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Your splash page is your first page in your store.  You will know that it is your first store page because the URL will end in /store/Default.asp.   For this page you will want to have some sort of 'Welcome' message, and some content about your products.  This can be images of your products as well as text.  Images are good visually for the customer, but text is even better as it will be 'seen' by the search engines.  So make sure your content is rich in keywords about your site.

However be careful here, as you will want to find a balance between too much and too little information.  You want just enough to entice your buyers to look some more, but too much information can put them off.  A buyer does not want to spend alot of time reading.

It is also important to make this page about your products, and not make it too tempting for visitors to click away from your site.  This means that any banners, links, or ads that lead to another site should be kept to a bare minimum.  If you feel compelled to have some on this page, or are required to, make sure that it is coded so that the link will open in a new window.  Generally speaking, you should keep any outside links on Links Pages, the Links Directory, or on another page that you have created specifically for this.

Now that you are a little more the wiser as to what you should have on your splash page, how will you create it?  Normally, when your site is issued to you, it is set up using the normal Splash Page editor which is an HTML markup text box.  In this box you can type your text as it is.  You will find though that your page may look rather dull and boring.  You can spice it up a little if you know HTML.  Your documention will have a link to a page of common HTML tags that you can use for this.  So if you are somewhat familiar with this, or are willing to learn it, you can create a nice looking Splash Page.

But if you find this a little daunting, maybe your best bet is to switch to the You Create It Splash.  This will use a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor to create your Splash Page.  If you want to use this, you will first need to go to 'Configuration', and click on 'Master Settings'.  The top portion deals with what you want to show for your Splash Page.  Select the one for the You Create It Splash, and then scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.  Click Submit to save your change.

To start creating your Splash Page, go to 'Configuration', and click on 'You Create It Splash' in the left column under Master Store Mode.  Basically you will enter your text into the editor window, and use the options in the editor to change the colors, font, font size, alignment, and much more.  I will discuss and go over some of these options in another tutorial.