Believe It Or Not
A lot of people, in fact
most people that create a website strive to make money online either directly
or indirectly with their online presence. Surely, they would not mind earning
some form of income from the effort they put into their site. While this is
possible, a lot of site owners find it tough earning a decent income or any
income at all.
Don’t
Be Deceived
Making money online is
not as easy as taking a stroll in the park where everyone admires your joggers
and your toned physique. You see, online, no one knows you – at least not yet,
until you build your presence. There will be obstacles, there will be
challenges, some self-festered and some beyond your control.
The tendency to fall
into the “it’s impossible to make money online” trap is very real. After trying
a few times without success you give up. Online businesses take time to grow.
You’ve got to keep tending it. It may be crawling at first, but with some
persistence and hard work it will be up and running – and yielding income, good
income
What this post is about
This post will reveal to you steps to take to towards building a viable
website.
1 1. Take
The Step
The fear of failing puts
many people off starting their online business. It stops them from moving from
the thinking stage, to the doing stage and executing their ideas. You don’t need
to read all the web pages before taking that first step, you’ll learn along the
way. You’ll make mistakes, re-evaluate and bounce back better. There is no one
book or online post that can give you a fool-proof assurance of success. It’s a
step at a time.
2. Niche
Vs Passion
If you search online for
the most profitable niches on the internet, you will be slapped with a list of
the so called ‘lucrative’ niches. Pick one of these and build your internet
business around it without a passion for the topic and it will most likely end
in disaster.
This is so because soon
enough you will run low on motivation to continue due to your lack the passion
for the subject. It is your passion that keeps you going. When things are not
going smoothly or according to plan, your passion gives you the will power to
trudge ahead. If it’s gardening that you have passion for, wrap yourself around
it and stay away from pet grooming. Trust me you’d be better fulfilled, in all
ramifications.
3. Good Website name.
You are in a discussion
with someone and it leads to him asking what the name of your site is, you tell
him and his reaction puzzles you? Well, perhaps the name sounds weird or overly
complicated. As for names go, keep is as simple as possible. Also the name or
title should not be misleading or confusing. You should not have a title that
goes, Pet Care, and then you begin to talk about Bonsai gardening. I, certainly
will not visit the site again because that is not what I am looking for.
4. Hosting
What is web hosting? Simply
put, it’s the piece of online estate you purchase or rent to display your web
site on the internet. What is the use of well researched, well written content
if no one is able to see it? Any meaningful and serious aspiration for online
presence must have a good hosting plan.
There are numerous
hosting companies with different hosting plans, ranging from free to paid. This
can be further broken down into
· Shared Hosting – most
affordable asides free hosting and
· Virtual private server (VPS) - often used by
large businesses. The playou choose depends on factors such as, nature of
your web site and your budget.
· Dedicated Hosting – has
dedicated server used only by the web site You have control over the server
and its properties.
· Cloud Hosting- has an almost limitless volume
of storage and bandwidth and is becoming increasingly popular.
· Reseller Hosting- I like
to refer to this as subletting. An account owner can host a website or websites
on behalf of a third party, with the resources allotted to him by the hosting
company, which he is presently not in need of, making some income on the side.
Your web host must provide
the following-
· Security - Every online
business desires a safe working environment and they want a web host
that will provide this.
· Support- A good hosting
service must provide adequate technical support to its clients, ensuring that
user experience is flawless.
· Uptime- The website must be available and accessible on line as
much as possible. Persistent down time can affect user experience and lead to
loss of viewers.
5. Content
Content,
made up of all that is contained therein, on your website must be carefully
created and placed. Things to watch out for include -
· Quality
- if you want readers hanging around your web site, you had better be dishing
out good quality content. This ensures you get both unique and returning
visitors. Your content must be well researched and written.
· Simplicity
- Content must be simple and easy to read and digest. It must not be over
burdened with complex grammar that interrupts the comprehension process. Don’t
try to impress anyone, I assure you, they won’t be.
· Fresh
Content – intermittently dilute your old content with fresh ones. This does not
mean the old content has lost value, especially well researched content that
can continue to attract readers for years as your articles are continually
discovered, but adding fresh content attracts return viewers, and aids in
search engine discoverability.
· Clear
and relevant images – good clear images attract viewers and compliments your
articles in a positive way. Just ensure it is related to your topic. You can
check out the article Six
ways good images benefit your Web Page
6. Social Media
It makes sense to have a number of
social media handles. Advantages include
· It
encourages interaction with readers and viewers
· Improves
feedback from users
· Makes
your content easy to share
· Gives
an opportunity for marketing
7.
Engage in Search engine optimization (SEO)
And
for good reason. If you want your website showing up within the first page of
search engines and thereby open to large traffic, you have to take SEO
seriously. Actions that aid Search Engine Optimization include-
· Keyword
Research - Keywords are the words or phrases that searchers enter in to search
engines to get information about a topic. They must be properly researched and put
to good use.
· Website
loading speed – The faster your website loads, the easier and faster it shows
up in search engine results, leading to higher ranking. A load time of three
seconds or less is ideal as even as low as two seconds above that can lead to
site abandonment.
· High
quality back links – These are links from another website to your own site. It
helps create traffic to your web site.
· Mobile
friendly – Websites that are optimized for mobile viewing often rank higher and
get more views as the world tends towards mobile devices. Websites that are not
mobile friendly miss out on mobile viewers.
8. Utilize webmaster tools
Webmaster tools enable you to keep an eye on the
overall health and performance of you web site. They help you keep track of the
following-
· Page
views – Views, all time, monthly, weekly and daily can all be tracked with a
view to taking necessary steps to improve on site performance.
· Time
that visitors spend on the website.
· Check
for broken links to correct them.
· Page
download time.
· Bounce
rate, to improve the user experience and engagement time.
Take Away
There
are several factors involved in building a viable website, and each one deserves
careful consideration and execution. If you want a website that attracts
viewers and ultimately yields income, you must pay adequate attention to it and
continually analyze, evaluate and make necessary changes as required.
