I have been developing in .NET for a while but am brand new to developing for DNN--chomping at the bit to get started, really, but am having a frustrating problem:

I downloaded and installed DNN 7.0.0 on my local machine just fine.  I have a site up and running, and have been able to add modules from the DNN Store just fine.  I have a working copy of Visual Studio 2010.  I downloaded both the Getting Started package from DNN and the Christoc templates--and this problem happens just the same with both of them.

I follow the directions to create a new module that I've found in a book or in numerous web tutorials--they're all essentially the same. I create the project in VWD, make the tweaks the instructions call for, and do a release build just fine. Then I go into Host->Extensions->Install Extension Wizard, pick the file and...

Doesn't work.  Tells me it's not a module, walks me through a bunch of questions that basically say "what you're giving me isn't a module."

When I compare it to other modules I've downloaded, the .zip file is laid out vastly differently--and doesn't include the .dnn manifest file.  In the VS project properties I've tried all of the options in the 'Items to Deploy' dropdown, with no change in the effect.  The entire project folder does get packaged up, but it's many layers deep in the .zip that is created.

All of the tutorials make it seem very easy. What am I missing?

ps--I kept playing while writing this post, and discovered that with a significant amount of rearranging of the .zip file VS creates, I can get it to almost work...if I pull the near-deepest folder (which is the project folder, basically) out of the zip and make it a zip of its own, then DNN will install the package.  However, the {my module}.dll file is missing, so I have to copy it out of the \bin folder into the root, but the DNN says that it doesn't match the manifest.