Things That Make Your Website More Profitable
'Da truth'

The BIG SECRET to Website Success

Too often websites are viewed as nothing more than business advertisements. Those who think in this manner are often disillusioned and disappointed. Commercial websites ARE NOT business advertisements. Rather, a commercial website IS A BUSINESS! Therefore, in order for it to be successful it must be nurtured in the same manner as any storefront. It too, must be stocked, marketed, advertised, promoted and maintained. Take this approach and more likely than not, your website will become profitable.


Search Engines

Search engines are internet websites that contain a database registry of websites and display them when particular words or phrases are entered which relate to the website's content. Some examples are: AltaVista, Comfind, Webcrawler, Excite, MSN, Lycos, Snap, Yahoo, HotBot, All the Web, InfoSeek, Northern Light, NetScape, DMOZ, and Google.

Despite just four major search engines claiming they have more than 1 billion registered websites, only 16% of commercial websites are now registered with "search engines." Obviously, it is a complex process which only professional webmasters are familiar with.

Registration with all the "free" major search engines is included when I design your website. The necessary titles, meta tags and appropriate "keywords" were added before your website registration process began.

For years, registering your site with a search engine was free... no longer!

All the major search engines now have a method to make you pay dearly for top rankings!

Some of their gimmickry includes, "paid subscription", "adwords", "pay per click", "keyword bidding", "ranking bidding", ad nauseum.

Therefore, unless you are a major corporation, with a multi-million dollar advertising budget, it is foolish to become involved in, "clandestine internet bidding wars."

Please note: I will continue to register sites with the few search engines that still offer free registration. However, some will appear in a matter of days, others require months before the site appears in their registry.

I do not register websites with FFA's (Free for All) engines except by special request.
Why? More often than not , this will only generate "spam" email (advertising email). And yes, FFA's often do sell your email address to other "spammers" despite claims to the contrary.

Fee Advertising (SEO's - Search Engine Optimization, "Top Ranking", etc.)

No doubt, sooner or later, you will be approached by companies claiming that, "we can produce a higher search engine ranking" or... "we will register your site with ten gozillion search engines!" They're banking on the false presumption this automatically insures a phenomenal revenue increase.

My personal website (bizwebpage.com) has been at the very top of "Google" and other major search engines for years. How much revenue did this bring me?... so far, absolutely nothing!

Yes, I have clients who are ranked, "in the top ten." While all these are successful..

None became overnight millionaires!

Is there an "acid test" for such companies? Yes!

Do they offer a written contract which will guarantee you an improved cash flow?
Frankly, I don't think you'll find any!  Instead, most require "upfront" payment. Therefore, you should be certain of a guaranteed refund for failing performance.
- If you would like to know more about SEO's, click here -


Offline Advertising

I cannot overstress the importance of "offline advertising". Simply explained, offline advertising means including your website address (URL) on all office correspondence (including e-mail), business cards, company logos, billing statements, yard signs, vehicle signs, bumper stickers, billboards, company checks, newspaper, newsprint, magazine advertisements, and/or any printed media that represents your company.

You may also want to mention your website to prospective clients when using the telephone.

Nothing else will make your website known more widely to prospective clients and... with minimal advertising costs!

Links

Links (hyperlinks) are the means of interconnecting one website with another. A few search engines rank your website dependent upon how many links are found on the internet to your website. Some website owners require payment in order to link your site - others do not but rather, request a reciprocal link on your site.

This is something you can do to both "keep up with the competition" and aid your business! Therefore, it is NOT something your webmaster can do for you.

When spare time becomes available to "surf the net" - use the following method to accomplish increases in links to your website:

Targeting Your Market (stats)

Larger corporations often hire marketing research agents. Smaller businesses may use local university students or... they may gather marketing data from past experiences in business. Many hosting companies also offer free website "statistical data" as part of their services. The hosting company I use offers this at no additional cost.

Website Content

Frequently monitor your website for freshness and accuracy. As your business factors change - update your website accordingly. Do not allow misspelled words, incorrect data, out-of-date data, impertinent content, and/or broken links to remain on your website.

Notify your webmaster immediately for corrections.

Banners/Popups

First it was banners, now it's popups. I do not recommend their use because they often offend prospective clients in the same manner as telemarketers and sound blasting television commercials. This might explain the abundance of "free popup stopper" software now readily available on the internet.

However, this choice remains yours.

Hopefully, the above information will aid you in making your website more productive and one of "the internet's best."

bill