April 8, 2007 20:29
Category: Site Build It!
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In the first part (Website Building? Plan Before You Plunge) of this 2-part article, we've discussed that prior planning is necessary for building website.
We also dealt on the importance of content and the need of pre-selling your content when you're building website. But, what is pre-selling? Here we go.
Pre-selling
In essence, pre-selling is the concept of making your content relevant to your visitors for taking action you want them to take.
It means your content should be such that it is able to convince your prospective buyer that he would stand to benefit by buying your product or service.
Clearly therefore, content - sufficient amount of it - is the backbone of building website and comes first before any attempt to even think of monetization.
Basic Approach To Contents
Coming back to the fundamental reality that people use Internet to search for information, your aim will be twofold - one, attract large number of visitors, and two, make your content reflect your core expertise, your niche ability.
Together, the two will form an inseparable part of your strategy for building website.
The first step in that direction is to unearth keywords or key-phrases that not only belong to your core ability, but also have enough popularity (and therefore, profitability) among web-searchers.
Locating right keywords is like brainstorming over a wide gamut of issues. There are excellent tools to choose from, like Keyword Discovery, Wordtracker, and the ones that come within the wholesome package of WebCEO and Site Build It (also refer our article on keyword research tools.
Whichever you select, when you brainstorm, you attempt to connect between keywords you choose, their profitability and relevance for your site.
As a sound practice for building website, selecting the most appropriate keywords is a necessity that should not be glossed over. For, once a site is live and has progressed for some time, it becomes difficult to make corrections if required.
Develop Site Concept
Building website typically follows an inverted-tree pattern. At the top, the home page usually focuses on the most relevant keyword. It'll thereafter branch into next level of say 8 to 12 pages, each of which will further branch off to several pages, and so on.
This will continue only as far as it appears feasible as against branching off just for the sake of it. You won't like any weak 'branch' in your website, would you!
Each page in the hierarchy is to have a unique keyword (or perhaps 2), even while the focus will be to maintain relevance with the page at immediate upper level.
Like to brainstorm keywords again? Do that by all means for a wholesome shape to your effort as you are building website.
Monetizing Plan
Why this now, you may wonder! The point is when you are building website, you are doing it for an overt purpose, which is to earn money at the end of the day.
Thus even though you do not launch any monetization effort until you've sufficient content, you need to have clear idea as to how your content will earn revenue as and when the time comes.
There can be many ways of monetization, for example, selling product/service, being affiliate, hawking site-space to advertisers, email marketing, and so on. In most cases, it is the combination of 2 or more of these.
For example, this site is in info publishing. At the same time, we also offer content writing service. The revenue model of our website is a combination of selling service, affiliate earning and AdSense PPC click-through.
Depending on which ones you choose, building website will need to take this into account and accordingly re-orient/modify.
To repeat what we believe is the basic concept of building website, content always precedes monetization for the simple reason that it is the content that attracts your visitors and then compels them to part with money or express willingness to avail your service.
Conclusion
Often, it is tempting to get swayed by numerous get-rich-quick techniques hawked by Internet marketers. If you do not have endless supply of money to splurge on costly ads, the only way out is to have solid plan for building website.
But suppose you do have pots of money for ads. In that case too, you need planning, for ads will only fetch your visitors to your website's doorstep, not compel him to do you favor. For that once again, building website based on good content is required.
Let's recall the famous equation:
Actual Income = Total Income - All Expenditure
Clearly, your as well as every web entrepreneur's effort will be to cut down 'All Expenditure' while boosting 'Total Income'.
To have this happening, to see your web venture succeed, the starting point is building website properly. Begin now with this free video action guide.
