How to Start Your Own Website

So you want to start your own website? Here are the things to be thinking about: Content, general design and layout, and what you want to acheive. Layout is more important than incoropration of every new technique. An animation that takes 45 seconds to load and run may be cool the first time, but will discourage return visitors! Also, avoid popup ads as nobody really likes them and the clickthru rate is terrible.

What is the website about, what is the target audience, and who are the main sites now serving this audience? Take a look at who is out on the internet now and how you can do things better. Content and services are the most important thing to a return visitor.

Domain name - It is best to try to find a domain name that your target audience will relate to. One example is theLabRat.com for biotech and pharmaceutical sciences. The best domain name is one that will be remembered (and not to difficult to type in).

Affiliate programs - If you are going to have advertising on your website you will want to take a look at the affiliate programs section. These programs do the sales work for you. All you do is put the banners or text links on your site and when someone clicks, fills in a form, or buys something, you get paid! Using text links that are relevant to your content gives you the highest clickthru rate.

Web design - Are you going to do it yourself or hire someone? Doing it yourself can be fun, but it can also be frustrating. I have done this for about two years on a part time basis and have a few websites running (besides my day job as a biotech scientist). If you are looking for running a business on the web it may be faster to have someone else design it for you.

Web Hosting Services - You want to try to get an estimate of how much bandwidth you will need. Most sites can exist fine on free or low cost hosting. Higher traffic sites may need a system which allows unlimited bandwidth (to a limit). To limit your exposure, you may want to start out on a free or low cost server plan and then upgrade as necessary.

Search engine placement - The major source of hits for many websites are search engine queries. Having a search engine placement in the top 5 of a common search term can mean big traffic. Unfortunately, search engines don't use similar algorithms to determine placement and even change their algorithms perodically. Maintaining your rank is a continual process.

Web tools and content - Once your website is set up you will want to be constantly upgrading and adding new features to grow the traffic. Examples of things that grow traffic: email services, message boards, e-card programs, and recommendation scripts.