Friday, August 12, 2011

Top 5 Easy Steps Before Creating a Website

1. Key Words in the URL
This is probably one of the top 5 most important parts of SEO. The reason being is because if your URL (website address) has the exact match domain for a key word or phrase, then you have a much higher chance of showing on the 1st page of Google. For example if you want to make a website about canine dog food, then register to your domain name as www.Caninedogfood.com Once your website has just a few backlinks and content about canine dog food your website will most likely show up on the first page once indexed. All you need to do before you register a domain name is do a quick key word research with Google Key Words tool, and find which key word or phrase relating to your website has the most traffic and low-medium competition. If you are interested in having a professional internet marketing company optimize your keyword research then I highly suggest SoCal Digital Marketing. Otherwise keep reading!


2. Register Domain Name and Selecting a Host

Domain Name -Once you have completed step 1, register your domain name. This will usually cost you $7-9 a year which is relatively inexpensive. I suggest Godaddy.com because it is quick and easy.

Hosting Service- Next, choose a hosting company and select a service plan based on the amount of traffic or domains you want to register. If you think you are going to have a large amount of traffic which takes bandwidth than go with a more premium plan. I use Hostgator.com  for my sites because the customer service is actually helpful. Hosting services should cost about $4 a month for basic plans to $12 a month for unlimited bandwidth plans.

3. Know Your Competition
Type in a similar key word or phrase to your website and see what shows up. Are your competitors paying for PPC (pay per click) campaigns with Google Adwords? If so, that means that your niche is competitive and you may have to work a bit harder for organic (natural) search results. However you can check your competitors sites and see who is visiting them and leaving comments. How is there website set up and is there anything your website can do better? Is there a forum on this site that has a large community built around it? See what makes these sites show up in the top results page and try to out do them.

4. Build Anticipation
Think of your website as opening up a new store because essentially it is a digital doorway to your business. Think about how retail stores generate a "buzz" in the local news when they are opening a store because they want the community to visit the opening day. This is the same model you should use for your website.

If you have a Twitter account start hinting that you have a site being constructed and even offer free promotional gifts to the first 100 visitors! Don't just stop on Twitter, use social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to promote you website to your friends and family there too. If you really want to start off on the right foot have a press release ready to be sent out the moment your site goes live. Make sure that you don't submit your press release before your site is actually up because you would be missing out on potential backlinks and visits.

Google Analytics Chart
5. Track Your Website

Once your website is live, I would immediately install Google Analytics to begin tracking your website traffic. Knowing how and where your traffic is coming from is vital information to marketing a website!









Follow these easy steps before your site is created and this will save you a lot of trouble with SEO.

Leave a comment if you have any other suggestions

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