Note from Tiff: As you all know, there are some thing I never claim to be an expert in. Website development is one of them. I invited my special guest, Elizabeth, to deliver some tips on how to create your own website. Her information is rock solid, and I’m glad to have her helping me inform you.

Elizabeth McGee is a full time Internet marketer with over 8 years experience in internet marketing and online business. Visit her Internet Home Business & Marketing Tips blog where you’ll find plenty of Tips, Advice and Personal Support.

Here’s what Elizabeth had to say:

Congratulations! You’ve decided to take action and create your own website. Now that you’ve made the commitment, you’re probably anxious to get started but despite your excitement you may be unsure of what to do next.

Not to worry, the following site building methods will allow you to create a website that will not only meet your business needs and attract traffic but when you are finished you will have built a website that is both user and search engine friendly.

Research Your Keywords

A successful, focused website starts with finding the best keywords. That means finding relevant, targeted keywords for each page of your web site.

In fact I suggest that even before purchasing your domain name you first determine the keywords that best describe your site’s overall topic. I’ve found that doing my keyword research first helps a lot with finding a domain name that more accurately describes what my site is about

There are several free keyword research tools to help you out. Google’s keyword research is a good start. Look for keywords that best describes each page of your site yet are the keywords most used by web surfers to find that specific information.

Choose your domain name

It helps to have a domain name that contains your main keywords. A puppy training site for example would do well to have ‘puppy training’ in the domain name. Something like bestpuppytraining.com or puppytrainingsite.com would be ideal. You’re not likely to find your perfect domain name on the first try but keep looking and you can come close.

Site Structure

Your site’s structure will help you develop a site that flows logically, is easy for visitors to navigate and the search engines will love. Here’s the most common website structure:

· a left column that includes a site categories menu
· a right column that features miscellaneous content or advertising
· a main panel in the middle for the body copy
· a header panel that often includes an attractive graphic
· a page footer that could include graphics and contains basic items like site map, terms of use, about me, etc.

Use your keyword research tools to help you determine what categories your site will offer. For example, while researching ‘Dutch oven cooking’ I was able to turn up things like:

· Dutch oven recipes
· Dutch oven products & accessories
· Dutch oven cookbooks
· Dutch oven care

These are all categories that people interested in Dutch oven cooking would find useful.

Web Site Navigation

Your site’s navigation is critical to helping you rank well in the search engines. Create sub directories for your pages and file them where they make the most sense. For example, if you have several pages for ‘Dutch oven recipes’ file them in a subcategory for recipes:

/recipes/nacho-dip.html
/recipes/chili.html
/recipes/chicken-tenders.html

It’s also good practice to also keep your content limited to 3 levels deep. That means developing a structure that takes no more than 3 links to get to the deepest content. The shorter the path a search engine has to take to get to an internal page the better.

Create Quality Content

Your site’s content should be unique, original and updated often. The best way to do this is to write your content yourself or have it written for you. Of course not everyone’s a writer so finding ways to give your readers what they are looking for and keep them coming back means you’ll have to get creative.

· Consider having articles written for you. Ghostwriters aren’t hard to find and their prices are reasonable.
· Try using Private label rights content or PLR and customizing it with your own ideas and thoughts.
· Exchange articles with other related websites or conduct an interview with someone knowledgeable on your topic.
· Try creating a fun video or pod cast.

These are all excellent, creative yet fun ideas for developing content.

Whatever you choose to do keep it interesting, mix it up and always stay focused on your readers, avoiding sales pitches and product pushes.

Follow Basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategies

Each page of your website must have the best keyword phrase in the title and description tags for that page. Your keyword phrase should also be part of your page’s header and header tag (h1) as well as in your image tag (img) if you have one.

Also include the same keyword phrase once or twice within the body of the page and it should be part of your page’s file name, so for example, a page about ‘Dutch Oven Recipes’ should contain a the file name of ‘dutch oven recipes’:

http://www.yoursite.com/dutch-oven-recipes.html

Be especially careful that the tags you use are relevant and accurately describe what each page is about.

and finally…

These strategies can be a lot to remember and sometimes tricky to implement so I suggest finding a site builder that has the above elements built directly into it.

For example I use Xsitepro for that very reason. My sites have been able to naturally rank high within the search engines just by following the instructions within the site builder. It makes building a site that navigates well and that the search engines love much, much easier.

But regardless of what software you use be sure you take time to do your initial research and planning, it will make the process from beginning to end flow a lot smoother while saving you from potential problems down the road.

Tiff Again: Much thanks to Elizabeth for visiting my blog and sharing her website creation tips. I’ll admit this is one of the most daunting tasks a marketer with no technical skills has to undertake, but with the right guidance, it can all go smoothly for you.

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