If you're a beginner, starting a website doesn't have to be difficult. If you begin with a good idea and take it step-by-step, you'll reap the rewards of a popular website.
Here are ten steps to online success:
1. Choose a domain name. Then, get it hosted.
Your domain name can be your own name, your company name, or a descriptive word for phrase describing what you do.
I often use GoDaddy.com for registration and hosting, but there are many inexpensive registrars and hosting services. Ask your friends for recommendations. Compare what the services offer, and read hosting service reviews.
2. Decide the theme or niche for your website.
Don't try to be all things to all people. For the best placement at search engines, select just one theme and build your site around that. If you want to expand, set up additional domain names and websites, one for each major subject.
For example, let's say that you're a writer and your website is about railroad history. Don't also try to include your favorite recipes or webpages about your skydiving service.
3. Create five webpages related to your theme.
If you don't know HTML, you can use a WYSIWYG program. (WYSIWYG = What You See Is What You Get)
If you have Netscape or Mozilla browsers, they include a free WYSIWYG program, Composer. There are other free WYSIWYG programs available online, too.
Your webpages should include an index.html (your main/entry page), another page that talks about you and how to contact you, plus at least three pages about your website's theme. Create links so that people can click from one page to the other, and already know what they're about.
If you're creating a website about your poetry, you might feature three poems--one each on a different page--or one page of your best poems, another to explain about writing poetry (and why yours are so great), and a third page that promotes another product that you give away (such as free online postcards featuring your poems).
4. Start a newsletter or ezine, to update people about your upcoming projects, where you've been published recently, and new webpages you've added to your site/s.
Yahoo Groups are free and easy to manage. Set yours to "announce only" (newsletter) and then let anyone and everyone join.
Or, use a free or low-cost service such as Ezine Director. However, make certain that they have a good reputation and don't do business with spammers.
5. Link to others, but only quality sites.
Links can be a very important factor in how well you're listed at Google and other search engines. Link only to websites that are very good.
Above all, do not sign up for one of those "Links4All" link exchanges. Also, avoid linking to competitors' sites. That might seem like common sense, but some new webmasters forget this.
After linking to others' sites, you can ask them to link back to you. Only a small percentage will do this, but some will.
6. Sign up for Google AdSense and/or affiliate programs.
If AdSense or affiliate programs are part of your income strategy--and they probably will be--sign up for them as soon as you can. In addition to Google AdSense, I like (and make money with) Amazon.com's Associates program, LinkShare.com and CommissionJunction.com.
At some of my websites, I also do very well with AllPosters.com and try to illustrate with their posters when I can.
7. Submit your site to the search engines.
Submit the URL of your index.html page to the search engines. Start with Yahoo and Google. DMOZ is important too, but it's vital to have a competitive and robust site built before submitting to them.
Do NOT over-submit. Check the search engine's rules. If you submit the same site to Google more than once a month, you risk being considered a spammer.
It can take search engines weeks or even months to list you among their pages. (It's normal to feel frustrated by how long it takes. Try to be patient.) And, even once you're listed, you may be in the "sandbox" for as long as eight months.
8. Start learning about keywords and search engine optimization.
Keywords can be the heart and soul of your success at search engines. Learn about keywords, and use them in the tags (META and Title areas) of your website and--even more importantly--in your webpage titles. Focus each webpage's content on three or four keywords that fit your niche.
9. Add one new webpage each week.
Now that you know your niche and have chosen a few words for your site's theme, add a new webpage to your site each week.
Every webpage should have valuable and interesting content. It should be at least 100 words long, but not more than 600 or so. (If it's longer, consider breaking it up into two pages or more.)
Each webpage should include one or two links to other pages. At least one link should be another page at your site, but you may want to link another high-quality website, too.
Every page should also link back to your home page (index.html) at the very least.
10. Tell people about your newest webpage.
Talk about your new page in your newsletter, ezine, or Yahoo! Group. Tell people in other groups, too, if their members might be very interested in your new page. (If many of them will be ho-hum, announce your pages every couple of weeks, or just put a link to your newest page below your signature, if the list rules say that's okay.)
At some search engines, you can submit new webpages as you put them online. Check each search engine's current rules to be certain.
If you have articles to share with others, submit them to a site such as EzineArticles.com. That's an easy source of free advertising.
Be certain to display your website URL on your business cards, invoices, letterhead, and everything that you print.
This will get you started. The Internet is a huge library of helpful information about website design and promotion. Read, learn, and grow, and you'll soon achieve success.
Eibhlin Morey MacIntosh is a published author, who writes travel and how-to books and articles. For more FREE tips and articles like this, especially for writers, see http://www.eibhlin.com/
MORE RESOURCES updated Thu. April / 18 / 2024 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES:
Top 10 Ways to Use Quotations to Be Healthier, Happier and More Productive! Most people have at least one favorite quotation from a famous or not-so-famous person. Some people collect them like baseball cards, figurines or classic cars. Ten Tips For Staying Connected While Working Alone Ten Tips for Staying Connected. Many of my business clients tell me that what they missed most when they started their businesses was the camaraderie of an office setting. Small businesses often start with the owner as the only employee. 10 Incredibly important business basics EVERYONE needs to know BEFORE they start a business! In my career, I have had a total of 3 businesses myself and a few others where I am in partnerships. Each time you start a business the basics are pretty well the same. Entrepreneurs - 7 Business Mistakes You Must Avoid Many mistakes can be made in business and if you are able to avoid some of them by reading and taking note of these warnings, then the time taken to put these together will be worth while. Here are some business mistakes that are common to many entrepreneurs. 7 Reasons You ARE Your Own Best Product, or Lessons From the 2004 Presidential Election The 2004 election is over--at least in the minds of the public--and analysis runs rampant as to why Senator John Kerry lost. From a business viewpoint, one could say that he simply didn't sell the product. Top 10 Items to Review & Build Your Business Now! In building and runnng an independent private practice or small business, there are many items that need to be monitored closely and should be reviewed periodically. Year-end is a traditional time do this, and this week's Letter is a "Top Ten" of items to review as the year draws to a close, or whenever you decide to pause, reflect, take stock and re-assess. Top Ten Tips: Where to Get the Best Business Books Now! There are many places you can get books, and I don't pretend to know them all. I've listed a few of my favorites below. How To Use The Power Of Focus To Build Massive Momentum In Your Business Getting focused on what you want to achieve and creating an action plan for making it happen are critical skills for you to master. As bestselling author Napoleon Hill once said, "Every well-built house started with a definite plan in the form of blueprints. Top 10 Items For A 21st Century Toolbox! Skilled workers of every age have prized their tools. I recently visited a Museum of Natural History and was amazed at the craftsmanship and precision of the sextants and chronometers that allowed explorers to map our world in the 18th and 19th centuries. 10 Things To Do Before You Start Your Business If you are thinking of starting a new business, or if you are just about to take the plunge, you will know that there is a lot that you have to do. But where do you start? It is a good idea to get some of the groundwork done before you start, possibly this will often mean things that you hadn't thought about, things that most people do as a reaction to circumstances rather than as a planned activity. Business Attire: 10 Tips to Perfect Your Look Being appropriately dressed is essential in making good impressions in the business and corporate worlds. A polished image is important in business survival and can be an important factor in career advancement. International Shipping/Freight for Dummies There are lots of benefits for some businesses to import or export goods. Manufacturers and distributors can order directly from the overseas manufacturer and save money on their purchases. Event Planning: Seven Best Practices Successful Planners Use Do you plan events for the corporate world like product launches, conferences, seminars, etc? If so, check out these seven practices of successful event planners.It's easy to dismiss these points thinking they're trivial. Top Ten Listening Skills for Speakers Good Speakers need good listening skills to become Great Communicators. Speakers spend a lot of time developing speaking skills and often don't focus enough on the equally important communication skill of listening. As a Speaker trained in the art of listening I have put together the tips below. Seven Questions to Improve Your Business, Your Relationships, and Your Life Seven Questions to Improve Your Business, Your Relationships, and Your Life One of the most powerful tools we have as humans is our ability to ask questions. The more adept we are at asking them (and waiting for and listening to the answers), the more effective we will be. Top 10 Ways to Turn Clients Into Raving Fans Do you find great joy in being a coach? If so, you will find that your enthusiasm is contagious and will attract clients. Be sure to develop a superb and supportive community. Ten Ways To Sell Your Ideas To Anyone You have a great idea you know is a winner. All you need is support from some key people. The Warning signs of Online Fraud and How To Avoid It The number may seem grim for Web-based commerce. In 2004 in the Unites States alone, computer users logged in more than 207,000 Internet fraud reports to the U. Top Ten Tips for Improving Your Cash Flow Cash is king-so they say. If you work for yourself or someone else, you need to be aware of ways to improve the cash flow. 5 Tips to Manage and Organize E-Mail How do you focus on your urgent e-mail and organize the rest for your review? Think about how you handle your paper mail. You probably sort your paper mail quickly before you read it to figure out what to look at first, what to read later, and what to throw away.
|
Akron City Directory
www.AccessFreedom.Does.It
www.Akron.Has.It
www.NoGas.Drives.It
|
 |
auction news and listings for Akron, Ohio Akron crafts and hobby news center Advertising and promotions Akron, Ohio The Akron blogging news center Akron Ohio web site design news Akron Mortgaging and refinancing Best Home Remedies and do it yourself tips
|
|
|
HOME |
SITE MAP
© 2012 - 2024 All Rights Reserved |
|
