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
articlesarchives-subscribe@egroups.com
articleannounce-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 owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com
MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which
provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help
you start, publish and promote your own ezine. You can
contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net Subscribe
at mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit
http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.