By Terri Seymour (c)2000
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.
About The Author
Terri Seymour is the Publisher of Web Success Ezine,
a free ezine designed to help people enhance their
business success. To subscribe: mailto:web-success-subscribe@egroups.com
You can find more information and resources at http://www.websuccesscentral.com
