Starting a successful website is a multifaceted challenge. Think of it this way: the Internet is a book with several million pages. Some of those pages (Google) are cardboard and preternaturally thick and the book seems to open right to them. Some of those pages have those little post-it sticky notes on them and some of them are so thin they stick to their neighbors– readers can’t find them unless they know the page number. Once you get your website up and running, there are several things you can do to make your pages stand out.

Pay Attention to Every Page

Each page of your website is valuable. The more pages you have (provided those pages have real, useful content) the better your site will be ranked. The more information you provide, the more search terms you organically introduce to your site. Remember to create a site map that outlines all of your pages with links. These links will facilitate crawling (more on crawling below).

Use Robots.txt Files

Using the Robot.txt file in the appropriate locations tells search engine bots which pages they should crawl and which they can safely ignore.

Build Incoming Links

Incoming links are critical: they demonstrate to the search engines that your site is part of a larger network of sites. The bigger and better the sites that link to you, the better your indexing will be. Try to build incoming links to multiple pages in your site, not just your front page. This will create the dynamic 3-dimensional link structure that search engines love. Be careful to avoid external sites that have poor reputations. Search engines penalize these sites and they’ll penalize you by association.

Monitor Your Site

Keep tabs on how well your site is indexed over time. As you make changes to your content or site structure, you will see what works and what doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to try new tricks! Read tutorials and implement what you learn. Building a good ranking takes a lot of work and time. Don’t give up!

Content Rules!

It’s important to be consistent about adding new, quality content to your site. The more often you update your content, the better. Make sure it’s actually legitimate, useful content though. Search engines are getting better and better at identifying fake content designed solely for the purpose of improving rankings. One way to avoid trouble is to monitor your use of keywords. Make sure you only use a few keywords for each 500 words.

Quality Metadata

Good content shouldn’t be limited to your visible pages. Make sure your metadata is well-written too.

Be Patient

There is often a time delay between page updates and search engine indexing. Don’t despair if you don’t see an improvement in your ranking immediately after making updates. It’s also the case that the longer your site is up and active, the better it looks to the search engines. So keep working at it and, over time, your rating will improve.

If you check out basically any technology-related website this week (and many non tech-related sites as well) you will find information relating to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property, Protect IP Act (PIPA).  This proposed legislation (which has, for now, been avoided) would not only halt online piracy, it would take away a whole lot of online freedom too.

Sure, I believe that protecting intellectual property is important. Many artists, entertainers and the companies that employ them don’t want consumers getting their products for free. This is understandable. We all need to make a living. But we can’t protect intellectual property on the Internet by universally censoring content. Before I go any further, let’s explore what PIPA and SOPA really are.

PIPA

PIPA was first introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy, Orrin Hatch, and Chuck Grassley. PIPA would give the government and U.S. corporations the right to seek legal action with any website they determine has allowed copyright infringement. This extremely loosely-defined legislation could potentially:

– Force Internet providers to block websites on their networks.
– Force advertisers on “infringing” websites to pull their ads.
– Seek legal action by suing blogs, search engines, directories or any other site on the internet.

Goodbye, User-Generated Content

PIPA would create a perilous online climate for any website. It would encourage harsh restrictions on user content, effectively censoring any type of user-generated participation. This means user-generated writing, videos, audio files… ANYTHING. The fact is, user-generated content is a huge part of what makes the Internet so rich. If PIPA passes, we will lose our free forum. This will have wide-reaching implications for social behaviors and social control.

SOPA

SOPA would work in conjunction with PIPA. It would allow:

– The U.S. Attorney General to seek court orders to force search engines, DNS providers, advertisers and more to sever contact with any “offending” websites or content.
– Private corporations to create their own hit lists of websites they feel are breaking their copyright policies, for ANY REASON. Read: legal mafia. The companies would be able to contact a website’s provider directly to sever service within five days.

Sayonara, Innovation

Not only would these bills severely restrict user-generated content, they would stifle innovation. Developers aren’t going to experiment with new ways of distributing content if they are constantly under threat of take-down. Think about the big sites we all use today: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, DropBox… none of these would have made it a week under PIPA and SOPA.

Ridiculous Consequences

Imagine this scenario: a child makes a video of herself singing a popular song and posts it to the Internet. That child could be responsible for the blackout of YouTube. That child and her family could face legal action. They could face fines in the millions! Is this the kind of Internet we want?

Sometimes one of the hardest things about marketing is asking the right questions. You may look at your marketing materials and think they’re great, but are you thinking about them from your perspective or the perspective of your clients? Removing yourself and your perspective from the equation is an important step. Before you can think like a client, you have to stop thinking like a business owner (unless of course your clients are business owners themselves). Below are a few questions that any business owner can ask herself to improve and build on her marketing strategy.

What is the Real Long-Term Value of Each Good Client?

One client may not seem like much, but in the long-term a good consistent client can make or break a company. Okay, so maybe that’s a little much. But if you think of every client as a critical part of your business, you set yourself up to treat each of them with respect. The better you treat each client, the better your business will be.

Who Do You Want to Attract?

Good marketing starts with good targeting. Consider the ideal customer. Maybe this is someone who doesn’t need a lot of extra support. Maybe this is someone who raises the profile of your business or who is tied into the business community and gives you great word-of-mouth. Whoever your perfect or ideal customer is, target your marketing materials at that person directly. It may seem somewhat short-sighted, after all there are a lot of people out there who may benefit from your products or services, but if you are aiming your message at the people you want most to attract, chances are good you’ll attract those people. If your perfect clients start arriving, they’ll bring more perfect clients with them. This is the type of equation where quality truly is better than quantity.

What Do You Really Sell?

Sure, you may think you sell eyeglasses or security systems, but chances are what you’re really selling is something less tangible than that. Maybe it’s peace-of-mind, a competitive edge or a style statement. Getting to the bottom of what your clients are looking for will help you figure out how best to present whatever it is you’re selling. Market to the demographic and your sales numbers will improve.

Of course, this is just a beginning. But if you start really asking yourself the hard questions about what you’re doing, why, and for whom, you’ll be amazed at how much clearer your thinking becomes.

One of the most common questions we get from new business owners is whether it is best to host their blog on their own site or on a blog hosting site like WordPress. We typically recommend that business owners host their own blogs, since the cost is low and control is entirely in the hands of the author. However, there are some instances when hosting on a free blogging site makes sense.

When Free is Right

If your budget is tight and you are worried about the learning curve, utilizing a free blogging service may be the right choice for you. WordPress and Blogger are two free hosting services you may consider. Of course, the downside of free hosting is the lack of control. Not only are you stuck with the non-customizable URL, you don’t have complete control of your own content. For a business, having control and security are essential. More on this below.

What’s the Deal with WordPress

As a platform, wordpress has many advantages. It’s customizable, easy to navigate, and has a large community of people sharing tips, troubleshooting tricks and free templates. The problem with hosting a WordPress site on their free service is that they can enforce their “non-commercial-use” policy at a moment’s notice. This means if you use your blog to advertise your own products or include affiliate links, you run the risk of losing your content. The good news is that WordPress is available for free to host on your own site. This means you can take advantage of all the perks of a WordPress site without worrying about the WordPress police. You’ll need your own hosting account for this, but you can often include a WordPress blog on your existing hosting plan. We offer this here at TurnKey.

What is Your Existing Web Presence?

Do you already have a business website? Do you have a presence on the social networks? If your business is already somewhat established online, it’s probably best to host your blog on your own website. The main reason for this is your URL. When you host on your own site, your blog shares the same URL as the rest of your website. This is good for branding and it keeps customers from getting confused. It also means that your blog’s content will help your entire site’s SEO profile. The search engines will index your blog posts as new content, and this will make your site pop up higher in search results.

Do You Already Have Hosting?

If you already have hosting for your website, chances are good you’ll be able to add a blogging platform at no extra charge. If you have a bare-bones hosting plan, you may need to upgrade, but the cost will only increase by a few dollars a month.

Worried About the Learning Curve?

Don’t be. Not only are these platforms designed to be user-friendly, many hosts offer one-click installation. This means you don’t have to know anything at all about how the technology works to start using it.

Learn More

We offer hosting plans specifically tailored to the blogger. If you’re feeling nervous about setting up your first blog, this is a great place to start.
http://www.turnkeyinternet.net/blog-hosting/