In a previous set of Articles published here at EzineArticles I discussed the implementation of RSS and how you could create an RSS feed for yourself.
These next few articles are going to be devoted to something a bit different. We will categorize it as Web Development and I will try and go through a case-scenario of building a web-site and everything you may need to know about doing it.
If you think that building a web-site is something simple and you can do it in one day, and you WANT THAT WEBSITE TO WORK, think again. I have worked in high-tech for many years, and the one thing these days I find incredibly funny, is all these promises that you can build a web-site in a day and be rich by next month. Realistically, that is not going to happen. Realistically, like any other business you want to succeed at this takes work and patience and luck. A great deal of work, the patience of an angel and the proverbial luck of the Irish.
First thing is first. Ignore all those emails you get that promise to make you rich in a week. Ignore any type of scheme that promises you advertisement to five hundred million web sites for $29.00. Ignore all those web pages with fanciful ebooks written by people JUST LIKE YOURSELF trying to make a buck by putting a few pages together in an Adobe PDF file. (Ask yourself this. How many people do you personally know that actually READ those ebooks? I still have not one found one person to ever admit to reading them!) Ignore anyone who tells you that they can show you the way to riches if you pay them $35.00 for their scheme. They are the ONLY ONES getting rich. Ignore it ALL. I know the temptation is great. After all what is $29.00. And of course they all promise you 30 money back guarantees. Don't do it. Don't think it. Don't fall for it.
Let us complicate matters a bit more. It is simply not enough to build a web site and put it out there. I am sure most of you know that.
All these are critical. But how do we get there? How do we go from an idea to the final production phase?
The one or two page web sites that contain content written by others and dropped into your web site are great if you have the ability to create say 500 subdomains and template each one. But guess what? Google has even found a way around that. You may achieve high rankings for a couple of weeks, and then you will have need of some serious meds as you watch your web rankings go to the gutter.
Before delving deeper into all these problems and many, many, dare I repeat, MANY more, realize that a truly functional business web-site these days should or may contain the following:
Each of these has its up and downs. Each one of these demands work and dedication. Each one of these demands that you invest time and effort (and I will attempt to show you how to save a great deal of money as well.)
Now you have your head on right and your thoughts centered let us understand what goes into building a web site that will attract visitors, make sales, keep customers coming to you, and stay somewhere near the top of the search engine ratings. Notice I did not say the top, but near the top. Of course, you can get on the top as well. That happens to be easy. Just join Adwords and Overture and advertise. (By the way that is not a bad idea for creating initial traffic.) But in these articles we are going to avoid the funds layout proposition as much as possible.
Now, I know what many of you may be thinking. He is talking about a full-blown web site. All I want is a three page web site so that I can offer some product, maybe have some affiliates and voila everyone will buy or click on my affiliate or Google Adsense advertisements.
Maybe that will happen to you. There are some people out there that do make an incredible amount of money from Google Adsense. That is a fact. But they know how to build their web sites and they know just how to attract customers or "eyeballs" as it is called. And getting those "eyeballs" where you have on the average of less than 7 seconds to interest someone is difficult. That is right 7 seconds!
To end this first article I will simply quote an email the I received from EzineArticles itself. In it we were told that the article entitled "Want to Try on That New Hair Style Before You Get It?" had 108,898 page views! Now if you would have asked me which article would get such page views, I would certainly have NEVER even considered an article about "hair".
The Internet is full of surprises. ONLY because the human condition is full of surprises. Only because it reflects who we are and what our society is like. Building a web site which works is a reflection of your intuitiveness, resourcefulness and understanding just what people want and how to give it to them. It is very much like building a company.
Now if you will excuse me I am going to go write an article about how I tease my white hair and keep it from falling out.
Ted W. Gross owns Virgin Earth, a real estate brokerage firm in Jerusalem, Israel. Virgin Earth represents residential and commercial real estate all over Israel. Virgin Earth also maintains an RSS Feed on its current properties and also operates Virgin Earth - Israel Tourism & Information Portal on the same site. Ted Gross is also a published author and maintains a web site for his works.Virgin Earth also maintains a blog.Virgin Earth Blog