Should You Build Your own Website?
Should You Build Your own Website?
Should You Build Your own Website?
Over the past 10 years I have made 4 attempts at building my own website. The first 3 attempts failed miserably I couldn't handle HTML; I saved my work, then promptly lost it! Finally I couldn't successfully upload my finished masterpiece. I then attended an elementary website promotion course run by Business Link which gave me a good insight into keywords and phrases, search engines and how they crawl around websites assessing the quality of the content. I began to realise that the artistic side was only the beginning and that there is a complete science behind the scenes, if you really want your site to be visible.
Then in September 2010 - EUREKA! I have created something of which I am proud and is now visible.
www.somerset-warehouses.co.uk.
And how did this happen? Well, I GOOGLED "free website building" or a similar search phrase and found
www.wix.com. This seemed to be a very helpful and intuitive website giving an amazing amount of help and support for real amateurs like me. I soon found myself negotiating the templates with ease, formatting text, changing colours of backgrounds, adding animations, links to other sites and uploading pictures. Fortunately I had already made a good plan of what I wanted to achieve including the page layout, and I had some photographs ready to upload. Within 24 hours I had a working document, and it was FREE!
With this site my aim is simply to promote some premises we have available for rent. So a brief introduction of what we do on the HOME PAGE is followed by sub pages of property details and pictures. Then we have an ABOUT US PAGE which includes contact details. On here I have temporarily added some links to other sites, which I am working on becoming reciprocal. The final page is the CONTACT PAGE. This template is cleverly set up with a simple message box which links straight to my email address.
However, expense soon crept in as I then had to find a host for my site, and then of course make the whole thing visible to potential visitors by submitting the site to search engines. I also had not yet registered a domain name.
Wix helped with keywords and phrases which I was able to add to my site. They also offered an upgrade which I bought for hosting. Included in the package were vouchers for free domain name, and Google Adwords to help with promoting the site.
Because of the direct purpose of my site I wasn't selling products off it, nor was I advertising a business or service; I was seeking tenants for business premises in Somerset, so my audience was quite precise. I took quite a bit of time thinking about the search words and phrases. Indeed the website domain name was pretty precise too
www.somerset-warehouses.co.ukOnce that was all in place, using Google search again I soon found some free website analysis sites to help with optimising what I had created and fine-tuning the keywords and phrases. Google Adwords also helped with the choice of words and phrases. These phrases are linked to an advert you create with Google. When the advert is clicked on, it links straight to your site. A surfer enters one of your phrases to find the Google page where your ad appears, so again a very careful screening of the phrases is vital for good results to ensure you select popular phrases and words. This was not a cheap part of the operation, as each keyword or phrase you finally select is given a value, which is charged to your account whenever a surfer clicks on your link. Typical values are from 1.80 to 3 per click.
Beware of escalating costs, because what happens next is then down to you. Once your prospect has found your site, you need to either make a sale, or induce them to at least contact you via email or a phone call. If the surfer does not like what he/she sees, they disappear to the next search, leaving you out of pocket.
Google offer a good weekly report on Adword useage, so you can quickly see which words and phrases are used to find your site, and which are not used. It also gives a breakdown of how your investment has been spent. I am not sure that this has been the best part of my investment so far.
My next steps are to add pages to the website. One for ARTICLES, and another dedicated to mutual LINKS.
I am already working on two other websites, one for my wife who is a Reiki Master, and another for the manufacture and sale of portable pet housing.
Wix is a pretty comprehensive tool, with a wide range of free templates. The formatting is easy, and by also offering e-commerce, numerous animations and special effects, most of which I still have to explore, I will be making good use of this very creative site.
So my answer to the question "Should you build your own website?" is yes have a go!
Anthony Bucke
Should You Build Your own Website?
By: Anthony Bucke
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