3 Steps To Your First Small Business Website

When planning your first small business website, there are three essential questions you should ask yourself:

1. Who is your target audience?


2. How will your target audience find you?


3. How will you convert your visitors into sales?

These questions sound obvious, but it's amazing how many people don't bother...and then moan that "our website doesn't bring us any business".

1) Who is your target audience?

Give a great deal of thought to your target market. Who do you want to attract to your website? Why? The answer to that is more than likely to sell them something - a product, a service, or an idea perhaps.

Claiming that your market is anyone and everyone is far too vague, and your website will lack focus, and fail to maximise its potential. Ideally you should be aiming to create a niche.

2) How will they find you?

Creating a niche will also help you with the search engines, and drive hot leads to your site.

Consider what keywords your target market might type into a search engine to find you. Actually do the searches yourself. Who comes up in the top 30? Because that's where you need to be. Are your competitors there? Look at their sites. Do they work? How can you improve on them? Identify something unique about your business that sets it apart from the rest.

Those keywords - or keyphrases to be more accurate - need to be incorporated into your pages of your site - in the page titles, in the headings, and in the internal links.
Be specific with your keyphrases. They will be less competitive than the more general single word searches, and will more accurately target your market. You may have to localise or specialise to get in that top 30 - and the top 30 is where you need to be to drive traffic to your site. As I am sure you are aware from your own experience, if you haven't found what you are looking for in the first 3 results pages, you look elsewhere.

The key to achieving high search engine rankings is building inbound links to your web pages - that is pages on external websites that link to pages on your site. Crucially this link acquisition should be a natural growth - where inbound link count increases at a gradual pace. The pages that link to yours should be relevant, on-topic and ideally contain the same keywords - especially in the linking text. Search engines rank pages based upon their reputation - your ranking will be determined by what other (preferably high ranking) pages say about your page.

3) How will you convert your visitors into sales?

Don't just tell them what you do or sell. Tell them why they want it (yes, want - not need). Offer incentives, freebies, discounts - anything to get that dialogue started.

Current research indicates that the human brain makes a judgment about a web page within a twentieth of a second! That doesn't leave you very long to make an impression. So, make sure that you have your Unique Selling Point (USP) clearly visible on your home page - and preferably prominent on every one of your other pages. After all, it's not a given that the home page will be the first page that the visitor sees, particularly if they have found you via a search engine.

Then make sure that you list your bullet-pointed guarantees. Visitors have to understand why you are different from the rest, and why they should deal with you and not your competitors. And as we've discovered, they have to understand this pretty much instantly.

Lastly, make sure that your site has a funnel-like structure. Identify your important pages - usually the "call to action" or purchase pages - and make sure all roads lead to those pages. Your internal links - like their external equivalents - should describe the target page. If you sell blue widgets, don't call your products page "Products", call it "blue widgets", and make sure that the links pointing at this page also say "blue widgets". This will not only help the search engines identify and rank the most important pages in your site, it will also lead your visitor to that all important conversion.

Building Your First Website - Things You Need To Know

Do you have a small business or idea that you would like to get on the web? This article will explain the basic steps to get your business or idea on the web.

There are many free ways to get an online presence but the best way is by having your own, unique, web site. There are a few thinks you will need to get this web site online but they are not very complicated or expensive.

The first thing you need is a domain name. A domain name is the address that you put in the address bar of your web browser. It usually looks something like www.somename.com. This is a unique name you will use to identify your business from the rest of the world. A domain name can be purchased from any number of registrars for under $10 a year.

The next thing you will need is web hosting. This is a service that lets you have a place to upload files and display them to the world when someone goes to your web site. Web hosting is another service that can usually be bought on the web for between $5 and $15 a month.

Once you have your domain name and web hosting set up, the real work begins. You will need to design a web site. There are any number of tools you can use to create a web site, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft FrontPage, Notepad, or another similar program. Designing a web site requires, at least, some knowledge of HTML (or XHTML). HTML and XHTML are static scripting languages that you use to tell your web browser how to show your information. There are other languages you can use to create web sites such as PHP, ASP, and ColdFusion. These languages are more complicated and are used to create dynamic sites and interface with databases.

Designing a web site can be a daunting task. There is always the option of having a design company create you web site for you but that can cost quite a pretty penny. Another option is to install a pre-made web site script that you can administer from a simple administration. Some of these script include Mambo, phpWebsite, e107, and many more. A script like this, usually, still requires some knowledge of HTML and/or web design because they are highly configurable and require a bit of tweaking to make it look the way you want.

It may sound complicated to start a web site but it really isn’t. All you need to do is take a bit of time to read some tutorials and examples, that are freely available on the web. You can learn the basics in no time completely free of charge.

First Steps To Starting A Site – An Example

A dog іѕ rumored tо bе man’s bеѕt friend. Thеrе аrе lots аnd lost оf men. Sounds lіkе а good subject fоr а site thаt wіll mаkе uѕ rich, Rich, RICH! Okay, I gоt а bit carried away.

Fіrѕt Steps Tо Starting A Site – An Exаmрlе

I cried аt thе еnd оf Old Yeller. Let’s јuѕt gеt thаt оut оf thе wау rіght now. Dogs tо mе аrе lіkе family members. Losing оnе іѕ brutal, but time spent wіth thеm оvеr thе years іѕ wonderful. Mоѕt people feel thіѕ wау аbоut thеіr dogs, whісh ѕhоuld tеll уоu something.

If уоu аrе gоіng tо open а site аbоut man’s bеѕt friend, іt muѕt hаvе аn emotional element. Thіѕ саn соmе іn thе form оf pictures, personal stories аnd ѕо on. Regardless, thіѕ іѕ nоt thе type оf site wеrе уоu wаnt tо stick uр bland, academic information rеgаrdіng pups. Suсh material ѕhоuld constitute part оf thе site, but ѕhоuld nоt bе thе overriding theme.

Dogs аrе insanely popular оn thе net. Thеrе аrе millions оf searches а day fоr keywords related tо pups. Thе fіrѕt step tо opening thіѕ site іѕ figuring оut whаt уоur niche wіll be. If уоu trу tо dо а general site, іt wіll bе difficult bесаuѕе уоu wіll hаvе ѕеrіоuѕ problems providing еnоugh content tо cover еvеrу breed, issue, medical problem аnd ѕо on. Thіѕ wіll lead tо dissatisfaction wіth visitors. If thеу can’t find whаt thеу want, thеу wіll nоt соmе back. Repeat visitors аrе а vеrу important aspect оf а successful site, ѕо don’t bit оff mоrе thаn уоu саn chew, pun intended.

Tо pick уоur niche, уоu јuѕt nееd tо focus оn whаt іt rеаllу іѕ уоu wаnt tо ѕау оr promote. Yоu соuld pick а specific breed. Evеn better, уоu соuld pick а specific issue ѕuсh аѕ training оr а type оf dog accessory. Bу gоіng niche, уоu hаvе а fаr bеttеr chance оf making а major impact аnd bесоmіng knоwn аѕ аn expert іn thаt niche. Thіѕ іѕ thе key tо success fоr уоur site. Alwауѕ focus оn а niche аnd dominate it. If уоu аrе interested іn multiple areas thаt dо nоt mesh tоgеthеr well, open multiple sites.

Onсе уоu hаvе thе раrtісulаr niche іn mind, уоu wаnt tо research аll thе keyword phrases people аrе uѕіng tо search fоr уоur niche. Yоu dо thіѕ fоr twо reasons. First, іt іѕ gоіng tо tеll уоu thе exact phrases уоu ѕhоuld uѕе іn уоur marketing. Second, іt іѕ gоіng tо tеll уоu іf thеrе іѕ еnоugh traffic tо mаkе opening а site fоr thе niche а smart move. Wіthоut thіѕ information, уоu аrе јuѕt guessing.

Evеrуоnе hаѕ hіѕ оr hеr favorite tool fоr research keyword phrases. Mоѕt offer free trials, ѕо trу thеm оut аnd pick оnе thаt bеѕt fits you.

Onсе уоu hаvе identified уоur niche аnd relevant keywords, іt іѕ simply time tо start building thе site. Thе actual design оf thе site іѕ bеуоnd thіѕ article, but уоu ѕhоuld uѕе thе keyword phrases thrоughоut thе site. Yоu ѕhоuld add bulk tо thе site bу writing articles аbоut уоur specific area, publishing thе ѕаmе іn article directories tо build uр уоur link count.

Put іt аll together, аnd pups wіll bесоmе bоth уоur bеѕt friend аnd а profit center.

DMOZ - The First and Last Step towards Website Submission

What is DMOZ or OPD





The DMOZ (Directory Mozilla) or Open Directory Project (ODP) is the most comprehensive human edited directory of the Web which is compiled by a vast global community of volunteer editors. Majority of search engines including AOL Search, Netscape Search, Google, Lycos, DirectHit, and hundreds of others get their data from OPD. So if your site is listed on OPD it becomes automatically listed on majority of search engines. There is no need to submit your site to any search engine manually, or to use expensive site submission software or services. For Web Site marketing and promotion all you need is to submit your site to OPD and just relax. Search engines will automatically find your site.




And the best part is that listing on ODP is 100% free. There is no cost to submit a site or to its data. Anyone can download and use ODP data at no cost provided they comply with the ODP's free license agreement and attribution. Also, there is no cost associated with listing and submitting sites. Getting a DMOZ listing is very beneficial and even critical to your business since it is an Open Directory listing. As an open directory there are many other search directories that use ODP’s results to generate their pages. In addition, a multitude of webmasters use scripts to list all or part of the DMOZ directory on their site, and this in turn boosts a site’s Page Rank.






 Who is running the ODP?




The ODP is managed by Netscape Communication Corporation. It is operated by a very small staff responsible for editorial policies and direction, community management and development, and systems engineering. However, the ODP is first and foremost a self-regulating community of net-citizens that basically runs itself.  Through a system of self-governance, the ODP volunteer editors manage the directory's growth and development, and through a system of checks-and-balances, ensure the directory is of superior quality.




What does "DMOZ" mean, and how is it related to the Open Directory Project (ODP)?




The ODP is also known as DMOZ, an acronym for Directory Mozilla. This name reflects its loose association with Netscape's Mozilla project, an Open Source browser initiative. The ODP was developed in the spirit of Open Source, where development and maintenance are done by net-citizens, and results are made freely available for all net-citizens.






What is difference between the ODP and a search engine?




The ODP is a Web directory, not a search engine. The purpose of the ODP is to list and categorize web sites. OPD does not rank, promote or optimize sites for search engines. The ODP is simply a data provider to majority of search engines. ODP data users, such as AOL, Netscape and Google and hundreds of others, install their own search functionality on their site.






How to Submit a site to the Open Directory?




Identify the single best category for your site. The Open Directory has an enormous array of subjects to choose from. You should submit a site to the single most relevant category. Go directly to that category on dmoz.org and then click "suggest URL." Follow the instructions on the submission form carefully.  Descriptions of sites should describe the content of the site concisely and accurately




Getting Your Site Into Portals and Search Engines Using ODP Data




If your site has been accepted into the Open Directory, it may take anywhere from 2 weeks to several months for your site to be listed on partner sites which use the Open Directory data, such as AOL Search, Google, Netscape Search, Yahoo Search, and hundreds of other sites


Visit www.dmoz.org for listing your site on ODP. For more such articles on Web Site Design 

Building Your First Web Site?

Before doing anything on the technical side, you need some kind of basic idea to work with. I suggest first getting some paper and a pencil. Start by sketching a layout of how you would like your web page to appear. For example, a simple title at the top, the area in which you would like any content, pictures and so on. Now its time to do some programing!

Don't let the word programing scare you. Anyone can learn and there are several sites that offer free tutorials. One such site is http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp. Although it is not necessary to be a top notch programer to build and operate your web site, you should learn the basics of html. I recommend that you thoroughly learn about tables. They are widely used and with them, you can create a professional looking layout (even as a beginner).

You can use any basic text editor, like notepad, to write, edit, and save your code (html). When saving your work for the first time, choose Text Document for type of file, then save with the extension htm (for example index.htm). Your home page (the first page people usually see) is normally saved as index.htm. To see how your page looks, double click on the file and it should automatically open up in your browser.

Now that you've got your web page ready to go, it's time to find a host (a place for your web page to live). Since this is your first site, I suggest you use Free Web Hosting. Some host will put advertising, such as a banner, on your site as the cost of free hosting. Others will only charge you to register your Domain Name (www.YourSite.com). Be careful not to accidentally sign up for extras such as url protection, spam control, etc. (unless you feel you need them) as they will add to your cost. These sites will have a limit on bandwidth (how much data that can be transmitted per month), email accounts, and maybe a few other things, but are still great for first timers. If later on you feel you need more, then you usually can upgrade. To find a host, just use any search engine and the keyword phrase Free Web Hosting.

Ok! You've sketched a layout for your web page, learned some basic html, coded your web page, found your host with the most (couldn't resist), and registered your URL (www.YourSite.com). Now it's time to upload (transfer) your file (web page ) to your host. To do this you need a FTP program. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. When using this application, there are usually two windows. The left window shows your computer files, and the right window shows the files stored on your host. For a good tutorial and to download a freeware FTP program, FTP Commander, go to http://www.nexcess.net/hosting/support/tutorials/ftp/ftpcommindex.php.

Now you should be up and running. But don't stop there. Continue to tweak, add pages, learn to link to other pages and sites, and frequently add new content. Who knows, you could eventually learn to profit from your creation.