Starting A Website Resource Guide
Starting a website for you business is no easy task. Even if you hire somebody to do it, are they going to do it right? It will help to have some, if not all the knowledge I will provide below when you or a hired gun creates your website. Your site is meant to help you, so doing the following things will greatly assist you in allowing your website to work for you and not against you.
Research
Research is your number one place to start before you create your site. You need to know what people are naturally searching (looking) for relating to your service or product. It is vital to target things that people will actual be interested in. Spending money on development and just having a website is not the reason behind your site. You are creating a website to draw in business and to represent your company online. Some websites will have more focus on selling products or services online and others may simply provide a detailed description of information about you and your serives provided.
Your main focus on research will start with keywords. Keywords are phrases or words that an indivdual will relate to your product, service or your company.
Keywords ~ You need to put a focus on "generic" keywords before you start getting more specific. Think like a consumer and start with basic keywords to relate to what you offer.
Google.com offers a fantastic keyword tool that is free. Your keyword research tool should start with this tool. (see bottom or article for link)
Using the Google Keyword Tool: Enter in a keyword or phrase. Again, stay generic and keep a consumer mindset. You can also enter in short phrases related to geographical location, products, services etc. Also use related terms to the main topic as well to get an idea into search volumes.
Enter in the image verification and click Get Keyword Ideas.
On the next page, the results will be displayed.
Each section of these results can and are important. The default will show Broad search results. This means the displayed keyword(s) may be included within a longer search term. It is important to know the broad search results, but also the Exact. After analysing the broad search results, you will also want to put focus on the Exact Search Results. You can change the tool to show the Exact search results by selecting Exact in the Match Type: drop down box. You can arrange the Local Search Volume and Global Search Volume by simply clicking the title. This will make it easier to focus on the higher results and the keyword you will want to put more focus on. To me, no number is too low but the higher results the better. Keep in mind, the higher results, the more likely others are putting more focus on those keywords as well.
Once you have obtained a list of about 10-30 keyword terms and phrases, it will be time to use a search engine like Google.com and see who your competition is going to be using those terms and see what they are doing.
Competition
What are your competitors putting a focus on? What keywords are they targetting? It is important to know this so you can beat them with the knowledge you have. Keeping a focus on the little things will often beat out somebody who already may hold a position in a search engine that you want! You can do this naturally without the need of paid advertising.
Using the keyword and keyword phrase list, start performing searches using these terms.
Train yourself to look at the domain name used (keywords in them). Look at the page titles, look at the meta descriptions. You can learn more about Page Titles and Meta Descriptions below. You can even visit the sites and see how the design looks, how fast the site loads, the content provided etc. Soak in as much data as you can. You do not need to retain all this data but your goal is to provide a website that is better!
Your next step is a very important one and one that is often over looked. Chosing a domain name!
Domain Name(s)
With your keyword research data and after looking at your competition and what they are using, it is time to pick your domain name for your site. You are not limited to one (1) domain name, nor are you limited to one (1) website. It is important to have one flagship website but that one flagship site can also have other sister sites that lead back to your main site. This is one great thing about domain names and microsites (small seperate website). Microsites are also call mini-sites. A microsite can better allow you to have a relevant domain name and microsite with specific content relating to your niche you may want to put more focus on. Microsites are also great for specific advertising. Using linking, you can direct users on a microsite to your flagship site. Search results are important to companies and the more you can own of the very important 10 natural sites a search engine displays on the first page, the better. Having multiple domain names and sites can help you with this.
Your domain name should be relevant to what you offer. Your domain name should be easy to spell, easy to read, easy to type and easy to remember. In the US, .com is more than likely the TLD you should be choosing. If you are a non-profit, you may consider a .org . Generic is good but yet specific. If you sell Bike Parts, the best domain name for you would be BikeParts.com . It is a term "naturally" searched for term which helps the search engines return relevant results to the user because search engines look at a sites domain name, content being relevant to the domain name. These are two important things you can cover.
The domain name BikeParts.com is decripitve to what your site offers by simply looking at the web address. If the domain name is heard via word of mouth or radio advertising, the user will know what they will find.
Your domain name is also important for more than search engine traffic. Websites really get traffic from two sources:
Links, which come from search engines and other websites that direct back to your site. This is almost always the main source of traffic to a website.
Direct Navigation. When somebody types in www.YourDomainName.com into a web browser either naturally, from word of mouth, advertising etc. Direct Navigation traffic is likely the most targeted traffic.
It is common for most to say "All the good domain names are gone". This statement is true to a point because anything valuable is owned by somebody. Having the knowledge that you can purchase a pre-owned domain name is important and how to go about it is even all the more important.
How do you tell if somebody owns a domain name?
The easiest way and most accurate is to look at the domain name owners database called Whois. Whois records provide a creation date, expire date, domain owners name, email address, mailing address and much more! You can do a whois search using www.whois.sc and input the specific domain name you are interested in.
If the domain name is not owned (shows no results) already, you should be able to use a domain name registrar like www.godaddy.com and pay around $10 to "hand register" the domain.
Somebody already owns the domain name, now what?
Often times if you visit the site directly, you will get a good idea if you can purchase the domain name. There may be a For Sale link on the site, there may already be a site etc. Each domain name will likely be different and you can decide based on what you see.
Using the whois database, you can obtain and contact the current owner and try to purchase the domain name. It is important to have a budget in mind before contacting the person. Keep in mind that domain names are one of a kind. You need to decide how important the specific domain name is to your company from many aspects. Marketing, traffic, advertising savings, brand protection, keyword value etc. The current owner may have owned the domain name for a pretty long time or have a large sum invested already so when contacting the current owner, always keep in mind that not everything is for sale and it is always best to approach the owner with an educated offer. The domain may be very valuable (domain names can sell for millions of dollars) so low-balling the current owner will likely do little good.
Actually purchasing a pre-owned domain name?
So you have come to an agreement and now it is time to purchase the domain, now what? Security should be the very first thing on your mind. If you are spending a large sum of money, I would advise you contact a lawyer for some assitance. If you are purchasing a domain name for $500 or greater, always use a domain name escrow service. They will assist you in payment and the transfer of ownership of the domain name into an account that you own. Moniker.com Escrow is the best and safest.
One domain, two domains, three domains?
This is really up to you and your budget. As I stated above, using multipul microsites to pay specific attention to certain keywords can greatly benefit your flagship site, your company and the amount of traffic going to the sites. One website putting a main focus on one set of keyword terms is just that.
Creating your website
You now have your domain name(s) and hopfully made the correct choice(s). This will greatly help you in many aspects for years to come.
You clearly have the choice of hiring somebody to build your website. If you have never built a website before, it will often show it if you give it a try building on your own. Hiring a web designer is often easy and will get the job done, but will also come at a cost. Basic sites really should not cost much more than $500-$800. Can you get one done for a couple hundred and still look and work? Sure you can! You just have to look, but it can be done and you may be surprised how nice it turns out.
Using the amazing WordPress platform would be the right step to take if you are thinking on giving it a try on your own. Like anything else new, you will surely spend a fair amount of time getting things set up but once you have things figured out, your next site will be a breeze and you will have likely saved some cash!
If your site requires custom code and very specific functions, there will be no way around it if you do not have the skills to do this… you will be hiring somebody to do it.
Builing site and things to keep focus on
Content! Relevant and unique content is extremely important! Yes it is easy to visit a website, copy the text and paste it into your site. Search engines are smart and they notice duplicate content. Your website will pay in a negative way if this happens.
Unique content can be purchased through a content writing service or you can put your passion into it! You still need to keep those keywords you obtained earlier in mind and use them related to your domain name, your service or product you offer and your readers are important and search engines will be looking for these!
Function! Ease of use it very important. A cluttered site is never fun for the user. Keep to the point, provide ease and useful links as well as properly working features.
Speed! A slow loading site will likely lead to the visitor leaving right away. Keep image files small and flash functions to a minimum. Going cheap on your hosting may show when it comes to site load times.
Design! You can go either way on this… If the site is useful and functional, it can lack the bling. Your targeted user may also depend on your design. It never hurts to have a clean yet useful design. No matter what you do, so will love it, many will hate it.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Pay attention to the little things and do not let the term SEO scare you! I always think that SEO is over rated because the small things are the important things. Yes you can pay for somebody to help you with our SEO depending on your budget, but paying attention to these things will greatly help you!
Domain Name ~ Relevant to what people naturally search for and relevant to what you offer!
URL’s ~ Be sure your page URL’s contains the page title
Title Tag ~ Use keywords relevant to what your site offers and the specific page. Invite users in with title tags yet be descriptive.
Example:
Bad : Home
Good : Joe’s Plumbing & Repair Services
Meta Tag ~ Similar to the title tag but you have 150 characters! Important to include vital keywords, while also be inviting without providing too much data so the user doesn’t click into your site. Each page on your site needs a meta description!
Image Tag ~ Every image you put on your site should have an image tag. Again, the text should describe the image with keywords that are imporant. Always include the image size.
Link building ~ Getting pages indexed in search engines is good. Get links on other sites that are relevant to what you offer.
Site Map ~ Your site should have a site map! Be sure to submit it to the top search engines.
Tools and Shortcuts
Search engines are loaded with valuable tools for you to research and help you with your site to better perform, while also allowing you to better understand our visitors! Here are some valuable tools that can help with picking your domain name to better understanding your website.
Help with Meta Tags, Title Tags what are they, what do they look like and more
Google Local Business Center: Submit your business and site! A Must Do and it is FREE
Google Keyword Tool: Research keywords of what people already are searching for
Find how many indexed pages at a search engine for specific site. Enter the search term: site:yourdomain.com
Google Insights: Search Patterns based on Keywords
Google Webmasters Tool (dead page tracking, search terms used to find your site, amount of links in and much more)
Google Analytics: Track visitors to your site (free)
Domain Aftermarket Service: Sedo.com
Domain Escrow Service: Moniker.com Escrow
WordPress Website Builder Software: WordPress.org
Website Hosting Provider: Hostgator.com
Free Domain Name Valuation Tool: Estibot.com (keep in mind this is only a tool. Domain names are very hard to put a value on but it may assist you a little bit)