Although there are many experts who claim to know what makes a website successful, upon researching one would find that almost every expert would agree that navigation has a large part in the formula. Easy website navigation is the key to repeat business. There are thousands of websites out there floating around. Not every one of these websites is successful and that is mainly due to the website structure itself. If you want to create a website that is structurally capable of leading to repeat business, then you should consider these tips during the creating and building processes.
Easy website navigation needs to begin with the design of your website. Before your website is published on the web, it should be finished and able to be easily navigated. Don’t wait for the problems to present themselves through use to figure out what works and what doesn’t, especially if you are running a web business. There is simply no room for needless error when it comes to your business. The first thing to remember during initial design phases is that your website should be so simple to use that an eleven-year-old child should be able to figure it out. It is unlikely someone that young would ever be conducting business online, but many adults need the simplicity on websites. You should also keep it simple enough to run on even the slowest computer you can imagine someone owning. Not everyone has the fastest and newest computers around, so you will need to keep that in mind. If you only design for the highest forms of technology, you will likely loose quite a few potential customers.
When it comes to the actual design, try to use things that are easy to the eye. Pictures and graphics work really well, as long as they are not too large or complicated. If you are using photos, make sure you use thumbprints that can be clicked upon to reveal a larger image of the photo. The thumbprints will load quickly for those with slower connections, but also allow the option of seeing the image in larger form. Consumers would much rather gather information from pictures on the web than by reading boring text. A good rule is to offer a majority of images, with a little text mixed in.
When adding content to your site, there are a few things you should not do. First, you should not repeat common information. If you assume your audience is ignorant, they will likely be offended. Second, you should not repeat information from other websites with the same subject as yours. This will only make you look uniform and basically convince consumers you have nothing unique to offer them. If they can get the same deals at another website, they just might take their business there. Be sure you are adding valuable information and products on your website. Consumers are intelligent and want to be treated as such.
When trying to figure out how to link each page to another, you will need to keep an “obvious” state of mind. This means that any place that you feel you must type “click here” should be so obvious that even without the actual words “click here”; the consumer should feel that is what should be done next. Designing your site with predictability in mind is a great idea. The more comfortable the consumer feels with the site, the better your business will be and the more repeat business you can expect. When the customer “knows” what will happen next, they will automatically feel comfortable. Surprising customers is not usually a great idea, so make sure everything works as it should. Place links in appropriate places so the viewer does not need to search endlessly for the link to the next page.
Lastly, remember to avoid backgrounds and colors that distract from your products and website in general. Never use anything blinking in your site design. Blinking ads and content are annoying to everyone that uses the internet and can even cause medical problems in some viewers. Repeat business will not exist if you use content that is difficult on the eyes or it annoying to viewers. To get people to come back to your website, you need to create a place that can be navigated with complete ease. Make sure that all links are checked daily to ensure that your website is running as smoothly as possible. Also, be sure to have all of the “kinks” taken care of before you even publish your site online. Do these things and you are sure to have repeat business.
Navigate With Ease – Why Easy Website Navigation Is The Key To Repeat Business
Does Your New Business Need A Website?
If you are starting a new business there are many things you need to keep in mind, and starting a website to market your products online is one of the most important aspects of your new business.
There are many reasons why should start a website that include saving money, convenience, more customers, professional image, and keeping up with the competition.
You will save money when you market your company via a website because this medium is always available for potential visitors. Because of this, on your website you can provide a significant amount of information that customers are looking for.
Frequently asked questions are important because most of the time customers have similar questions. So, if you go ahead and answer these questions on your website you will not have to spend the time and money required to answer them again because they are basically self service. Also, make sure you provide detailed contact information for individuals that need to contact you for whatever reason. Selling items on your website is also a good way to make money and it allows customers to shop whenever they want.
There is nothing more convenient than the Internet to provide information, shopping, or the like at any time of the day or night all year round. Because of this, company’s with websites experience a lot of traffic when the actual store is otherwise closed. This is because people enjoy logging online when they have free time whether it be at night or on the weekends.
Because of this convenience, your website will garner more customers for you, especially if you have a detailed website. The reason for this is more and more frequently individuals use the Internet in order to search for information on a wide variety of things. So, if they are searching for what you offer and you have a website then you will have more customers. The day and age of yellow pages will soon be over because the generation of the Internet is growing up using this medium to find information. So, if you have a website you will offer Internet users the ability to find information online.
In addition to these many benefits, you will also be displaying a professional image if you have a website. The reason for this is a website shows you are serious about your business, about providing information to potential clients, and staying in touch with technology and the speed of business. You will want individuals to know your company is serious, so build a website in order to show your importance.
Beyond all of this, you will also want to keep up with the competition. If they have websites and you do not, it is obvious who will win the race. The best thing to do is to evaluate your competitor’s websites and then make yours better.
Drive Hundreds Of Free Prospects To Your Your Home Based Networking Business Website Daily For Free
The key to any home based networking business is promotion. Netwokring online is different than networking in person. Everything is done over the Internet including all the training and eduction. Occasinaly people in your network may want to talk over the phone or you may conduct a conference call with your fronline team to train but most of the recruitment and initial introduction is done via e-mail and websites. With this being said building a home based networkin business can be a challenge.
Promotion is the most important part of any business, and for your business to be successful, you have to promote, promote, promote. There are several ways you can promote your business. One of the most important is to gain good rankings for keyword phrases in Search Engines. This allows people to find your website in a search, especially Google, which tends to be the search engine of choice for many people. Getting a top ranking for a single word will be close to impossible. But a search phrase such as "how to train dogs" vs. "dogs" produces much less competition and more availablility to gain a good site ranking.
Preparing your site means making sure that it is optimized for the search engines, a process called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It may cost a little bit to do, but it’s worth it in the end because SEO will guarantee that your website gets top ranking with the search engines, thus a better chance that it will come up early in a search. A good free place to do this is usually performaing a search on Google for "free search engine optimization". You will find lots of cool sites offering free information. Even if you spend a few bucks to get your site prfessionally optimized you will be very happy six months to a year down the road as your site will be cranking out visitors.
Of course, before you start optimizing your site, you have to submit your website to the search engines so that they know it exists. There are several services available that allow you to do this for free. http://Submitexpress.com, for example, goes out to 40+ search engines and offers professional optimization services for a reasonable fee. If you wish to submit it to more, you can purchase a premium package that allows you to submit your site to hundreds of search engines, directories, and free for all pages. The more places that you submit your site, the better the chance that someone will visit your site and want to join your home based networking business.
The other angle to consider is selling product versus recruiting new members. For example, if you sell hosting services you may get a good staple of customers that use the service but don't join the business. This should be a strong consideration for any home based networking business. This is often a forgotton goal and where many people fail in Network Marketing. They get caught up in the money and not selling the product. People come to the Internet to learn and search, not be sold to. If your product fits their need they might try it. They may then become a business partner in the future if your product works for them.
One other tactic is to place a classified ad for your website. This is an inexpensive method that can get your site listed very fast. Google loves http://www.usfreeclassifieds.com. In addition, there are email groups and newsletters where you can advertise your business as well. You just want to be careful not to spam because many network marketing organizations will cancel your membership for spamming; they offer specific guidelines concerning the acceptable forms of business promotion, and if you deviate from that, you lose whatever time and money you have invested. Take a few minutes to review your companies policies and procedures to be safe.
Using a Website to Market Your Business
There are many different ways to advertise your business on the Internet. Placing banner ads, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and tactfully mentioning your business on industry related forums and message boards are just a few of the popular options for Internet marketing. Another Internet marketing strategy involves creating and advertising a website to promote your business. You can use your website in a number of ways. Some of these ways include providing more information about your business and the products or services you offer, letting potential customers know how to reach you and even selling your products and services via the website. This article will highlight the advantages of using a website to market your business and will outline some of the ways the website can be useful.
One great advantage to using a website to market your business on the Internet is that you can place descriptions and photos of the products or services your business offers. This is important because many consumers use the Internet when researching products and services. Having an online presence gives your business an advantage over the competition because consumers are much more likely to select your products or services over the products and services offered by your competitors who do not advertise online.
Another advantage to marketing your business on a website is you can use the website to not only market but also sell your products directly. Again this can give you an edge over the direct competition. Consumers who use the Internet to research products and services are often very anxious to make their purchases and they would be more inclined to select a retailer or service providers who offer the opportunity to purchase products or services online over a retailer or service provider who only allows for purchase in a store or via phone.
Still another advantage to using a website to market your business is the ability to reach a large, worldwide audience. The Internet essentially knows no boundaries and advertising on a website means the business owner can reach competitors around the world instead of being limited to their general location. Advertising via other medium such as television, radio and the print media is somewhat limited and may only reach potential customers in a relatively small geographic area.
Another advantage to using a website to market your business is the Internet is available 24 hours a day around the world. This essentially offers you a storefront which is open 24 hours a day. While your competitors may be limited to their regular business hours, your website will enable you to reach your customers at any hour of the day. This is especially important for reaching potential customers in other time zones and for reach customers in your own area who are simply too busy to shop for products or services like the ones you offer during regular business hours. Many potential customers work long hours and appreciate the ability to research and shop online after hours.
One final advantage to using a website to market your business is you can actually generate a profit from your website in other ways than through sales to customers. You can also use your website to generate income by selling advertising space to other business owners who are marketing their own products and services on the Internet. However, care should be taken when advertising on your website. First of all you should not sell advertising space to direct competitors. This is important because this may cause you to lose potential business if potential customers opt to purchase product or services from competitors who advertise on your website. An ideal advertiser is one who offers products and services which do not directly compete with your own products or services but would be of interest to your potential customers. You should also take care not to place too many advertisements on your website. This is important because too many advertisements may detract from your business and may cause you to lose potential customers.
Your Business can suffer due to absence of Digital certificate on your website
It is very important to take the protection against online information larceny, because it's getting very easy for people to share digital products. Information theft is a type of computer safety and security risk and it's defined as thieving someone’s private or confidential information. It’s very dangerous to get the information stolen as this can cause as much damage, or possibly more then hardware or software theft.
Most of the systems on the way of your data can see what you send. A lot of companies try to stop information from being stolen by applying some user identification and authentication controls.
These constrictions are most promising for protecting computers along a company's premise. However, to protect information on the Internet and on networks, companies use a handful of encryption methods like digital certificates and SSL security. SSL is an industry standard and is used by millions of websites in the protection of their online transactions with their customers. Encryption refers to the process of converting data into an unreadable form. Encrypted data is like any other data because you can send it through a lot of options, but to read it you must decrypt or decipher it into a more readable form with the help of public and private keys provided. Throughout the encryption process, the unencrypted data or input is known as plaintext and the encrypted data, or output is known as cipher text. To be able to create an SSL connection a web server requires an SSL Certificate. When you choose to activate SSL on your web server you will be prompted to complete a number of questions about the identity of your website and your company. Your web server then creates two cryptographic keys - a Private Key and a Public Key. To encrypt information, the programmer converts the plaintext into cipher text using some type of encryption key. An encryption key is the programmed formula that the person who receives the data uses to decrypt the cipher text. There are varieties of encryption or algorithm methods. However, with an encryption key formula, you will be using more then one of these techniques.
Most common example is a nasty individual stealing credit cards so they can make illegal purchases on another person's account. If information is transmitted over a network then it has a very high chance for nasty users to capture the information.
A digital signature is a type of encrypted code that an individual, website, or company pastes to an electronic document to make sure that the individual is who they claim to be. The code will most likely consist of the user name and a hash of usually part of the message. The complexities of the SSL protocol remain invisible to your customers. Instead, their browsers provide them with a key indicator to let them know they are currently protected by an SSL encrypted session - the lock icon in the lower right-hand corner, clicking on the lock icon displays your SSL Certificate and the details about it. All SSL Certificates are issued to either companies or legally accountable individuals. The main purpose behind using digital signatures is to make sure that it's not a swindler participating in the transaction. So, digital signatures help narrow down e-mail frauds. A digital signature can also make sure that contents of a message have not been changed.
Typically, an SSL Certificate will contain your domain name, your company name, your address, your city, your state and your country. It will also contain the expiration date of the Certificate and details of the Certification Authority responsible for the issuance of the Certificate. When a browser connects to a secure site it will retrieve the site's SSL Certificate and check that it has not expired, it has been issued by a Certification Authority the browser trusts, and that it is being used by the website for which it has been issued.
Many ecommerce websites will usually have digital certificates. A certificate authority (CA) is an authorized company or individual for that matter that has the ability to issue and verify digital certificates. There are several of websites that offer a digital certificate. One of the popular Global Certification authorities is MindGenies (www.sslgenie.com).
Ecommerce Website Development Brings More People To Your Business
If you have a business and you want to tell more people about your business and what service you offer to the public or what product you're selling. Putting your business on the Internet today offers you the chance to reach millions of people everyday and it's as easy as finding the right website host who will work with you to get your web page up and running so you can start making more money. Millions of people everyday move through the internet to the merchant's web site. From there, a person decides they want to purchase something, so they move to the online transaction server gathers, saves, and encrypts all the information the person gives. Once this person has placed his or her order, the information moves through a private gateway to a Processing Network, where the issuing and acquiring banks complete or deny the transaction. This generally takes place in no more than 5-7 seconds. There are many different payment systems available to accommodate the varied processing needs of Ecommerce website development merchants, from those who have a few orders a day to those who process thousands of transactions daily. With the addition of Secure Socket Layer technology, E-Commerce is also a very safe way to complete transactions. There are several basic steps involved in becoming E-Commerce Enabled.
Getting an Internet Merchant Bank Account
Web Hosting
Obtaining a Digital Certificate
Finding a Provider of Online Transactions
Creating or Purchasing a Shopping Cart Software
You want to be able to accept credit cards over the internet; you will have to apply to your bank for an Internet Merchant Bank Account. This can be relatively easy or somewhat difficult, depending on which country you live in and what bank you are with. In the US , this is a fairly simple procedure. Many banks offer Internet Merchant Accounts, and most Online Transaction Providers will support them. See your bank for details. Since the vast majority of Online Transaction Providers are located in the US and are restricted in their ability to interact with banks outside their own country, international merchants have very little choice. An international merchant has to find a way to get a US merchant account, embark on the equally difficult task of finding a local Online Transaction Provider, or utilize one of the few companies that services the international market. Also, many banks outside the US have very restrictive policies regarding internet accounts. Luckily, the situation is improving, and most Online Transaction Providers will help you with this if you get in touch with them.
In the ratings section, I have included information on which providers give international service. Here are some additional issues to keep in mind when you apply for a Merchant Bank Account:
A US merchant account can take up to a month to come through.
If you already have a merchant bank account, you will probably also need to upgrade it to an Internet account.
Ensure that your bank accepts Internet merchant accounts and has credit card processors that can connect to FDC, Paymentech or CyberCash.
Your account must be able to handle Card Not Present transactions.
Business Website Tips
The design industry in general is very sensitive to outside influences all the time, usually termed as “modern”, “innovative” or “trend-setting” etc. However, thankfully these influences affect the design areas outside the purview of web design, where the designers and artists tend to change their style, direction and outlook. In the web design world, we look towards objects, resources and content resulting in profitability as motivating factors for changes in design.
The path breaking truth about websites is that there are no rules for web design, there are only guidelines. Following them or not is up to the web designer, but following certain guidelines to design a money making site would certainly help in the long term.
The main objective of a business website is representation of the company and describing the products and services offered by it on the internet. The website must make sure that enough information in this regard is available. Transparency is another factor while designing a business website. This can be achieved through the “About Us” page which should provide enough information about the management, the objectives, the history and the philosophy of the company represented. Photographs on this page enhance credibility, since they present a crystal clear transparent picture to the visitor which says “we have nothing to hide”.
Some designers tend to provide contact information in the “About Us” page, although it is not incorrect, a better and organized method would be the usage of “Contact Us” page. Please make sure the contact us page is simple and short. Many websites have long forms to fill with departmental details and other formalities. Keeping this short would help in two ways – it will not be an irritant to the visitor, the other, the company can avoid getting spurious and incomplete information.
The categories explaining the products and services offered by the company should be complete including pictures of the products if any. Use pictures sparingly lest they distract the user from reading the content. Always keep the content regarding products and services up-to-date thru “news” or the “latest” pages. The news page can be supported by writing relevant press releases rich in keyword content and distributing them to the important press release sites. This will help bring in more traffic to your site at the same time building credibility.
Use the “testimonials” page to put up comments from old customers. This would not only help in pushing your products and services but also in making the customers re visit and make further purchases. This page should convey user concern and should not be a sales pitch.
These are but a few tips to designing a professional business website.
Content Based Website For Insurance Business
Insurance leads based on website marketing can take advantage of the keywords directed to insurance that is searched by most of the customers each day. Basing on the keywords, an insurance agent working online can immediately tell what necessary areas can be added to the pages of the existing website he manages.
When an insurance agent finds out which niche of market is most popular for insurance, he can then immediately build additional page content for the specific keyword. For example, if many people based in Florida types the keyword "insurance" and "Florida" on major search engines, then that is one area the agent can start adding and building his content pages. Content pages with the keywords insurance and Florida will help the agent's website gain leads. If the content is good, that's another plus for the website.
But having a website with good content or more popularly known as content-based web pages, will have to be based on the quality of the website of course. It's not enough to just build a website with multiple pages if there is no good content at all. Good information and reliability is what makes a successful insurance web agent because people seek trust and when you deserve to be trusted, even from online transactions, your visitors will become valuable customers in the end.
A content based web site requires more than one page. If you want to offer your visitors a detailed and good read, then it will take a lot of resources and pages for it. Don't expect to get good or growing leads by the time you launch your insurance website because the fact is, if your visitors don't have anything good to retrieve from your site, then it's just a complete waste of time for them. Also, remember not to sound like you're directly selling them your service. If you think this is the current appeal of your website, then you have the answer. Change it right away to save your business and investment.
Can You Make Money With A Turnkey Business Website?
There are lots of ways to start making money online, but all come with a cost. You can spend the time to learn about html, website design and scripts, and build your own website, or join an opportunity which gives you a sales site identical to everyone elses, but there is another way.
You can buy a turnkey business website. This is a prebuilt website which is all ready to take orders, and make you money, but can you really make money with these sites?
The simple answer is yes you can make money with a prebuilt website, and it will help you to cut a lot of corners in getting started in your own online business. With a turnkey website there is no need to learn all the geeky stuff behind the scenes, as long as you buy from a reputable seller, the site should be ready to update with your details in a simple admin panel, and start making sales.
There are a lot of different turnkey website packages available, and you'd need to do a little research to find out what is best for you. Do you want to own a sales site selling digital products, be an affiliate for another company with a prebuilt store updated from the main companies website, or do you want to try making money with Google Adsense?
Once you have decided what kind of website you want, you can then purchase a turnkey website which does what you want it to. Then your work begins. Unless you pay the extra for a site which is already developed, which could run into thousands of dollars, you will be buying a site which is all setup, but has no traffic. You will need to do the work to get a steady stream of traffic to your site, but this is the case with any business, you will need to bring in your potential customers. This will involve doing link exchanges, advertising and promoting your website address to get people to your site to turn into customers. An advantage of a turnkey site is that the copy will have been written by a profesional, so it should have a higher conversion rate than a site you built by yourself, making it easier to turn browsers into customers.
If you want a shortcut to owning a website business online, then turnkey sites are well worth looking into. Just make sure you know what you want before you purchase and don't believe you will be able to buy a site, kickback and do nothing but watch the money pour in, you will still have to build your business the same as any other and put in some effort to get customers.
How To Build A Website For Your Home Business When You Are On A Tight Budget
There are many people out there who want to start a work at home business, but they need to build a website and they either don’t know where to start, or they think they can’t afford it. It’s a myth that you need a lot of money to start a home business website. Sure, you can pay to have one built for you, but you will find that you will want to make changes to it and you need to have the flexibility to do this yourself, otherwise you will also have to pay for modifications.
The first thing you have to do is choose a domain name. When it comes to domain names; size does matter. I made the mistake of picking a long name with a lot of dashes in it. This is not recommended. Try to pick something short and memorable. It’s also a good idea to have the name of the product you are selling or promoting in your name. Spend some time brainstorming before you decide. You’ll be glad that you did.
You’ll also need a web hosting service provider. This is the company that stores the files of your website on a computer that allows Internet users to view it. You can usually acquire web hosting services for less than $10 per month. It is better to find a service with a fixed rate, because websites usually grow and require more storage space. For example, I use IPower, because they charge me the same rate no matter how much storage space I need.
It really isn’t that hard to learn to how to build a website. You would be amazed at how easy it is once you get started. There are really two approaches to building a website:
Starting From Scratch
Starting With a Template
When I started my Work At Home Directory website, I built my own site using a simple template. There are many companies on the Internet with free or inexpensive templates. I’ve seen them as low as $25 - $65. I decided to use Microsoft Frontpage as my HTML editor, because I was already familiar with some of their other software products and I thought it would make the transition easier. Many of the HTML editors out there allow you to either use their editor, or to make changes to the code directly. After I got started, I found that I did a little of both.
There are two things I would recommend when starting to build your site. Get yourself a book on the subject, such as HTML for Dummies, and find someone that knows HTML, who can help you when you get stuck. When I started my website, my 15 year old daughter was a big help to me. She taught herself HTML when she built a Neopets website at the age of 13. I figured if she could do it at 13, I could do it.
There are a lot of teenagers and college kids with basic computer experience who can help you. If you don’t know anyone, put up an ad at your local college saying that you will pay $10 per hour for someone with HTML experience who can help you set up your website. Paying someone $100 or $200 to help you, is a lot cheaper than paying $1000s for someone else to build a website, that you don’t know how to make changes too.
After you learn HTML, you can be proud of yourself, because you will have learned a skill that can help you advertise your home business and earn money at home.
Great Website For Your Business
The Internet is not only a great place to do business but it's also an excellent source for learning. There is a ton of great information available, most of it for free of charge. You don't have to get a college degree in e-commerce or learn about online technology. Even if you don't plan on building and maintaining your web site you can still benefit from learning about technology.
Let's say you want to higher a web design firm. Wouldn't you feel more comfortable about talking to the web design company if you already knew a little bit about what it takes to build a website. You could read articles about web design, or you could visit blogs, or you could frequent online forums.
Talk to other business owners about their experience in hiring web design companies. Ask them if they have any advice. You may be surprised about how much you can learn from other business owners, especially if they have been through similar experience. Don't be intimidated about technology. The people working with technology are not geniuses. They all had to start from scratch and most of them will be glad to help you.
There are millions of different business websites. Some web sites are simple while others are complicated, some are popular some are abandoned. Regardless of what your website looks like your visitors will expect certain components. First impressions are no less significant online as they are in our off-line existence. Therefore, you have to work hard to make sure that your visitors will find what they expect.
For example, if a visitor finds your websites searching for San Diego accountants, your web site better have something to do with accounting in the San Diego area. That message has to be loud and clear on your homepage. When a visitor lands on your homepage she should have no trouble determining what you do in a matter of seconds. Yes, you only have a few seconds to convince the visitor that your website is what she is looking for.
The Internet is a fast moving environment. So you have to make sure that your website loads quickly. Visitors will not waste their time waiting while all the pieces of your slow moving website becomes visible. If your website doesn't completely show in a few seconds you have work to do. You can reduce the size of your images, or find a hosting company that provides faster service. Installing a fancy video about your latest products would spice up your site but it may slow it down so much that you could end up losing many of your visitors. Remember visitors are more likely to help you succeed online than clever design.
Building A Website For Business...
Creating business websites doesn't have to be a stressful process. In fact, it can be enjoyable if you follow a simple decision making process...
Creating business websites doesn't have to be a stressful process. In fact, it can be enjoyable if you follow a simple decision making process...
STEP 1 - ANSWER KEY QUESTIONS
There are 3 questions that you should ask yourself before you dive in:
1. What is the budget for my website?
2. How much time do I have to spend on this project?
3. What is my level of technical experience?
By answering these questions, the rest of the decision-making process will be a lot easier. So, please take a moment to answer these key questions if you are planning to build a website...
…Thinking music…
Now that you have some clear guidelines regarding what you can contribute in terms of time, money and expertise - we need to compare your answers to the various website building options available.
STEP 2 - REVIEW THE CHOICES
When it comes down to it, you have 3 choices if you want to create a website –
Option 1 - Hire a professional Website Designer
Although there are some fantastic designers available, there are three factors which can undermine your success when utilizing their services:
• COST BLOWOUTS
• MISUNDERSTANDINGS
• LACK OF CONTROL
5 WAYS TO AVOID THESE TRAPS...
1. Choose a designer with a set pricing package or set a clear budget
2. Ensure that everything is documented to avoid misunderstandings
3. Find a designer who is readily accessible and offers an updating service
4. Look at the previous work of the designer before you make a choice
5. Choose a designer who you relate well with - trust your gut instinct!
CONCLUSION: By using a professional designer you can get some outstanding results, you just need to adhere to the old saying - expect the best but plan for the worst. Cost is an important consideration with this option – expect to spend in the thousands rather than the hundreds.
Option 2 - Purchase a Support based Hosting Package (DIY with guidance)
If you want to create a profitable website, then there is no better program available for beginners than SiteBuildIt. In my opinion, it offers the most comprehensive support based hosting package when it comes to building business websites.
I only wish I had discovered SBI earlier...
My personal journey with business websites has been costly, time consuming and frustrating - html guides, difficult to navigate website packages, thousands of dollars, misunderstandings with designers, stress etc...
Fortunately, while researching some website options for a client, I discovered SiteBuildIt. The beauty of SiteBuildIt is that not only do you have a whole set of web building and optimizing tools at your disposal - you also have a manual on how to go about creating a website that will make you money. From finding a profitable idea, to keyword generation with their BrainStormIt software, to building web pages that will rank highly with search engines - it is an all in one program.
PRE-SELLING = PROFIT MAXIMIZATION
The SiteBuildIt process (outlined in the extremely comprehensive and easy to follow Action Guide) emphasizes the importance of pre-selling prospective clients by providing high-quality content. It is this distinction that the majority of business owners fail to grasp - creating websites with poor content, low traffic and limited avenues to profit. By following the SiteBuildIt program you are assured not to make the same mistakes as I once did!
Although SiteBuildIt is a fantastic product, it is important to consider that you may outgrow its functionality, especially if you would like to move into more advanced scripting (e.g., live article management etc). Some comments posted on forums and in reviews have suggested that SiteBuildIt can be too restrictive in terms of its functionality. For instance, you have no direct access to the server where your site is hosted and therefore, you cannot just do as you please.
CONCLUSION: If you would like a website building program with an emphasis on support and you are willing to follow the user friendly "10-Day Action Guide" (available in video and written formats) then SiteBuildIt is an excellent place to start a business website. It is important to remember with this option that it still takes time to build the site – they don’t do it for you!
Option 3 - DIY Website (using a combination of hosting tools and external packages)
Okay, let's get down to the nuts and bolts of DIY websites -
To create a fantastic business website with limited experience is not easy but it is achievable, especially if you use the right tools from the outset. What's more, it is a valuable experience to undertake, particularly if you are keen to create multiple websites or build a web-based empire!
What will you need to succeed?
• Time and patience
• Reasonable computer skills
• A budget - $500 approx.
• A set of quality tools
By learning the skills to create your own business website you will be able to upgrade your website with new and improved tools as they become available. Furthermore, you will be able to make changes to your site when YOU want to - not when your designer is available! (= More control)
Fortunately, the DIY website tools which are available currently make building your own website considerably easier when compared to 10 years ago when you had to develop a strong grasp of codes such as html before you could even think of creating your own website.
For instance, software programs such as Wordpress and ArticleLive allow you to manage content easily and they help you make your site look fantastic! Furthermore, they both offer a series of excellent site building tutorials to help you along the way.
CONCLUSION: DIY websites can take a significant amount of time and energy. However, a number of programs available today make it a lot easier to DIY. Furthermore, the experience of creating your own website is extremely rewarding - like most creative processes - expect to pull a few hairs out along the way!
STEP 3 – MAKE A CHOICE
At this point, you will hopefully be able to make a decision on how you would like to build your business website. To read reviews on some of the products mentioned above please visit BusinessBootCamp.net.au.
Building Your Website Business With An SEO Professional
Many people enter into the world of creating an Internet based business on their own. They feel that because they know how to access and undertake some things on the Internet that they know enough to develop an overall Internet business marketing plan. In point of fact, the typical Internet business owner actually does not know all he or she needs to know in regard to Internet marketing and promotion. If you are in the process of starting or creating an Internet based business, you should give serious consideration to employing the services of a SEO professional to aid you in developing your own Internet business marketing plan and program.
Of course, the basic benefit to be realized from using an SEO professional to assist you with the development of an Internet marketing and promotion scheme is experiences. SEO development is something that requires experience in order to be effective. Thus, in your search for an SEO professional, you will want to know precisely what type of experience a particular SEO professional might have before you engage that person to assist you with your business enterprise.
The best way to obtain information about a SEO professional’s experience in the business is to obtain references from the professional. Nothing bespeaks a person’s abilities -- including a SEO professional -- than prior clients. By reviewing references you will be able to determine whether a particular SEO professional has the experience, ability and aptitude that will serve you and your business interests.
You may hesitate to hire a SEO professional because you think such a professional will be too expensive. If you are like most business owners, you do try to maintain a strict budget. You try to avoid any unnecessary expenses.
With that said, you should view the hiring of a SEO professional as being an investment in the future of your company or business. By retaining a SEO professional, a qualified SEO professional, you will be able to have developed for your business a marketing scheme that will attract more traffic to your website. More traffic translates into more business. Of course, additional business means increased revenue. And, ultimately, an increase in revenue -- obtained without breaking the bank in the process -- will mean more profits from your business enterprise in the long run. In short, and as has been mentioned, hiring a SEO professional can be a solid investment for your business.
A Website Is Good Business For Your Business
"Online search is the primary tool most people rely on to do everyday research." Ken Cassar, Senior Director of Analytics, Nielsen/NetRatings.
The world is busy searching online. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, online searches grew to 5.1 billion in the month of December 2005; that's an increase of 55% over the previous December. Millions of Internet users are online each day and growing at an annual rate of 18%. When a customer comes to your door, chances are he has already been to your website or attempted to find you online.
Entrepreneur.com, in an article dated September 19, 2005 by Roy Williams, estimates a "simple website" budget to be $2,000.00 to $5,000.00 for design and development and $100.00 to $400.00 for "monthly maintenance and updates." What was the cost of your latest brochure, manpower and mailing costs, not to mention print ads? For "more complicated features" Williams estimates "$12,000.00 to $20,000.00 for construction and $500.00 to $2,000.00 for monthly maintenance and updates."
What is your vision for your company's future? A well designed website will communicate and magnify your vision to a global audience. Whatever your strategies, with dynamic graphic design, powerful search and indexing tools, online sales capabilities, and continuing site development, a website will keep you poised on the cutting-edge of your industry.
A website offers:
• A clear view of exactly who you are, what you do and how well you do it.
• An image of a thriving company, no matter your size.
• 24 hour-a-day access to your products, services, and customer service.
• Every aspect of promotion: photos, sound, animation, video, vivid colors.
• Products or services shopped at the customer's leisure.
• Expanded product/service definitions -- breaking the bounds of print ads.
• Updated product or service information to maintain competitiveness.
• Downloadable brochures, manuals and product specifications.
• Thousands saved on traditional ads: TV, print ads, direct mail, radio.
• Reduced office staffing and postage -- inquiries are answered online.
Approximately 800,000 domain names are registered daily. Design and development of an enterprising website will energize your company as well as your employees, provide opportunities for peerless customer service and reduce operating costs.
10 Easy Steps For Getting Video On Your Business Website
I'm often asked, "I have no video training but I want to put video on my website to help promote my products and services what can I do?" Well the answer is simple. If you can shoot a home movie you can put a video clip on your website. Now the first thing is to not be scared of the camera. A good sales person needs to be able to speak clearly and present their product in a manner that everyone can understand and enjoy. So with that in mind turn on your camera, cell phone, or whatever video capturing tool you have and begin shooting. But here are a few tips for making your shoot successful and getting it up on your website.
1. Speak clearly, and so that everyone watching can understand what your saying and what your product is about.
2. Make sure you have enough light so that you and your product can be seen. But be aware that you can also have to much light. So the best thing to do is to test your video and the area your going to be shot in. Make sure you look natural.
3. A microphone is important and you need to be heard. If your using a mini-dv camera you can easily get a microphone that can attach from the camera to your clothing. Use make sure you can't see the wire that connects the mic and the camera during your video.
4. Have FUN! No one wants to see a sour face on camera. So make sure you are having fun and that you SMILE. The better you come across on camera the more people would want to buy your product or services.
5. Don't use big words in your video presentation. Keep it short sweet and simple.
6. Once you've finished your recording, watch it. Make sure it's what you want and something that you'll feel proud to have on your website.
7. Now get the clip to your computer. Your camera will have instructions on how to upload the footage. Now you can get fancy and use one of the high end video editing products. But those take a long time to learn. So if your on a PC use Windows MovieMaker and if your on a Mac use IMove and edit your clip to your licking. Don't use to make crazy effects keep it about you and your product.
8. Now once your clip is edited you need to output it to a web file. If your on a PC then output the file to a WMV. And if your on a MAC then output your clip to a .MOV file.
9. Upload it! If you don't have server space then use http://Video.Google.com or http://Youtube.com. You can easily upload your video to these services. Not only will you have the code to embed the file to your website but you will also allow others to see your video and your product who haven't been to your site yet. It will be as easy as CUT and PASTE to an HTML page.
10. Promote your video clip. Include links to your clip in your weekly newsletters. Send your clip to your friends, family, and business associates. Let them see the work you've done and ask them to pass it on to other friends. Son you'll notice that you have a ton of visitors watching your video and more traffic to your website.
8 Ways To Promote Your Business Or Website
The top 8 ways to promote your website free or at next to no cost:
1. Post links on other web sites. In addition to trading links, you can also trade banner ads.
2. Include your web site URL in your e-zine. When people read each issue you can remind them to visit your web site.
3. Share your web site on message boards, e-mail discussion lists and chat rooms. When people know about your web site, they will regularly and search and look for new products to buy.
4. Write articles and submit them to e-zines, web sites and magazines that accept article submissions. Include your web site address at the end of the article.
5. Give away an electronic freebie with your web site address in it. Allow your friends to also give the freebie away. This will help increase your web site's exposure.
6. Participate in message boards and forums. Post answers to other people's questions, ask questions and post appropriate information. Include a predefined signature file (with your web site URL) at the end of all your postings.
7. Post your ad on free advertising sites. You can post it on free classified ad sites, free for all link sites, newsgroups that allow ads, free yellow page directories, and more...
8. Include your web site address in your email signature. You may be sending a lot of emails already each day, so take a minute and add your web site address to your signature file so people know about your web site.
Also see “EDC Gold and How to Make Money Online”
If you are looking to join the EDC Gold or Easy Daily Cash program, read this valuable article first! To succeed in any business opportunity you need a mentor - someone that is willing to take the time out of his or her life, and John can help you.
A Business Website That You Can Create Yourself
There are many important parts to a business, and something that is very important is being able to be seen online. If you have a small local business you might not consider your website the most important aspect, but if you have a business that has any other customers other than people who live in your town, you want to concentrate on creating the best website that you can.
And there is hardly any reason that you shouldn't have a website. If you run a small business that only relies on local services, such as cutting hair or babysitting children, you might not use your website to attract other business. But you might. Nearly everyone who is going to be looking for your type of service, whether in your home town or not, is going to have access to the internet and is going to want to look you up. No matter what you are doing, you need your own website.
However, this doesn't mean that you need to spend a lot of money having it designed for you by a big name company. There are many programs that will allow you to design your own website, no matter what your skill level online is going to be.
These are all things that you should consider. The first step in having your own website is to take the time to purchase a domain that you can use and one that will work for you. Remember that this doesn't need to be something fancy, but it also should be something that is easy to remember, and easy to market. Next, you have to make sure that you have a program that you can use to design the website. There are many programs, depending on what type of computer and operating system you use, which will allow you to create simply websites very easily. Most of them will even allow you to do this without the use of HTML. That means that if you can type in a document, you can use the program.
The main thing that you should think about when you are designing your own website is that you want it to be easy to read, to be understandable, and to be very clear in your mission statement. It doesn’t matter if you don' t have the most fancy website in the world, because the most important part is going to be that you are able to get customers through it. Be sure that you are following all of these steps and you will be able to greatly benefit from designing your own websites. Don't worry if you don’t' have the most fancy website. Make sure that you are clear and concise, and that your mission statement is right there for everyone to read. This is the most important thing that you can do.
4 Keys To Get Website Traffic For Your MLM Business
If you have been marketing your MLM business online for any while, you must probably realize the importance of linking your website to others of similar content to get quality website traffic.
This strategy for generating website traffic can help the search engines, particularly Google to determine the importance of your website and therefore assign the proper page rank to you. The higher the page rank, the more website traffic you will get.
It used to be that the more links, the better, leading to higher website traffic.
When Google changed their algorithms a few years ago, however, the sheer number of links because less important for website traffic than the quality and relevance.
Many network marketers have one or more replicated affiliate sites they market. Getting quality website traffic that will convert to sign ups and sales is a common challenge in this case.
There are many tools available for automatically building links to your website. Link exchange directories are a good tool to get more website traffic.
Here are four methods to drive website traffic to your affiliate site:
Post Articles
Publishing and posting articles is one of the most effective ways to create organic website traffic. This gives you an advantage as it gets incoming links to your website. Well written articles bring more website traffic for a long time because they stay on the internet for a long time.
Optimize Your Website
Search engines will examine both the internal and external profile of your website to designate a rank to a web page. Internal profile of a website includes usage of meta tags, heading tags, keywords, targeted content, and internal linking of website. External profile of your website defines thewebsites that are linking to your website.
Replicated MLM websites are typically optimized for the most frequently searched keyword phrases specific to a certain target market.
Anchor Text
Anchor Text refers to the clickable text of a hyperlink. Anchor Text can have a big impact on target website traffic as well as the search engine rankings.
Anchor Text lets the search engines know the content of the web page it links to. The right Anchor Text improves your website's search engine ranking.
A good way to set up anchor text for an affiliate site is to purchase a redirect url and then put the anchor text using the correct keyword in that url.
Tools
Website tools can make your website user friendly, getting you more website traffic. New scripts and innovative schemes for the visitor help you get more inward links. This in turn builds more website traffic. You can offer free e-books, or introduce new exciting sections relevant to your website. This will make your website enticing for the visitors.
Getting more website traffic for your MLM business is a critical activity that can make or break your online marketing. Learning and consistently using a few simple but powerful methods will drive that website traffic that will convert to sign ups and sales.
Better Business Option For Website
Today’s trends have shown that more of the sales that results from search engines originated organic search listings. Organic search engine optimization is maximizing the visibility of a website by ornamental listings appear more prominently in organic search results. It’s a process by which internet users find website without paying to search engines. While a pay-per –click campaign may produce results more quickly than an organic search engine optimization campaign, organic search engine optimization campaigns give you the results that last. SEO India always results tend to be seen as non-biased, and they there for are able to provide visitors that are more valuable. An organic search results tend to be seen as non- biased, and they therefore are able to provide visitors that are more valuable. An organic search results is end product of search engine optimization techniques applied to a website. There are a host of factors to bring your websites on top for your keywords. Organic SEO India demands deep competitive analysis, keywords research, links relevancy, titles, Meta tags, content, and the list of endless. SEO India keeps updating their algorithms, so there is a need to keep the pace too. Once the website starts to get visitors, the number of hits starts to rise. And search engines believe that if a site has more traffic, it must be relevant and valuable. This SEO India always improves different techniques to develop website. As every body know that a better ranking offers better business.
In the end we come at the conclusion that SEO India always trying to provide upper growth for website. Its very simple process, when we are preparing for dish first we need to search. This same thing used by SEO India before offering any website a better position.
9 Essential Items Your Website Copywriter Must Know About Your Business BEFORE Writing a Word…
…And if he’s not asking, you don’t want him writing for you.
It’s pretty much a given…when you hire a copywriter for your newly designed web site, your getting someone with above average writing skills. But the best copywriters are more than merely good writers. They are expert interviewers, researchers and marketers. Before sitting down to compose those lead generating or sales gems, they must completely understand all the benefits of your product or service, your goals for the project, what makes your customers tick and what distinguishes you from the competition.
If your copywriter is not covering these topics and asking these questions before he begins writing your copy, you will not get the biggest bang for your buck.
Website copywriting components:
· Project Objective
Is the purpose to make a sale, educate your customers, raise market awareness of your product or service, enhance your company image…or perhaps , internally, excite your sales force, improve company esprit de corps, build company loyalty?
· Target audience:
Who is the customer to whom we are writing? What are their sex and ages? What jobs they hold? What about their social status and economic circumstances? Where are your customers geographically concentration? What motivates them? What if anything do they already know about your product/service?
· Product description:
What are all the product’s features; its specifications, components, its manufacturing and delivery process? What efforts have een made to market it to date?
· Customer benefit:
Why should the customer buy your product or service? Can you quantify savings in time, money and/or effort? What is the relative importance of this product/service to the customer?
· Support for benefits claims:
What proof is available to support your product/service claims; in the form of test data, focus group reports, testimonials? We are looking for specific, quantifiable facts here, not subjective generalities.
· Competition:
Who are your competitors in the marketplace? How can I get an objective assessment of their features and a comparison to your product or service?
· Creative consideration:
What are the limitations and constraints for the promotion; such as budget, schedule, and overall requirements?
· Distribution:
How do you intend to market this promotion? What is the planned marketing campaign…ad runs when and where, brochure distribution and mailing plans?
· Unique Selling Proposition:
What specifically makes your product/service unique in the marketplace? What separates you from the competition?
Copyright Alan Richardson