Clearly, this article is for beginners. If you have already built a website, then you know the satisfaction of publishing it and then tweaking it. I am going to make one major assumption that you have figured out what type of content you intend to publish, but need to determine how to get started. This article does not cover building a Blog. That fastest way for a beginner to build a blog is to use Google Blogspot. That’s not to say that you can not build a website which contains a blog page, you can. But, if you want all the “bells and whistles” like social media links and buttons, it’s much easier to use blog templates which are built into Blogspot. You can also search the web for other free blog sites.
Who Will Visit Your Site?
One of the first and most important things you need to do is determine your audience. This is especially true if you are panning to sell products. The best way to determine this is with keyword research. You can use Google Keyword search tool to determine the number of searches for a given product or information. The number of keyword searches you discover the better your chances are of getting visitors to your site. Keywords are simply words folks use to find products or information. Keywords can be a phase or a single word. The goal here is to determine with relative certainty if there is a market for your products or information. The objective is to build a list of keywords that have a high number of searches. You will need this list of keywords later.
Web Hosting
The next question you need to answer is which web hosting company you want to host your website. You can search for website hosting plans. You may not have website editing software such as FrontPage, so you will want a hosting company that provides you with web templates and editing. If you determine that the hosting templates are not to your liking, you can and should search for website templates. You will find a ton of them in the to 0 range. Do not rush through this process. Take your time, you will find the web template that will attract visitors. Using a website template helps to eliminate the need to learn HTML code. The designer of the templates will provide you with instructions on how to load and use your template.
Web Hosting Customer Support
When you find a hosting company you will need to make absolutely certain that they will furnish the support that you require in order to get your site published. Ask questions and tell them you are new at this and require support throughout the process. When you find a hosting company and sign up for a hosting plan you will want to take the time to learn how to make use of their control panel. Most hosting plans offer email accounts and traffic stats. When you contact a hosting company you will be greeted by a salesperson who will price out your hosting plan based on your content and number of pages. You can opt in for a basic plan and then upgrade as your needs change. Be advised that your hosting company’s tech support is key to your successful implementation. However, they are quick to blame you for site malfunctions and rarely like to admit their errors. Should you make a coding error, they will not resolve it for you or give you any advise. This is why you need to be certain that your hosting company will provide you with a complete customer support process.
My Web Address
You will also need a website name. It’s best to have your web hosting company register your website address. Most offer a tool to help you determine a name. When figuring out what name to register, think about your audience. The shorter the name the easier it is to remember and type. Don’t try to be cute by using names that do not associate well with your web content.
Build Your Website
At this point you will need to draft your web content and layout. If you are posting images of your products or services make sure you create a desk top folder of your images and text. You will need to upload these images and paste your text without searching your PC. If you purchased a web store template you should have space for your product images. The trick here is to size your product images to fit with out distortion. When composing text for your website, you will need to grab your keyword list. Work in those keywords into your product description, services or information. You need to be aware that repeating your keywords can have a negative effect on your search page ranking.
HTML Coding
You may not be familiar with HTML coding. You will need to learn how to use your HTML code to improve your page ranking. Here is a tip you can use when you need the code. Using your keyword that best reflects your page content, perform a Google search. Then look for the top ranking website below the ads click on that page. This should be a potential competitor. Do not click on major brand stores, as they may be using special code that will not apply to yours. On a blank spot right click and “view source” you should see your text editor open with the site code displayed. You should see the code heading (top of page). Compare it to your code. This will give you some idea of the required HTML coding that will help get your site listed on search engines. You can earn money when you use Google Adsense on your site.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
After you publish your site you can search for SEO (search engine optimization) free tool. This SEO software is a free to use version with up grades for a fee. It will help you to optimize your site so that search engines will find it and index it. You do not need to be a HTML expert to use HTML code. Simply search HTML code and you will find a ton of tutorials, tips and tricks. SEO is important to gain visitors to your site. Getting your site indexed will take some time so don’t get concerned if you don’ t see any visitor activity for a while. You will want to monitor your visitor stats in real-time. Your web hosting company will most likely take 24 to 48 hours to process your previous day stats. I don’t use my hosting company’s stats, instead I use a powerful, but free stat counter. You can find it at Stat Counter
Get Someone
To Help If building a web site is not your thing, but you still want one built there are other options available to you. These options come with a price tag. Most web hosting companies offer a team of website designers. I think it’s best to use your hosting company to design and publish your website for obvious reasons. But even at that, you still need to make content decisions.