Think niche! Small topics that you can become an expert in. This is where you can compete with the big sites by offering specialist knowledge on a narrow topic.
Using travel as an example here are a few illustrations of what I mean.
A site about reviewing hostels: Don't try and cover the whole world, a whole continent or even a whole country! Pick a niche area such as hostels in a City, hostels that are good for disabled access, hostels that are good for families.
A site with various travel articles on: Don't just throw a site up with travel articles that are only related by the word travel! Think of a topic like travel articles by over 65s, articles written about a specific country, articles about responsible travel.
Finally a non - travel related example.
A site that reviews books: Don't try and compete with Amazon.com - they will win! If you want to write book reviews then think of a specific topic . Don't think travel books, think travel books about the Mekong. Don't think computer books, think books about a particular computer langauge.
Do you see where I am going with this? I cannot emphasize enough that if you try and create a web site on too broader subject you will find it hard to compete with much larger and more established sites that are run by companies with huge marketing budgets.
Think small, niche, obscure. How ever obscure you will get visitors. Without visitors you won't get income.
I apologise for rambling on but the subject area is very important to the success of a website!
You now have your web site idea - now buy that domain name
Your domain name should ideally be descriptive of your web site content. Take this site 'working nomad'. I was lucky to get this name because finding good domain names that end in .com are becoming hard to find! Working nomad basically describes exactly what this site is about and so should your domain name.
There are heaps of companies that can register domain names for you. Just do a google search on 'domain name' and you will see! A really useful forum for discussing domain name is Webmaster World / Domain Name. Check this out as it has lots of useful info.
My final tip is don't get to hang up on domain names - if you can'r register the name you want then be creative. If 'workingnomad.com' had of gone I might have looked at 'workingnomad.net' or 'theworkingnomad.com' etc
For more information check out our guide to selecting a domain name.
You have the idea and a domain name - now build the thing!
Now I am not going to teach you how to be a web designer here. There are so many tools out there for building web sites and online help that you can't go wrong. My tips would be.
- Learn a little bit of HTML. You may not think you need it but it will come in handy down the road. There are plenty of web resources out there to help. Start at W3 Schools as this is all free and very helpful information!
- Try and think of your users when you create a site - make it easy for them to navigate around - make it pleasing to the eye but not too flash! Focusing on good text rather than flash presentations will get you higher in the search engines and more traffic.
There is so much I could write in this section but I need to move on so I will leave you with this link - WebmasterWorld / New To Web Development - this will help you a lot and don't be afraid of asking questions.
I have a website which is uploaded to the web - what next?
You now need to attract visitors. Here is the way to do it.
- Submit your site to the major search engines.
- Ask other web sites to link to your sites.
- Be active in forums that are related to your site. Once established use your signature as a web link to your site.
- Keep adding content.
- Read this remarkable article written by the owner of webmasterworld - A successful sites in 12 months
I have visitors to my site - how do I turn this traffic into income?
This is the exciting bit.
- Sign up for Google Adsense or another advertising provider such as Yahoo Publisher Network
- Sign up for affiliate marketing schemes and promote products on your site and receive comissions.
For more information on these check out these links.
Webmasterworld / Google Adsense
Webmasterworld / Yahoo
Webmasterworld / Afffiliate Marketing
Sorry I have been lazy and not written more on the above but you will only find all you need on the links above and by doing web searches on these terms. There is only so much I can write on this site!!