Design Help

Simple URL Mask to Hide Affiliate Links

Here is a neat little trick that is easy to do and will mask those ugly affiliate links. This method is a simplified version of what I had made when I created the Build a Niche Store v2 URL Masking Mod. You remember, it was the first url masking to be coded for Build a Niche Store and is surprisingly similar to what the developers ‘created’ and released months later in v3. What a Ko-inky-dink! This trick is for any link you want to mask, if anyone using BANS v2 wants to know how to incorporate this into their stores and mask all those eBay links just let me know and I’ll post the instructions.

This little program here simply hides all your affiliate links, pointing them back to your own site. When a user clicks on the link the program filters the correct response and sends them on to proper website with your affiliate link. There are many other ways to do this but I like this one because it only requires one file rather than making a seperate file with a redirect for every link. It is much more efficient and keeps the clutter down.
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Basic BANS Customization with CSS

The most asked question I ever receive is How do I change the colors?!?!. Build a Niche Store works the same as Joomla, WordPress and etc when it comes to Basic Styling. The design is built off of a CSS Style Sheet. Learning the basics of using and working with CSS will go along way when it comes to working with different platforms on the internet.

This area provides some basic BANS Customization Tips through Css. We will walk through many of the most common Build a Niche Store styles and what needs to be changed.

Please Select one of the following to get started:

• Change Background Borders and Colors
• Edit the Sitename in the Header
• Remove the Sitename from the Header

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Creating an Inline Horizontal Menu with BANS

Many people think that when they use Build a Niche Store they are limited to only using the Category and Page Menus as they display by default. This is not true. By default both menu types will display vertically for use in the sidebar. But what if you want the menu to display horizontally and above your products? This can be done! It is jut a matter of changing the ID used for the menu and adding some new CSS Style to control the look of the Menu ID.

This will open up a whole new area of display and design options for your Niche Sites. You can no longer be limited to the stale old look and having to find ways to “arrange” everything in the sidebars around your menus. By using this very simply modification you can create menus just like the one I use above, with page navigation inline above your category menu. Also, just like on this site, you could display the same menu inline and again in the sidebar if you wanted.

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Creating a Mouse Over effect with the eBay (or any) Image

Sometimes it is just the little things that can really set a site apart from the others. Having just a simple little variation in behavior or looks of anything, even something as small as the eBay Image used in Build a Niche Store can mean the difference between a click through and a possible commission and the user losing interest and leaving. I was asked about doing this in the forum and thought I’d go ahead and post it for everyone.

Although the title and instructions are for creating a mouse over on the ebay.gif used in BANS, this can be applied to any image anywhere on your site. I’ll add some additional instructions below on how to accomplish this.

There are a few easy steps you will need to do in order to make this happen. For those that are not quite sure what a mouse over effect is, run your mouse over the ebay image below. The steps I took to make this image flip in this post are the same as listed in setup 2 below.

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CSS Color Code List for developing Niche Stores or Websites

Sometimes the hardest place to start in developing your niche is choosing that first color to build off of. Making your store visibly appealing to the general public is the first step in retaining the visitors that stumble across your site. Lots of times we just seem to just get stuck mentally on the same old "sets" of color schemes. I always seem to find myself changing the colors over and over trying to come up with something that is just right.

In order to help me, I decided that being able to "see" different color options was more beneficial than trying to "picture" them. So here is a very long list of CSS Colors I compiled to help with building and designing your niche stores. These colors can be used for any color field in the Style Sheet (style.css).

When you find the color you want just copy the six digit number in front of it and place that in your style sheet.

Have Fun!

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