How to Build a Website that Works!

How To Build a Website That:
Draws Traffic, Converts Visitors Into Buyers and Generates Ongoing Income

Part 5 - Creating Your First Web Pages

Once you've decided on the best site concept with the most potential you will be ready to think about registering a domain name and starting to build your website. Using your keyword analysis data choose the keyword phrase that best describes your overall niche.

Choosing the Best Domain Name for Your Website

You will want one that has a strong search demand and has a lot of people looking for that phrase. While you may have to deal with more competitors for this general keyword you don't want to choose one that is too saturated with competitors or it will be too difficult to win at the search engines.

However, once you have weighed the keyword information from sources like the Brainstorm It! tool that comes with Site Build It! (SBI!) and the Google Adwords Keyword Tool you can decide on the best keywords to include in your domain name. It is important to include these words in your domain name as that is one of the elements that search engines use in determining how relevant your site is when someone does a search related to that topic.

IMPORTANT: If you plan on using SBI! to develop your website don't register your domain name with another company. SBI! includes the cost of registering your domain name and you do this inside your SBI! account. Otherwise you will have to deal with the hassles and delays of getting it transferred.

Your keyword research should have given you a list of several other keywords that you will use to build the pages of your site around. Before we get into that, however, let's take a minute to discuss your site structure.

The Hierarchical Structure of Your Website

Your home page, or index.html page, will be at the top of your hierarchy, of course. From here you will want to link to the major subcategories of your site. These secondary pages are called Tier 2 pages. Each of these pages will link to your Tier 3 pages which will be even more specific categories.

For example if your site is about landscaping you might have your home page link to the main categories of "Trees", "Tools" and "Ornaments".

On your page "Trees" you might discuss the subject of trees in a general way giving an overview. From the "Trees" page you would link to your Tier 3 pages that might be about "Spruce Trees", "Birch Trees" and "Weeping Willows".

On the "Tools" page you would have general information about tools and then have links to your more specific Tier 3 pages... "Rakes", "Shovels" and "Hoes". You get the idea.

You will also want to link back to your Tier 2 pages from your Tier 3 pages. Having this type of structure with links up and down your hierarchy creates a structure that is easy to work with and add new content, it is easier for your visitors to navigate and find what they are looking for and helps search engines spider your site. (Search engine spiders, also known as webcrawlers, search the internet and index pages.)

Okay, let's look at some of the things you need to consider when creating your pages. Don't get overwhelmed with the list of things below. These will become second nature. If you use SBI! they will explain each step in clear, easy to understand terms.

On-Page Criteria You Need to Include on Your Pages

So there are two areas that Google looks at. On-page criteria and off-page criteria. Let's start with the on-page elements. This includes everything to do with your webpage such as the file name, headlines, body copy and text links.

In order to improve your ranking your entire page should be focused on a particular topic and should provide high quality original content. So if you have a page about "dog grooming" that should be reflected in:

• The file name: dog-grooming.html

• Title meta tag - the page title

• Description meta tag

• Keyword meta tag, include "dog grooming" and a couple of variations, synonyms or misspellings, but only have about 5 tightly focused keywords or Google will think you are "stuffing" your keywords and may penalize you. (You don't want to be penalized or dropped by Google!)

• Headline tags (H1, H2, H3 tag) - especially the first one:
  ie. Standard Poodle Dog Grooming Tips

• Early in the body copy a couple of times including the first paragraph.

• Peppered throughout the page (but don't overdo it).

• In the concluding paragraghs.

• In a text link on the page.

• Alt tag for images should include your keyword if possible.

So when someone goes to Google and searches for the phrase "dog grooming" your page will be seen by Google to be more relevant because it sees that from top to bottom that is what your page is all about.

I should add that you don't necessarily want to use just your primary keyword "dog grooming". Include the variations, synonyms and misspellings that you have in your keyword meta tag as well. Just be sure to keep your page focused on the main topic.

However, the phrase "dog grooming" is only an example and that actual phrase would be highly competitive so it would be very difficult to rank at the top just by using these simple optimization tips.

In your case you might be better off to narrow down the search. For example, if you have a site about German Shepherds you might optimize for "german shepherd grooming". There would be much less competition for these keywords and your site could edge out competitors who have not taken the care to properly optimize their pages.

Sometimes you have to go to the road less travelled to find success. You have to think about what people are searching for - the exact words they type into Google - then optimize your pages to match.

Optimizing Your Pages with Keyword Analysis

If you are using SBI! to build your site you have a huge advantage over your competitors. When you are done your page you just click on the "Analyze It!" button and you are given a report that tells you exactly how well your page is optimized for search engines.

It tells you exactly where the problem is and what to do about it. It even tells you how many more times to add your keyword or how many times you need to remove it to keep Google happy.

Once your page passes Analyze It! you just click Build It! and it becomes available on the web.

If you have experience with HTML editors like Dreamweaver and want to create your own pages instead of using SBI!'s Block Builder you can do that too if you prefer.

SBI!'s WorldSubmitter then automatically updates your XML sitemap file and pings (informs) Google, Yahoo!, Live Search (formerly MSN) and Ask whenever you make a change to your site (add, edit or delete a page).

This is one of the many things SBI! does behind the scenes to help you build rankings and traffic that you don't even need to know about (but I encourage you to learn as much as possible).

What's Next?

There's more to building a successful online business, no matter how well you have optimized your pages. Next time we'll take a look at how to increase your targeted traffic including link exchanges, directory listings, article marketing and even through out-going links to authority sites. Search engines look at all of these things in determining the relative value of your site.

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Until next time...

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