April 4, 2007 22:18
Category: Writing
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When you decide to start website, what do you think is the most important step to consider? If your answer is anything but content, this narration will not be of help. If you think we are a bit unsavory, so are we. But wait. Before you start feeling upbraided, let us explain.
For many small businesses, just unlocking the key to web-presence is usually the main motivator. It is not uncommon to find small business owners who religiously feel that a good-looking website is all that is needed for the ultimate stamp of prominence on the web.
It may be so, but for the fact that unless the good-looking website also has relevant content, there will be no visitors to view the website. It is akin to putting up a gorgeously dressed shop in a dark alley with no way for an outsider to know what exists inside.
Surely, this is not what you desire when you start website. Well, let us discuss then what you ought to do when you decide to start website of your own.
Keywords First
Imagine a fisherman with a good catch. He will be happy to have made such a rich harvest, but there is more than hard toil for small business owners wanting to start website.
In a way the web-world resembles the rich population of fishes. There are many, big and small, and lots of varieties. A good fisherman doesn't target all, he rather converges on a relatively small target.
In the web world what this means is that if you want to make a mark on the web, you need to focus on your niche ability. The first step is therefore is to unearth 'niche keyword phrases' that best describe your business. We put emphasis on 'niche keyword phrases' because that is where you must begin when you start website.
There are many tools which you can use to find your niche keywords, prominent among which being WebCEO, Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, and of course SiteSell's Brainstorm It!.
We are particularly impressed with SiteSell's SBI! (click here), because it helps you to discover keyword phrases that are most PROFITABLE, should you use them for your web business when you start website. In a nutshell these are what Brainstorm It! will do for you:
- It identifies the best Site Concept ("theme") for you.
- It then brainstorms that concept to find hundreds of related topics ("keywords").
- It provides profit potential guidelines for those topics.
- It helps you investigate and plan your monetization mix.
- It lays out a preliminary site Content Blueprint.
- It refines/optimizes your final Site Concept.
- It finds your perfect domain name, which you register on DAY 5 to start website.
Once you have diligently researched your most profitable keyword phrases with the help of Brainstorm It!, it is time to move on to next step to start website.
Domain Name, Site Designing, Website Hosting
You may have noticed a small detour here. We have first found out the profitable keywords before talking anything else. We'll now name our domain based preferably on chosen keyword phrases. The underlying logic is to build your web business on the basis of profitable keywords.
Suppose your business deals in terra cotta crafts and your most profitable keyword phrases are 'clay pottery', 'terracotta craft', 'baked clay art', 'terra cotta home improvement' and 'clay art interior decor', you may like to choose to select domain name from amongst ClayPottery, TerracottaCraft, TarracottaHome, ArtDecor, HomePottery, ClayArt, EarthenCraft, PotteryArt and so on.
If top-level-domains (TLDs') are not available with these names, consider acquiring country-specific domain names provided there is no infringement of any patent or copyright. Another way could be to insert a hyphen between two words to constitute domain name. For example, you may consider Art-Decor, Home-Pottery, Clay-Art and so on.
Once your domain name is acquired, you have covered an important step to start website. The remaining 2 steps before your website goes live are designing your website and hosting it in a web server. For site designing, refer our work-sample titled "Designing Tips for Your Webpage".
Website hosting services are now widely available, and it may be that there are quite a few hosting providers in your locale. Basic hosting (shared web hosting in most cases) is not cumbersome and in fact hosting providers will be glad to guide you with all information you'll need to decide on a web host.
Beginners may like to read this tutorial associated with how to start. Website hosting may not be as difficult as you may imagine, what with this excellent EditMe's 'Wiki Hosting The Easy Way'.
Contents Now, Contents Always
If you ask, we'd say contents are the most crucial part of your website. If your website is about to go live, ensure that at least some webpages have contents in them. Of course you may alter your contents later. How do you write relevant contents that boost your business?
There are 2 missing links between writing content and boosting business, which are 'BRINGING TRAFFIC' and 'PRE-SELLING'. The idea is that your contents (based on keywords already selected) must be RELEVANT and TARGETED so that your website attracts TARGETED TRAFFIC.
Read this helpful write-up on Content > Traffic > Presell > Monetization to understand how to go about when you start website on way to SUCCEEDING in your web BUSINESS.
If you have availed Site Build It! package, you're fortunate, because most of your work is automatically taken care of as part of the package. For example, researching keywords, booking domain name and website hosting are all there inclusive in the package.
There are many more helpful tools in the Site Build It! (take a Quick Tour) package that will assist you in every step as you start website and develop it for LONG-TERM BUSINESS.
Summing Up
The mainstay of any successful web business is content and plenty of it. The only exception is when a website advertises heavily (or uses unfair means) to draw traffic.
For most small business owners, sustained advertising is not a viable option. They can at best go for sporadic advertising in places like Google Adwords.
In any case, advertising alone does not guarantee sale, it only enhances possibility of sale by bringing in traffic. Sale happens only after potential buyer is convinced of advantage that is likely to accrue if he buys your product or service.
That means unless you're selling branded items, you have to have convincing contents to assure your would-be buyer and lure him into buying.
In effect therefore, there is no alternative to TARGETED CONTENT whichever way you look at it. That being so, what if you are not a good content writer?
In that case, it may be a good idea to learn and develop your writing skill. It is not difficult. SiteSell's e-book, 'Make Your Content Pre-sell' is a very good resource to get you started in writing your own content. Get the e-book FREE.
As you start website, make content its lifeline. You will never feel sorry for any missed opportunity. That's for sure.
