*Note, this article assumes you have a website and niche (product or service) you are promoting.
If you are still looking for a niche, or have not yet built a site, I suggest also reading my SEO and Tools pages as well.
A vast majority of websites will never be profitable. Each and every day thousands of domain names expire, while tens of thousands of others go on with no real traffic or reason for being.
And these are not just free sites, but could also include sites that cost a lot of time and money...
In working with a number of people I have found that most people, and even some businesses seem to think a developing a website works like this:
- Put up a website.
- Show it off to friends and family, and add it to a business card.
- Wonder what should be done next.
In contrast, here is my thinking on creating a valuable website:
- Start a website.
- Add tracking software to measure everything.
- Take action to increase high quality traffic.
- Take action to increase the value of each visitor.
Most people prefer the first option because it involves less work and more blind optimism...
Recommended steps:
Step 1, How to start a website:
Web Development begins with good content.
Content is king. Add something of value to your online community, such as informative articles or other unique or well formatted information, unique or popular products for sale, etc.
Site Design is almost as important as content. A mobile home in a trailer park is not as impressive as a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but both do the same thing and to an investor, both can be profitable.
Remember that a website is a living thing, keep it growing!
Step 2, Add Tracking Software.
Google Analytics is a free service providing most or all of the functionality you need to see how many people come to your site, where they come from, and what they do while they are there.
I am always amazed by the number of people who have a website, and do not have any tracking software installed. How can you improve your site if you don't know what is happening now?
Would anyone start a brick and mortar business and simply ignore the customers? Not if you want to stay in business for long!
Clicktale, is a little more advance, and you can find out more about it in the tools section of my blog but it rocks for helping you know what your customers want.
Omniture is an web analytics company based in near Salt Lake City in Utah, co-founded by Josh James.
Omniture was recently purchased by Adobe for $1.8 Billion. (For full disclosure purposes, I know Josh James since I teach his kids how to ski each year...)
Step 3, Get more quality traffic.
SEO, SEM, PPC, Video Marketing, Article Marketing, Link Building... Where to start when you want more traffic?
All traffic generation strategies are about building relationships, and giving people what they are looking for.
In general, if you start with good content from step 1, you should get some traffic to your site naturally.
An ideal way to increase traffic to your site is to leveraging what you have, to reach more places both online and off.
For example, almost anything done in text, can also be done with a video, and videos are a great way to increase traffic. .
Step 4, Increase conversion rates of your visitors.
Your site goal can be leads for your services, purchasing a product, clicking a link to another site, etc.
No matter what you do, eventually all your visitors will leave.
Conversion rate has to do with putting your best foot forward so that your visitors can find what they want quickly, and establishing some trust.
This step could also include having an email sign up, so they customers that are interested in hearing from you can, adding a video, and offering additional products and services to your site.
Parting thoughts on web development:
Many of these steps are related. For example, a video posted on youtube and embedded on your site can increase traffic to your site, AND increase conversion rate.
Having analytics on your site can help you find out what your customers are looking at while they are on your site, and by giving more of what they are already interested in, you can get more traffic, and get more people to buy into your product and services.
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