with awesome information and it's the best place to get answers to those humps we all hit once in a while... but be ready to do some reading. Go here to get to the page.
AJ's Template
This is a good way to make the transition from Block-Builder to uploading your own HTML and using CSS especially if you want to do it yourself. If you need some help let me know. Go to this page on AJ's site to learn more.
Google Analytics
Everyone should have Google Analytics on their sites. The reporting is much deeper than what comes with Site Build It! and the graphics are very cool. And it's FREE!. I know it's what SiteSell uses to track all of their pages. Go get it here.
Building An HTML Sitemap (Table of Contents) Page
Larry Both has created a page to help with how to build a page like this. Here's his page.
Here's a place I found that will automatically build a Sitemap HTML page for you. Not perfect but could save a lot of time if you already have a lot of pages. Click here to go check it out. Larry has reported a problem with this so be sure to check your code well before using.
And there's also a great article on the SBI! Tips page about sitemaps as well. Thanks to Susan Mathews for this.
Toolbar For Checking Sites
Lori Krout mentioned this toolbar as a great way to check your own and other site's Page Rank, age, Alexa score and other SEO factors.
Click here to go check it out.
The Computer Society Meeting Area
Here's a little background on the Tampa Bay Computer Society Resource Center so you can understand the great facilities we are getting to use.
This group is a PC focused user group with a meeting building with 5 different rooms...
- A large gathering room with about 30 chairs and an overhead presentation set-up so you can project your computer to a large screen. They already give classes here. This room also has broadcast capabilities so our meeting could be broadcast over the Internet. Cool eh!!!
- One computer lab room with about 12 computers all set up and connected to the Internet. (there is wired and wireless Internet throughout so you can also just bring your laptop)
- A repair room with 4 more computers where people can bring their PCs to get fixed for free. This is one of the User Groups most popular features.
- An audio/video room where people can use equipment to convert VHS movies to DVD and records can be converted to digital format. I think there is video editing capabilities too.
- A kitchen/break room where you can get coffee and soda and whatever.
If you can swing it we highly recommend and encourage people to join the Society. It's only $40 per year and includes many other services like free PC repair and lots of classes on developing your computer skills. I guarantee you'll feel like you're getting your moneys worth. Click here to go to their site.
Member Web Sites
Here's a page of links to Member's Web sites. If you don't want to be on this list let me know. If you want to have your site added please also let me know.
