Advise Needed on Getting a Domain Name and Were to go to get a Website done?

bridgemedia.ie good compny , makes off wiccle.com

jurdy

Hi,

If you want a really good website for free that you can build yourself in half a day and have no web design skills goto jimdo.com

I stumbled on this on saturday and cant beleive its free. the only thing you pay for is the domain name ?60 and you dont have to pay that unless you upgrade.

I cant recommend them enough.

if you want a look at mine: www.brotherstextiles.jimdo.com

like I say done in a couple of hours and all free

> I need Advice I would like to know were I can go to get a cheap Domain Name and Were to go to get a Website done?

Anyone?


The free website is fine, but not if you want to appear professional.

You can be in business for 30 yrs and the moment you put up a website that doesn't look as good as your competitors or doesn't appear profesionally done, your competitors will take your potential business. Eight out of every ten people would choose a more professional website to do business with as opposed to a website that doesn't look professionally done.

The psychology behind it is: Businesses that are respectable and are doing well invest in their image.

Imagine if ZARA used a free online service- www.zara.freewebsties.com. What would that do to their image?

Conversely, if you are a one man show, you can appear as if you are a company with 300 employees is you have a professionally done website.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.

For domain names:
I use GoDaddy.com. I have about 70 domains hosted there, but at one point I have had over 300 domains with them. They are under $10/yr. (US Dollars).

After you buy a domain, you must look into hosting. If a domain name is a "house" then "hosting" is the land or property where you will build that house.

Some other things you will need:

- a logo
- content. Good content is key
- a contact form for people to fill out and get a hold of you (this way you don't publicize your personal info)
- images (that will give you a professional appearance and not appear that you are operating out of your apt)

What kind of website are you looking to build? Do you want to blog or run a message board such as these forums?

I build websites and have been doing so for about 10 yrs. I also specialize in online marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) which means that I get your site to come up when someone is searching for you on Google and Yahoo.

You don't have to optimize your site, but it's worth the extra money if you want long term business. Just keep in mind that building a website won't mean that it will be found on search engines like Google and Yahoo.

You can see some of my basic services listed here- (edited- send me a private message for services). If you're on a specific budget, let me know and I'll see if I can work with it.

I just moved out to Las Rozas in April, from Los Angeles so if you're in Madrid, I can even meet up with you to go over any project details.

Send me a PM if you have any questions.

Good luck!

well what with you buying all those domain names and having so much to lose its probably natural that you will come on here telling us you are all this and that.

Personally I dont care what you have got or what you think to mine or anyone elses site, besides who cares this guy might just want a prescence on the web and not want to spend a fortune.

There are plenty of people who use the site and for your misguided information the company in question are quite willing for you to use your own domain name.

Sorry but I dont see your point.

Other than trying to create yourself some business. Hold on what was that to look professional you have to go trawling around forums looking for work

I pity you

Thanks

Ive just had a look at yours and dont rate it either!

> well what with you buying all those domain names and having so much to lose its probably natural that you will come on here telling us you are all this and that.

Personally I dont care what you have got or what you think to mine or anyone elses site, besides who cares this guy might just want a prescence on the web and not want to spend a fortune.

There are plenty of people who use the site and for your misguided information the company in question are quite willing for you to use your own domain name.

Sorry but I dont see your point.



Wow! Someone is bitttttter. Must be because you paid ?60 for a domain name. What you don't understand is that you still paid for your website and hosting by paying the exorbitant amount of ?60 for the domain name. They just found a clever way to take the same money by "bundling" it with the "FREE" service.

By the way, I wasn't attacking you so sorry if you felt offended by my original post. I was trying to prove a point for people who want to build an online presence, you'll be better served doing it right from the beginning.

I saw your website and in your About Us page you say-
> The leading retailer of work wear and associated apparel. Based in the Nottingham we have now been successfully trading for over 3 years.


Now, if you are the "leading retailer" then why are you so cheap to look for a "free web service" to represent you?

Web presence still implies "professional look." If you don't understand that, then you will never succeed online.

I'm sorry for you, that you don't see my point. Obviously, you don't believe that presentation is important in the business world.

Honestly, would you buy something online with your credit card from a website that doesn't look professional? Answer that honestly and you will see my point.

Maybe you can see my point here.

Both of these websites offer the same brands and they are both operating out of the UK.
Both of these sites may have one employee or 100 employees. Visitors to the site will never know. But what we do know is that one of them invested in their online image, which builds trust and credibility, and has a solid online presence.

The other one, did not.

Which one would you trust and buy from?

http://www.jklclothing.co.uk

or

http://brotherstextiles.jimdo.com (yours)



Do you see my point now?

This article will help you (don't worry, I didn't write it so you can let your guard down and actually learn something)
http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/06/site-trust-indicators.html


Hopefully, this thread will be helpful to all those looking to start an online venture.



> Other than trying to create yourself some business. Hold on what was that to look professional you have to go trawling around forums looking for work


Must be the same thing you did when you posted your link, in that sly and subtle way...

> Ive just had a look at yours and dont rate it either!



That was something that I put up for friends who constantly ask me what my prices were and what services I offered before I moved to Madrid. A way for their referrals to contact me.



Here's one that I just did- (edited- send me a private message for services).



=)

Hiya!!

As a newcomer to this forum, I was reading your entries about websites and design. I have to say that I have been looking around for ideas as am about to launch my own business.

After reading all the entries, I agree with both of you. Yes a website does need to look clean and professional, because at the end of the day it is a worldwide portal to your success.

However, a lot of smaller businesses do not have the funding to set up a "professional" website, nor do they know where to look to get said website for a realistic price, particularly if computer jargon baffles them!!

At the end of the day, smaller businesses can build up to professional websites should they be successful. My belief is that after spending many hours of internet shopping, providing that the site is clean, not too busy and easy to navigate round and has the best prices, then it gets my vote.

As for security on the internet with your card, that doesn't mean anything nowadays as it is so easy for hackers to get the info no matter how professional you are ( look at the banks for example and the problems they have encountered!)

Anyway, time for me to down off the soapbox and give someone else a shot!!

xxx

>
However, a lot of smaller businesses do not have the funding to set up a "professional" website, nor do they know where to look to get said website for a realistic price, particularly if computer jargon baffles them!!



The funding is all relative to whoever is buying the website. For example, if you can have a professionally built website for under 1,000 Euros and your online representation looks professional from the get go, then to me that is a very small price to pay to build my brand.

It's not really what I would call "funding." I can understand though that 1,000 Euros is not in everyones budget, but maybe 500 euros is? You can fund that with a credit card or a loan from mom or dad! If 500 Euros got you a well built professional site with less pages, then you're still off to a good start and can build up from there.

I guess it all depends on the person looking to start their online business and how professional they want to appear.



>
At the end of the day, smaller businesses can build up to professional websites should they be successful.



Or, they can build a professional website from the beginning and implement an effective marketing strategy and ensure their success...from the beginning.

That's the beauty of the net. Unlike putting up a brick and mortar store, coffee shop, restaurant, etc...You can be profitable with an online business very very quickly.



>
My belief is that after spending many hours of internet shopping, providing that the site is clean, not too busy and easy to navigate round and has the best prices, then it gets my vote.


I couldn't agree with you more. Professionally built websites come with all of those things because they are the building blocks to a solid foundation online.



>
As for security on the internet with your card, that doesn't mean anything nowadays as it is so easy for hackers to get the info no matter how professional you are ( look at the banks for example and the problems they have encountered!)



This is absolutely true. Dang hackers!

When I said this- "Honestly, would you buy something online with your credit card from a website that doesn?t look professional? Answer that honestly and you will see my point."

I was referring to the psychology of an online buyer/shopper. They are more likely to purchase from a well designed website that they trust and they perceive to be credible.

Online, you build credibility and trust through your website design. It is the clients first impression of you/your business. The thinking is "If you care enough to invest in a nice professional site, then you care about your customers experience (which includes customer service)."


Web Design (item #3) http://www.marketingsphere.com/marketing-articles/build-trust.html
Building trust with site design- http://www.improvetheweb.com/trust-as-the-most-important-online-value


Good luck with your business!

This is what I like! An interesting and informative posting; likewise the replies. I can see each poster's point. Broadly speaking I am with Lola on this one. It is horses for courses.
The IMAGE thing IS important. Would you want to see a medico or let a bloke tighten your wheel-nuts if their grammar and syntax was no better than that of your average eleven-year old kid? I look through websites and often cringe at the poor English language content. This fatal flaw is not confined to cheap websites either: The effect is the same; it destroys the confidence of browsers; deters potential clients.
I checked out about 100 websites. These were mostly British but many were those of Spanish companies targeting the English-speaking communities. The copy content of about 90% (no kidding) was littered with appalling spelling and grammatical errors. One was a TV production company. In one paragraph alone there were about five schoolboy howlers. Believe was beleive. Coastal was costal, etc.
I have (at a modest fee) tidied many up. As a consequence the content of those websites now appears as professional as the websites themselves. I have given each the essential makeover necessary to give them credibility. By the way: Don't blame the web designer. His or her job is to create the website. It is unfair to expect them to tidy up your lousy copy to journalist standards. Get it checked and fix it first.

See what I mean? Coincidentally I went from here to a 'Spain Information' website, which is part of a newspaper group! In the following introductory paragraph alone I counted at least five spelling or grammatical errors. Sloppiness comes to mind. Who could take them seriously?

The Orihuela Costa is the costal area of Orihuela on the Costa Blanca in South East Spain. Orihuela is an historic and exceptionally picturesque city situated approx. 20 kilometres inland of the Orihuela Costa.
The Orihuela Costa lies on the most Southern point of the Costa Blanca and comprises of roughly 16 km of fine powder-sand beaches, rocky coves and sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean, stretching from Punta Prima (just south of Torrevieja), Playa Flamenca, La Zenia, Cabo Roig, Villamartin, Campoamor and Mil Palmeras

I use Microsoft Office Live for Small Business.

You can import a domain name or register one for free for 2 yrs then ?10.99 a year after.

I bought my www.Businessname.co.uk for ?6.49, imported it to the site and use there templates etc.

Its easy to do and design anybody can do it and many so called consultant web designers do it without any formal training or ability.

All you do is either copy templates/layouts from other sites and use nice colours, test it with people you no and away you go.

A friend of mine paid 500 Euros for his, gutted, his site is crap and unproffessional, but the consultant consulted so much with him that it was the clients ultimate design agreement and not the consultants, aparantly thats how they get around it.

The hardest part though is getting your site optimised so that when people search they get your site in the top section.

Many www.business.co.uk sites won`t be found in search engines, even if you type the direct address, Yahoo and google only list the optimised ones using the words in the address.

Direct tool bars will only find your address.

So paying a consultant to optimise your site is important unless you advertise with say www.yell.com and then your link will re direct to your site.

I built my own company website... :-)

You can view it via the link in my signature, so if anyone wants to pick holes in it, or offer "constructive" criticism, that's fine.

It cost me $179 with bravenet.com for two years hosting, the domain name of my choice and included online website building software and tools. There's easy to use templates and a "website wizard" that can easily guide even the most novice users step-by-step to creating even quite complex looking sites.

Obviously I'm learning new things all the time, but as a small business, it was important that my web presence was both cost effective, easy to manage and most importantly, I have total control so that I can update things exactly how and when I want to.

My website will arguably get better as I learn new tricks to improve on the overall design and layout, but one of the most important factors was that people would be able to find it easily. This is where SEO's (Serch Engine Optimization) was important. It's not just about having the right domain name these days, but about ranking highly with all the search engines, especially those like Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc... which people can pay a lot of money for.

My SEO cost me nothing financially, but a little of my spare time searching the web for advice and reading documents which are freely available that spell things out in layman's terms. I just Googled "SEO" and "Search Engine Optimization" and signed up to a newsletter that provided free guides. Obviously they are advertising different things, but it's entirely up to you if you want to buy anything. All the free advice and information provided helped me rank my website #1 with Google and the others for all the important keywords people will use to find my site, within a few days.

So, for $179 and a little of my free time, I have a site that offers me a web presence I'm more than happy with and has generated great business for me, at a minimum outlay. It's a fairly basic and simple site, but then that's all I wanted, no glitz or glamour... it's not like I'm trying presenting my self as a big flashy company.

Sorry if this sounds like an advert for Bravenet, it really isn't. There's thousands of low-cost web hosting services out there just as good or even better possibly. Just Google for them and also read some user reviews.

Clearly though, what's important is deciding what is appropriate for you or your business and finding your niche. Of course there's always ways to improve your site over time. It also depends entirely on your type of business as to what's most suitable. If you want something extravagant, that's also very complex and ultra-professional, then it's probably best to engage the services of a professional website designer or consultant.

If you're just looking for something for yourself, or for a small business that simply offers the means for clients to see some examples of your work, learn a little about your business and as a point of contact, then there's plenty of free and low-cost options out there.

Looks fine to me. Well done. As a general tip I would say avoid sentences over 21 words long. Full stop (a pause for breath as my teacher used to say) then the next sentence. Your paragraphs are well spaced.
Another tip, but this is personal opinion. Unless you look like Quasimodo (the hunchback of Notre Dame) put your piccies on your website. People do not buy services; they buy people. They will be curious and perhaps a little hesitant of employing someone who is going to be in and out of their home for weeks. do come across as likeable. Just a thought.

There's a picture of my dad and I with one of our clients on the "Kitchens & Bathrooms" page, along with one of a client and I planning things out in some "before" photos. I know what you mean though. :-)

Thanks for the feedback.

Once I've had the plastic surgery and the nose-job, I might include some more... :coolsmile:

Interestingly, the next leap forward I plan to take will be to translate my website to Spanish. We're getting a steadily increasing amount of work from the locals, so obviously it would be nice to have the facility to switch the language content from English to Spanish.

Although my Spanish is pretty good, I would want to ensure that grammatically, everything is spot on. This side of any future website construction is also a little outside my comfort zone at the moment. I'll also need to optimize searches fo Spanish at the same time.

poco poco... ;-)

Heath is so right in saying that SEO is very, very important if you want to use your website to promote your business.

You can have the most 'professional looking' website on the internet, but only you (and your designer if you use one) will know about it unless it is search engine friendly.

To be honest, I wouldn't use Bravenet myself to host a website (but Heath's seems to work fine I will admit), but neither would I pay ?60 for the 'priviledge' of using my own domain name on someone else's hosting account.

And toneloc, although I agree with a lot of your claims about having a website which looks professional when you are using this as a business, I would have put the argument the other way around - SEO first before design.

And I have to say this... if you are an SEO expert, why does 'Home' show up as the very first thing anyone sees in your title tag?

> I would have put the argument the other way around - SEO first before design.


It should be BOTH. Great website AND SEO.

Great website without SEO and no one will find you. Great SEO and bad website and you will most likely lose customer too(read post with links).



>
And I have to say this... if you are an SEO expert, why does 'Home' show up as the very first thing anyone sees in your title tag?


Maybe you didn't read my post on it. It was set up shortly before I moved to Spain as a way for my ex-coworkers and friends to refer their clients to me so they can see the breakdown of what I offer. Only referrals.

It was not meant for all of Los Angeles, as most potential clients (who happen to stumble on the site and are new to the website world) would most likely freak out if they knew that their website or SEO would be done from someone in another country.

Once I finish with a few current projects, a more current Spain site will come up.

'Home' has been removed though, if that makes you happy.

>

Great website without SEO and no one will find you. Great SEO and bad website and you will most likely lose customer too(read post with links).



To be perfectly honest, I have probably read (and continue to read) more about SEO than anyone else on this board.



>
Maybe you didn't read my post on it. It was set up shortly before I moved to Spain as a way for my ex-coworkers and friends to refer their clients to me so they can see the breakdown of what I offer. Only referrals.

It was not meant for all of Los Angeles, as most potential clients (who happen to stumble on the site and are new to the website world) would most likely freak out if they knew that their website or SEO would be done from someone in another country.

Once I finish with a few current projects, a more current Spain site will come up.

'Home' has been removed though, if that makes you happy.

Nothing to do with making me happy.

I do take your point, but...

It simply appeared to me that if you were promoting your services via the website you linked to, you would want to get it looking as efficient as possible, in terms of design, navigation and SEO.

No hard words here..
I'm looking forward to seeing your Spain site and hope to see it here. From the posts on this and other forums, there are many people searching for good web designers and for advice on how to get their website noticed by the big G.
So I do wish you luck.

If you can conquer the design and SEO market for Spain, then kudos to you.

>

To be perfectly honest, I have probably read (and continue to read) more about SEO than anyone else on this board.




Well, I don't know anybody on here so I can't make such a claim myself. However, I have been studying and more importantly implementing SEO for almost 8 years, though building sites for longer than that. SEMPO and Google Adwords certified. Not because i wanted to, but because my old company made it mandatory for all internet specialists to pass and paid for everyone, companywide, to take them and pass them.

I have a site that I built 4 1/2 months ago that will make just shy of $1,000 in Google Adsense this month and when I started it, it made nothing. The last 3 months my Adsense revenue has doubled each month as momentum is building.
All I do is add content daily and optimize the crap out it from head to toe. Has a PR3 and barely any backlinks at this point. All organic traffic. No PPC, no SEM, and hardly any SMM. Been also capturing emails for back end sales, but that's another topic.
Makes me wish that I had done this full time the past few years.

Anyone interested in getting a serious education in SEO should take both of those tests as over half of of the study material is strictly and thoroughly about SEO from top to bottom. Some stuff that can't be readily found online. Been at this for almost 8 yrs, so I can confirm that.

>
I have a site that I built 4 1/2 months ago that will make just shy of $1,000 in Google Adsense this month and when I started it, it made nothing. The last 3 months my Adsense revenue has doubled each month as momentum is building.
All I do is add content daily and optimize the crap out it from head to toe. Has a PR3 and barely any backlinks at this point. All organic traffic. No PPC, no SEM, and hardly any SMM. Been also capturing emails for back end sales, but that's another topic.
Makes me wish that I had done this full time the past few years.

Anyone interested in getting a serious education in SEO should take both of those tests as over half of of the study material is strictly and thoroughly about SEO from top to bottom. Some stuff that can't be readily found online. Been at this for almost 8 yrs, so I can confirm that.

Organic traffic is the best.
Sounds good.

But I'm just wondering here...
Why do update the site daily?
When by now you could have gained some backlinks to let it tick over, while you build more sites the same way and are multiplying the profits.

> [quote author="toneloc" date="1246322897"]
I have a site that I built 4 1/2 months ago that will make just shy of $1,000 in Google Adsense this month and when I started it, it made nothing. The last 3 months my Adsense revenue has doubled each month as momentum is building.
All I do is add content daily and optimize the crap out it from head to toe. Has a PR3 and barely any backlinks at this point. All organic traffic. No PPC, no SEM, and hardly any SMM. Been also capturing emails for back end sales, but that's another topic.
Makes me wish that I had done this full time the past few years.

Anyone interested in getting a serious education in SEO should take both of those tests as over half of of the study material is strictly and thoroughly about SEO from top to bottom. Some stuff that can't be readily found online. Been at this for almost 8 yrs, so I can confirm that.

Organic traffic is the best.
Sounds good.

But I'm just wondering here...
Why do update the site daily?
When by now you could have gained some backlinks to let it tick over, while you build more sites the same way and are multiplying the profits.[/quote]

The site has a long way to go still and in this particular industry, I need to add more pages to it. It's just how it is and there is no other way around it. It's not updating. The user actually wants and needs more pages in this type of industry. It's not on one topic and very unique to this industry which is why it has been building quickly. If I were to disclose the site or the industry, you would understand. I'll just say that it is not a blog with a bunch of updates with my ramblings.
Backlinks are coming, but haven't pursued them intensely, yet. I will be linking them from a couple of my PR5 sites.

I do have other sites that I also run from financial, to mortgages, to one page sales letters, to a very busy travel forum with over 10,000 members, tons of backlinks, and a bunch of affiliate programs that have brought in some nice revenue over the years. That runs on auto-pilot. Passive income...

Have several other projects in the works for myself and for clients that include copywriting, SEO, online marketing, and blogging, so I keep myself busy.

How about you? Got any websites you want to show all the readers as to what kind of work you've done for yourself or for others?

I have, but I think posting websites is frowned upon in these forums. I like this theme but wonder if SEO is for me? Just type in (google) the first two words of my company's name and I am all over the screen like a rash - a nice rash :o

> I have, but I think posting websites is frowned upon in these forums.


There is a whole forum for Business Services to promote your business or site. I think for this particular topic, posting a URL for a website is not for promotion but for case study. Based on the flow of this thread, I'm sure it would be allowable.



> I like this theme but wonder if SEO is for me? Just type in (google) the first two words of my company's name and I am all over the screen like a rash - a nice rash


I understand what you are saying, but when people search online, they use "product and location" and rarely by company name(when they search using company names, those are mostly coming from clients or referrals).

Going after "new business" you'll need to optimize your site based on the products or services you offer AND location.

For example, "used cars, los angeles" "guitars, barcelona" "appliance repair, miami"

To see who actually is getting all of your potential clients, Google "your product/service and your location" following the example above.

The businesses that pop up organically on the left side of the first page results are getting most of the business- without paying to be there (SEO'd).

When you see a bunch of adword sponsors on the right side and the very top of your results, you'll know if you've hit a popular search term for your city and all of the business vying for the business of the actual user who typed it in. Those businesses pay a pretty penny per click. Whether they get business or not, they still pay to be there.

Most likely, no one is bidding on adwords for their business to show up when some one actually types in your company name. Unless you are a big popular company.

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks for that. I love professionalism and as I said in an earlier comment, I like the expert advice you get here .. it gets one thinking. Okay! I am in the business of selling properties abroad. My approach ticks every box going - the service and portfolio cannot be equalled.
You have a point; of course Southern Comfit is easy-peasy for those looking for southern comfitr. What of those who tap in to google: 'properties in Spain'. I am not likely to infest the screen then am I? Point taken. So, where do I go from her. It sounds like hard work. Will it benefit me?

> Thanks for that. I love professionalism and as I said in an earlier comment, I like the expert advice you get here .. it gets one thinking. Okay! I am in the business of selling properties abroad. My approach ticks every box going - the service and portfolio cannot be equalled.
You have a point; of course Southern Comfit is easy-peasy for those looking for southern comfitr. What of those who tap in to google: 'properties in Spain'. I am not likely to infest the screen then am I? Point taken. So, where do I go from her. It sounds like hard work. Will it benefit me?



Mike,

Yes it will benefit you, but there is a lot of competition already way ahead of the ball game. See it as a long term 401k plan.

If you Google properties in spain (without quotes) you'll find 8 million results and two pages of businesses paying for adwords. It's pretty popular.

Google "properties in spain" (with quotes and there are 450,000 results with that exact phrase and about a page of adwords sponsors.

Did you build the site yourself? Do you know any html or at least work within the html code using Dreamweaver or Frontpage?

If you do, it will be easier to help you by pointing you in the right direction.

If someone else built it, then you may have to have a third party go in and optimize it for you.

Easy/hard, it's all relevant depending on who's doing it. It can be very time consuming, though.

>
The site has a long way to go still and in this particular industry, I need to add more pages to it. It's just how it is and there is no other way around it. It's not updating. The user actually wants and needs more pages in this type of industry. It's not on one topic and very unique to this industry which is why it has been building quickly. If I were to disclose the site or the industry, you would understand. I'll just say that it is not a blog with a bunch of updates with my ramblings.
Backlinks are coming, but haven't pursued them intensely, yet. I will be linking them from a couple of my PR5 sites.

I do have other sites that I also run from financial, to mortgages, to one page sales letters, to a very busy travel forum with over 10,000 members, tons of backlinks, and a bunch of affiliate programs that have brought in some nice revenue over the years. That runs on auto-pilot. Passive income...

Have several other projects in the works for myself and for clients that include copywriting, SEO, online marketing, and blogging, so I keep myself busy.

How about you? Got any websites you want to show all the readers as to what kind of work you've done for yourself or for others?

I have a few...
And no doubt you have already tried to find them :)

As Heath and a couple of others on this forum know, I don't publish my websites here. Two reasons:
a) As Mike Walsh says, it's not really accepted on most forums to keep posting links to your websites. Seems like spamming (even though in your case, you provided helpful information as well, so to my mind, that's ok).
b) The websites I actually make money on are not the type you would advertise on a general forum...

And the ones which actually make money for me are all private whois for the same reasons as (b) above :)

> [quote author="toneloc" date="1246327255"]
The site has a long way to go still and in this particular industry, I need to add more pages to it. It's just how it is and there is no other way around it. It's not updating. The user actually wants and needs more pages in this type of industry. It's not on one topic and very unique to this industry which is why it has been building quickly. If I were to disclose the site or the industry, you would understand. I'll just say that it is not a blog with a bunch of updates with my ramblings.
Backlinks are coming, but haven't pursued them intensely, yet. I will be linking them from a couple of my PR5 sites.

I do have other sites that I also run from financial, to mortgages, to one page sales letters, to a very busy travel forum with over 10,000 members, tons of backlinks, and a bunch of affiliate programs that have brought in some nice revenue over the years. That runs on auto-pilot. Passive income...

Have several other projects in the works for myself and for clients that include copywriting, SEO, online marketing, and blogging, so I keep myself busy.

How about you? Got any websites you want to show all the readers as to what kind of work you've done for yourself or for others?

I have a few...
And no doubt you have already tried to find them :)

As Heath and a couple of others on this forum know, I don't publish my websites here. Two reasons:
a) As Mike Walsh says, it's not really accepted on most forums to keep posting links to your websites. Seems like spamming (even though in your case, you provided helpful information as well, so to my mind, that's ok).
b) The websites I actually make money on are not the type you would advertise on a general forum...

And the ones which actually make money for me are all private whois for the same reasons as (b) above :)[/quote]


No worries. I found a bunch of them and see your point. You might want to double check the whois privacy on a few of your sites.

Good use of keywords and SMM=)

>


No worries. I found a bunch of them and see your point. You might want to double check the whois privacy on a few of your sites.

Good use of keywords and SMM=)

Lol! Yes I know you did and some of my link trades too.

And thanks, but the whois is okay on the newer sites, where it really matters.
Once bitten twice shy...

looking for site builder look at http://www.wiccle.com/

> [quote author="mike_walsh" date="1246332009"]Thanks for that. I love professionalism and as I said in an earlier comment, I like the expert advice you get here .. it gets one thinking. Okay! I am in the business of selling properties abroad. My approach ticks every box going - the service and portfolio cannot be equalled.
You have a point; of course Southern Comfit is easy-peasy for those looking for southern comfitr. What of those who tap in to google: 'properties in Spain'. I am not likely to infest the screen then am I? Point taken. So, where do I go from her. It sounds like hard work. Will it benefit me?



Mike,

Yes it will benefit you, but there is a lot of competition already way ahead of the ball game. See it as a long term 401k plan.

If you Google properties in spain (without quotes) you'll find 8 million results and two pages of businesses paying for adwords. It's pretty popular.

Google "properties in spain" (with quotes and there are 450,000 results with that exact phrase and about a page of adwords sponsors.

Did you build the site yourself? Do you know any html or at least work within the html code using Dreamweaver or Frontpage?

If you do, it will be easier to help you by pointing you in the right direction.

If someone else built it, then you may have to have a third party go in and optimize it for you.

Easy/hard, it's all relevant depending on who's doing it. It can be very time consuming, though.[/quote]

It's funny really, because there's (or was before the "crisis") stacks of estate agents in Granada province, yet if you Google "Granada property", my website ranks #10 and I don't sell properties. Thing is though, I undertake work on properties, so felt that a little SEO work on my site, an additional page and some information for property buyers, couldn't do any harm. Simply put, I was aiming at a target audience of people who are looking to buy "Granada property", who would also be likely to require work on their property after purchase, or advice beforehand.

It's mainly about focusing on your target audience, with keywords they're likely to use when they use the search engines. Some more examples with my website:

kitchen fitter granada = #1 on Google and others.
kitchen installer granada = #1 on Google, first page & highest ranked in Granada, Spain for Yahoo.
kitchen designer granada = #6 on Google (but #2 in Granada, Spain) #2 on Yahoo (but #1 in Granada, Spain)

The point here is that I've still a little work to do to strengthen my rankings, though for all the appropriate keywords, my site ranks #1 worldwide in many cases and is always usually first page or first five amongst the search returns on a number of search engines. The thing I'm happy with is at the moment, apart from "kitchen designer granada", my website ranks the highest above everyone else in Granada, Spain. As toneloc rightly points out, the vast majority of potential clients will often search for the service they require (in my case) plus the location.

It's actually much easier than I originally thought it would be, given my sole point for research on SEO's was the internet itself. It can take a little while to set them up though, plus it's always worth keeping an eye on the search engines, just in case they need improving. Mine still do in a few areas, but when I have a few free hours to sort them out, I will.

Much of the work on my SEO's were common sense. I thought in detail about what potential clients would type into a search engine to find me. Use those appropriately amongst the text of your website and your halfway there. Have a read through my site and you'll see clearly that i've incorporated many keywords amongst the paragraphs and sentences I've written. Location of such keywords within pages is also important, but thats where it gets a little bit more technical in understanding a bit about how search engines look for keywords. I'm sure toneloc or zania can explain this in more detail than I can.

Some clever backlinks are also quite important. They can boost your rankings incredibly, especially if they're sites that are also highly ranked within the search engines. For example, you'll notice my forum signature features my website link, plus I've also posted a listing in the "Business Services" section of this website. SpainExpat ranks amongst, if not the highest expat forums and websited listed by the search engines, but it's not the only website that I've backlinked from. I look for sites that are appropriate in content to the services I offer and exposure to potential clients is high. I was amazed at how many "suitable" sites I could link to and from, that increased my search engine rankings. Again, a little borowsing on the web will show you how to approach doing this in an appropriate manner.

I take on board all that you say, and I take my hat off to you. It seems to me that the key to SEO success requires a dogged determination and persistence that it could replace your life. You sound to me, and this is a compliment, that you are so focused on tweaking the system that you take it as a challenge. A little like those who happily plod on for hours to get the better of crossword puzzles, anagrams, etc.
Being a subscriber of an EU funded business group back in my old city, which keeps in touch, I have on this bag of tricks on board here; a step-by-step idiot proof system to do what you're suggesting we do. They say that the by four months we'll be right up there with the gods!
I am nervously contemplating it, much as one would the dismantling and putting together of a car engine. Er, Excuse me! I am not being lazy but living here in Spain, should I really be sitting here in my apple bags each night, trying to cool off, while I tweak me SEOs. Should I be cutting back on the few little pleasures of life so I can pay an optimiser to do it for me? Hey! Hope you don't mind me being open and honest? You are appreciated.

Well, I wouldn't say I spend endless hours tweaking my SEO's :)

Most time I spent was when I was initially building the website. Since then, it's just been a case of adding what I think will help boost the site's search engine rankings for other keywords I might think of, or that potential clients might be using.

I probably spend no more than an hour or so a week updating the site in general, because that's all it reallt needs.

Understandably though, with a property website, you're looking at a great deal more work potentially, so what you've done or do from the offset is highly important. From then on, I suppose it's just a case of how much time you want to devote to managing it yourself, or if you prefer to delegate it to a third party.

Congrats on your SEO efforts, heath! For the people who are finding your site when they are actually searching for properties, you might want to consider putting up a link to an online form for people to fill out. Then you can sell the leads to local real estate agents or refer them over to people like mike for a commission. Just a thought.

Mike, it's definitely worth it to SEO your site, whether you hire someone or do it yourself. After the initial SEO overhaul of your site, you need to maintain it as you add content and new properties like heath said.

You won't ever regret doing it...

Okay! Will do but right now I have editors (no kidding) kicking my door down for articles; most of which I subliminally slip a lead genewrator in :o)

> Congrats on your SEO efforts, heath! For the people who are finding your site when they are actually searching for properties, you might want to consider putting up a link to an online form for people to fill out. Then you can sell the leads to local real estate agents or refer them over to people like mike for a commission. Just a thought.



Rather than looking at my ranking in that respect as a potential source of income, I'm just looking at it as a potential source for further clients relating to the services we offer. As for any potential link exchanges, it makes sense SEO wise to target organisations with websites that rank higher than my own. That avenue in itself can be very time consuming and not always successful if the organisations don't want to exchange links.

There is another avenue that can be followed to boost rankings for the "Granada Property" keywords I now rank #10 for with Google. If I wished to improve this ranking, I could make posts on a number of high ranking forums, or publish on any number of the various article sites, which seem to produce good search returns. Last time I looked at that approach for a string of keywords, it took me a couple of hours work and within a couple of days, my site ranked #1 for the keywords I had used.

At the moment, I only link back to third party companies or individuals that I know personally or trust, having had dealings with them. In some respects, previously I was very wary of linking or affiliating to any estate agents, as clients experiences can vary greatly. Since the economic bubble burst though, the great majority of the rotten apples are gone, leaving only the more honest and reliable. I'm not having a pop at estate agents there, as my own particular range of services can suffer the negative PR of being tarred with the same brush when people experience a negative service. One should always be careful of who they affiliate themselves with though.

I like the approach Mike has taken on his website with the customer testimonials though. Something that I have considered adding to my own website. At the moment though, when clients ask for references, I can send them a list of all my previous clients. They're all happy to correspond with anyone who's after assurance regarding our reputation. It's nice to have such great support from past clients and anyone who's asked for references, has always ended up contracting us.


>
Mike, it's definitely worth it to SEO your site, whether you hire someone or do it yourself. After the initial SEO overhaul of your site, you need to maintain it as you add content and new properties like heath said.

You won't ever regret doing it...


Definately agree. I would say that especially for property searches, it's important to be within the top five search returns on the major search engines.

The beauty of SEO and the search engines, is that you don't have to be one of the big companies to be top of the pile. The "big boys" usually pay for sponsored links anyway. There's much bigger companies than mine out there, with much flashier looking websites than mine, but I rank much higher with the search engines.

Certainly in your field of work though, it's definately worth investing the time (or the money), to optimize your website with the search engines.

Hey, how is everyone doing? Just an update on my end. In addition to focusing hardcore on adding more content and optimizing my own sites, I built a couple of websites for new clients on the side.

One of those clients spent more and wanted full optimization on her site. This particular client is so busy today from clients finding her on Google that she ceased all of her paid advertising in english speaking newspapers and websites. We targeted very competitive keywords/keyword phrases and it took about 4-6 months for her to land in the top position of the most important keyword. I can't reveal the keyword/keyword phrases, but f I did, you would completely understand why it is and will always be very highly competitive.

Obviously, I can't guarantee that she will always be on top of Googles search results, but she's been there since the beginning of the year and she has not only made a lot of money with these new clients (since most clients are put on programs where they must return), but also saved money from not having to pay to advertise (which she has done for over 5yrs).

As for me, I last posted that my Google Adsense income was starting to make about $1,000 a month. Since then, my highest month has been $2,800 in one month.

This is in addition to income that I generate promoting affiliate products (where I build sites promoting products and services of well known companies and they pay me a commission per lead or per sale). This income generates more each month than my Google Adsense income, but together, I am doing quite well and haven't ever needed to depend on finding clients to build site for.

My main goal has and always will be to create and build up my passive income and never to rely on having to look for new clients. This is the true essence of working smarter and not harder.

I hope business is great for everyone!

What an interesting thread. Presumably the OP got what he needed in the end.

I just want to throw my tuppence worth onto the table and say that there are so many options available out there that it is not necessary to spend a lot of money on getting a nice looking site and you can do most of the work yourself.

Dreamhost do an incredible deal on hosting wordpress sites but I think that it is only available if you click through on a link from the Wordpress hosting info page which you can find here: Wordpress Hosting (http://wordpress.org/hosting/).

Both Dreamhost and Hostgator (also very cheap) offer one click installation of Wordpress plus all sorts of other goodies via the control panel. Forums, galleries, blog, statistics - whatever it is you want you will not need to be a rocket scientist to get it working - just point and click!

Wordpress has thousands of themes to choose from so you do not need to be a designer either. One of the free themes that is endlessly customisable is the Suffusion theme. You can see a showcase of sites made using Suffusion (http://www.aquoid.com/news/showcase/). Even the new standard theme comes with a set of customisable child templates.

Of course, the headers and graphics used in these blogs that make them looks so special may have been outsourced but if you have a bit of spare time, the open source GIMP does just about everything that Photoshop does. (I am not quite over that learning curve).

If you have no interest in doing your own graphics, you can pick up a freelance designer (graphic not web) on elance, freelance or odesk and pay for just those bts of work you need.

So, while I agree with the poster who said that it was important to consider the overall look and professionalism of a company site or blog, I can promise you that anyone with the time to do so can get a half decent looking site up in no time at all using low cost or free resources that are all on the intenet just waiting to be used.

Now what you do with your content, SEo, social branding and internet marketing is another story. ;)

We concur, a very interesting thread.

After reading it through it has occurred that the hardest part of some of what has been talked about is to stay subjective.

When one has built, tweaked and updated a website for so long, it is virtually impossible to critique it yourself from the perspective of it's visitors. It is, after all 'your baby', and when watching it grow up you cannot readily see it as others might.

With this in mind, does anybody know of any websites that one could submit 'their baby' to, in order to receive free analysis and contructive feedback of content/construction/aesthetics etc?

I agree about the wordpress sites. They can be very sharp looking if you know what to do and know how to customize it in a way that will give yo a professional look and feel.

You have to remember that most people wont have the time and or patience to learn how to install/customize/tweak a CMS site like wordpress/joomla/drupal (or the countless other platforms) in order to get it looking professional.

The conversation earlier in this thread was in regards to a uniform store (or one the of oldest or best uniform stores in his area, I believe) that wanted to have an online presence. In that case, a professional looking site that equals or trumps his competitor was a viable solution (and still is in my opinion).

For the mom and pop shop selling a few products or services or for something like a product review site, personal blogs, affiliate marketing sites where you pitch products of well known companies, information sites, these don't have to look super professional.

And like its been mentioned over and over, SEO, content creation, marketing, list building, back links, etc... are completely separate animals that must be done (and for some, must constantly be done) if you want to increase your revenue and perhaps start living off your sites.

One click installs, upload templates, add plugins/components/and modules, put up some decent graphics and you should be good.

If you outsource, just keep in mind your total cost and budget. You'll get what you pay for, in the end, and don't pay until you've got your goods delivered. You can end up paying more than you thought or you can come in way under what you thought. It all depends on the scope of the project.

I usually build out most of my sites, customize them, seo them, etc... I just follow my system. But, I have also outsourced a lot of my projects too. Mostly because of time. I now have American writers that write 300-500 word SEO articles on topics that I choose, for $1-$3 per article. That was their price and I am happy to pay it. Saves me so much time. I have also paid up to $40 per article too. It all depends on your budget and what you want accomplished.

Set your goals. Not just your design goals, but what exactly you want to accomplish with your site(s). What type of site is it? Are you selling a product/service? Are you setting up information sites like- "How to live in Spain for under 1,000 ? a month." "How to get in shape," "why eat organic," etc....

How much traffic you want/need, how much you want to make each month (short term sand long term goals), etc...

If you're selling a product, are you up-selling them on other related products (you should be. look at godaddy, for example), do people click the "buy now" button then don't buy? How's your checkout process? What's the percentage of people going to the checkout and not completing the transaction and why? These are things you should look at.

Are you analyzing your analytics? How do people find your site? Are they typing in keywords for products that you are not even selling? If so, you should start selling that product (find affiliate products that you can promote in addition to your own products, etc...).

Just some things to think about.



> We concur, a very interesting thread.

After reading it through it has occurred that the hardest part of some of what has been talked about is to stay subjective.

When one has built, tweaked and updated a website for so long, it is virtually impossible to critique it yourself from the perspective of it's visitors. It is, after all 'your baby', and when watching it grow up you cannot readily see it as others might.

With this in mind, does anybody know of any websites that one could submit 'their baby' to, in order to receive free analysis and contructive feedback of content/construction/aesthetics etc?



There are a lot of webmaster forums that you can post a link to your site looking for feedback. I saw your site and I personally think that you can almost get rid of everything under your top nav bar all the way down to where your modules are (personal shopper service/our products). That's what you're selling and it should be right there "above the fold" when the page loads. That image .gif banner on top and the color buttons on the side look very outdated. It might be the way you do the images with the square corners and curved edges in addition to the images and font you're using.

Plus, you're using many different types/colors of the same times roman font on the body, but your modules are using arial font.

Anyways, those are just my thoughts. You may want to Google webmaster forums or something and post your link for some feedback.

Hi,

I thought I'd share info on low cost websites.

My daughter started an on-line vintage clothing shop using vistaprint. They give out free 250 business cards and other freebies and occasionally give free postage promos as well.

Her web site name cost her around ?7. (seven) and she chose the top web hosting package at approx ?10.50 per month with a free month included .

No problems at all apart from the constant free offers from vista (can't grumble) by email

To view her site and see what can be achieved with little costs - www.quirkyvintage.co.uk

I help her with the layout and admittedly it can be limited to what can be achieved but she has had many positive comment about the sites appearance.

We did ask a professional web designer to give her some samples of their work but to be honest the cheaper version was much better.

I am not spamming for Vistaprint or my daughters web site for that matter I just feel it is worth mentioning what can be achieved with very low costs.

Hope this helps.

Ian.