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Add Your Own HTML Page
The Add Your Own HTML Page section allows you to integrate Web pages
that you build with your HTML editor (ex., FrontPage, DreamWeaver,
etc.) into the full back-end automation and power of Site Build It!.
Site Build It! is able to "do it all" because every single aspect of the
site-building process, including the actual building of a page, is under its control
when you use SBI!'s block-by-block SiteBuilder.
However, there is no way for SBI! to know how every HTML editor behaves.
So there are certain integration guidelines to follow if you want the
"best of both worlds" (yes, with SBI! you can now have your
"monetization e-cake" and "HTML-eat" it, too).
A couple of caveats before we begin...
1)
Because we cannot support HTML pages built "outside" of
SBI!'s SiteBuilder (more on this below), we recommend this feature be used
only by those who are comfortable with HTML coding, and adept at the use of
HTML editors.
If you are new to HTML editors, if you need some "training" to learn how
to build a proper Web page that works, please use the
block-by-block SiteBuilder. You'll find it simple to use, yet
flexible enough to accommodate all but the most complex design
requirements.
Thousands of Webmasters and small business owners
have already built thriving, successful online businesses with the SiteBuilder.
Many SBIers become so adept at using it, that they continue
and build massive sites with it.
Others find it a bit clunky,
and it can be if you don't master the storyboarding technique
(more on this elsewhere). So, once your "training" is complete,
you will be able to make a smooth transition to a simple-to-use,
best-of-breed WYWIWYG (if you never want to learn any HTML) or
text-based (if you do) HTML editor.
More on "transitioning" later.
2) All successful SBI! sites are built upon the solid foundation of research and preparation outlined in DAYS 1-5 of the SBI! Action Guide. Most critically, the use of your own HTML editor pages does not diminish the importance of the preparatory work required for a successful site.
In other words, SBI! is not magic. For any site to be successful, the proper research must be done. For example..
- Your keywords must be brainstormed, researched and analyzed for profitability (i.e. the perfect blend of low supply and high demand) during DAY 3, and your theme (and topical keywords) must be tweaked during DAY 5 "just right".
- Monetization opportunities and other potential revenue streams should be investigated during DAY 4, before you begin building your business. In other words, know what you are going to do with your traffic before you start.
It's all part of the SBI! Ready-Aim-Fire process. So many doomed-to-fail companies start out FIRE!... Ready-Aim.
The above are, of course, only two examples of the sort of leg-work that goes on before any successful Web site makes it into cyberspace. So...
Should you opt to skim over the Action Guide, or even worse, ignore it altogether, you are compromising the long-term success of your business. While you'll still retain all the unique functionality of SBI!, you won't achieve the results you desire.
If you have reached this point, you have a thorough understanding of
the key points to DAY 6 (at least) of the Action Guide, and you also comprehend the risks of deviating from a system that works.
To use your own HTML pages in SBI!, all you have to do is build them using your editor, on your computer, and then upload it
onto our servers in this section.
Three Important Guidelines
1) If you want these pages to benefit from SBI!'s power...
Since Site Build It! pages are intertwined with so much functionality (submitting and tracking, SEO analyzing, Traffic Stats and Click Data Analysis, etc., etc.), there are certain guidelines to follow if you want to take
advantage of all that SBI! offers.
Please review the guidelines BEFORE you begin constructing your pages!
2) Flexibility vs. Automation
Since these pages are built outside of the SBI! SiteBuilder,
some of the automation features will not work
(if you do not follow the guidelines).
Some will.
For example, when you upload your page (more on this below),
SBI! does submit, build your Google Sitemap, and track the page, as usual.
On the other hand, if you do not use the "<<NAVBAR>>" tag,
your navbar will not update automatically whenever you change it (ex., when you add another
button or re-order the bar in Navigation Options). So if you create your
own navbar with your own software tool, that's fine -- but SBI! cannot update it automatically. You must take care of that.
WebFTP To The Rescue!
The easy way to handle this kind of issue though, where a NavBar appears on
just about all of your Web pages, is to put your graphical
NavBar into an SBI! Include. When you update your include and
upload it, SBI! automatically rebuilds all your pages.
WebFTP is adding more and more functionality. For example, Re-Upload It!
makes it a snap to upload multiple files.
SBI! is totally database-driven. There is no FTP, which means you'll
adjust how you work a bit. But it's more than worth the change.
More info on why no FTP.
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Bottom line? If you follow the SBI! Integration Guidelines,
you can indeed have the best of both worlds!
3) We Cannot Support These Pages
Since these pages are built outside of SBI!'s block-by-block builder,
we're in a whole new world. There are over 100 different HTML editors, each
with their particular strengths and weaknesses. If the page does not look
right or is behaving strangely, we simply cannot help with this.
Supporting HTML is a whole industry in itself. And it's beyond our scope. However, if
there is a glitch in the page-building process itself, we do, of course support that.
As you proceed through the online help,
you'll get some simple
guidelines for how to set up a page that will work well within SBI!.
If you follow all the guidelines,
and if the page looks and works perfectly well on your own computer,
then it WILL behave exactly the same way when you upload to our servers.
So please refer HTML questions and HTML editor questions to the support team from
the companies that provide your HTML editor and/or graphic software. Or
"help and be helped" at the special SBI! Forum that is
dedicated to HTML...
http://forums.sitesell.com/viewforum.php?f=8
Naturally...
If you have followed all of the guidelines, especially verifying that the page works locally, then please send the actual HTML page that you uploaded
to our support staff via the form at
http://support.sitesell.com/contact-support.html
... and explain the problem, in detail. Our support staff will view that page
in a browser. Please note, though...
If that page does not render properly on the browser, we
cannot go further in support. Why? Because it means that the
flaw is in the HTML, not in SBI!.
If it does render properly but
does not "work" after you upload it to SBI!, then
we'll look further into the problem.
We love our customers and want to help as much as possible. But
HTML (and knowledge of all the editors) is out of our realm. We
know that most Webmasters would never dream of contacting their Web
hosting company with an HTML problem -- it's not realistic...
As much as we'd like to, we cannot support HTML and 100 different HTML editors.
So we have to first verify that you've created a page using your
editor properly, and according to the guidelines outlined herein...
If not, we cannot support that page. But do try the forums
-- there are loads of helpful, knowledgeable people there. And remember...
 Pay it forward by
helping someone else.
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