Neat Web Solutions
We Recommend
Best
Resources for Building Your Own Website
Here are the best resources I've found for building, monetizing and marketing your website along with some tips to help you pick the right ones for you.
- Buy Your Domain Name
- Set Up Web Hosting
- Develop Your Web Site Pages
- Select Keywords
- Uploading To Your Webhost - FTP Tools
- Submit To Search Engines
- Monitor Traffic And See How Many People Are Visiting Your Site
- Check Your Website Ranking
- Build Your Mailing List / Newsletter
- Make Money With Your Website
- Get A Merchant Account So You Can Accept Credit Cards
- Marketing Your Website
- Get Audio On Your Website
BUY YOUR DOMAIN NAME
The first thing you need to do is buy your domain name. If you have a great idea, don't risk losing it to someone else. Even if you don't build your website right away, protect your name by buying the domain. Especially if it's your business name. We use the following Domain Name Services.
Go Daddy.com
The best thing about Go Daddy is the Service. You actually get a human being to help you!
Namesecure.com
The best thing about Name Secure is the price and the simplicity. I started with them over 10 years ago, before Go Daddy existed! But their service has gone downhill over the years, and lately I can't even get a personalized email response from them. Sad, because I really liked them.
TIPS on Choosing a Domain Name
SET UP WEB HOSTING
Whatever you do, for a business website, I strongly urge you: Do NOT to use the same host that you buy your domain from. And do not use the built in automated web site builders unless you are prepared to completely rebuild your site if you have to move it later. Hosting services over time may start to decline in service or not evolve to keep up with the technologies you want to use on your site. If your lucky, your site may even become so popular that you have to move it to have enough bandwidth. The point is there are lots of reasons you may have to change hosts. If your site is developed by you or someone you hire, using standard tools such as Dreamweaver, then you can upload anywhere you choose with no hassles.
Host Gator Webhost When I had problems with 3 previous webhosting services I finally landed here after researching hundreds of providers. Host Gator has the best user interface and array of services, including Fantastico and WordPress (free blogging tool). It has fabulous service, it's so easy to use, and inexpensive too!
DEVELOP YOUR WEB SITE PAGES
Development Software
Dreamweaver
I've tried so many others and keep coming back to this. If you want creative control of your site, this is the way to go. You can create simple pages, use existing templates or you can learn CSS, Javascript and other web technologies and get really advanced. This software will let you be as simple or as advanced as you want to be!
www.xsitepro.com is recommended by top marketers who create One Page Sales Letter sites. It's not my style, but many people swear by their effectiveness for selling a single product. if you don't want to use Dreamweaver, check it out.
http://www.nextedit.com/
A way to edit your site through your browser - I haven't tried this yet but will test it out. Sounds like a great way for novices to edit their own sites.
Advanced Resources for Web Developers
Clip Art and other Resources
Get bullets and other graphics. This article provides links to a bunch of resources. Also try googling the description of the graphic you want.
Sitewizard.com/ Resources for Design, Development & Promotion
Fresh Promo - Create a 301 Redirect
Green Polar Bear - Stock Photography, PHP Scripts & lots more
SELECT KEYWORDS
You need keywords on every page so that search engines can list you properly. There is a whole discipline on optimizing your site for the search engines so that you can build traffic to your site. I'll be posting articles and links on this later. For now, in the beginning, you just need to get clear on the keywords you think people might type into a search engine to find what you have to offer.
- Choose 20 -100 Keywords that people might search on if they need your product or service.
- Assess Keyword popularity - These tools give you and idea how many people have actually used your key words to perform a search.
- Key Word Selector Tool - Overture (Now Yahoo)
- Bid Tool - Overture
- http://www.wordtracker.com/ (not free)
- Www.googspy.com not 100% accurate but you can put in your keyword and sense of who has bought the word.
- Use Search Engines to see what comes up (Ads, Top 100 Companies using that keyword)
- Assess Competition & Ads
- Refine list of keywords by choose words in the Ads you like.
UPLOAD SITE TO YOUR WEBHOST - FTP TOOLS
WS-FTP pro
These allow you to upload your site. I love the way you can save configurations making it easy
www.smartFTP.com (Free)
SUBMIT TO SEARCH ENGINES
http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
This is the link to add your site to Google. It doesn't guarantee you will get listed, however. Many people say it takes 6-8 months to get your site listed on Google. We have found that sites we develop for ourselves and others get listed within a week to a month. This is because we implement many search engine optimization techniques when we develop and because the fastest way to get listed is to be linked to on a site that is already listed - Like this one!
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of preparing your website so that search engines can better understand its content and/or purpose. Don't waste money on search engine submission sites. If you submit to these four search engines, all the others will then find you too.
Complete List of Search Engines to Submit to
Top 10 Alternative Search Engines
This is an article on some of the lesser known search engines.
Techie Stuff for Webmasters - Search Engine Watch
Search Engine Submission Tips
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MONITOR TRAFFIC AND SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE VISITING YOUR SITE!
www.sitemeter.com - FREE -
Sign up for this so you can get statistics and see where visitors to your site are coming from.
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CHECK AND IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE RANKING ON THE SEARCH ENGINES & SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Alexa.com Go here, click on the Traffic Trankings Tab and type in your URL.
HighRankings.com This website has a newsletter and lots of great articles on how to improve your ranking in the search engines.
Google Ranking Secrets
Excellent resource if you are serious about getting a high page ranking.
Search Engine Watch - A top Website and Newsletter. This helps us keep up with the latest on SEO tips.
SEOBook.com - A blog about search engine optimization.
BUILD YOUR MAILING LIST / Newsletter
GetResponse.com -
I use www.getresponse.com and have found it very effective. It is much less expensive than some of the others that charge you according how large your list gets. You can send newsletters as well as broadcast emails with this service. They have a free version and then you can upgrade as your needs grow.
MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR WEBSITE
Amazon Affiliate Account
This way you can set up a store and recommend your favorite product. If people buy them, you can make a small commission.
Super Affiliate Handbook
If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing, this is the top book out there. Rosalind Gardner figured out how to make serious money online selling other people's products. Her style is down-to-earth, sincere and often humorous. I'm not sure why she shares so much of her process, but she walks you through the
entire process of building an affiliate marketing business.
Sell Ads on your Site : www.text-link-ads.com/link_calculator.php
Make Money With AdsenseGreat strategies for building content websites with Adsense pages.
GET FIREFOX - So you can test your website in both browsers.
GET ADSENSE - So you can put ads on your site and get paid when people click them
GET A MERCHANT ACCOUNT SO YOU CAN ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS & A SHOPPING CART TO SELL YOUR PRODUCTS
Practice Pay Solutions This is the credit card service which I found charges the lowest possible fees. But if you don't expect to have more than $3000/month, the monthly fees may not be worth it. They also have a shopping cart service. But it is expensive if you don't sell a very high volume of products AND if you wish to sell digital products.
I CURRENTLY USE PAYPAL
Most of my clients pay by check. So this works out best for me. If you process less than 3000$ per month in credit card transactions, I recommend PayPal. Keep in mind you can have both PayPal and a traditional Merchant account. The best part about PayPal is that PayPal does not charge monthly fees. You only pay when you use it. When I start to sell digital products online I will use either PayPal or 2Checkout.com
GET A PAYPAL ACCOUNT SO YOU CAN TAKE CREDIT CARDS No monthly fees, and get great money market interest rates on your balance. Also has an easy to use email invoice utility included with the business account |
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This is the easiest and least expensive solution we have found. Accept Credits cards AND get a "shopping Cart" to SELL DIGITAL AND OTHER PRODUCTS ONLINE for one low fee. A traditional shopping cart could cost you over 80$ per month plus another 25 - 30$ or more for the credit card merchant account. - even if you don't sell anything. With this service there are NO MONTHLY FEES.
So, until you start to sell over $3,000 / month in merchandise, this is the best deal around. Plus, it's pretty easy to use! Though you may may need help with it if you are not technically proficient.
- 1 time set up fee of $49.
- That's it, there are no leases, no monthly fees, no application fees, no software to buy, no secure server to purchase, no statement fees, no per payment fees!
- Rates include Credit Card or Check Processing fees. There are no fees for a gateway or third party company.
- It's all included, 5.5% and $0.45 is the total you will pay for each sale. (CREDIT CARD MERCHANT ACCOUNTS TAKE 3-4% PLUS MONTHLY FEES)
MARKET YOUR WEBSITE / SERVICES / PRODUCTS
PUT AUDIO ON YOUR SITE
Sound Forge Audio Studio 8
Best software for recording & editing yourself at home to make clips, seminars, podcasts, etc.
WIMPY PLAYER
To put a series of mp3 files on your site and allow users to play or download them.
Flash Audio Wizard
To easily put great little audio clips on your site. Users cannot download clip with this.
E-BOOK SOFTWARE, COVER ART & 3D Web Graphics
If you want to create an e-book and secure your content, check out this software. You can even disable the e-book if they ask for their money back!
http://www.ebookgold.com
Here are a couple great resources for getting a 3D e-book cover graphic made. http://www.amazing-ecovers.com/
http://dynamitecovers.com/
If you know how to use Adobe PhotoShop 6 you might try this do it yourself software.
http://www.1clickcovers.com/
SHOP ON AMAZON FOR THE BEST BOOKS ON WEB SITE MARKETING!