Remember This When Building A New Site - Beginners Guide
|
|
I recently helped my mom to launch a website (www.mom2me.com) to publish some of her recipes and it was probably the best wake up call I have had this year. It dawned on me that I actually do not know nearly as much as I thought I did. In fact it was evident that some things are best left to the experts.
However, what I did do was keep a record of what went wrong and believe me when I say it was quite a record!
Herewith then, a couple of things that you might want to remember or pay attention to, should you ever launch a new site. Some of these items may seem trivial, but I think this should be a basic check list for all new sites.
All of the items below turned out very important in creating a site that is Search Engine friendly and will hopefully get you good placement!
1. Define the purpose of your web site. It could be something as simple as "I want to sell my 5 products through my web site" or "I want to create a site where my organization members can get a schedule of events and view our employeehandbook through a password protected area." You can and will most likelyrefine your definition as you go but make sure you have some clear direction. This was exactly what happened with Mom2me.com!
2. Define your keywords. This is probably the most important aspect of starting any site and you should really spent some time on this. I made use of two great sites to help this. Have a look at OneLook Reverse Dictionary and Wordtracker!
3. The new sites' URL. You have to ask yourself the following questions:
? Does it contain your Keywords? (in the case of http://www.mom2me.com not! ? Oops)
? Is the URL to long? (In this case no, I don't think so)
4. Check the page title. Does the page title contain your keywords? This is very important for good Search engine placement. Also make sure that it is not to long.
5. Check the Description tag. Does this contain your keywords and is it too long? As you may notice there is a bit of a trend here.
6. Check the Keywords Tag. Once again, does it contain all your keywords and in order of importance and relevance? Always try to place the most relevant keywords first and never, ever place any irrelevant keywords. This does actually negatively affect your rankings!
7. Make use of ALT Text. Always try to make use of your keywords in the ALT text of images on your site. Not only does it help people that can't display pictures, but it also increases the occurrence of your keywords on the site and we all know what that means!
8. Check your body text. You guessed it! Does it contain enough instances of your keywords? You should also consider the following:
? Does your body text contain enough content?
? Is your body text human-readable?
? Does the page have excess HTML markup which could be removed?
9. Linking pages. Do all pages in your site link to each other? It has been said that you should be able to access every single page within the site with no more than two clicks. I don't know if this is strictly correct, but the principle is definitely sound!
10. Promoting your site. The old adage "We have built it, so they will come" does not hold true in this scenario. We really have to promote our site and make sure that we will get the visitors. Here are a couple of things that you should ask yourself:
? Does the site have a site map? (Something I still need to do for mom2me.com)
? Is it possible to issue a press release about this new web site?
? Can you submit this new site to web directories?
? Could you mention your new site on relevant web forums?
? Could you trade reciprocal links with similar web pages?
Lastly, you might also want to look at the following site I stumbled across. If you have a brand new site and want to attract attention to it, have a look at www.Trafficswarm.com! I don't know if the traffic generated through it is really any good, but it does get you a couple of clicks!
I really wish you all the best in your efforts in getting that new site up and generating traffic. If you have any questions, I will gladly help where I can, but as I recently discovered, I am by no means an authority! Sometimes it is worthwhile to call in the cavalry! (Professionals)
Werner Coetzee
Mom2me.com - Recipe Resource
Werner@mom2me.com
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE NewsletterMaking Your Website Shine! Attract And Keep Visitors At Your Site!
When you consider the billions of individuals and companies on the net who are attempting to influence visitors with their wares, it is vitally important that your site offers something out of the ordinary. An important fact to remember is that what the site says is far more important than how it looks. Why? Because good copy sells!Pretty is as Pretty Does!I don't mean to imply that a beautiful site isn't going to attract visitors, but pretty is as pretty does! What happens once visitors get to your site? Your potential prospects will surely appreciate an entertaining and good-looking web site but they didn't necessarily come by to be dazzled by the design. They came because they were looking for your product or service. So be sure your site is conveying an enthusiastic message about your business.Content must be ...(related: Web Development)
Are You Being Scammed By Your Web Design Company?
This is a growing concern amongst many business owners. Does your web design company own you? This may be possible if you've allowed them to host your web site for you and also register your domain name for your company.Web design companies have a lot of control over their clients. I refer to this as "False Power". The sad reality is that most of their clients don't even know they are stuck in this potentially painful predicament. This power is usually exercised when a client of a web design company finds a better deal on hosting for their web site and they simply want to switch their hosting provider, or when the "client" wants to upgrade t...(related: Web Development)
From Search To Sale
The Internet car buyer is an elusive animal. Trying to hunt them down for the kill is not to be taken lightly. Dealers across the country continuously ask me what other dealers are doing to improve their closing ratios and CSI. I am constantly working to bring more traffic to their sites but as the old saying goes - "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make...(related: Web Development)
In Business? 10 Reasons Why You Need A Website -- Now!
1) Word of Mouth The single most powerful form of new business creation is word of mouth. Your past customers, friends, acquaintances and staff aren't likely to carry your brochure or even your business card everywhere they go. The can however carry your domain name, in their heads! Every time they have a conversation that leads to your kind of business they j...(related: Web Development)
Ebooks For Webmasters
Internet has opened a whole new world for web developers and web designers who are looking to get their websites developed that are finally launched on the huge world of World Wide Web. Keeping that factor webmasters are the people who have to face a lot of problems mainly due to the entrance of new software, programming languages and viruses that are a real threat for the webmasters.Besides that issues l...(related: Web Development)
Benefits Of Making Your Website Accessible To Disabled Users ? Part 2: The Business Case
The Disability Discrimination Act states that service providers must not discriminate against disabled people. A website is regarded as a service and therefore comes under this law.Some organisations are changing to their websites, but many are seemingly not making the adjustments. Disabled people don't access their website, they say, so why should they care?There are, however, two very good reasons as to why businesses should start taking these issues seriously:
35% Revenue Increase? From Your Website!
2 Golden Rules for an Engaging Website35% of visitors fail to achieve their goal when they visit company websites! By following 2 simple rules, you can increase your web-derived revenue by 1/3 or more!Renowned website usability researcher, Jakob Nielsen, today (Nov 24) published results of his latest study. His test subjects used 139 websites. On average, they failed to find what they were looking for 35% of the time. Shockingly, 37% of users couldn'...(related: Web Development)
Find The Purpose Of Your New / Proposed Website
Absolutely everything stems from the purpose of your website - selection of hosting, programming, graphic design, copywriting, internet marketing, autoresponder service, and e-commerce. So it's very important to establish the purpose of your business website first. The most common purposes for a business website are:* A company brochure: explain to customers (or potential customers), suppliers and shareholders more about the business* Product news releases: distribution of pricelists, product specifications & photos* Information releases: downloadable brochures, documents, forms & marketing material* Lead generation: allow customers to con...(related: Web Development)
How To Build A Database Driven Web Site
If you ever want to create a state directory, articledirectory, dating site or link directory, you need to know aboutcreating database driven web sites. This may seem like adaunting task at first, if you have never done it, howeverI was in the same boat as you. It is not as difficult asyou think.Benefits of building database driven web sites-Store vast amounts of information about your products orservices.-Efficient data sorting and retrieval-Complex queries and statistical analysis performed relativelyeasily-Separate site design from site's content-Create new pages on the fly without manually creating or editing new web pages-Makes it easy for client to ...(related: Web Development)
How Disabled Users Access The Internet
In 1995 a new era of accessibility for disabled people began. The Disability Discrimination Act was passe...(related: Web Development)
Is Your Website Doomed For Failure Before Youve Built It?
One of the things that many people overlook when building a new website is keywords. I have to admit, I did exactly the same thing myself when I started out. You can build the flashiest, most professional looking website, with lots of great content, but if you don't think about keywords first your website is most likely to b...(related: Web Development)
Set Up Your Website In Minutes ? For Free
There was a time not long ago when setting up a website meant endless technical jargons, hiring a web designer, writing the html or jawa codes, selecting the right hosting platfor...(related: Web Development)
How Worldly Is Your World Wide Web?
The growth in Internet usage around the world is astounding - 146% in the five years prior to March 2005. And it's not just European and North American users on the Net. The fastest growth was found in Africa with an almost 200% increase in usage. I am often pleasantly surprised as to how fast the internet connections are in 'developing countries' like Indonesia - much faster than the connection at my parent's farm in rural Alberta in fact!But wait - don't rush off and start translating your web site into Mandar...(related: Web Development)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Web Development