Creating Killer Web Sites: Step Two, Surf22 Internet Marketing Program

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Effective Web Site Development:
Step Two: Surf22 Internet Marketing Program

Most e-commerce ventures start out with an idea, they create a website and then start implementing their Internet marketing plan. What they don't realize is that by doing things is that order they can actually hinder their marketing progress.

A successful website needs many features:

search engine optimized
fast-loading
visually pleasing
easy to navigate
captures attention in first 30 seconds
"sticky" (encourages people to stay, or return often)
encourages action
offers something free
contact info, along with privacy and security issues clearly stated
along with many others...

One of the most important features that is often overlooked or modified later is the marketing structure of the website. The first step is choosing a solid domain name (believe it or not they aren't all gone). As this can be a pretty detailed subject read the Domain Name article here for more information on choosing the right domain name. If you already have a name in mind check if it is available using the box below:

If you have been following the news you have probably heard of domain names like Business.com selling for $7.5 million. There are many people who have been rushing out reserving domain names trying to re-sell them at a profit. Read the above article to find out more about that.

Once you have a domain name and have found a good company to host your site you need to get ready to launch your site. From an Internet Marketing point of view a site must be carefully crafted. We'll cover a couple of the topics here, others can be found deeper in the Insider Vault. If all this sounds overwhelming don't brush it off. This is one of the most important aspects of internet marketing. There is much to learn, be patient, the results are worth it!

Whenever possible it is best to create your own site as you are the one who best knows your products. Obviously this isn't always possible. If not you need to hire someone to create your website who also understands Internet Marketing and is willing to work with you. The truth is though that if you have any computer skills with today's software you can learn to maintain all but the most complex sites yourself. If you really want to succeed you'll need to do a lot of tweaking the first few months and waiting (and paying!) for someone else just isn't effective.

Keep your target niche in mind and build your site around that idea. Focus on creating a site that respects all of the above requirements. Your site will be continually evolving the first few months. Don't worry about making it perfect the first time around. There will be time to polish the rough edges. All the details can be found using the following glossary/checklist of Website Features.

For now just focus on the first steps that will prepare you for the search engine submissions. Proper keyword integration and effective meta tags are the first step to integrating marketing with web development.

Keywords:

Trying to target Keywords isn't always easy. Use these two tools to learn how to target exact keywords that will drive traffic to your website:

Keyword Targeting
This is the first tool you need to use, and possibly most valuable. Your website needs to consist of keywords that people are actually searching for. Basing your site on the most popular keywords is likely to get you lost in the crowd. This will help you refine your keywords and make you aware of related terms you probably weren't aware of as you see what people are searching on.

Realtime Keyword Searches:
A fun tool that enables you to see what people are searching for in real time, it's real use is so that you can just how varied search engine queries are.

Meta tags:

As the next marketing step is going to be search engines submissions, you need to get your site ready with Meta tags. Meta tags are vital to search engine success. Not all search engines treat Meta tags the same way, some will give them more weight than the content of your pages while others barely look at them. Read the full article on Meta Tag Creation Here.

Meta Tags are the first step to integrating marketing with web development. As the next marketing step is going to be search engines submissions, get your site ready. Meta tags are vital to search engine success. Not all search engines treat Meta tags the same way, some will give them more weight than the content of your pages while others barely look at them.

There are three main Meta tags recognized by the search engines. The others will be discussed later. Focus first on the "title", "keywords" and "description". These tags should be the first thing that appear after the <head> in your HTML code. If you have used software to create your site you may have to go in and edit the order manually.

The beginning of your HTML code should look like this, replace the bolded text with your own:

<html>

<head>

Other Notes:

Watch the first dozen or so opening words on your page, some search engines will use that as a description. Also, some search engines are case sensitive and some search for complete phrases. If you have a site on Internet Marketing such as this one use "internet marketing, internet, marketing" for that one keyword, and repeat for the other most important ones. Don't go overboard as excessive repetitive will have a counter effect. Make sure your keywords appear liberally throughout your text (the first 250 words are the most important) and that they agree with the title, description and keyword tags.
Some search engines add bonuses for text appearing in the body between <h1> </h1> tags. There are many minor tips and techniques to learn. We'll look deeper into the search engines in the next section.
If you have images on your site it is always a good idea to have an "alt text" on them, a text description that will appear in case the image doesn't load or while the image is loading.

Example in the actual HTML code:

<IMG SRC="logo.gif" ALT="keywords logo">

Take advantage of this to add keyword weight to your page. Some of the search engines will read the tag and include it in their algorithmic pattern. That isn't just your "logo", that is your "keyword here logo". There are many little tricks like this you'll learn about as you go through the course.

As you build your site remember you are just laying the basic foundation. A site is in continual growth or construction. Avoid the use of "Under Construction" signs that used to be so popular. Surfers today see a sign like that, they figure the site isn't even worth exploring.

Once you've done that move ahead to Step Three. There is still more to learn on Website Development but you'll get the chance later. Don't waste time perfecting your site just yet. No-one is going to see it until you start promoting it, so get to work!

Summary:

Choose a domain name
Target your specific niche
Build a site based on your niche
Use the tools to create effective meta tags
Adjust keywords to fit what people are searching for
Constantly work to refine your site AS you promote

Proceed to Step Three:

Search Engines

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