Your web site
Theme
First thing first. What do you
want to present on your web space ? Why should someone come and
spend some time looking at your web site ?
We're going to start general and
really zero in on the very precise. The idea is that you FOCUS,
FOCUS, FOCUS.
Why do you want to go on the web ?
Write down your reason (Specific Purpose
Statement / USP unique selling point) in 1 or 2 sentences...
not more.
Here are some ideas to get your brain juices flowing.
Where does your subject
matter fit ? : 
-
information : commercial, non-lucrative, collectivity, school,
cross culture, humanitary, international students, travellers
-
personal : family, photo album, artwork, wedding, trip, CV
-
results
of your skills : talent, knowledge : language, teaching,
research, crossword puzzles, hobby...
-
explanation
: how to... make sushi, design clothes, tell stories to
children
-
updating content : church, school, club, dance group, sports team
-
online store : sell your
homemade products
-
fun : satyric, jokes, funny newspaper
citations, 7 mistakes..
-
develop
a subject : champagne caps, pop star
fan. your village
-
a collection : stamps,
images, outlines of books, idiomatic expressions
All of the above are great and
valid reasons. You need to simply narrow it down to know exactly
what you want to do.
What's Extra Special about YOU
? :
Your Unique Selling Point is a concise and specific statement that immediately shows
your visitors that they've found the website that will fulfill their needs.
If it's commercial,
it clearly states the chief benefit(s) of your services and doing business with you and
any competitive advantages you have over your competitors.
If you have a commercial site,
here are a few angles you can take in developing your USP. Even
if you don't have this type of a site use these ideas to put
your best foot forward :
-
Better prices
-
Superior
Guarantee
-
Easy payment terms
-
Solution to an
everyday problem
-
Exclusive Niche - by specializing on a
highly focused market, you increase your capacity to sell to that
market.
-
Memberships,
Clubs, Special Groups...
-
Added value
but no added cost
-
Superior
know-how and proficiency
-
Competitive
Advantages - an advantage over your competition, otherwise, why would
anyone do business with you?
Check out your
competition and set up your business and your web site to function better than them in at least one
area.
Do you
see where we're going with this ?
Were
establishing your theme, your "raison d'être". Not only does this help you focus but,
in the short run, it will help you on the web. Why ?
Reading through Search
Engines posts tend to indicate they accord higher rankings to sites with themed content.
www.searchengineforums.com
www.webmasterworld.com
Focus on Keywords - Learn this
trick :
Once we've narrowed and pared
down the theme we can now develop your theme. Sounds a bit
paradoxical...
but it isn't.
We don't want to talk about
"fruit" we focus in on "bananas", that's the
theme (even that's too broad). Then we see how to plant, grow,
harvest, distribute, cook... them. But, it's ALL about bananas.
Since we want people to read what
we are producing, why not see what THEY are looking for when it
comes to bananas or other things.
Go
to www.google.com
enter a keyword or key phrase (two words in "quotations").
These are the words / phrases that
internautes like you and I enter into Search Engines to find information.
Find a site similar to your Unique Selling Point.
Now,
here's a little trick : When you're at the homepage of that
site, on the menu of the browser go to :
-
View -> Source and look at 3 main "meta tags".
-
We'll discuss this much more in depth later on
-
For now, look
for : "title", "description", "keywords"
-
See what they
say and the words they are using
-
Repeat
this for a few other sites.
They could be a pretty good summary of your theme ! A choice
of specific words that characterize your activity.
The
important point is that the keywords be specific, precise, explicit and
targeted.
What
keywords do your clients use ? :
-
Let's
double check these keywords you've found and make sure they're not
just theoretical. We don't want them to be "our ideas".
-
They
must be real words and terms that real internautes are using everyday.
Do a Search for your keywords at overture.com Keywords Inventory Search and see how popular they
really are.
Overture
Inventory
7 Search
Keyword Gold
This service will also
tell you what other related keywords and phrases are being searched for.
-
Write these
down, print them... or better yet, save the page.
-
Name
and save them as "plant-bananas", "grow-bananas,
"banana-split" files. We will be referring to them time
and again.
-
Create
yourself a keyword FOLDER : "Keywords-Banana" and store
all these files in one easy to find location.
What
you've just done is verify that the vocabulary you use in building
your site is the same as what your prospects and clients use and...
NOT
what you as a specialized, knowledgeable and possibly technical person
who knows this subject inside out uses. You got client input.
9 Steps to choose the
ultimate Domain Name :
The name is the FIRST
contact with your site.
You don't get a
second chance to make a first impression.
As of August 1st 2000, the numbers of
top-level domains that had
been registered worldwide were as follows.
|
|
#
Registered
|
%
of Total
|
|
.com
|
9,482,427
|
72.6%
|
|
.net
|
2,265,298
|
17.3%
|
|
.org
|
1,318,818
|
10.1%
|
|
|
13,066,543
|
100%
|
Lesson : As much as
possible, get yourself a .com (that's the origin of "dotcom")
domain name.
Apply the 9 steps
below and you'll "stop them dead in their scrolling".
-
Short
: easy to remember, not more than 2 syllables. However, you can use
up to 63 characters... so a whole phrase "get-off-my-back"
"Paris-by-night" can be used
-
Descriptive
: summarize your website in one or two words. I bought www.website-basics.com
on Dec. 10, 2002 and must admit I was surprised it still
existed ! It sums this site up in a nutshell
-
Easy
to retain : your domain name becomes your
"brand"
-
Catchy
: If it sticks out and catches your attention you've got a
winner. We hunted high and low for something special for a
French tourism site.
Here's what we came up with : www.Bonjour-La-France.com
-
Uncomplicated
: easy to write and spell, avoid difficult to differentiate
letter combinations. There are more and more non-English
speakers on the net. Help don't hinder them :
"ch" /
"sh", "ei" / "ie",
"ou" / "oo" etc.
-
Avoid homonyms : words
that sound the same and are spelled differently
complicate matters : peak / peek
-
Use
hyphens (-) to separate the words : leather-sandals,
leathersandals It's much easier to read and retain.
Some
search engines will not find "sandals" in "leathersandals".
Don't penalize yourself. They will find it in leather-sandals.
-
Don't
mix hyphens (-) and periods (.) in the name :
john.george-doe.com Remember that if the internaute
types in just one erroneous character or symbol he will NOT
find you.
So use all hyphens throughout : john-george-doe.com
-
Don't
even if you can : I suggest NOT using the underscore (_).
Why ? Do you even know where to find it on your keyboard ?
Some International keyboards and laptops don't even show this
character.
Same remark for accented letters (à,é,ñ). Don't. They may
be cute but those visiting your site probably will never find
them and you've lost them... for good.
Go back to your
lists of keywords. Mix and match. Play around with them
www.nameboy.com
http://selfpromotion.com/domainsniff.t
A lookup tool that
consolidates all databases into one BetterWHOIS at:
www.betterwhois.com
To find an accredited
domain name registrar, or for more
information on domain name registration, visit
www.TopRegistrars.com
www.stargateinc.com
-
fees
-
parking
-
web
page
-
email
(if you don't have money to
spend)
CyberName - Choose from
dozens of domains in personal, business and country categories.
www.cybername.net
Offers free URL
redirection, web based email and plug in tools. They support Sub
Domains, Directory, Path Forwarding, Cloaking.
www.freeurl.com
www.ulimit.com
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