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How To Boost Your Chances At Having A Successful Web Site Part 2
By Robin Nobles
Expert Author
Article Date: 2003-08-26
(Continued from Part 1)
Purchase your own domain name (Continued) --
Did you know that you can purchase a domain name for $21.95 a YEAR?? That's it! From there, you'll want to use a professional hosting company, which will provide an address for your Web site.
Combustion Hosting will be glad to take care of purchasing your domain name for you, moving your "old" Web site to their location, and hosting the site for you. Their rates to "host" (which means to provide an address for your site) your domain begin at only $15.49 a month, which is an excellent price. http://www.combustionhosting.com/moreinfo
Naming your domain
Most businesses want to name their domain after the name of their company, which is understandable. However, if you can name your domain using keywords that people might be searching for when looking for the products or services you provide, you're giving your site a small edge with the search engines.
For example, if the name of your company is Simply Southern, and if you purchase the domain name simplysouthern.com, you're not using any keywords in that domain name, and someone seeing that domain name will have no idea what your site is about.
So, why not purchase simply-southern-catering.com, which will give the engines (and your visitors) a keyword phrase that describes your site: catering.
Your e-mail address --
When you set up your own domain name, be sure to use that domain name in your e-mail address, such as:
Robin@searchengineworkshops.com
Again, this adds a level of professionalism to your business. In my case, I have an e-mail address through my local ISP, which is how I access the Internet. I use a nickname in that e-mail address. Therefore, rather than use that e-mail address, it would be better for me to use the above e-mail address that's connected to my domain name and online business.
Professional image
When you have a Web site, you want to portray a professional image. You want your visitors comfortable enough with your online business to purchase whatever it is you're selling.
So, don't let your 12-year old nephew design your Web site with cutesy graphics of cartoon characters. Instead, have it designed by a professional. To save money on Web design, you can always have the designer create the main page of your site and maybe one or two interior pages, and then develop a "template" for you. Templates are "skeleton" Web pages containing just the basic design, and you can then cut and paste the rest of your pages into the template and finish up the site yourself, if you're comfortable with working on your own site.
(Continued in Part 3)
About the Author:
Robin Nobles conducts live SEO workshops
(http://www.searchengineworkshops.com) in locations across North
America. She also teaches online SEO training
(http://www.onlinewebtraining.com). Localized SEO training is now
being offered through the Search Engine Academy.
(http://www.searchengineacademy.com) Sign up for SEO tips of the
day at mailto:seo-tip@aweber.com.
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