Tips to Improve Your Website

So you have a fabulous website but now what …?

Great designs and seamless website navigation are obvious passions of ours however they are closely follwed by the not so glamorous Search Engine Optimisation and website profitability. Now we know you are thinking … but will this cost me more money? Well not necessarily – there are many many things you do to help yourself with the Search Engines and the Profitability of your website. Here are a few ideas …

IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITES MONEY MAKING POTENTIAL

A website with a relevant domain name

A professional-looking website is a must in order to make a go of an online business and the correct domain name is very important for future Google rankings; one that directly represents your business products or services is essential. You want potential customers to be confident in your name so they will click through to your site. Our recommended Domain registrar is TPP.

A merchant account and secure credit card ordering

In order to make a serious income online, you must be able to securely accept credit card orders. You can do this with WordPress and Woocommerce with Paypal or Stripe.

Proprietary products and services

The best way to maximize profits, whether in the real world or online is to offer at least one product or service that you own the rights to. Either create something that the market demands or purchase exclusive rights to something. This is an area that stumps many people but if you use your imagination and draw on your past experiences, job and even hobbies, you may be able to come up with something. As you consider ideas, you can do a little keyword research and see if anyone is searching the web for that topic. This will tell you if there is an interest in your subject.

Website traffic

Obviously you’ll need website traffic before you can start making any money. There are lots of ways to get traffic without paying much, if any money. Some of the best strategies we’ve used include using relevant keyword rich articles, site maps, regular search engine lodging, Facebook promotions, and email promotions. All these grass roots strategies can bring targeted traffic, often at no cost. We can’t emphasise enough that you need to include relevant keywords throughout your site – in articles, page headings, product introductions, product descriptions, meta tags, links, everywhere. Use a keyword search tool to find keywords that suit your business and then look through your site and make sure the top ranking keywords are appearing. If they are not you need to send us articles that contain these keywords and we will include them on your site.

CREATE KEYWORD RICH CONTENT FOR YOUR WEBSITE

Improving your ranking in the Search Engines may seem impossible however if you include keywords in articles and text throughout your site the Search Engines will find you and rank you on these terms.

How to Write Articles to Draw People to Your Website

Key #1: Choose a Popular Topic

You’ll need to do a little research on this one. If you are already familiar with the target market for your article, this should come easy. Research, spy, observe. Do whatever it takes to understand your target market. What issues are hot? What topics currently appear within your competitors websites and in top Facebook pages, messageboards, ebooks? What keywords are your customers using to search online?

It’s also a good idea to frequently visit article directories and content sites. These sites contain current articles on a variety of popular topics. Often, you can view the most popular article topics (or clicks) as well.

Here’s a short list of article directories:

www.ezinearticles.com
www.certificate.net/wwio
www.ideamarketers.com
www.goarticles.com
www.netterweb.com
www.jogena.com

Key #2: Choose a “Magnetic” Title

Write a title that attracts the reader like a magnet. Your article title is your headline. If it doesn’t pull the reader into the article, nothing will. Just think … “what would interest me” and most importantly keep it short and to the point.

Key #3: Use The AIDA Principle

Attention Interest Desire Action

This universal formula applies to your articles as well. Once you’ve enticed your reader to read your article (via a great title), you need to keep them reading.

The first paragraph of your article is critical. If it’s dull, boring and lifeless, your reader will surely bail out. You must keep their interest right from the start. Try using short paragraphs, sentences and words. This will keep the tempo upbeat and make your article much easier to read (or skim, as most do online).

Key #4: Create Several Sub-Headings

To better organize your thoughts, divide your article into sub-headings. At times, writing a 500-700 word article can seem insurmountable. Sub-headings make things easier. Instead of tackling the entire article at once, try writing one paragraph at a time.

Key #5: “Close The Sale” With A Resource Box

One of the worst things you can do is to leave your reader hanging. They’ve just read your great article, now what? A resource box appears at the very end of your article. It’s the last line that your reader sees. It’s your chance to set the next step.

Make sure that your resource box is compelling. Make the reader jump over to your website and purchase something or claim their free gift — be creative!

Also, the resource box allows you to include a direct link back to your website. Sit back and watch your link popularity soar!

Key #6: Proofread Your Work

Nothing hollers out amateur, newbie, or just plain unprofessional than an article filled with typos and bad grammar. If you are not confident about your writing skills you could always hire a professional copywriter – there are many on the web that advertise their services.

Key #7 – Promote and Publish

Without key #7, keys 1-6 are a waste of time. No one will read your article if you keep it stored on your hard drive on your computer. The first step is to make sure it appears on your website on your Articles or Advice pages. The next step is to publish it.

Remember, every time a keyword appears in your article and a link appears back to your website your ranking in the Search Engines is improved.

You’ve got to publish your article

How can you publish your article? There are close to 90 article directories, article banks, free content sites, article announcement lists, and article syndication services out there. And the best part is … 95% of them are FREE!

Plus, there are thousands of ezines, websites and blogs that are looking for article submissions. Develop a list of contacts in your target market. Next, e-mail each ezine publisher, blog owner, or webmaster a copy of your latest article.

So good luck and get writing and remember to send me all your articles so I can upload them to your site.

Jen Blissett
Watermark Web Design
Ph or SMS: 0410 652 802