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How To Boost Your Chances At Having A Successful Web Site
By Robin Nobles, Sat Dec 10th
How to Boost Your Chances at Having a Successful Web Site by Robin Nobles New Web sites are springing up online by the millions. However,when they don’t reach a level of success, the Web site ownersassume that they can’t make money off the Internet.
Wrong. The one thing that is important to know, however, is that you dohave to work to make money online. Just like having a regularoffline business, the online business needs to be taken care of,the Web site continually updated, and the customers made to feelsafe and secure when doing business with you. So, let’s devote this article to simple things you can do tohave a successful online business. Remember that books have beenwritten on this subject, so this article won’t be all inclusiveby any means. But, for the average Web site owner, it will give you simplesteps to take to turn your online business down the right pathtoward achieving success. Future of the Internet -- In January of 2003, Roy H. Williams, who is widely known andrespected as the “Wizard of Ads,” finally declared, "Now is thetime to get in." For years, Roy has been watching and predictingthe Internet's future. Back in 1996, he declared, "The Internetis a baby born premature." He even predicted the great dot comcrash that we’re still recovering from. So what does Roy have to say about the future of the Internet?Roy says that the buying public has finally figured out how touse the Internet and what it's good for: specifically,"information gathering and features-based comparison-shopping." What does Roy suggest for Web sites today? 1. Ignore heavy graphic sites and focus on providing informationfor your visitors. 2. Build confidence by interacting with your Web visitors andanticipating and answering their questions. 3. Don’t think “advertising” – think information delivery. 4. Focus on Web site architecture (a simply designed site) andexceptional writing. 5. Help your visitors find what they’re looking for within a fewminutes of landing on your site. If you make them hunt forinformation, they’re gone. For more information such as what was mentioned above, subscribeto Michael Campbell’s newsletter. Michael is one of the mostwell-known Internet marketers, and his newsletter isexceptional. http://www.internetmarketingsecrets.com For more information about Roy H. Williams and his advertisingphilosophies, visit: http://www.newsbios.com/wizard_of_ads.htm So, with Roy’s predictions in mind, let’s look at some ways tomake our Web sites stronger, more visible, and have a betterchance at being successful. Purchase your own domain name – Having a professional image is very important on the Web, and itbegins with having your own domain name. Having your Web sitelocated at AOL or one of the free Web hosting companies takesaway a level of professionalism. Let’s face it: purchasing a domain is cheap! Did you know thatyou can purchase a domain name for $21.95 a YEAR?? That’s it!From there, you’ll want to use a professional hosting company,which will provide an address for your Web site. CombustionHosting will be glad to take care of purchasing your domain namefor you, moving your “old” Web site to their location, andhosting the site for you. Their rates to “host” your domainbegin at only $15.49 a month, which is an excellent price.“Hosting” a domain simply means to provide an address on the Webfor your site. http://www.combustionhosting.com/moreinfo Naming your domain – Before you rush off to purchase a domain, let’s talk for aminute about naming your domain. Most businesses want to nametheir domain after the name of their company, which isunderstandable. However, if you can name your domain usingkeywords that people might be searching for when looking for theproducts or services you provide, you’re giving your site asmall edge with the search engines. For example, if the name of your company is Simply Southern, andif you purchase the domain name simplysouthern.com, you’re notusing any keywords in that domain name, and someone seeing thatdomain name will have no idea what your site is about. So, why not purchase simply-southern-catering.com, which willgive the engines (and your visitors) a keyword phrase thatdescribes your site: catering. Your e-mail address -- When you set up your own domain name, be sure to use that domainname in your e-mail address, such as: Robin@searchengineworkshops.com Again, this adds a level of professionalism to your business. Inmy case, I have an e-mail address through my local ISP, which ishow I access the Internet. I use a nickname in that e-mailaddress. Therefore, rather than use that e-mail address, itwould be better for me to use the above e-mail address that’sconnected to my domain name and online business. Professional image – When you have a Web site, you want to portray a professionalimage. You want your visitors comfortable enough with youronline business to purchase whatever it is you're selling. So, don’t let your 12-year old nephew design your Web site withcutesy graphics of cartoon characters. Instead, have it designedby a professional. To save money on Web design, you can alwayshave the designer create the main page of your site and maybeone or two interior pages, and then develop a “template” foryou. Templates are “skeleton” Web pages containing just thebasic design, and you can then cut and paste the rest of yourpages into the template and finish up the site yourself, ifyou’re comfortable with working on your own site. If you have a software program that allows you to create andwork on Web pages (which is called an HTML editor), you may beable to find templates for that program that will allow you tocreate your own site with a professional look. FrontPage is aneasy to use HTML editor that is just like working with a wordprocessing program. If you can use Word, you can use FrontPage.At the URL below, you’ll find a huge assortment of templatesthat were created
just for FrontPage, which would make creatingyour own site very easy.http://www.thetemplatestore.com/frontpagetemplates.asp You can also read this article about FrontPage, which contains alink to an online tutorial for learning how to use the program.http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/FrontPage.html Or, if you’d rather have someone else create your Web site foryou, look in your yellow pages and find someone locally. Or, tryLook Sharp Designs, which will create Web sites for a veryreasonable price. And, their designer also knows how to createWeb sites that are “search engine friendly,” which is a bigconsideration when looking for a Web designer. http://www.looksharpdesigns.com Web site design – If at all possible, keep your Web site design very simple. Don’tuse frames, excessive graphics, database-generated pages, Flashhome pages, or lengthy JavaScript. Each of these designstrategies can present problems for you when you’re trying toget a good ranking with the search engines, which is whereyou’ll probably get the majority of your traffic. So, if you hire a professional Web designer, make sure he or sheknows that you want the design kept simple. Let’s face it – when YOU go to a Web site, you would much prefera simple Web site, wouldn’t you? You want to find what you’relooking for quickly and easily. You don’t want to have to spendtime trying to find something. And, you don’t want to see aFlash movie that crashes your computer or that keeps you fromgetting into the site where the real content is. You want theCONTENT! In fact, one study shows that Americans experience “search rage”if they don’t find what they’re looking for within 12 minutes. Keep that in mind when you’re designing your own site. Usesimple, clear navigation. Include a site map that has links toall of the pages in your site. This site map is valuable to bothyour users and the search engines. Keep graphics to a minimum, and only use them when you want topoint the eye to a certain location. When you use graphics, here’s something else to consider. Let’s say that you are a real estate agent, and your home pageis covered with your awards, a picture of you, and maybe thelogo of your company. Do you think your visitors care about yourawards or your picture? No! They want to see pictures of thehouses you’re selling! They want to learn about the schools inthat area or the crime rate. They want to see a mortgagecalculator. They want to see content! Put yourselves into theshoes of your visitors, and think about what your visitors wantto see, not what YOU want to show them. If you use a picture of a house on the main page of your site,use a picture that has a happy, smiling family in front of thehouse, obviously pleased with the new home that you’ve soldthem. The visitors will automatically put themselves into thepicture with the happy family, and they’ll be more receptive tobecoming a potential home buyer. But, just a picture of a homeon the main page of your site doesn’t evoke those emotions. Or, if you sell toys, don’t just have pictures of the toys. Havepictures of smiling children playing with the toys! Appeal tothe emotions of your Web site visitors. Keep in mind another thing regarding graphics. The searchengines can’t “see” the graphics. So, if you have a page that isloaded with graphics, there’s no way that the engines can knowwhat the page is about. Therefore, offer a paragraph or two oftext above the images that describes what the page is about.Give the engines something to index, and your pages will have abetter chance of visibility in the search engines. Build valuable content -- When people come online, they generally aren’t looking to buysomething. Instead, they are looking for information. Consideryour own Web site. What information can you provide that wouldhelp attract visitors (and search engines) to your site? Let’s say that you have a local store that sells TV’s. Could youcreate content that would be beneficial and possibly providecost savings to your Web visitors? For example, are there anylittle tips you could offer to extend the life of a TV? Or,could you write content that focuses on the latest innovationsin TV’s? What about a page that deals with the history oftelevision? The more content you build, the stronger you’remaking your Web site, and the better chance you have that thevisitor will return. Plus, as a huge bonus, the engines love acontent-rich site, so you’re boosting your chances at bettersearch engine rankings. Remember that you’re also “introducing” your online business tothese visitors. You’re creating name recognition andcredibility. So, when the visitors are in the market for a TV,won’t they consider an online business that they can trust? Makeit your goal to be that online business! More to come later As you can see, we’ve just scratched the surface when it comesto having a successful online business. In the next month or so,I'll cover more tips, which I hope will help you turn your Websites into true online businesses that will make you some money. In the meantime, you may want to take some training that willhelp boost your chances at achieving online success. Here are acouple of choices: Search Engine Workshops offers on location workshops in searchengine marketing to both beginners and advanced folks. Theseworkshops are held in various locations across the globe.http://www.searchengineworkshops.com The Academy of Web Specialists offers online courses in searchengine marketing, where you can take beginning or advancedclasses online in the comfort of your own home.http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/courses.html Copyright 2003 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved. About the author: Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists,(http://www.academywebspecialists.com) has trained severalthousand people in her online search engine marketing courses(http://www.onlinewebtraining.com). She also teaches 2-, 3-, and5-day hands-on search engine marketing workshops in locationsacross the globe with Search Engine Workshops(http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).
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