The True Art of Website Building

The most asked question by my visitors is whether or not they need a website to make money online. Well, the short answer is no; you can still take advantage of PPC services like Adwords, for example, and send traffic directly to your merchant’s sales page without a website. But what we’re going to do now is reevaluate needing a website.

Websites are very helpful and can make you tons of money if done properly. So if someone were to ask that question again I would most likely say yes, you do need a website at some point to maximize your profits.

So lets get things started with…

Rule#1: Your website should be very helpful to your visitors.

The reason why this is my first rule is so that you can have the right frame of mind when building your site from the very start.

Your website should not be built because you want fast money; it should be a reliable source of information that will help people solve their problems. People can see when you are trying to pitch a sale to them or when you’re not being totally honest. When you rush to build a website, the quality will be significantly lower. Customers today are smarter than they ever were; so if you think you can fool them with a low quality website--with affiliate links and Adsense ads everywhere--you are only kidding yourself. If you gain your visitors trust, however, they will follow your recommendations because they trust you.

Please, no one page websites--those are usually short-lived. When building a website, remember to provide answers for your visitors problems.

Building quality content is must…

Obviously if you are going to build a website yourself, you are going to need tons of quality content. A great way to start off is to go to some article submission sites. You will have access to thousands of quality articles you can use for your website instantly (just be sure to always include the authors resource box).

Content will be the most important aspect of your website’s success; so you must make sure you get it right.

Rule #2: Use a reliable domain name and web host.

People obviously want to spend as little as possible; but if you get a website done using a free host, you can bet that people will know you are not that serious about your business. Not only will the quality be much lower than your competitors, free web hosts tend to be unreliable causing your website to suddenly crash; imagine losing all your work that took you a full year to build—it happens all the time and it has happened to me in the past; believe me, it is not a good feeling losing everything you worked so hard for.

Please do not make the fatal mistake of using a free hosts and free domains.

Rule #3: An eye-catching presentation.

Perception really is everything when it comes to websites. When visitors arrive at your site they will recognize your site’s design before anything else. You can have the greatest content in the world, but if your web layout and presentation are not easy on the eyes, all your visitors will press the back button immediately due to poor site design.

I will show you the keys to a fabulous presentation:

A) Consistent design from page to page. Customers like dealing with things that they are familiar with. So be very consistent with your page design, colors, style of writing, AdSense ad placement etc.

B) Please make sure your visitors can easily find what they’re looking for. Your navigation should be seamless and easy to use. Your Navigation Bar should be in the same place on all your pages. This may seem like a small point but it’s absolutely vital to your websites success… the last thing you will want to do is frustrate your visitors because they can’t find exactly what they are looking for.

I have seen my profits shoot through the roof simply by making everything super-easy to find.

Even though your content is what wins your visitors over in the end, do not neglect having a good presentation; it is the first thing your visitors will notice. What you want to do is make visitors want to stay… once that is done, then they can be “wowed” by your great content.

Rule #4: Connect with your visitors.

Visitors want to know who is behind the website. So you must have a way that they can contact you through email. Have a contact link where people can easily see it. When visitors know that there is actually someone working behind the scenes willing to answer questions, they will feel more comfortable with what you have to offer.

The benefits of email marketing…

Using your opt-in list is what we call email marketing. When people opt-in to your list they are actually giving you permission to send them emails. The great thing about this is that it’s very easy to set up and it’s highly effective. You should have a monthly newsletter that provides customers with free, yet valuable information. It is important you do not hard sell in your newsletter though; the main job of a newsletter is to get people to your site. A newsletter should address a problem by providing a solution.

A great way to get people to sign up/opt-in to your newsletter is to give something of value away for free. When visitors believe they are getting something of value, they will sign up to your newsletter to receive the free gift. Just make sure what ever you are giving away is of high quality.

Using autoresponders

Another great way for you to connect with your visitors is to use an autoresponder. When people fill out your autoresponder forms, they will automatically receive a series of emails containing your prewritten content (for example, you can have your autoresponder set up to automatically send out 1 email a day for 7 days to anyone who fills out the forms).

You should use autoresponders to send out a series of sequential emails that are packed with quality information. I found this to work very well with all of my websites (as long as you present high-value content to your visitors). Autoresponders are highly effective because the sequential emails constantly remind your visitors that your site exist.

You are not maximizing your profits until you have an autoresponder in full effect. Your opt-in list will have some of your most loyal customers. If making money online has been your goal, you should definitely give autoresponders a shot.

Rule #5: Traffic is your website’s lifeblood

You will need tons of traffic in order to make money with your website. But how does one go about getting traffic? Well, there are really only two ways to get traffic: SEO and PPC advertising.

Search engine optimization involves link exchanging, article submission, one-way back links, keyword density, submitting your site to major directories, 2nd tier directories, and niche hubs directories and so much more. Doing all of the aforementioned does take a lot of work, but the pay off is huge. After a while you will begin to see your site’s keywords in the top 10 for the major search engines. This free traffic will allow your site and business to flourish. The good news about free search engine traffic is that it can last for years and years.

The other way to get traffic to your site is by using pay-per-click advertising. Unlike SEO, this kind of traffic comes instantly. The moment you set up a campaign, traffic starts pouring in to your site, giving you scalable results right away. I recommend using Google Adwords to get started with PPC advertising. Adwords will quickly allows you to see what works and what doesn’t.

As effective as Adwords is, it still takes a little bit of figuring out. Many people lose money with PPC advertising because they simply don’t know what they are doing. What’s worst is that they give up after a while. Adwords is too good to pass up; please learn as much as you can before starting—it will make things much easier.