Providing Creative Alternatives

Make a Web Site: How and Why

Do you want to make a web site but don't know how? This page and the related ones on affiliate web sites, search engine optimization, web site software and Google Adwords, offer you an overview of what I've learned in making web sites since 1998.

Now there is a new quick and easy way to put up a website: a number of places are offering online website creation. See my page at googlepages for one example. Another example is my website on custom postage, which is created with the blogging software called Wordpress, and I am running a program on top of Wordpress which makes the site more attractive.

But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here... more background below!

I love the internet and web site creation. Not only am I making money from anyplace I can go online, there are excellent income opportunities to people who may have young children who need a lot of their time, live in a third world country or anywhere that good jobs are scarce, have health problems, or simply think -- as I do -- that this is one of the most interesting and enjoyable jobs I could have! And I'm self-employed, so I set my own hours!

Anyone who can read and write can make a web site. But if you want to make a web site that is of value to your readers and helps you with making money, I do think you have to have:

• a willingness to take care of details -- seemingly endless and often frustrating details

• a good bit of patience about how long it will take you to make a web site that earns well

• the ability to write and spell reasonably clearly in English or another major international language

• a computer and internet connection, even if slow... or lots of access to a computer connected to the internet, through a library, school, friend, or job

What's Your Purpose?

Why do you want to make a website? There are many reasons, and it's good to define yours. Do you want to sell a product, promote a cause, make money? Whatever topic you are interested in, the internet can, over time, bring you thousands of others who share the interest.

For example, my father was a science fiction writer who died some years ago. My website, www.cordwainer-smith.com, was one of my first sites and was really a labor of love more than a moneymaker. I have have been astonished and moved to learn how much my father's writings mean to people all over the world.

That website and most of our others are examples of niche websites. (This site you are at, hartworks.com is a much looser site, consisting of all our publications that didn't get their own sites, plus internet marketing information like this page.)

"I am impressed by your site. The navigation is very intuitive, and the information is helpful, clear and professional, with a lot of respect to your reader... I want to build my own Web-based business, as well as streams of passive revenue from the Internet. Your site is like a bible for me. Thank you for a great job and a fine collegiate spirit."
--Elga Nikolova, Toronto, Canada, www.pnphotography.com

Getting that email made my day!

If you're selling products, don't overlook eBay

If you already have products, selling them through your own website is one way to go. We have also sold a number of our books and videos on eBay. We find that since far more people go to eBay than to our websites (to put it mildly) that some things sell better there than they do from the web sites. Plus once people have bought something from us at eBay, I let them know about the web sites in my email telling them we are shipping the products, so sometimes they go to the sites for further purchases.

I was surprised that we did so well on eBay, and I think one reason is that when people go there, they may be slightly more in a shopping mood, where when they are surfing the net, they may be more in an information-gathering mood.

If you don't already have an eBay account, or if you want a separate one for your business, it's a good idea to get the account a while before you need it, as the little icon eBay uses to indicate you are a newbie will disappear after 30 days.

Does your web site need a domain name?

Yes.

Your own domain name gives your site a professionalism that you can get no other way -- as well as being easier to remember than a long address from a free server. (Also be aware that the search engines do not always list content from free servers).

You may have heard that all the good names are taken. Not so. I have never had any trouble coming with with several ideas for names for any website idea I have had. Often the most obvious names are taken, but that just makes me think harder. Nowadays, you are likely to need to combine three words rather than two.

I like descriptive, clear names -- some of our site names are llamas-information.com, greenhomebuilding.com, and training-dogs.com -- but we also have sites where the name does not tell you what the topic is, like this site, hartworks.com, or one of my husband's, sunvee.com.

In many cases, we register two versions of the name, for example, our llamas site is llamas-information.com, but we also register llamasinformation.com and point it to the name with the hyphen. I like to register both names because if I have a good site with the name one way, I don't want someone else to come along and create a competing site with the name the other way.

Be sure to choose a name that is easy to spell.

Registering your domain name

You can do a search on Google to find the cheapest rates for domain registrations. Kelly and I are plenty frugal, but we prefer to use a company which has good (but not rock-bottom) prices plus an excellent reputation for customer service. They also offer free webhosting and a very inexpensive bannerless hosting program, $15 per YEAR at this writing. (Most free hosting uses advertising banners, which do not give your site a professional look. The bannerless option would be a good way to go.)

One company we use is Directnic for our domain registrations: Their registration price is US$15 a domain per year. It used to be that domain names had to be registered for a minimum of two years, but that isn't the case any more. Directnic offers free services to customers, such as URL forwarding, email forwarding, Web hosting, for sale pages, a good domain management toolbar, and free domain parking. (I use the URL forwarding, for example, to point llamasinformation.com to llamas-information.com.)

If you click on Directnic above, you can check out any domain name ideas you have.

I have lately also been using godaddy.com, which costs less per domain.

Where to host your web site?

We use pair networks, and have been very happy with them. There has been virtually no downtime, and they answer emails promptly. The only problem I have ever had with them is that sometimes when I ask tech support something, they reply in a way that is over my head technically. Since I started saying in my initial email query that I am not very technical, they have answered me in words that I can understand! Still, I think if you are technophobic at all, you might do better elsewhere.

There are sites that compare hosting plans: Hostcompare and Hostreview are two such sites.

Make a web site that is well designed

Here are a few tips for good web site design:

• Web surfers want quick-loading, information-filled pages. So forget Flash and "cool" effects.

• Provide lots of text. Any images that you use should be pretty quick to load.

• White text on a black background is often extremely hard to read. The most readable is black text on a white background.

• Don't run your text from one side of the page to the other... use a table to run it down the middle... or set your margins.... or use CSS, cascading style sheets.

• Create an easy to use menu. If you use Javascript for your menus (which I do, here on hartworks.com), be sure to also include a Site Map, for the search engines and folks whose browsers don't have Javascript enabled.

Here's a forum where people can help you make a web site that is well designed.

To find out how to create the actual pages of a web site, go to my web site software page.

Using Google Adsense on Your Page

One good way to make some money from your websites is to place Google ads on the pages. When someone clicks on an ad, you receive a portion of what the advertiser pays Google. Google's software is generally very good at providing ads that are relevant to the topic of the page, especially when the page is on one topic!

Sometimes a page will show a "public service announcement" instead of ads. You don't make anything if someone clicks on a PSA. This generally works itself out after a while, but there is also a way you can tell Google to show something else when their ads aren't available. I haven't done this, as I don't mind being a resource for public service now and then.

Find out more from Google about the program, what you need to apply, etc. here. Do read their information closely, as there are some important guidelines. One thing I like is that once you have been accepted for one website, you can add others without waiting for approval.

I also like the "channels" feature, which you can set up to compare different websites ore specific pages of yours (that's how I use it), different types of ads, etc., for how you are doing.

You can put the ads wherever you want to on your page. I've read comments online that you get a better response rate if you put your ad in the flow of text. That isn't what I did on this website, and I haven't bothered to change it, but I am doing it now on my new sites.

Adsense is highly recommended!

And here's an ebook on Adsense: using Adwords to make money on your site

The Definitive Guide to Googe Adsense is by William Charlwood, an internet marketing consultant based in the UK. He writes in a clear and readable manner, and explains a lot of the ins and outs of using this very worthwhile program.

Why Linking Matters

Linking is the very essence of the internet! By linking to other sites, and by being linked to, you establish a presence. Nobody knows exactly how any given search engine ranks web pages, but linking is clearly an important part of things.

This does not mean go out and put your links on "link farms," those pages of endless links to all kinds of junk. But do find places to link to you.

I used to do a fair amount of asking other websites for reciprocal links, but now the search engines are not giving these you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours links nearly as much weight as they used to.

Now, I write articles that I post at places like ezinearticles.com. Other webmasters can use them provided they keep my links intact, which gives me another link, and in any case I get an inbound link from the place I post the article.