Like many people, you may have been dreaming of the day when you can start your very own online business. You've got a great idea waiting to explode, and you know that it's going to be a winner. The vision is there, as are the enthusiasm and skills. Now there's just one more thing you need before you can make that dream a reality, and that's a website--your public face to the world.
Building a website can be an exciting experience. However, when it comes to creating a business website, it is very important to look before you leap. Here are a few things to consider before launching your online presence:
1. COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY
When creating your business website, the most important thing to consider is exactly what it is you want your potential customers to know. Before the first page is prepared, you need to clearly outline the purpose of your business, then communicate that information via your website.
Over the years, I've visited countless websites that provide virtually no content at all. When it comes to a business website, lack of information is disastrous.
Imagine for a moment that you need a new pair of shoes. Checking the telephone directory, you find a listing for a shoe shop at the local mall. Eager to find the perfect stilettos, you hotfoot straight over.
Arriving at the store, you are surprised to find that there is no stock on display, no information about what is available, no sales assistant to answer queries, and nothing to indicate how much a pair of shoes is going to cost.
Without a backward glance, you turn on your heels and walk out the door, knowing all too well that there will always be another shoe shop just around the corner.
A scene like this is too ridiculous to believe, right? Yet, it happens thousands of times every single day. Not at the mall, but in the ever growing cyber-marketplace.
If you have a product or service to sell online, then you need to present it in a way that is both informative and enticing. Your homepage, in particular, must communicate your message clearly and grab your visitor's attention. If it doesn't, they will click off the page faster than you can say, "Lost opportunity."
If you lack the confidence to write your own customer-attracting text, it may be worth hiring a writer to prepare it for you. It could make all the difference.
2. POLISHED TO PERFECTION
We've all heard that "you can't judge a book by its cover," but the reality is that we all do--and the same is true for a business website.
When it comes to a personal website, almost anything goes. However, the same freedom does not apply when it comes to business, where the website should be a polished and professional representation of the business or service, while still reflecting the personality of the owner. Many fail to grasp the importance of that first impression. As an online business owner, you will literally only have seconds to capture a potential customer's interest.
If your site is sloppy, slow to load, and generally looks like it was built by your grade school child, it is a fairly safe assumption that you will never develop the successful online enterprise of your dreams.
Today, with the availability of online site builders, there is no reason for anyone to have a site that looks unprofessional. Even without any knowledge of programming or HTML, site builders make it easy to create an online business presence that is polished to perfection. It's as simple as selecting a template and typing in your text. Before you know it, you'll have a website that says to the world, "I'm ready and more than able to serve you."
3. THIS LITTLE BUSINESS WENT TO MARKET
It's amazing how many people go blissfully into business with the notion that they only have to open the door, and the customers will come running. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is a common denominator found in the majority of unsuccessful online businesses, and that is a lack of marketing.
No matter how brilliant your website may be, or how clever your product or service, success will be very slow in coming if you don't take steps to get the word out to the marketplace.
People often tell me that they are disappointed because their new website is not generating any sales. The first thing I ask them is whether they have done any marketing. More often than not, their response is that they haven't really done anything at all.
Building a successful online business takes time and effort. It can take many months, if not years, for a business to develop a reputation for reliability and trustworthiness. However, once gained, that reputation is more precious than gold. Unfortunately, most business owners give up before they ever reach that point.
When promoting your business, the first step is to make sure that your website is optimized for search engines. To do this, ensure that your website meta-tags include the most important keywords pertaining to your business. Keywords should also be included in the title tag.
Once you've done this, and your website is completely ready to be seen by the public, submit your site to the search engines. To do this, you can use the FREE service provided at the following site:
http://www.submitexpress.com
Another excellent site is selfpromotion.com. Here you can gain valuable information on how to market your business. They will even submit your site to search engines if you make a donation to their service:
http://selfpromotion.com
Having your site listed with search engines is essential. However, to get traffic quickly you will need to use a Pay Per Click service, such as Google Adwords and Overture.com (Yahoo search marketing).
Decide on the keywords and phrases that most people would use if they were looking for your service. Then start bidding for those words, making sure that you ONLY nominate the lowest amount available. Google and Overture will suggest a figure, but DO NOT bid that amount. Start small and see how much traffic you can generate. Once you see results and your business begins to grow, gradually increase your bids, if necessary.
When preparing your website and promoting your business, it is very important to remember that every penny and second spent improving your online presence, is an investment in your future.
Ultimately, there are two types of online businesses--those that are website failures, and those that are website winners. Get things right at the start, and your dream business will never become a nightmare.
Tampilkan postingan dengan label build a website. Tampilkan semua postingan
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Rabu, 21 Juli 2010
Jumat, 21 Mei 2010
Building Your Way To Online Success-Part 4
Just as a good business plan relies on a certain number of consistent factors to be successful, so too, does a well thought out and executed website. Your site can provide any personality you wish (i.e. fun, adventurous, touching, professional, etc.), but it’s important to tune your website to the frequency of both visitor and search engine.
For instance, if the purpose of your website is golfing, but the majority of your written material is about something other than golf it may likely provide a disconnect with visitors who are interested in golf (which is why they came to your site). Such a scenario will also reduce your ranking in most search engine results.
Search engines utilize “spider” technology that scrolls through your website looking for those things that connect the content of your website with the purpose of your website. The more often it finds words related to the intent of your site the greater your website will rank. In turn, your website will be seen more often by those using a search engine to find the products, services or information that you provide.
When writing content for your website you should map out applicable ‘keywords’ or ‘key phrases’ that make your site content relevant to your site purpose. So, using the golf example, you might write articles that focus on using keywords of key phrases such as golf, golfing lessons, golf instructions, learn how to golf, golfing videos, etc.
The relevance of your website is important to you, your visitor and ultimately the search engines whose goal is to provide their visitors with the most relevant sites available. Once you determine the target of your website you may wish to visit the following site to assist you in helping to determine which keywords or key phrases are best suited for your site.
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/?mkt=us〈=en_US
The site above allows you to type in the keyword that best describes your site. In turn, it provides you with multiple keywords or key phrases that will assist you in crafting the most comprehensive content for your site.
If you have trouble writing applicable content you may wish to find a content writer who can assist you in research and writing. Hiring such a writer can add professionalism and comprehensive content to your site. Visitors should not be distracted by misspelled words and other errors and a professional writer can be a sound investment in your online objectives. Many qualified writers can also take your ideas and polish them up so you work in tandem with a writer in crafting highly specific content for your site. You should define for any writer you work with what specific keywords or key phrases you require. It may even be beneficial to create several articles that focus on one specific keyword or key phrase.
When adding content to your website, it is important to think ahead. Define your main pages then add simple navigation tools to each page of your site. We will talk more about this in our next article.
Important information should be easily accessed on your website. Visitors should be able to locate pages within two clicks of the mouse. Without navigational structure your content will essentially be useless to visitors who have difficulty locating the material they need.
The primary rule for website development is to ensure that your visitors can click back to the homepage FROM EVERY PAGE OF YOUR WEBSITE.
Please look for Part 5 of Building Your Way to Online Success.
For instance, if the purpose of your website is golfing, but the majority of your written material is about something other than golf it may likely provide a disconnect with visitors who are interested in golf (which is why they came to your site). Such a scenario will also reduce your ranking in most search engine results.
Search engines utilize “spider” technology that scrolls through your website looking for those things that connect the content of your website with the purpose of your website. The more often it finds words related to the intent of your site the greater your website will rank. In turn, your website will be seen more often by those using a search engine to find the products, services or information that you provide.
When writing content for your website you should map out applicable ‘keywords’ or ‘key phrases’ that make your site content relevant to your site purpose. So, using the golf example, you might write articles that focus on using keywords of key phrases such as golf, golfing lessons, golf instructions, learn how to golf, golfing videos, etc.
The relevance of your website is important to you, your visitor and ultimately the search engines whose goal is to provide their visitors with the most relevant sites available. Once you determine the target of your website you may wish to visit the following site to assist you in helping to determine which keywords or key phrases are best suited for your site.
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/?mkt=us〈=en_US
The site above allows you to type in the keyword that best describes your site. In turn, it provides you with multiple keywords or key phrases that will assist you in crafting the most comprehensive content for your site.
If you have trouble writing applicable content you may wish to find a content writer who can assist you in research and writing. Hiring such a writer can add professionalism and comprehensive content to your site. Visitors should not be distracted by misspelled words and other errors and a professional writer can be a sound investment in your online objectives. Many qualified writers can also take your ideas and polish them up so you work in tandem with a writer in crafting highly specific content for your site. You should define for any writer you work with what specific keywords or key phrases you require. It may even be beneficial to create several articles that focus on one specific keyword or key phrase.
When adding content to your website, it is important to think ahead. Define your main pages then add simple navigation tools to each page of your site. We will talk more about this in our next article.
Important information should be easily accessed on your website. Visitors should be able to locate pages within two clicks of the mouse. Without navigational structure your content will essentially be useless to visitors who have difficulty locating the material they need.
The primary rule for website development is to ensure that your visitors can click back to the homepage FROM EVERY PAGE OF YOUR WEBSITE.
Please look for Part 5 of Building Your Way to Online Success.
Kamis, 20 Mei 2010
Building Your Way To Online Success-Part 3
Here is a recap of the content of our first two guidelines for getting a successful business started:
Step 1: DECIDE WHAT YOUR BUSINESS IS GOING TO BE
Step 2: CREATE A WEBSITE
This article will extend the ideas for CREATING A WEBSITE. In the last article we talked about the design of the site which provides a critical first impression with your visitors. Remember, with website design it is better to have no online presence than a lousy one.
As important as the design is, you must convince your visitors that your site is worth a return visit. This is typically done through QUALITY content throughout your site.
A quick tour through cyberspace will show that there are many good looking websites that contain nothing of value for their visitors. These types of sites lack the longevity needed in today’s cyber savvy culture. Style and substance must go hand in hand.
Because content is a key to website development, you must determine whom your target audience is. If your target audience is fishermen, it would make little sense to include Grandma Sarah’s recipe for apple pie. It doesn’t take long to visit a variety of websites that contain advertisements for products that have nothing to do with the website. It is also easy to find websites that contain content that, while interesting, have little to do with the products, goods, services or information the site is expected to provide. When a website owner misses their target audience it leaves the impression that they have little skill in providing the very thing the visitor came to the website for – the very thing you wanted them to leave with.
Once you decide who your target audience is, you need to determine content and direction for your site.
For example, if you are selling fishing equipment, you may want to have other content related to fishing such as fishing tips or fishing locations, etc. You will want to provide content that will keep your visitors coming back for more.
Many site builders have discovered a message board to be an effective tool for bringing likeminded consumers together. You can make this happen on your website with very little time commitment required. Whatever the focus of your website, the message board should operate with a similar focus. This can provide an additional tool to drive visitors back to your site.
Visitors can be consumers of either products or information. If you are effectively catering to their informational needs you can still derive a financial return by providing links to shopping resources that may benefit the visitor. It is also possible to create a specialty shop of your own that caters to a specific segment of fishermen. If you don’t want to develop your own shop, you can link with existing outlets that provide a financial return for every sale directed from your site. You may not get rich from this approach, but it provides an added benefit for your visitor and may be another means of encouraging their return.
Unless you are independently wealthy you will need to find a source for revenue to pay for site development and ongoing hosting and other incidental costs. Make sure to develop open space on your website to allow for the inclusion of sold advertising once your site takes off. Always think ahead.
Your website is something akin to a canvas just waiting for a brilliant piece of art to take shape. Carefully map out the pages you will need for your site. First, you need a homepage - then determine what other pages you will need.
Your homepage should accurately explain and summarize your website’s mission. Work through the mission carefully to minimize words while maximizing the clarity of the purpose statement. If you are selling a product or service your homepage needs to catch your visitor’s attention immediately. Don’t make your visitor search to discover what it is your site does – it’s a game very few will play.
The following is a list of common pages visitors expect in a website:
Contact Us
About Us
Products
Services
Links
These pages are often called by other names, but once you determine the primary categories for your home page you will want to divide your content into appropriate pages. One of the cardinal rules of site development is to always make sure your site is easy to navigate. What this means is that your visitors should be able to easily find what they are looking for. If finding the material they need requires a site search, you may have lost a return customer. Don’t make them search for content. On the other hand you should always provide a prominent link back to your homepage on EVERY page of your site.
When you place multiple ads, images and flashing text on your web pages, your visitor may leave confused and frustrated. Keep things simple – never over produce a webpage and make your content easy to read. A key component to this objective is to maintain a consistent and universally utilized font such as Arial or Times New Roman. Little known fonts may not display correctly for all visitors and may provide further frustration.
BE SURE there are no spelling errors anywhere on your site! Spelling mistakes make a website look very unprofessional. It doesn’t take long to load the content onto a word processor to check for common mistakes in both spelling and grammar. Having someone proof your pages can also add to the professional objectives you desire.
Should you require assistance in devising quality content for your site, you may want to consider hiring a freelance writer to assist in content development. It will be well worth the investment!
When developing content for your website, keep in mind that your text should be as search engine friendly as possible. We will talk more about this in Part 4.
Please look for Part 4 of Building Your Way to Online Success.
Step 1: DECIDE WHAT YOUR BUSINESS IS GOING TO BE
Step 2: CREATE A WEBSITE
This article will extend the ideas for CREATING A WEBSITE. In the last article we talked about the design of the site which provides a critical first impression with your visitors. Remember, with website design it is better to have no online presence than a lousy one.
As important as the design is, you must convince your visitors that your site is worth a return visit. This is typically done through QUALITY content throughout your site.
A quick tour through cyberspace will show that there are many good looking websites that contain nothing of value for their visitors. These types of sites lack the longevity needed in today’s cyber savvy culture. Style and substance must go hand in hand.
Because content is a key to website development, you must determine whom your target audience is. If your target audience is fishermen, it would make little sense to include Grandma Sarah’s recipe for apple pie. It doesn’t take long to visit a variety of websites that contain advertisements for products that have nothing to do with the website. It is also easy to find websites that contain content that, while interesting, have little to do with the products, goods, services or information the site is expected to provide. When a website owner misses their target audience it leaves the impression that they have little skill in providing the very thing the visitor came to the website for – the very thing you wanted them to leave with.
Once you decide who your target audience is, you need to determine content and direction for your site.
For example, if you are selling fishing equipment, you may want to have other content related to fishing such as fishing tips or fishing locations, etc. You will want to provide content that will keep your visitors coming back for more.
Many site builders have discovered a message board to be an effective tool for bringing likeminded consumers together. You can make this happen on your website with very little time commitment required. Whatever the focus of your website, the message board should operate with a similar focus. This can provide an additional tool to drive visitors back to your site.
Visitors can be consumers of either products or information. If you are effectively catering to their informational needs you can still derive a financial return by providing links to shopping resources that may benefit the visitor. It is also possible to create a specialty shop of your own that caters to a specific segment of fishermen. If you don’t want to develop your own shop, you can link with existing outlets that provide a financial return for every sale directed from your site. You may not get rich from this approach, but it provides an added benefit for your visitor and may be another means of encouraging their return.
Unless you are independently wealthy you will need to find a source for revenue to pay for site development and ongoing hosting and other incidental costs. Make sure to develop open space on your website to allow for the inclusion of sold advertising once your site takes off. Always think ahead.
Your website is something akin to a canvas just waiting for a brilliant piece of art to take shape. Carefully map out the pages you will need for your site. First, you need a homepage - then determine what other pages you will need.
Your homepage should accurately explain and summarize your website’s mission. Work through the mission carefully to minimize words while maximizing the clarity of the purpose statement. If you are selling a product or service your homepage needs to catch your visitor’s attention immediately. Don’t make your visitor search to discover what it is your site does – it’s a game very few will play.
The following is a list of common pages visitors expect in a website:
Contact Us
About Us
Products
Services
Links
These pages are often called by other names, but once you determine the primary categories for your home page you will want to divide your content into appropriate pages. One of the cardinal rules of site development is to always make sure your site is easy to navigate. What this means is that your visitors should be able to easily find what they are looking for. If finding the material they need requires a site search, you may have lost a return customer. Don’t make them search for content. On the other hand you should always provide a prominent link back to your homepage on EVERY page of your site.
When you place multiple ads, images and flashing text on your web pages, your visitor may leave confused and frustrated. Keep things simple – never over produce a webpage and make your content easy to read. A key component to this objective is to maintain a consistent and universally utilized font such as Arial or Times New Roman. Little known fonts may not display correctly for all visitors and may provide further frustration.
BE SURE there are no spelling errors anywhere on your site! Spelling mistakes make a website look very unprofessional. It doesn’t take long to load the content onto a word processor to check for common mistakes in both spelling and grammar. Having someone proof your pages can also add to the professional objectives you desire.
Should you require assistance in devising quality content for your site, you may want to consider hiring a freelance writer to assist in content development. It will be well worth the investment!
When developing content for your website, keep in mind that your text should be as search engine friendly as possible. We will talk more about this in Part 4.
Please look for Part 4 of Building Your Way to Online Success.
Jumat, 14 Mei 2010
Build A Website - The Easy Way To Profitable Websites
Everyone talks online about how easy it is to build a website and make money online. Is is really that easy or pure hype to get you to purchase the next great thing to hit the online market.
All I have to say is that it is not that easy building highly profitable websites online. But, you can learn how to build a website, that will be fully optimized for the search engines and highly profitable in a couple of weeks, using the same simple tricks I use daily. It doesn't matter if you want to build a website for free or for profit.
To win online, you have to build a website that gets free traffic from the search engines, and implement all other simple traffic methods like: posting to forums, using ads in ezines, submitting your site to link directories, writing reviews for other peoples products, reciprocal linking and pay per click.
First you have to learn how to do your onsite optimization, and for that you will have to:
1) Insert your keyword into the title of your page
It amazes me how many sites online don't have their main keyword in the title page. Just make sure to always include your main keyword in the tile page of your site.
2) Add Meta Tags
Not as important as it used o be, but I like to include it in every site I build. Add Description meta tags and your keywords meta tags.
Use one or two keywords per page only. Add your main keyword into your page description.
3) H1 Header Tags
Use your H1 header tag on each page, I always like to use a smaller font size, like 14pt.
4) H2/H3 Header Tags
Try and use at least one H2 or H3 Tags within the first three or four paragraphs
5) Last and First Paragraph
Make sure to start your first paragraph with your main keyword and to end your last paragraph with your keyword
6) Bold, Italize ad Underline your keyword
You must Italize and bold your main keyword just once, and you must use your main keyword to link out of your site to another website (use that link to create an underline keyword) , at least once.
7) The Alt Image Tag
Well, this is very useful if you have pictures that you will be including on your site. Try to use the Alt Image Tag for your pages, I use the alt image tag on my website header.
Those are the only onsite optimization tips that you should use on each and every site you build. Try to not make it look too obvious, and over do your web site optimization. Learn to build a website the easy way by just following the simple tips I have outline here.
For more optimization tips, try to get your hands on VEO Report by Colin Mc. Dougal. This is the best and most understandable guide to building fully optimized websites online.
I will leave you with one tip I learnt from The VEO report; Before you add any affiliate links to your website, you must first build a website that focus on pure content and include an about you page, and then submit that site to the open directories, like DMOZ.org, etc. After your website has been added to those free directories then you can add your affiliate links and start building reciprocal links and the above mentioned traffic methods will deliver even more traffic.
http://www.veoreport.com/
Now that you know how to build a website for fun and profit, it is time to learn by actually doing something with the information you just read. Go build your first website, the second will be better and your third will be a master piece.
All I have to say is that it is not that easy building highly profitable websites online. But, you can learn how to build a website, that will be fully optimized for the search engines and highly profitable in a couple of weeks, using the same simple tricks I use daily. It doesn't matter if you want to build a website for free or for profit.
To win online, you have to build a website that gets free traffic from the search engines, and implement all other simple traffic methods like: posting to forums, using ads in ezines, submitting your site to link directories, writing reviews for other peoples products, reciprocal linking and pay per click.
First you have to learn how to do your onsite optimization, and for that you will have to:
1) Insert your keyword into the title of your page
It amazes me how many sites online don't have their main keyword in the title page. Just make sure to always include your main keyword in the tile page of your site.
2) Add Meta Tags
Not as important as it used o be, but I like to include it in every site I build. Add Description meta tags and your keywords meta tags.
Use one or two keywords per page only. Add your main keyword into your page description.
3) H1 Header Tags
Use your H1 header tag on each page, I always like to use a smaller font size, like 14pt.
4) H2/H3 Header Tags
Try and use at least one H2 or H3 Tags within the first three or four paragraphs
5) Last and First Paragraph
Make sure to start your first paragraph with your main keyword and to end your last paragraph with your keyword
6) Bold, Italize ad Underline your keyword
You must Italize and bold your main keyword just once, and you must use your main keyword to link out of your site to another website (use that link to create an underline keyword) , at least once.
7) The Alt Image Tag
Well, this is very useful if you have pictures that you will be including on your site. Try to use the Alt Image Tag for your pages, I use the alt image tag on my website header.
Those are the only onsite optimization tips that you should use on each and every site you build. Try to not make it look too obvious, and over do your web site optimization. Learn to build a website the easy way by just following the simple tips I have outline here.
For more optimization tips, try to get your hands on VEO Report by Colin Mc. Dougal. This is the best and most understandable guide to building fully optimized websites online.
I will leave you with one tip I learnt from The VEO report; Before you add any affiliate links to your website, you must first build a website that focus on pure content and include an about you page, and then submit that site to the open directories, like DMOZ.org, etc. After your website has been added to those free directories then you can add your affiliate links and start building reciprocal links and the above mentioned traffic methods will deliver even more traffic.
http://www.veoreport.com/
Now that you know how to build a website for fun and profit, it is time to learn by actually doing something with the information you just read. Go build your first website, the second will be better and your third will be a master piece.
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