Recently, a friend asked "What's deal with those DIY companies that advertise "How to get a website with everything your business needs for under $20 bucks a month?". "How can they do that?" she said.

"First impressions are very deceiving!" I told her...let me share my past experience with you!

First of all... folks get excited by low price—don't do their due dilligence and end up with buyers remorse when they get their credit card statement.

And for many reasons.

One, all that company is doing is creating cookie-cutter websites to niave, misguided folks who are impressed by all their "features". Beleive me this is true, years ago—I was one of them!

Let me tell you, hosting company I use offers almost exact same thing packaged differently and get this...for LESS THAN HALF THE PRICE! 1 year hosting, features, domain, bells-whistles, support, blah,blah,blah, etc,etc,etc..

"Their company": 12mo/$203.76 yr (actual price taken from "Their" Website 5/30/05. Company name withheld, write me and I'll tell you)

My hosting company: 12mo/$94 yr. Ya see that, LESS than HALF!

There are millions of web sites trying to get listed in top 20 spots of major search engines. That amounts to a lot of competition! Even if your website can't get in Top 20, you can use indirect ways to get it there.

How do you do this? By using success of others to your advantage. Look up top 20 web sites on major search engines under keywords and phrases people would find your web site. The key would be to your website's link on those web sites.

The most expensive way would be to buy ad space on those web sites. If you don't want to spend any money, you could use ten strategies below. These strategies may not apply to every web site.

1. Participate on their discussion boards. You could post questions, answer other peoples questions, and join in on conversations. Just include your signature file and link at end of your messages. This is a great way to build link popularity for your website.

2. Ask web site owner if they would like a f.ree ebook to giveaway to their visitors. You could have them link to your web site or include your ad in f.ree ebook.

3. Submit content to their web site. You could write articles for their web site and include your resource box and link at end of article. If they publish it, you'll indirectly be at top of search engines and your site's link popularity will soar!