Web Site Help

Get Help, Information, and Tips For Creating a Successful Web Site

The internet (as we know it today), has really only been around since the early 90's. Most of the internet business pioneers were getting their start in the mid to late 90's. These folks experimented to figure out what worked online and what didn't.

In short, running a business on the internet is very different than running one in a brick-and-mortar building. There are some similarities, but there are a lot of differences too - and it's these differences that many business owners fail to recognize, and so their web sites don't do well.

The first rule to remember is that people use the internet to find information. They want information on topics their interested in and they want solutions to problems. That's why they surf the internet.

People don't generally decide they want to buy something today and go online to do so (with the exception of places like Amazon.com). They will go online to search for product information - but in most cases, the intent is not to buy on the spot (they simply want information).

The second most important rule to remember is that people on the internet are always in a hurry! They don't have time to read every word on a web page and they won't spend a lot of time searching for stuff.

Statistics show that you only have about 10 seconds to capture your visitors attention and convince them to stay on your web site, before they're off to the next.

If the page loads to slowly, they're gone! If they don't see relevant content on your site right away, they're gone! If the site is too cluttered or hard to navigate, they're gone!

So it's critical that your page loads quickly, captures your visitors attention immediately and gives them a reason to stay, and is easy to navigate.

If You Build It - They Won't Necessarily Come!

This is another critical point that is often misunderstood or overlooked about business web sites.

There are countless other web sites on the internet. Some relevant, some not. Search any topic in Google, and you're likely to find a few million results. That's a lot of web sites to compete with!

Another proven statistic is that folks generally stop looking at search results after 3 pages. So if your web site doesn't show up in the first 3 pages of listings, it's pretty much invisible (or non-existent) to your potential visitor.

So if you want your web page to show up in the first 3 pages of search results, you have to do some extra work. This type of work is commonly referred to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

These things take time and constant tweaking.

When you hire somebody to build your web site for you, they may build implement some SEO strategies when building your web sites. These are things like including META tags (part of the HTML coding) - but that's pretty much it. Web designers are not paid to do SEO or market your web site.

To boost your web sites visibility and search engine rankings, you'll either have to learn these tactics yourself (which means you need to be able to make changes to your web site) or hire somebody to do it all for you.

There are two big drawbacks to hiring and SEO expert. First, they are very expensive (you'll pay thousands of dollars for a real SEO expert). And second, nobody will promise you results or a top listing.

It really is best to take the time to learn to optimize your own web site. There are plenty of good resources that teach you how to do this - and learning and implementing these strategies is not that difficult (but some are time consuming).

There is also an easy solution to the problem (and one I highly recommend). For a fraction of the cost of hiring an SEO expert, you can get personalized expert help from IMC's SEO/SEM experts in the Search Marketing Lab.

IMC is my favorite group of internet experts. I've been working with them for couple of years now.

The Search Marketing Lab is a forum based system SEO experts provide personalized help to web owners all over the world. You can ask questions about your web site and learn how to increase it's value and visibility to world (which increases your profits).

In addition to the forum, you'll also get a detailed report each month that share's the latest SEO/SEM strategies.

IMC runs another forum, called the Internet Entrepreneurs' Club. Like the Search Marketing Lab, folks have access to IMC's top experts. These experts (and others) answer questions, share ideas, and help each other build better internet businesses.

I've been a member of this forum since January 2007, and say that it is the best source of cutting edge information. And it's a great place to get personalized help!

Both forums are excellent sources of information and personalized help that you can't get anywhere else without paying an expert for personal one-on-one coaching!

Another great resource (also highly recommended) is IMC's complete step-by-step how-to guide called, "The Insider's Secret to Marketing Your Business on the Internet".

Often referred to as the "Insider's Course", this course is the complete handbook for running an internet business.

It is a MUST HAVE book (or books) for anybody who wants to ...

• Run or start an internet business
• Drive traffic to their web site
• Learn about different options for making money online
• Learn how to write good sales copy
• Build a good, clean, rich content web site
• Get the most from their web site

This handbook (or course) is very well laid out so you can quickly find the information you're interested in. You don't have to read it front to cover - you can easily skip around and focus on specific areas.

Owning and reading this course, is very much like taking a class in web design, internet marketing, search engine optimization tactics, and more.

I own the "Insider's Course" and believe it is a must have book for anybody with a business web site.

What Every Web Site Needs

Okay now that you have an understanding of what it takes to build a successful web site, lets's down to the basics.

To create a web site, you'll need the following things:

• Domain Name (this serves as your web address)
• Web Hosting Account (this the computer that stores your web site)
• Web Design Software (this lets you build and edit the web site)

Getting domain name and web hosting account is the easy part. You can get get both fairly cheaply at WowzerWebs.com.

You only have to register a domain name once, but you do have to renew it every year to keep it (although you can renew it for up to 10 years at a time).

A web hosting account is a recurring monthly fee (but you can set up annual billing). With a web hosting account, you are simply renting space on somebody else's server. They host your web site on their server so it stays up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so folks can access it.

When signing up for a web hosting account, you will be asked which platform you'd like to use (e.g., Windows or Linux). For simplicity sake, choose Linux. You can change it later, but running on Linux does make some things easier.

Although you can build a web site without web design software, having it makes the job a LOT easier! My favorite web design software is called, Dreamweaver . It's very flexible and powerful and can pretty much do whatever you want.

By the way, if you're a student, teacher or the parent of a K-12th grader, you can buy Dreamweaver at a heavily discounted rate at the Academic Superstore

More Resources

Below are links to two other web sites I own and manage. The first one (WowzerWebs.com) is the place to register domain names, sign up for web hosting accounts, and more.

WowzerWebs.com - Get Cheap Domain Names and Web Hosting Accounts

The second one (AffiliateToolsOnline.com) is a web site devoted entirely to internet marketing and creating a successful online business. In addition to links and information about the products and resources I use, I share a lot of information that I've learned over the years.

AffiliateToolsOnline.com - Discover Internet Marketing Tools That Work

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