CastleCountryBusinessDirectory.com
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If you're planning on launching a new business website there are a
lot of considerations that should be made before you think about
commissioning a web designer. The number one mistake people make
is to consider SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) as an afterthought.
SEO should be prioritized right from the start and should be a key
element of the brief to your chosen designer. Pre-development SEO
issues include:
Choosing a domain
Many people are wary of the perceived "Google sandbox effect".
The theory goes that brand new domains are potentially "on hold" from
ranking on Google until they have established trust and quality
backlinks. Although this is still very much open to debate and opinion;
new website owners should not worry themselves with this issue too
much. Instead, energies would be much better invested in areas such
as keyword research, competitor analysis and content strategy.
Keyword research, in particular, could help you to make an informed
choice on your domain name. For example, let's say you're planning on
setting up a cleaning business in Cambridge. The first step you should
take is to use a keyword research tool, such as Wordtracker, to
investigate the phrases people use to look for cleaning companies. You
might discover that there is a relatively large volume of people
searching on the term "Cleaning Company Cambridge". Should this be
the case it would be worth finding out if the domain
cleaningcompanycambridge.com is available. Using a domain name that
integrates one of your main target key-phrases will often help you to
rank in the search engines on that particular term.
Keyword research
Don't worry too much if you can't secure the specific domain name
you are after. If your website is engineered correctly, you should be
able to generate pages that integrate your chosen keywords into the
URL structure. The important thing is to know which keywords you're
going to target before you brief your designer. Your designer should
then build your site with both these keywords in mind and the flexibility
to add more pages further down the line. What you don't want is a
website navigation scheme that severely limits your ability to add new
content aimed at targeting new keywords.
Competitor analysis
Finding out how many other businesses are targeting the same
keywords is also a crucial consideration before you go ahead and
design your website. Assuming that you will be able to rank on the term
"Cleaning Business", for example, could be a costly mistake if you
suddenly realise post-development that this is an already saturated
market. You should also use either SEO software or an experienced
SEO consultant to look at factors such as your competitors' domain and
website age, inbound links and content. If you discover an abundance
of established websites with great quality content then be prepared for
the long haul if you wish to rank well on similar terms to these sites.
Content strategy
The fundamental mistake people make when planning new
websites is to assume that the content can be written, uploaded and
then left to sell itself. Content for new websites needs to be dynamic,
interactive and consistently developed. This is because search engines
love new content. Websites that are effectively static "info" pages, left
for long periods of time without any changes, will not perform as well in
the search engines as websites that provide a constant flow of fresh,
original and genuinely useful content. The key is to put in place a
strategy for making your site the authoritative voice on your sector or
subject. Key considerations include: developing the volume of pages on
your site over specific timeframes; integrating a blog into your website;
creating a social media strategy to engage your site content with the
wider web; syndicating useful content across third party sites and
considering other marketing methods such as viral to spread the word
about your new content.
Site design
Once you've established your target keywords, analysed the
competition and thought through your plan for content generation you
are pretty much ready to start writing the brief for your designer. The
crucial step, however, is to find a designer who knows how to build
search engine friendly websites. Web design is now a thoroughly
saturated market itself, and many designers offer the Earth for next to
no money. Be very careful when opting for cheap web design. Make
sure you ask lots of questions about the functionality and flexibility of
the navigation scheme they are proposing. Ensure that they integrate a
search friendly Content Management System in order to allow you
greater control over your web development. Low budget business
planners should consider commissioning a designer to create a custom
WordPress theme. WordPress is built to be search engine friendly and
a good designer will be able to create a great, commercial looking
website using this technology. The added bonus of an already built-in
blog will give you a head-start on the content strategy front.
Create a great experience for the user
Targeting specific keywords is a perfectly legitimate exercise but
never forget your end user. Poorly written web copy that is optimised
well for the search engines might impress Google's algorithm for a while
but if it doesn't impress your website visitors you won't rank well for
long. Your website should always have your users' and potential
customers' best interests at heart. The key is to engage your website
visitor to explore as much of your content as possible. If your site has a
high bounce rate (people clicking off without exploring beyond the
landing page they arrive at), your site could be flagged up as a low
quality. Therefore you need to entice your visitors to explore as much
as possible. Offer tips, advice, news, offers and, again, genuinely useful
content. Encourage your users to share their opinions, comment on
your content and recommend your site to their friends. Place a lot of
consideration into the look, feel and style of your site. Employing a
brand consultant can be expensive but can have a huge benefit in the
long term. Establishing your brand is all about setting out your stall,
appealing directly to your market and ensuring that you convey the
most appropriate and professional looking image.
Launching your site
Following these steps you should now be at the point where you
have a great looking, quality website featuring an abundance of
informative and useful content. Now comes the tricky and on-going
process of developing traffic. A user focused link building strategy is
paramount but time consuming. You may wish to employ a link building
consultant, however, be very wary of purchasing cheap links from an
SEO provider. Modern link building strategies should always bear the
end user in mind and links to your site should be on-topic and relevant.
Instant traffic can be generated initially through paid search advertising
and, so long as your content is of a high standard, can also help you to
build natural links. Offline promotions combined with online PR and
advertising should also be considered. Finally, don't forget to offer a
subscribe option to your users. You need to build loyalty and trust and
a growing database will help you to continually keep your users' and
customers' up to date.
Click here to request a quote on your new business website from M2M
Marketing, LLC.
lot of considerations that should be made before you think about
commissioning a web designer. The number one mistake people make
is to consider SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) as an afterthought.
SEO should be prioritized right from the start and should be a key
element of the brief to your chosen designer. Pre-development SEO
issues include:
Choosing a domain
Many people are wary of the perceived "Google sandbox effect".
The theory goes that brand new domains are potentially "on hold" from
ranking on Google until they have established trust and quality
backlinks. Although this is still very much open to debate and opinion;
new website owners should not worry themselves with this issue too
much. Instead, energies would be much better invested in areas such
as keyword research, competitor analysis and content strategy.
Keyword research, in particular, could help you to make an informed
choice on your domain name. For example, let's say you're planning on
setting up a cleaning business in Cambridge. The first step you should
take is to use a keyword research tool, such as Wordtracker, to
investigate the phrases people use to look for cleaning companies. You
might discover that there is a relatively large volume of people
searching on the term "Cleaning Company Cambridge". Should this be
the case it would be worth finding out if the domain
cleaningcompanycambridge.com is available. Using a domain name that
integrates one of your main target key-phrases will often help you to
rank in the search engines on that particular term.
Keyword research
Don't worry too much if you can't secure the specific domain name
you are after. If your website is engineered correctly, you should be
able to generate pages that integrate your chosen keywords into the
URL structure. The important thing is to know which keywords you're
going to target before you brief your designer. Your designer should
then build your site with both these keywords in mind and the flexibility
to add more pages further down the line. What you don't want is a
website navigation scheme that severely limits your ability to add new
content aimed at targeting new keywords.
Competitor analysis
Finding out how many other businesses are targeting the same
keywords is also a crucial consideration before you go ahead and
design your website. Assuming that you will be able to rank on the term
"Cleaning Business", for example, could be a costly mistake if you
suddenly realise post-development that this is an already saturated
market. You should also use either SEO software or an experienced
SEO consultant to look at factors such as your competitors' domain and
website age, inbound links and content. If you discover an abundance
of established websites with great quality content then be prepared for
the long haul if you wish to rank well on similar terms to these sites.
Content strategy
The fundamental mistake people make when planning new
websites is to assume that the content can be written, uploaded and
then left to sell itself. Content for new websites needs to be dynamic,
interactive and consistently developed. This is because search engines
love new content. Websites that are effectively static "info" pages, left
for long periods of time without any changes, will not perform as well in
the search engines as websites that provide a constant flow of fresh,
original and genuinely useful content. The key is to put in place a
strategy for making your site the authoritative voice on your sector or
subject. Key considerations include: developing the volume of pages on
your site over specific timeframes; integrating a blog into your website;
creating a social media strategy to engage your site content with the
wider web; syndicating useful content across third party sites and
considering other marketing methods such as viral to spread the word
about your new content.
Site design
Once you've established your target keywords, analysed the
competition and thought through your plan for content generation you
are pretty much ready to start writing the brief for your designer. The
crucial step, however, is to find a designer who knows how to build
search engine friendly websites. Web design is now a thoroughly
saturated market itself, and many designers offer the Earth for next to
no money. Be very careful when opting for cheap web design. Make
sure you ask lots of questions about the functionality and flexibility of
the navigation scheme they are proposing. Ensure that they integrate a
search friendly Content Management System in order to allow you
greater control over your web development. Low budget business
planners should consider commissioning a designer to create a custom
WordPress theme. WordPress is built to be search engine friendly and
a good designer will be able to create a great, commercial looking
website using this technology. The added bonus of an already built-in
blog will give you a head-start on the content strategy front.
Create a great experience for the user
Targeting specific keywords is a perfectly legitimate exercise but
never forget your end user. Poorly written web copy that is optimised
well for the search engines might impress Google's algorithm for a while
but if it doesn't impress your website visitors you won't rank well for
long. Your website should always have your users' and potential
customers' best interests at heart. The key is to engage your website
visitor to explore as much of your content as possible. If your site has a
high bounce rate (people clicking off without exploring beyond the
landing page they arrive at), your site could be flagged up as a low
quality. Therefore you need to entice your visitors to explore as much
as possible. Offer tips, advice, news, offers and, again, genuinely useful
content. Encourage your users to share their opinions, comment on
your content and recommend your site to their friends. Place a lot of
consideration into the look, feel and style of your site. Employing a
brand consultant can be expensive but can have a huge benefit in the
long term. Establishing your brand is all about setting out your stall,
appealing directly to your market and ensuring that you convey the
most appropriate and professional looking image.
Launching your site
Following these steps you should now be at the point where you
have a great looking, quality website featuring an abundance of
informative and useful content. Now comes the tricky and on-going
process of developing traffic. A user focused link building strategy is
paramount but time consuming. You may wish to employ a link building
consultant, however, be very wary of purchasing cheap links from an
SEO provider. Modern link building strategies should always bear the
end user in mind and links to your site should be on-topic and relevant.
Instant traffic can be generated initially through paid search advertising
and, so long as your content is of a high standard, can also help you to
build natural links. Offline promotions combined with online PR and
advertising should also be considered. Finally, don't forget to offer a
subscribe option to your users. You need to build loyalty and trust and
a growing database will help you to continually keep your users' and
customers' up to date.
Click here to request a quote on your new business website from M2M
Marketing, LLC.
Copyright 2009 M2M Marketing, LLC., All rights reserved. | CastleCountryBusinessDirectory Website by: M2M Marketing, LLC
Introducing Dr. "Larry"
Dr. "Larry": I earned a Ph.D. in Social Psychology & Family Sociology
from Brigham Young University. I hold an M.Ed. Degree in Instructional
Methods and Curriculum Design, and a B.S. in Sociology.
Dr. "Larry": I earned a Ph.D. in Social Psychology & Family Sociology
from Brigham Young University. I hold an M.Ed. Degree in Instructional
Methods and Curriculum Design, and a B.S. in Sociology.
Introducing "Dot"
"Dot": I earned a bachelors degree in psychology and a Masters in Business
with emphasis on Finance from Capella University. I was a columnist for the
Michigan Chronicles for 8 years. Now I am excited to be offering my advice to
the Castle Country area.
"Dot": I earned a bachelors degree in psychology and a Masters in Business
with emphasis on Finance from Capella University. I was a columnist for the
Michigan Chronicles for 8 years. Now I am excited to be offering my advice to
the Castle Country area.
Let us give you our advice about your problems. We can answer anything
from kids and marriage to Business and Finance. We will answer 4
questions everyday on the topic of the day. So please check back often and
see if your question gets answered.
from kids and marriage to Business and Finance. We will answer 4
questions everyday on the topic of the day. So please check back often and
see if your question gets answered.
| Topics by day |
Monday: Business
Tuesday: Children/teens
Wednesday: Finances
Thursday: Work
Friday: Friends
Saturday: Relationships
Sunday: Family
Tuesday: Children/teens
Wednesday: Finances
Thursday: Work
Friday: Friends
Saturday: Relationships
Sunday: Family
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| Advice for Starting a new Business Website |
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