Are you avoiding that crucial step, waiting until all is well? Are you doing your research to make sure you don’t “do it” wrong? Well, you are not alone. Many people who could be making tons of money online are missing out due to their internet phobia. Companies that know what they are doing charge an arm and a leg to produce an effective website. But with all the millions of searches going on every minute, there must be room for us!
There is.
First of all, you need a domain name, a hosting company and a little knowledge of HTML (hypertext markup language). Domain name registration and hosting accounts are very affordable services offered by many companies and they are all quite similar in what they offer. Once you have registered a domain name and a hosting account, you will be able to upload your images and pages to the Internet.
Your website is made up of pages, images, and other files that need to be readable by Internet browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, etc. Most pages can be created in notepad and saved with an html (.html) extension. HTML codes for page layout are beyond the scope of this article, but I’ll talk about some meta tags every site NEEDS: title tag, keyword tag, and description tag. In addition to these, you’ll need keyword-rich pages with relevant content for your description, title, and keyword tags.
You should also maintain links on all your pages to all other pages. This allows search engines to find all the pages on your site. I highly recommend placing titles within the code of your links. This should be the title of the page it leads to and supports the importance of both the linked page and the linked page.
Your site is a collection of information. It’s like a book, an electronic digital book. Every book has a title. But once inside, each chapter is also titled. The table of contents is like the menu. Your website should have an interactive menu that links to pages with a title, keywords, and description for each page. This is what search engines love and the more they like your site, the higher your page will rank. They want to recommend websites with organized, well-indexed information and relevant content within each page. This is probably the most important part of making your site “search engine friendly”. You must match the title of each page within your site to the page description (description tag) and the keywords used on the page (and the keyword tag). Don’t get overwhelmed, it’s a lot less confusing than you think.
Once your site is indexed in search engine databases, you’ll want to increase your page rank. The most powerful way to increase your page rank in search engine results is with valuable backlinks. These links, from other websites to yours, are extremely important. The higher the website is, the more valuable the link will be. I mean, if you read a good book and it talks about an amazing vacation getaway, wouldn’t you start planning that vacation as soon as you put the book down? Do you know how many people buy a book because Oprah puts it on her book list? Similarly, if a well-accepted, important website links to your site, search engines believe your site must be remarkable.
Keyword selection is an important part of your online marketing plan. When you’re first starting out, don’t expect to appear at the top of search results for phrases that are highly competed for. General words like “car” or “cheap” will have millions of results appearing before your site, regardless of how well your page is organized. Bidding on or paying for these types of keywords can be a better way to get to the top of the list (in sponsored or paid search results).
So, that pretty much sums it up. You need a domain name, a hosting account, and something to write about. Think about what people are looking for and what you can help them with. Use keyword tools to find highly searched but low competition search phrases related to your content. Use these phrases on your pages, make them bold, and use them in your meta tags (title, keywords, and description) and in your link names and titles. Then find other companies in your industry or websites related to your topic, and contact them to link them together. And don’t forget good old fashioned word of mouth. Traffic is not just the desired effect, it actually increases the value of your page and your position in search engine results.
Be proactive. Good luck!