Hi, and WELCOME to the 1st March 2015 blog post on AidanBooth.com!
Today’s blog post is a case study where I show you exactly how to build two professional websites in two different niches for White Label Amazon products.
Before we dive into the White Label websites, here are a few personal and business highlights from the past month…
Back in Buenos Aires…
February was a bit of a ‘transition’ month for me on both a personal and business level.
On a personal level, we shifted from the French Alps back to Buenos Aires (Argentina) at the beginning of February.
After a year on the road, and several months of winter, it was great to return to the Summer sun of Buenos Aires and enjoy red wine and giant steaks with friends and family.
Business News
On a business level we hired a HIGHLY talented UK based Project Director who will be managing our China office and also leading a number of new service initiatives we’ve been working on for some time now.
This is a big deal for us.
Although we already have a team of 25 who work for us, this was a key role we’ve been looking to fill for a long time and not quite as simple to fill as other roles we have in our business.
Hiring Western talent is not cheap, but it can make a ginormous difference your business, and we expect this will be HUGE help for in 2015. We’re excited about how this will open more doors for YOUR business.
If you need “feet on the street” in China, soon we’ll be able to help!
The other big thing that happened in February, and this was my personal highlight of the month, was the trip to Las Vegas to kick off The Blueprint Academy class of 2015.
For Steve and I, being able to meet face-to-face with internet entrepreneurs and being able to sit side-by-side to help people build their online businesses is the most rewarding and satisfying part of our entire business.
Nothing beats it.
When I got started online about a decade ago, it never occurred to me that one day I’d be teaching this…the teaching part has turned into a real passion for me and I’m enjoying it more and more.
I’m extremely grateful to YOU for being here and reading this.
I’m grateful to all our email subscribers and customers who make this possible. Without you, this simply would not be a reality in my life.
Two ***NEW*** Demo Websites…
Ever since I released the ‘Dissecting Amazon Products’ post in September 2014, more and more readers have been requesting information about how to build simple, attractive and effective websites for White Label products (products sold on Amazon).
Today I’ve prepared TWO demonstrations for you that show in simple step-by-step instructions how to create “brand websites” for your physical products.
These Are PERFECT For Amazon White Label Websites!
Here’s the finished result of the first demo website:
This website is a hypothetical brand I’ve set up, called ‘Travelotrix’.
Check out the live website at http://www.travelotrix.com
For demonstration purposes, imagine that this is a brand that sells travel related products such as bags, neck pillows, scales etc.
And here’s the second demo:
BackyardSmarts.com is also a ‘pretend’ brand that I’ve set up (just for demonstration purposes). If this were real, it’d sell tools, gadgets and accessories to use in your backyard and garden.
You can see this website at http://www.backyardsmarts.com
Fast. Easy. Responsive.
Both designs can be installed and setup in less than 30 minutes.
Both are extremely user friendly, both are mobile-friendly (responsive), and both can give your brand the professional image that it needs.
Demo #1: Executive Pro
The first demo is built using the ‘Executive Pro’ theme, here’s the start-to-finish setup demo:
To make it easier for you to use this demonstration video, I’ve included timestamp information below:
- 1:45 – Installing the theme
- 3:00 – Deactivating plugins and installing new ones
- 4:24 – Setting up a custom menu
- 5:20 – Inserting a menu into the homepage
- 6:15 – Creating a product page
- 10:00 – Setting up the homepage slider
- 11:45 – Setting up the Featured Pages section
- 13:50 – Setting up the ‘Call to Action’ section
- 14:45 – Setting up the Features and Benefits
- 16:08 – Excluding pages
- 16:31 – Inserting the Features and Benefits section
- 18:20 – Setting up the footer section
- 19:02 – Creating another custom menu to show products
- 20:20 – Removing a menu item
- 21:18 – Testing the responsiveness of the theme
- 21:55 – Where you can get this theme
- 22:10 – How to change the color scheme
- 22:40 – Other ways to use this theme
- 23:07 – Setting up the post sidebar
Executive Pro Theme Setup Steps
And here are the general setup tasks for the Executive Pro WordPress theme:
- Install WordPress
- Delete/deactivate all plugins
- Upload genesis.zip
- Upload executivepro.zip
- Activate Genesis and then Executive Pro
- Create a custom menu (top right). To put this in the top right, go to widgets and drag “Custom Menu” into the top right section
- Install the Genesis Responsive Slider plugin, and activate it
- Create pages that you’d like to be shown in the slider image (ensure they have featured images selected)
- Insert page ID’s (select to INCLUDE them) into the Slider Settings for the page your want to display – can also use posts
- Setup the Featured Pages section in the ‘Home – Top’ widget area (3 page previews below slider)
- Use Genesis Featured Page widget in ‘Home – Top’ section
- Set title
- Set to show featured image to 300×100
- Set to show page content of 140 characters
- Setup the ‘Home – Call to Action’ widget section
- Add Featured Pages to ‘Home – Middle’ widget area
- Add footer widgets
- About Us
- Recent Posts
- Search and tags
- Add some sidebar widgets (posts, pages, signup form etc)
Executive Pro is not a free WordPress theme, but after doing a lot of research I decided to use it as one of the ‘demo themes’ because it ticks all the boxes and is extremely easy to use.
Click Here to Get The ‘Executive Pro’ Theme
Note: The link above is an affiliate link (so is the one for the 2nd theme demo). We’ll make a small commission from each referred sale.
Demo #2: Enfold
The second demo is built using the ‘Enfold’ theme. I like this theme EVEN MORE than the Executive Pro theme, because it has a very very cool ‘Advanced Editor’ which allows you to build any layout that you want – it’s VERY flexible!
Here’s the step-by-step tutorial:
Here’s the timestamp:
- 0:00 – A look at what we’re about to create
- 0:50 – Uploading the theme using FTP (Filezilla)
- 1:45 – Activating the theme
- 2:00 – Deactivate any active plugins
- 2:25 – Setting up the LayerSlider
- 8:05 – Creating the Homepage
- 8:22 – Using the Advanced Layout Editor
- 11:52 – Removing the sidebar
- 13:35 – Linking to your Amazon.com product
- 16:33 – Customized the Promo box
- 17:15 – Setting up the testimonial section
- 20:11 – Setting the new page as the Homepage
- 20:26 – Setting a custom logo
- 21:17 – Removing the page title and breadcrumbs
- 21:41 – Creating a product page
- 24:24 – Creating Contact and About pages
- 25:03 – Creating a customized homepage menu with dropdown boxes
- 27:24 – Setting up the sidebar menu
- 27:40 – Setting up the footer widgets
- 29:56 – Checking the website in mobile format
Click Here to Get The ‘Enfold’ Theme
Enfold Theme Setup Steps
Here are the setup tasks for the Enfold wordpress theme:
- Install WordPress
- Upload and activate the Enfold wordpress theme
- Delete/deactivate all plugins
- Setup the Enfold Slider
- Slider Width = 1400
- Slider Height = 500
- Add slide images
- Add text layers to slides
- Set text transition effect
- Add a new page
- This will be the homepage
- For the demo, I called it ‘Backyard Smarts’, my brand
- Use the Advanced Layout tool
- Create a layout with the following areas
- Advanced Layerslider
- One 1 layout element with a Text Block inside
- Three 1/3rd layout elements, each with an Icon Box inside
- Four 1/4th layout elements, each with an Icon Box inside
- One 1 cell layout element with a Promo box inside
- One 1 cell layout element with a Testimonial box inside
- Set No Sidebar in Page Layout section
- Set homepage in Enfold Settings
- In the Enfold settings page, hide the Title and Breadcrumbs
- Create About and Contact pages
- Customize the Footer widgets
Can You Use A Free Theme?
Sure! I haven’t found one as easy to use, as customizable, and as ‘white label friendly’ as these two paid themes though.
If you do use a free theme, expect it to take longer to set up, and be less customizable. My advice is to do it right the first time, and leverage one of the options shown above.
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Before I wrap this up, I want to recommend one last thing… DOWNLOAD my Internet Marketing Passive Profits Cheatsheet!
You can get it by clicking the button below:
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Leave A Comment!
I’d love to know what you think about this, and also help answer any questions you may have. Leave a comment below!
Thanks for reading,
Aidan
Just what I needed Aidan! Thx!
Great, glad to hear that Jim!
Excellent content as always Aidan, I’ve watched the first tutorial video and it’ll be easy for me to replicate which is great. Will watch the other video tomorrow. Do you have a preference between the two themes?
Hi Jason, there are things I like about both themes… I love the flexibility of the Enfold theme, it has some very very cool options. Executive Pro is probably slightly simpler, but also very very good. Thanks for commenting!
Great content. Do you have a favorite plugin(s) you use for Amazon links or do you build them all manually?
I just build them manually Rod. I’m sure there are plugins out there, but I like to keep it as simple as possible.
Great!. Thanks for the information. I would like to know more. I like that first theme. How can I get it.
There’s a link to the both themes in the sidebar, and also in the post. The link for the first theme is: https://www.aidanbooth.com/executive
I now have two products up on Amazon, one is selling about 10-15 units/day, the other is new and is about 2/day. These are not in the same niche. Would you recommend I make a Company website, or two brand websites? Thanks for the info Aidan!
I wouldn’t worry to much about your ‘company’ website Janet, as it’s unlikely people will actually look for that, and you’ll probably struggle to focus this specifically on one brand. Instead, I’d build two brand websites like the ones shown in this post. Thanks for commenting, let me know if you have any more Q’s! Happy to help!
I’ve been using a free theme you showed us in eFormula Evolution program, but will switch to the Executive Pro having seen this. Are there any special plugins you would use for contact pages etc?
Hi Sarah, there are a few contact form style plugins, but in reality, unless you’re getting 20-30+ visitors per day, I wouldn’t worry about using these. The general rule of thumb is to “keep it super simple” until you have a strong reason to change anything 🙂
What are your top 5 plug-ins for WordPress? Ex. wp-super cache, pretty link.
Do you track clicks from the site to amazon?
Hi Robbie, top 5 would be:
1. WP-Super Cache (for instantly increase load speed)
2. Pretty Link Lite (for tracking links)
3. Akismet (for spam filtering)
4. Tiny MCE Advanced (for formatting text)
5. Lead Pages (for the nice ‘lead box’ optin forms you see on this page)
There are lots of other plugins that are also useful, things like ‘All in One SEO Pack’ (for SEO optimization), ‘Exclude Pages’ for menu customization, ‘Duplicate Pages’ (for quickly cloning pages) etc. If you’re interested, I could do a post specifically about these at some time…
Also, I’m testing a new lead capture plugin right now on this site, will let you know how it goes 🙂
Aidan –
Yes, a post of your favorite and best plugins and themes would help me a lot. The problem I always run into, is there is so much information out there, who do you listen to, and who has done it right. Also, which ones would you pay for and which ones do you use the free versions
Thanks
Elliot J
Sure thing Elliot 🙂 Let me work on something… I think as a general rule of thumb, I find it’s best to break things right back to the bare bones. Go with the most simple solution and not to over-complicate… but I fully understand your dilemma 🙂
I COMPLETELY get the free vs paid thing as well… it is hard to know for that!
Hi Aidan,
Very helpful content. Would you recommend using shopify themes/platform for an ecommerce store?
Are you able to also provide a video tutorial on driving traffic to your own ecommerce store, rather than just directly to the amazon product page?
Thank you so much!
Hi Sofina, Shopify is great for the right person, but it’s over-kill for what most people need. Unless you have a product line with multiple products, I don’t think you really need to go to this extreme. Also, Shopify has a fixed cost each month which for someone who is starting out is a bit unnecessary in my opinion. It really depends on what your goals are though. if you JUST want something to showcase your brand and link to your Amazon listing, I think WordPress is fine.
I do have a product line, would I better off listing it on Amazon for other people like you to sell, if so, what would be the way to attract people like you. I am using open cart and I am about 70% done but I am having to learn everything as I go so it is taking forever.
Hi Joe, I’m not quite sure what you mean by “listing it on Amazon for other people like you to sell”? Are you looking for affiliates to sell your products?
If you’re struggling to set up your website, I’d recommend paying someone a small fee to do it. For $50-$100 you’ll find lots of quality tech-minded workers on places like elance.com, freelancer.com etc.
Great stuff Aidan! Thanks for this!
Hi MJ, thanks for commenting! You’re welcome!
Great stuff, Aidan. Thank you!
I’m interested to learn more about China Aidan. Any idea when you’ll have more info about the “feet on the street” help?
I’d say we’ll have more info for you in the next 3 weeks Bill… stay tuned 🙂
This was good and everything but it would have really helped if you could show me how to set up a shopping cart instead of linking to Amazon. Thanks, anyways.
Hi Joe, thanks for commenting. The whole point here is that it doesn’t (for most people) make sense to set up a shopping cart. For most people it’s overkill… I would avoid doing this unless you’re selling a lot of units each day, or have a large product line. I’ve taken note of your suggestion though and will look to do something in a future post.
Perfect timing with this blog post! I love your training Aidan, you have a simple way of teaching that I find very easy to follow (you speak very fast sometimes though!). THANKS THANKS!
You’re welcome Claire! I’ll work on my speak-speed 🙂
Hey Aidan,
Been awhile, thanks for the post. I have the elegant themes, is there a theme in there line that would compare to either of these? Also did you give up on AP. I have noticed you seem to be going away from that theme. Also, what do think of PressPlay? They have a lifetime license deal going right now, and I am thinking of buying it.
Hi Randy, great to hear from you! I don’t know much about Elegant themes to be honest… there may well be something of use though. I haven’t given up on Authority Pro, I’ve just kind of moved on. I’m sure AP still has a lot to offer 🙂 Press Play is excellent. We use it for many of our videos on authority sites etc.
Hi Aidan,
As my comment was not approved because I suggested an alternative website builder, could you give some feedback or thoughts on it anyway to me in private, if need be.
Roger
Hi Roger, I didn’t see your comment… are you sure it was submitted properly? Please reply to this comment with the info and I’ll check it out!
Sorry Aidan,
I just assumed my comment was not approved. I have seen this website builder being promoted and it’s seems very impressive, I just wondered what your views were: prostylertheme.com
Roger
Hi Roger, thanks for reposting this. Prostyler looks interesting. I’m sure it can do everything that is required, I just don’t have any personal experience with it… sometimes all the bells and whistles complicate things.. worth considering though 🙂
Hi Aidan
Thanks for sharing the build process for two of your favorite themes.
I want to drive traffic to an opt-in page and offer a free item in order to capture email addresses for an autoresponder. Three questions:
1) Should my Optin page provide a link to my amazon product page or my website that will then provide a link to Amazon?
2) Should my Optin page just be one page on my brand website or should it be a entirely separate?
3) Where best to host my pages to support the above strategy?
Thanks, Bob
Hi Bob!
The best thing to do is to give the free item information in either:
A) The thank you page after people sign up (or after they click the subscription confirmation link)
B) An automated email that goes after they click the subscription confirmation link
Provide the details about what you’re giving on the optin page, but don’t tell the reader how to get it until they have opted in. Hope this makes sense.
One page on your brand website is fine.
All the cheap shared hosts are pretty much the same. Host Gator, Host Monster, Blue Host.. any should be fine 🙂
Hope this helps, comment again if you need more clarification.
Thanks for this. I keep buying themes at all price points but the tutorials never really get you there in terms of set up. I could follow your video and get a passable site set up. I was thinking about e commerce themes also but you really helped on that by answering some questions above. Great info for me.
Great Jerry, happy I was able to help!! 🙂
Congratulations Aidan, you have the ‘knack’ of being able to simplify this subject complete with a soothing voice.
Thanks Michelle!!! I really appreciate the feedback!!!
Aidan, building first WP site. Where will I find an image like you have on the Product Page in this demo with a big Amazon button, credit cards underneath & 100% Guarantee?
You can get images like that from places like Veer.com, 123rf.com, or any other stock image website. Hope your site works out well for you!
Thank you!
I’m missing something. I used ftp and the file is still zipped and unseen by wordpress. Please tell me how to get enfold to run.
Thanks,
Steve
Hi Steve, you need to UNZIP the folder before you upload it 🙂
TY for helping me. I looked closely at your video and saw a directory file that I don’t see in my download. Please tell me where to find it.
Thanks again,Steve
Hi Steve, it’s very hard to say without actually seeing it… they do have some good tutorials and help videos though, check these out: http://www.kriesi.at/documentation/enfold/
Oh Yes! I feel dumb but you have been patient with me. The instructions you directed me to worked perfectly and all is well.
A heart felt THANK YOU!
Great, glad to hear that Steve!!! 🙂
Hi Aidan,
Please tell me how to obtain free images. I signed up with dreamstime and it looks like I need to pay.
Did you create your testimonials?
I pay for images on veer.com or 123rf.com most of the time. You can often get them free on Wikipedia though, just need to check them. Regarding testimonials, absolutely NOT!! 🙂
Thanks for the information and advice!
Hi – thank you so much – I haven’t build websites for a while and this is a great and easy refresher! My problem : can you tell me the correct image size for the page photos please. Also I have a central image in the slider page, but some is covered by the txt on the left (that I like) but then there is a white space on the right where the photo ends.
Which theme are you using Liz?
Sorry – I can’t see the link to the code for the call to action box? The green “Visit us on Amazon” sign..
Here’s the code Liz: click here for the code
Hi Aidan, great videos and info! You guys have said previously to have a squeeze page for ecommerce sites along with an amazon listing. I have the domain name, etc. but now am wondering about A – squeeze page (to get a list) B – one of these WP sites C – Shopify site. Squeeze page seems the smartest but now you have me second guessing myself. Any thoughts? Sorry if you’ve already answered this. Thanks again!
Hi Mike,
In the absolute simplest form, a squeeze page is fine. What would be better is one of the websites shown above though… I think Shopify is probably overkill for you, unless you have a significant product line and are already do lots of sales on Amazon.com.
LeadPages is a good option for squeeze pages, and they have videos showing how to se them up. Alternatively the demo’s above show you how to create a WordPress website.
Hope this helps!
Thanks so much Aidan! I’m just starting out (getting my first samples shipped to me this week). Cheers! 🙂
Awesome, great job Mike!
Hello Aidan
I have purchased the Enfold theme, looks great.
My question though is, I can’t seem to find an opt form inside the Avia Layout Builder?
What is the best way to add an opt in form?
Thank you.
Hi Leigh, you could just insert an Aweber form manually… you can insert this into any of the layout boxes you want to…
Hi Aidan,
I had one more question in regards to the Enfold theme. This may be a ridiculous question but I just don’t know the answer 🙂
I will purchase Enfold for some Ecommerce site(s) – am I able to use it for a few different domains/sites that I have? Or is it 1 time for each 1 website?
In that case, are there any good WP themes for just a landing page? I’m thinking of changing an existing WP site for my real estate activities to a opt in page to collect emails and send free gifts/auto responder series for some future r.e. consulting.
Whew, sorry about the long message. And thanks so much for helping so many of us – MUCH appreciated Aidan!!
Hi Mike, you can use it for as many websites as you want! 🙂
Regarding landing pages, Enfold is actually a good option, alternatively you can use things such as Lead Pages as well.
Thanks Aidan, that is the answer that I wanted to hear!
I would love to do Lead Pages but I will go with Enfold for all of my sites to keep costs down and stay simple while starting up.
Thanks again – you are such a big help!
Mike 🙂
Happy to help Mike!!! 🙂
Hi Aidan,
It’s Mike again – last question about Enfold 😛 I ordered it through your affiliate link and am setting it up. I’m wanting to use it as a landing page for 2 separate digital marketing pages that I’m starting up – can I use Funnelizer Pro with Enfold? I’m assuming yes, but just want to check on the functionality of that plugin with that theme. (I’m a newbie, so grateful for Fiverr!)
Thanks again Aidan!
Mike
YES! Funnelizer Pro should work fine with Enfold 🙂
Aidan,
Great Tutorial, can you share the code you used for the call to action button for the executive theme?
Thanks
Roger
Aidan, as usual you give a concise, easy to follow, step by step explanation… a great tutorial which saves heaps of time hunting around trying to find information on this bit and that bit… Thanks!
Aidan,
Why do you advise deleting/deactivating plugins at the start of theme setup? At what point should they be reactivated?
Thanks
Fran
It’s a good idea to minimize the plugins you use on a wordpress site to the bare minimum. Each plugin you add will slow down your site and can add security risks as well (if not well designed). Hope this answers your question Fran!
I tried to check out the sample sites and it looks like they were both hacked.
Will get this fixed ASAP..
Hi Aidan I hope you are good.
I got my Genesis Executive Pro and i have uploaded my site. I have created a page and pasted the image on the top with 700 x 378 pixel and some contents for test. I also shifted the image into the home slider- Genesis Responsive Slider and i clicked to slider setting. I followed what you have did such as i input the right page ID then i pressed save.
I found out the slider didnt effect into my landing page and there is showing a black frame in the left, below the logo with the title only, and without the image and the content…..
Please advice if there have any solution
Thanks and have a good day.
Hi Peter, this demo is 2.5 years old now, some little things might not be exactly as I showed previously. I recommend just asking this question to the guys who support Executive Pro, they’ll be able to help you 🙂