Start Creating A Website The Right Way

Ready to make a website? Have you made your list? Have you checked it twice? Or at least once?

Too many people rush into building their website without taking care of the basics. Before you make that mistake, go over this checklist and make sure everything is taken care of.

You might think you have all of your bases covered. After all, creating a website can't be that difficult, right? So many people do it.

That's right. A lot of people do build websites.

And most of them fail due to lack of planning.

Remember the old saying: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Research

Research should be the first thing you do before you start creating a website. If you build a website without proper research, then you are building a house on sand.

• Research Ideas - Are your website ideas sound? Is there a lot of competition? Is there enough demand? Can you find a profitable niche? Will this idea make money?
• Research Keywords - Have you chosen good keywords? Is there too much competition for those keywords? Is there enough demand for that keyword? Can you build webpage content around those keywords?
• Research Profit Strategies - Will this be a money making website? Are you going to sell your own products? Have you checked out any affiliates? Can this be a pure Adsense website?
• Research Domain Hosts - What kind of support do the domains offer? How much do they cost? Are there cheaper options? Do they offer any promotions? How much memory and bandwidth do they offer? What if you want to build a second website?

Domain

It's best to choose a domain name that contains your primary keyword. So if you're creating a website about fishing, then the word "fish" or "angler" should be in your domain somewhere.

• Choose a Domain Name - Is your domain name unique yet easy to remember? Are you going to go with www.american-angler.com or www.americanangler.com? Or .net? Are there other websites out there with similar names? Will people get your website mixed up with www.americanangels.com?
• Register Your Domain - Will you register your domain in your name or your company's name? Did you go with a private listing?

Build Website

Now that all the boring stuff is done, the fun begins! My favorite part of creating a website is designing the graphics and creating the homepage.

The home page is the most important part of your website. This is the page most people will see, and should set the theme for your entire site.

Your website's design is also important. You have full control over your site's design. Therefore, if anything goes wrong, you have no one to blame but yourself. You may want to read this page on website design if you're going to make your own website.

Once you've built your home page, you should also submit your domain URL to the major search engines. A lot of companies offer free URL submission along with their website packages. I believe that's pointless since you can submit your URL for free yourself.

It isn't necessary to submit your site to every single search engine. The three major search engines will suffice. These three companies take up almost 99 percent of all website traffic. Your website will eventually get listed in the smaller search engines naturally.

• Create Your Site's Blueprint - Have you created your blueprint yet? Do you know which pages will be on your menu bar? Do you know which pages will be used to sell your products and services?
• Design Your Site - What kind of color scheme will you use? Will you be using any flash or complex graphics? Have you checked how your site looks in different browsers (Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome)? Are you going to create your own graphics or will you use a template?
• Create Your Home Page - Does your primary keyword appear several times throughout your homepage? Does it appear too often? Can visitors easily tell what your site is about? Is your navigation simple and easy to understand?
• Submit Your URL - Have you submitted your website to the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing)? Are you going to submit to a few smaller SE's as well? (It's not necessary, but it's okay if you do).

Adding Content

After you've built your home page, settled on a design theme, and submitted your URL, the next step is to start building content. This is what creating a website is all about. People are online searching for information. Your website exists to give it to them.

And convince them to spend money with you.

When you write your pages, remember that human eyes get tired from reading computer screens for long periods of time. When you're creating a website, make it easier on your visitor's eyes with these tips:

• Bullet Points - Use bullet's to create lists that are easy for your visitors to scan.
• Bold lettering - Use bold letters to highlight important information, or make certain items stand out on your page.
• Headlines - Use headlines to inform your visitors what the coming paragraphs are about. Make them catchy and interesting and they'll keep on reading.
• Short paragraphs - Keep your paragraphs short and your sentences even shorter. No paragraph should be longer than 4 lines.

You'll never be finished with your website. Sure, there will hopefully come a time when you will not have to put much effort into your site. If you're good at creating a website, then at some point, your website will be able to run almost on it's own.

Almost.

New opportunities will always come up. You must keep up with advances in technology and the internet. You will have to update the information on your website as facts change and you (and your visitors) learn more. Certainly, running a website is much easier than working in an office for someone else. But it's still your business.

And you don't want the competition to pass you by. Nor do you want the information on your website to become outdated.

You'll never be done creating a website. But hopefully, it'll be a labor of love.

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