BUILDING A WEBSITE

7 Big Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Website...

The initial year of any business is probably the most dangerous, online or off. Mistakes made at the beginning of the process often hurt future potential. And mistakes made while performing important tasks often become habits.

Despite our best possible efforts to let people be aware of secrets of a how to build a successful website, not all of them do! To find out what happened, we did a detailed research of those sites that close down after their first year in operation.

What if I told you the most common causes of failure? Then all you'd need to do is avoid those mistakes along with your chances for your on-line success go a long way!

Mistake 1: Inadequate Commitment towards Building the New Website

The #1 factor is so big that I'm calling it out first...

Success starts with the correct business mindset... a commitment to build an on-line business.

There can be 100 different reasons for that commitment, but it absolutely does need to be there. Business-building involves some sacrifice. If you're not committed, you won't last...(period).

So many folks start as "let’s try it out type". They may even start with real excitement and enthusiasm, even determination "this time." But if that good mental energy is not rooted in the good soil of a business mindset, it will wilt under the first little drought.

So many folks just don't put in the work. Of those who do not remain on-line after 1 year!, 43% do not.
Remember why you wanted to build a website!. You wanted to grow your own income by building a business. That, presumably, will have a positive impact on your life, the ultimate goal. Whether you "only" want to add $500 per month to the family income or you want to grow a 6-figure income and quit your day job...

It can't happen without work. True business is NOT GetRichQuick. Focus all of your energies on succeeding instead of focusing on distractions. That lets you get down to work and execution.

The rest of this article assumes that you are committed to building an on-line business through your website. If you're not, you know what you need to do.

OK, that already removes 43%. What about the other 57%? If you avoid these mistakes, if you get the following points right, you'll be well on your way to having an on-line e-commerce success on your hands!

Sites that "failed at one year" did indeed show us 7 big (and common) mistakes. Read them carefully and weigh them against your efforts. Avoid these mistakes and give yourself a much greater opportunity to reach your traffic and e-business goals.

To summarize... Success Factor #1: Be committed to your website building and on-line business.

Mistake 2: Poor Niche and Keyword Research While Starting the Website

One of the most common mistakes of those sites that don't make it over the hump is poor keyword research. Many people frequently use very GENERAL keywords for their pages. We look at their home page, TIER 2s and a few TIER 3s, and it's obvious. We confirm by checking their Master Keyword Lists. They simply go "too broad."

If you "write broad" all day long, it's simply going too long. If you think this might be your problem, just narrow your niche using our multi dimensional keyword research formula.

Pay special attention to the guidelines of what constitutes "too broad." Follow the strategies for narrowing your niche. Reposition and rework your site's tighter theme over a period of time and watch traffic begin to grow.

Remember... it's best practice to write a keyword-focused content page (KFCP) centered around a keyword that is both profitable, has reasonable demand and is winnable (too broad is not winnable).

Review our multi-dimensional keyword research technique closely and tighten your niche.

To summarize... Success Factor #2: Choose the right keywords.

Mistake 3: Not Enough Quality Content for Your Website

Some beginners are overwhelmed when starting a website!. There's a lot -- it's an e-MBA in a box. So we have one piece of advice and one rule...

Overwhelmed? You don't have to do it all today. That is why most people feel overwhelmed. We all want to somehow get it all done... today. Not possible. Relax. Go step by step. You'll be amazed at how far you go.

Still overwhelmed? Do only one thing today. Create one good page of content. You can get so caught up in everything else that you either don't get around to building Web pages or you put it off.

Don't. Not sure what to do next? Just write a good Web page.

Now that you are building plenty of pages, let's talk about the other "not enough content" boo-boo....

There is not enough content on the pages that are on the site. Short pages don't cut it with Google. And they don't engage your visitor.

Think of each KFCP that you write as a ticket into the Google lottery. Each page gives you the opportunity to "win the big one" for a highly in-demand keyword. Keep writing and building, page after page, until you hit upon a few golden nuggets that propel your success.

Don't skimp and don't pad. Write enough to cover each topic well. That's it. Simple. :-)

There's another great benefit to building more KFCPs, and that's longtail traffic. You'll slowly build longtail traffic with the more pages you write. Successful SBIers have grown this type of traffic to where tens of visitors become hundreds, then hundreds of visitors become thousands! You can do the same.

Get in the mindset that you are adding great value to the Web, with each and every page you write, as this TNT Adding Value article points out.

Create this value by delivering great content, and enough of it, both in terms of number of pages and page length.

Read here how to Build Up Authority Status Through Content

To summarize... Success Factor #3: Create compelling content.

Mistake 4: Failing To Analyze On-Page Optimization!

One of the truly great training features in our website is analyzing the on-page optimization!.

Looking at sites that fail to make it over the hump, it's easy to tell that many have completely neglected to use to Analyze It! at all. And I do mean "completely." If they only knew what an incredible advantage it is to use this tool.

A few of the more common, important mistakes that we see from not analyzing your web page for Son-page optimization for search engines!...

1) Not having your Specific Keyword in the page title (BIG mistake!).

2) Not having your Specific Keyword in a text link.

3) Not having your Specific Keyword in the first headline.

We see a bunch of others, but frankly... you don't have to get all perfect (and that's because off-page stuff, like inbound links to your site, are getting more and more important -- we'll talk about that one in #6).

Please... use it. The beauty is this... if you use it religiously for 10 pages, you will be trained. You can forget all about it after that and get it mostly right "by accident."

Of course, the really conscientious test every page and that's great.

The ACTION STEP? Pretty simple...

Make sure you do the on-page analysis button before uploading your pages on-line. Read what it says and see if you can tweak your page so that it "passes."

To summarize... Success Factor #4: Your Keyword-Focused Content Pages MUST Analyze It!.

Mistake 5: An "Un-Sticky" Home Page

If you check out your Traffic Stats with Google Analytics, it's a near-certainty that your home page is one of the most highly visited pages on your site (often the highest).

Visitors come to your site via the Search Engines (mostly, if you're doing the process right) and other methods, landing on a number of different pages. Your home page is the page they most likely visit first (i.e., it's the #1 landing page). And even if they land on another page, there's a good chance they'll click on "Home" to see what you're all about.

It's during this crucial moment where you can either turn this visitor into a frequent visitor (an RSS or e-zine subscriber)... or into someone who clicks the BACK button, never to visit again.

Webmasters who fail often don't seem to put a lot of OOMPH into the home page. But this is where you establish your voice and value proposition. And if you don't know what that means, take this action...

Invest a lot of time and energy getting your home page "just right." Always think of it as a work in progress. Strive to make it a masterpiece, by going back to it every 1-2 months and finding ways you can improve it.
If you don't establish yourself on your home page, there's no reason to assume that the rest of your site is going to deliver.

Did we say that we can help you in this? If you need a great intro video for your website home page we can help you. I can't stress how important video is to spell out your value proposition to your visitors in the split second.

To summarize... Success Factor #5: Set yourself apart from the crowd. Use your unique voice to capture your visitors' minds, imaginations, and hearts.

Mistake 6: No Or Sub-optimal Internal Linking

Some Webmasters either miss the importance of internal linking and don't do it or they do it sub-optimally.
The ACTION STEP? Make it easy for both your human visitors and Search Engine spiders to explore your site. And by also including the Specific Keyword and/or Site Concept in an internal text link, you gain additional Search Engine ranking points for meeting "on-page" criteria.

Linking back up your site pyramid provides extra value to your visitors and the Search Engines, while reinforcing the unified theme-based nature of your site.

To summarize... Success Factor #6: Optimize your site's internal linking. Use the appropriate keywords in your text links when linking back up from TIER 2 and TIER 3 pages.

Mistake 7: Little or No External Link-Building

This is "last but not least." It's the most "advanced" reason to fail. It's also something that many people don't like doing. But... it is so important.

In the early stages of your site, it's crucial that you get "on the radar" with Search Engines by manually going out and getting inbound links. Search Engines place significant importance on links from other sites to yours.
It demonstrates "credibility" (AKA "authority" to the engines).

When you are in the early stages, your Web site needs a helping hand to build that credibility. Let's see how you stack up with off-page search engine optimization..

Assign yourself a weekly task to read 1-2 of these articles and implement the strategy.

Think "quality" over "quantity" when obtaining links. Before you know it, you'll have so much credibility with the engines, your rankings will mysteriously start going up, the way a tide rises a boat.

To summarize... Success Factor #7: Get inbound links to your site (i.e., external links to your pages).

Refresh your memory by reading DAY 7 of the Action Guide.

Wish you for all the success in building your website