This is the part where we get down into the nitty-gritty details. The goal is to make money. The only question is … how? Let’s talk about that, and figure out how you can pick the topic of your website, the domain name of your website and then actually plan out how you’re going to do business with your site. Let’s get started.
Picking the Topic
A website needs to have a common theme, unless, of course, it’s your personal ramble-site. I have one of those for fun and just to vent. But if your goal is to work at home or make money online, then you certainly need to make sure the website is on a common theme. The reason it needs to be about a common theme is simple for two reasons:
Visitors. When someone shows up on your website they should see a single common theme. If they are looking for information about taking trips, they should see nothing but travel info. If they want information about dieting, then they should see nothing but dieting related info.
Search Engines. Search engines rank you higher for a keyword if your website is chock full of infor on it. This means more traffic later down the road.
This common theme has three criteria for being a good idea for a website if you want to monetize your website in the future. So there needs to be a common theme. Right. Now what? Now you move on to figure out what that theme is. It’s something you have to be passionate about, it needs to be fairly popular, and there doesn’t need to be too much competition.
Passion. First, it has to be something that you are passionate about. You’ll be writing literally dozens of articles on the topic, and will be thinking a lot about it. Don’t start a website on something just because you think it will make you money.
Popularity. Second, there needs to be a lot of interest in the concept on the Internet world. If you have the perfect website, but only 20 people are interested in the philosophical side of anchovies, well, that just doesn’t cut it. Check out Popular Searches for a great free way to see search statistics.
Competition. Third of all, your website shouldn’t be about how to make money with a website. Especially not if this is your first website, and you’ve never done it before. No. Seriously. It really shouldn’t be. That doesn’t make sense, and it’s the hardest topic on the Internet to crack. Unfortunately, nearly everyone thinks they can write about making money online or working at home. Don’t make the same mistake thousands of others have made.
Instead, focus on something that you are great at. A hobby, a pass-time, an expertise, a business idea — something along those lines. When you finish picking the topic for your website, move on to the next step.
Picking the Domain Name
Acquiring the correct domain is one of the most essential aspects of your new website. There are two trains of thought regarding the name:
1. Brand Yourself
Stand out from everyone else. Don’t pick a name that’s easily forgotten, or is hard to say. It needs to be short, catchy and easily remembered. But don’t go to crazy … focus on the keywords. What keywords? The search engine keywords:
2. SEO
Remember, search engines care about the name of your website. If you have the keyword that you are targeting in your domain name, that goes a long ways when it comes to getting traffic later on.
Your Website Business Plan
This is the fun part. Before you launch into your website, plan it out. Think about what you want to happen with it. Daydream about it. Go on walks and think about it. Drive around and think about it. Talk to yourself about it. Become obsessed. You could make thousands because of a little obsession.
This is something you’ll mostly have to work out on your own. However, I can throw in a few tips that I have found successful:
1. Pre-Plan. Plan out what will be on your home page first. Write 3-5 paragraphs summarizing everything on your website. If your website has a general “theme” or “point”, this would be the place to crystallize it. For every minor-point that you make on your home page, make a link to the post/article/page that will fully develop and explain that idea. This will keep you on track.
2. Thousand Dollar Page. Most websites have a few “staple” pages. These are the pages that the website was created to showcase … everything else is secondary. It can be everything from a really clever point to a sales page for a great program that everyone should try. Make sure that nearly every article links to this “staple” page, especially if it’s your money maker.
3. Don’t Repeat My Mistake. I’ll be honest. It took me 2 full years before I started making money. There’s a reason: I tried to go at it alone. I went into information overload, and read thousands of posts on “make money online” blogs nearly every day. Now I read maybe 3 blogs every day.
The mistake I made was simple: I tried to reinvent the wheel. I tried to learn HTML. After months of frustration and horrible web-design, I gave up on that and moved on to wordpress designs. I lost months of work, and spent another year and a half learning what I could have learned in 10 days.
Yes, ten days. Making a website with the purpose of making money is complicated, confusing and takes most people years to learn. That’s why SiteBuildIt is the best website creation tool ever known… it keeps you on track. As a matter of fact, you can read a sample of just how much guidance you’ll get, by getting a sneak-peak here .
In the end, you can bypass the “information overload” of trying to juggle marketing, SEO, monetization and design all at once by just looking into SiteBuildIt . They do all of that for you. Made specifically for people who want to make money with their website.
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