Your First Website: Quick Tips

Try to concentrate on the popular search phrases that people use to look for products or services that you handle. Make sure that these phrases are embedded in the content of your pages where it makes sense for the reader. You are writing for the reader or potential customer but you are also writing for the search engines.

Hope this helps

One more thing you may add is "Title" tags on your website. Notice at the very top of the web browser, it says "Your First Website: Quick Tips - Biznik" ... this may be one of the most important things you can implement on your home page at least.

The text you place in your title tags are what search engines look for. For instance, ASWEBPROS.com title tag reads "website development, Greensboro, NC, search engines, design."

For someone searching for website development in Greensboro, NC, they will most likely run across this site because of the title tags.

Never leave a page "Untitled" And try not to name your page "Welcome to yourdomain.com" ... or something to that effect.

Take care Sean Love The-LoveGroup.com

Angel, this is a great topic and I love that you framed it with "first website." I think it could be expanded to talk more about the internet marketing aspects rather than the usability aspects because without marketing there will be no users anyway.

I see a lot of business owners (experienced or not) that have the impression that the website and Google are going to do all the magic and visitors will show up at their sites automatically.

You're on target when you say "web sites are not active sales agents" but I would clarify with these points:

1. A website CAN be an active sales agent, but without marketing no one will find it.

2. Even a poorly designed website CAN get conversions, but without marketing, no one will find it.

Websites can do a lot - A LOT. The issue isn't about the limitations of the website in terms of its ability to convert people.

I think the issue is that we can't just put up a website, max it out with SEO, sit back and just wait for visitors to stop by.

Excellent point Tia! This is not the 'Field of Dreams'... You can no longer build a web site and site back to watch people come in and sign-up or buy a product. Heck, the smallest amount of competitive results I've seen on Google in a while was something like 836,000. That is almost unheard of with a common search term. Even if you are in a niche market, you have to work at it to get on the first or second page of a search engine (really hard). And don't even start thinking about placement on a new site...

You HAVE to let people know your site is there, whether that is online or offline marketing. You have to do the leg (or lip) work to get the traffic in order for the site to do what it was built to do.

The most simple things to do offline are to add the URL to your email signature, business card, postcards, brochures and storefront (if you have one). Yes, even add it to your business AND personal checks. If you have a commute, plaster it on the rear window of your car. Put it in your voice mail message, and of course - TELL everyone you meet!

Online, join biznik (that was a stupid statement), facebook, and Linkedin. Find groups, blogs and forums that cater to your market and join; then post, post, post (not spam mind you, engage in conversations and bring it up. Add it to your forum or blog signatures)... If you have a bit of marketing budget, do a survey. You can use friends and family, but I would suggest a street corner or grocery store (so the results are unbiased) and create a list of search terms people would use to search online for your product or service. Then set-up a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign with Yahoo and Google.

Once you have traffic, you need to keep them through a newsletter, email specials, etc. Then when you have that client base, you will get that treasured 'word-of-mouth' advertising. Then you can breathe.

Now after you've taken your breath...

Start all over again!

Great advice, Scott! I would add

*Online PR - very effective and can even create local buzz - it worked for me.

*Promoting yourself through articles, eHow.com and About.com, particularly if you're a service provider.

*Don't forget about "traditional" ads on the web - in addition to pay per click. There are many places you can buy ad space - in Ezines is one of them.

(Taking a deep breath now)

Tia

And Scott I find it bizarre that you used Field of Dreams because I was going to use that in an article I'm drafting about internet marketing...

great minds think alike! :)

Great article and comments. As a new business, creating a new website this was extremely helpful. I need to take a big breath before I start!

Thank you.

Lynn,

The biggest thing to remember is not to design or develop a web site without help from a professional.

(Not a promotion, just some strong advice) ;)

Thanks so much everyone, some awesome ideas for the new entrepreneur!

There was a time when quite all home page were created with flash effects...and that's so wrong for search engines because flash is not useful for indicization and it makes website so slow. I'm not a professional web designer but i've created my 2 websites following a simple rule: keep them graphically "light" and be search engine orientated (which means, for example, paying attention to keywords and HTML code). Natalia

I'll throw in a couple of thoughts. First, steer clear of HTML based editors. Forget it! Use a Content Management System regardless of whether you or a professional do the work. It's the best way to do a site. Word Press is a content management system. While using a professional is great if you have the budget, if you don't find a decent template for Word Press (there are free ones, and great ones for as little as $50) and do it yourself. Word Press will create a site favored by search engines and if you do some basic SEO it will do quite well.