by Robin Nobles

New Web sites are springing up online by millions. However, when they don’t reach a level of success, Web site owners assume that they can’t make money off Internet.

Wrong.

The one thing that is important to know, however, is that you do have to work to make money online. Just like having a regular offline business, online business needs to be taken care of, Web site continually updated, and customers made to feel safe and secure when doing business with you.

So, let’s devote this article to simple things you can do to have a successful online business. Remember that books have been written on this subject, so this article won’t be all inclusive by any means.

But, for average Web site owner, it will give you simple steps to take to turn your online business down right path toward achieving success.

Future of Internet --

In January of 2003, Roy H. Williams, who is widely known and respected as “Wizard of Ads,” finally declared, "Now is time to get in." For years, Roy has been watching and predicting Internet's future. Back in 1996, he declared, "The Internet is a baby born premature." He even predicted great dot com crash that we’re still recovering from.

So what does Roy have to say about future of Internet? Roy says that buying public has finally figured out how to use Internet and what it's good for: specifically, "information gathering and features-based comparison-shopping."

What does Roy suggest for Web sites today?

1. Ignore heavy graphic sites and focus on providing information for your visitors.

2. Build confidence by interacting with your Web visitors and anticipating and answering their questions.

3. Don’t think “advertising” – think information delivery.

4. Focus on Web site architecture (a simply designed site) and exceptional writing.

5. Help your visitors find what they’re looking for within a few minutes of landing on your site. If you make them hunt for information, they’re gone.

For more information such as what was mentioned above, subscribe to Michael Campbell’s newsletter. Michael is one of most well-known Internet marketers, and his newsletter is exceptional. http://www.internetmarketingsecrets.com

For more information about Roy H. Williams and his advertising philosophies, visit: http://www.newsbios.com/wizard_of_ads.htm

So, with Roy’s predictions in mind, let’s look at some ways to make our Web sites stronger, more visible, and have a better chance at being successful.

Purchase your own domain name –

Having a professional image is very important on Web, and it begins with having your own domain name. Having your Web site located at AOL or one of free Web hosting companies takes away a level of professionalism.

Let’s face it: purchasing a domain is cheap! 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 site for you. Their rates to “host” your domain begin at only $15.49 a month, which is an excellent price. “Hosting” a domain simply means to provide an address on Web for your site. http://www.combustionhosting.com/moreinfo

Naming your domain –

Before you rush off to purchase a domain, let’s talk for a minute about naming your domain. Most businesses want to name their domain after 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 products or services you provide, you’re giving your site a small edge with search engines.

For example, if name of your company is Simply Southern, and if you purchase 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 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 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 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 designer create 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 basic design, and you can then cut and paste rest of your pages into template and finish up site yourself, if you’re comfortable with working on your own site.

If you are not sure where to begin, here are seven steps that are free or inexpensive. All of them will help you to get your new website rolling.

1. Tell Your Friends - Often we are thinking about reaching unknown millions of people out there surfing Internet, but we are forgetting hundreds of people who we already know. Look at your e-mail address book and get word out, tell your business contacts, friends, relatives and tel them to tell their friends too. Send an e-mail to all people who made inquiries or bought products or services from you in last year.

2. Link to Your Own Site - Once again we are often thinking about getting some unknown people to make a link to our websites and we are forgetting possibilities that are nearby. If you already have one website, make sure that this site is linking to your new site. A website without any incoming links to it will have a very low page ranking in all-important Google search engine and will face an uphill battle to be seen in Google search results, especially if you are in a very competitive category

Even when your site is in construction stage you, or even your web designer can link to new site from another already well-established site, mentioning that new site is under construction. If you already have several sites, then link them to your infant site. It will help new site to be seen in competitive search engine listings even in its debut period.

3. Get a paid inclusion in one of big search engines. It takes 4-6 weeks to get listed in Google, and other search engines are equally slow. However there are a few fairly important search engines that have inexpensive express inclusion programs. If you join these programs, then your site will be listed in 48 hours. Inktomi, which provides results for MSN and 100 other search services, has an inclusion program which costs $39 for first URL that you submit, and subsequent ones cost $25. The value of Inktomi submission is that they revisit your URL every 48 hours and if you make changes on page you can see results in MSN listings very quickly. Thus, you can tweak your pages and see how it affects your position.