It All Starts With a Website

What is a website?

According to Wikipedia, a website is a collection of web pages, images, videos, or other digital assets that are hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. All the websites make up the World Wide Web.

There are actually different types of websites:

traditional website – This type of website may have pages of content, AdSense or other ads, about me page, links page, product review pages, etc. These can be huge websites built up over the years and seen as authority sites.

product promotion/sales page/mini site – This is simply a sales page (short or long) to showcase a product that’s being sold. The only other pages you might see with this are a disclaimer page and/or a privacy page. The object is to get you to buy, not to click on pages and pages of content.

squeeze page – A squeeze page is a simple website page, or web page, that entices people to sign up for a free offer of a small product or information.

niche site – When marketers have several small sites in different niches, they probably have what are known as niche sites. These sites may have one page – a product review page – of a product they are selling as an affiliate, or a niche site might have 4 or 5 pages with each page marketing a different product within the same general niche.

Why do you want a website?

There are many excellent reasons to have a website. If you are selling your own product, you need a platform on which to sell it. Even if it’s a physical product, a website is a vehicle that can showcase and market your product for you. It’s a competitive marketing world out there and anything you can do to promote your product, like on your own website, is a plus. Many people do their shopping online these days.

A website can help brand you. If you want to be seen as the expert on xyz, then have a website about xyz where you can highlight what you know and/or showcase your services. A website provides a place to show examples of your work, list feedback and testimonials, and give your contact information. Your website can offer reassurance to a potential buyer.

What skills do you need?

If you’re a DIYer and want to make your own website, you will need an html editor and some training on how to use it. This includes knowing how to add images, audio, video, headers, content, etc. This is the least expensive, yet most time consuming route to take. It’s not super hard, but you do have to learn what you’re doing. Once you’ve learned, you can create many websites yourself!

Another option would be to use a ready-made website and make minor changes to it such as the website name and your name and contact info. These websites can be found as stand alone private label rights products (PLR) or as part of a PLR package that also includes a product to sell. This will still require you to have access to an html editor, but it’s a lot easier than starting from scratch.

The third choice is to outsource the creation of your website. While this is the way to go if you don’t have a lot of time to spend and don’t want to pull out all your hair during the inevitable frustrations of learning something new, it will cost you money. The question also arises whether you will be doing updates to the website or if you will be paying them to do any updating. The choice is yours; just make sure you own the domain name.

When putting together a website, you also need to know how to do the graphics for your header or know who to hire to do it for you. Remember, you want your website to look professional so you will be seen as a professional.

Other need-to-knows are how to buy a domain name, get hosting, and FTP your website onto your domain. Scary at first, but not hard!

What other strategies work well with your website?

• Using keywords effectively in your copy
• Outsourcing any of your needs; article writing, changing blog themes, researching, building websites, graphics, etc.
• How to do videos
• Autoresponders
• Good sales copy if you promote any product
• Article marketing
• Getting domain names
• How to get traffic
• List building
• Selling affiliate products
• Offering your services on the Internet
• Using PLR
• Placing ads on your site
• Mentoring or coaching

An online presence is a must if you want to be a successful internet marketer. Having a website will go a long way in giving you a speaking platform, branding you, and showing off your services or products.

Tags: Articles, Website Basics, Website Basics Articles