Ideas For A Successful Website
There are many things to consider when you want to put up a
website. First you must decide on the topic for your website.
This should be something that you are very interested in and
passionate about. Building and maintaining a website takes time
and work.
An important thing to remember when you are designing your
website is that you want a clean professional look. It might be
pretty if your site looks like a Las Vegas nightclub act, but
your visitors will probably get confused and lost in the glitter
and go onto another site. You want a clean, uniform design on
all pages which should also be easy to navigate. Visit a few
sites and see how they are set up and take notice of which ones
you can easily find your way in and which ones you easily get
lost in. Visit these sites for more information:
http://www.trace.wisc.edu/world/web/ http://www.bignosebird.com/
Another thing you want to do is to provide quality, helpful
information and content in your website. Once you have a visitor
to your site, you want him to have a reason to come back. If you
have a website about pets, put up articles on petcare and have
links to other websites that contain resources for pet owners.
Here are a couple of sites to find articles on any subject:
http://www.makingprofit.com/ http://www.ezinearticles.com
http://www.ideamarketers.com/
There are also article announcement lists such as:
Free-Content-subscribe@egroups.com
articles_archives-subscribe@egroups.com
article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com
PublishInYours-subscribe@egroups.com
You should also provide something FREE at your site. You could
have FREE greeting cards, FREE resources, FREE ebooks, FREE
downloads, or whatever you would prefer to have. A few sites for
FREEBIES:
http://www.thefrontdoor.com/freestuff/
http://www.ebookdirectory.com/ http://download.cnet.com/
One way to keep visitors coming back is to get them involved
with your site. Start a discussion board, have a weekly or
monthly contest, have your visitors fill out surveys and draw a
winner from all the entries. There are many ways to get people
involved. Be creative and always be adding fresh content to your
site. Update regularly.
To let everybody know about your updates and new content, start
your own ezine. This is easier than it seems. With an ezine you
will be able to build relationships with your visitors. You will
gain their trust and keep them interested in visiting your site.
There are many sites to help you get started publishing an
ezine. One of the best I found is:
http://www.e-zinez.com
This site can help you get started with resources, articles, and
a template.
Building, maintaining and promoting a website is challenging,
rewarding and takes a lot of work. I have learned so much in the
18 months that I have been on the net and I know there is tons
more to learn. I eagerly accept the challenge and thoroughly
enjoy the rewards. You will have many ups and downs, but do not
let the downs deter you from your goals. Best of luck to you
all.