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I actually wrote this for a friend, but figured it might help some of the newer members of this forum. Hope you enjoy it!
The first step is choosing a domain name that will be the home of your website. Some people like to pick shorter, memorable domains, which they can âbrandâ (example: Google.com or Yahoo.com) while others like more descriptive names (example: GermanCars.com or JalapenoPeppers.com). Make sure your domain name is not overly long (under 15 characters or so) and is a .com if at all possible, although .net and .info will also work well. Even a .us or .ca name will work if your location will play a role in the site. Also try not to use hyphens (like this â-â) because it makes your domain hard to say out loud. I recommend using a place like www.NameCheap.com or www.Moniker.com to register your domain names.
Next you need to choose a web host. The best website hosts are the ones whose name you forget, because you never have any problems with their service and thus never need to contact them. Use Google and Yahoo to find a plan that matches what you need. At the start, you shouldnât spend more than $10 per month on hosting and if your site grows larger and starts getting more traffic you can easily upgrade your account.
The single most important thing to your website is content. Visitors love to see content, as do search engines. Writing and developing unique, interesting and original content is the best way to make your site successful. This takes time, but a website without articles, stories, descriptions or other text (unless your site is incredibly ingenious) will most likely fail. Website design isnât actually all that important, assuming your visitors can easily navigate through your pages and donât go blind because of your use (or overuse) of color. Choose 2-4 colors that look good together and are easy on the eyes and use them to style your site. Knowing HTML and CSS are a big plus, but donât stress if you have to use Dreamweaver or Frontpage as sites made with these programs can still be incredibly successful. Make sure to properly SEO (search engine optimize) your websites by giving them keyword rich page titles and headings and using META tags appropriately.
When it comes time to market your site, there are really no shortcuts. Use articles (some of the custom content of your site) to submit to free article directories (which can be found easily on Google) with a link back to your site at the bottom of the article. Digg.com is an article submission site which can bring you thousands of visitors if your article is well received in that community. Link building is also crucial in determining where your site ranks in search engines, especially Google. Email sites similar to your own and ask them to put a link to your page on their site, in exchange for your link to their site. You can also pay for 1 way text links, where you do not put a return link to their site. Some SEO gurus think this type of link is worth more to search engines than link exchanges. Link building and article submissions take many hours to do properly, but they are essential to the success (or lack thereof) of your website.
If you want to pay for traffic, Google Adwords is the way to go. Spend time researching your keywords and ads themselves to try and find the most efficient way of reaching your target audience. It is pretty easy to get 100 visitors for $5-10, but if they are not interested in your sites subject matter or donât want to buy what you are selling, it probably is not a good investment.
Assuming you have been able to create an interesting website which provides your users with good content, the final step of the equation is monetizing this traffic. Google Adsense is an obvious and practical choice, but you either need a lot of traffic or be in a high paying niche for this to be very profitable. Yahoo Publisher Network is also an option for American publishers and many people finds it generates more revenue than Adsense does. Azoogle is a cost per action network that allow you to capitalize on traffic that often does not fair well with Adsense (Myspace, Games, Entertainment) because you can earn $1-$2 when a user signs up with one of there programs (he or she doesnât actually have to purchase anything). Clickbank is also a type of affiliate or cost per action program, where you can sell thousands of digital products such as software and EBooks and make 20-75% of the sales price of that item. You can also sell banner ads to private parties for a fixed monthly fee or even create your own product or membership and attempt to sell it on your site. Once you have targeted traffic, the rest is pretty darn easy.
The final part of this equation is time. Websites often take months and months to become popular and there isnât much you can do to speed up this process (although link exchanges and article submissions certainly help). Donât get discouraged if your site isnât popular right away, just keep adding content and make the website a place people actually want to visit. Once you have lots of visitors to your site, then you can âworryâ about trying to convert them into revenue. Stay positive and donât lose sight of your online goals, whatever they may be.
The first step is choosing a domain name that will be the home of your website. Some people like to pick shorter, memorable domains, which they can âbrandâ (example: Google.com or Yahoo.com) while others like more descriptive names (example: GermanCars.com or JalapenoPeppers.com). Make sure your domain name is not overly long (under 15 characters or so) and is a .com if at all possible, although .net and .info will also work well. Even a .us or .ca name will work if your location will play a role in the site. Also try not to use hyphens (like this â-â) because it makes your domain hard to say out loud. I recommend using a place like www.NameCheap.com or www.Moniker.com to register your domain names.
Next you need to choose a web host. The best website hosts are the ones whose name you forget, because you never have any problems with their service and thus never need to contact them. Use Google and Yahoo to find a plan that matches what you need. At the start, you shouldnât spend more than $10 per month on hosting and if your site grows larger and starts getting more traffic you can easily upgrade your account.
The single most important thing to your website is content. Visitors love to see content, as do search engines. Writing and developing unique, interesting and original content is the best way to make your site successful. This takes time, but a website without articles, stories, descriptions or other text (unless your site is incredibly ingenious) will most likely fail. Website design isnât actually all that important, assuming your visitors can easily navigate through your pages and donât go blind because of your use (or overuse) of color. Choose 2-4 colors that look good together and are easy on the eyes and use them to style your site. Knowing HTML and CSS are a big plus, but donât stress if you have to use Dreamweaver or Frontpage as sites made with these programs can still be incredibly successful. Make sure to properly SEO (search engine optimize) your websites by giving them keyword rich page titles and headings and using META tags appropriately.
When it comes time to market your site, there are really no shortcuts. Use articles (some of the custom content of your site) to submit to free article directories (which can be found easily on Google) with a link back to your site at the bottom of the article. Digg.com is an article submission site which can bring you thousands of visitors if your article is well received in that community. Link building is also crucial in determining where your site ranks in search engines, especially Google. Email sites similar to your own and ask them to put a link to your page on their site, in exchange for your link to their site. You can also pay for 1 way text links, where you do not put a return link to their site. Some SEO gurus think this type of link is worth more to search engines than link exchanges. Link building and article submissions take many hours to do properly, but they are essential to the success (or lack thereof) of your website.
If you want to pay for traffic, Google Adwords is the way to go. Spend time researching your keywords and ads themselves to try and find the most efficient way of reaching your target audience. It is pretty easy to get 100 visitors for $5-10, but if they are not interested in your sites subject matter or donât want to buy what you are selling, it probably is not a good investment.
Assuming you have been able to create an interesting website which provides your users with good content, the final step of the equation is monetizing this traffic. Google Adsense is an obvious and practical choice, but you either need a lot of traffic or be in a high paying niche for this to be very profitable. Yahoo Publisher Network is also an option for American publishers and many people finds it generates more revenue than Adsense does. Azoogle is a cost per action network that allow you to capitalize on traffic that often does not fair well with Adsense (Myspace, Games, Entertainment) because you can earn $1-$2 when a user signs up with one of there programs (he or she doesnât actually have to purchase anything). Clickbank is also a type of affiliate or cost per action program, where you can sell thousands of digital products such as software and EBooks and make 20-75% of the sales price of that item. You can also sell banner ads to private parties for a fixed monthly fee or even create your own product or membership and attempt to sell it on your site. Once you have targeted traffic, the rest is pretty darn easy.
The final part of this equation is time. Websites often take months and months to become popular and there isnât much you can do to speed up this process (although link exchanges and article submissions certainly help). Donât get discouraged if your site isnât popular right away, just keep adding content and make the website a place people actually want to visit. Once you have lots of visitors to your site, then you can âworryâ about trying to convert them into revenue. Stay positive and donât lose sight of your online goals, whatever they may be.
