The O’s of Internet Success
How to create a successful web site?
First we have to determine the purpose for which you created it. Was it to make money? Was it created to give you something to do and per chance to make money? Did you want to add web site building to your list of skills? Did you want to use blogging as a substitute for therapy?
I define a web site successful for its creator if it has achieved the purpose for which it was created. Others consider it successful if it makes a whole lot of money — period. The search engines and ranking directories of course consider the site successful if it has high rankings and can maintain them.
Regardless of our definitions of success, here are some interesting attitudes and mindsets every successful web site owner must possess, and they happen to all start with the letter O.
1. Originality.
It has been written over and over again — content is king. Let me put it better ORIGINAL, UNIQUE CONTENT IS KING. Fill your site with information no one else has seen before, something that YOU created and you have a higher chance for success.
If you republish articles on that topic on your site, how original is that? Even if you credit the author of the article, your readers will have respect for THAT AUTHOR, not you. In fact, you would have endorsed that person as the authority, right, implicitly telling your readers, “He wrote something on MY topic that I did not think of or could not write myself.
The best article writer is you. Your brain telling your fingers what to type, based on your knowledge, skills and experience. In the web, folks do not expect literary masterpieces, just straightforward content that is helpful to the searcher, so no pressure there. In fact, typos and mistakes are even appreciated by the search engines because that shows them that the information is created by a human.
Sometimes, you may want to research some things, just to get your facts straight, or to see what others have written on the topic so you are not redundant and here are tools that can help you write better. I use them myself and recommend them wholeheartedly:
2. Write Articles Really Fast!
2. Own the Topic.
You are the expert, you are the rockstar, you are the authority. Yup, you own your story, you own your life, you own your experiences. With your website, you will be sharing all that you know and can do with the world, so be prepared for stardom.
For example, if you have a travel site about your hometown, you become its representative in the world wide web. Let folks experience the place and its lifestyle through you. Make sure that when folks search your topic and all its subtopics, pages on your site and articles you have written elsewhere are the ones that they find.
Contribute to wikipedia, twitter it, blog it, Yahoo Answers your topic.
Be everywhere on the web when it comes to your subject matter.
3. Overdeliver.
When your site visitors go to you because your website is about vegetarian dog food, don’t give them just recipes for vegetarian dog food, give them suppliers, create a forum for like-minded pet owners, give them updates on your personal experiences caring for your pet, write hundreds of original articles related to vegetarian dog food, caring for your pet, grooming your dog, even naming your dog.
In other words, be the one-stop resource for your topic.
Hey, that’s an extra O!
4.Obsess!
Building a website and getting it found on the web is not rocket science. Recent years have made it easier for newbies to get started. Once you overcome the initial “What will I write about” question you are well on your way.
For the first few months, live and breathe your topic, go deep into building your online business and explore all its possibilities, just like you would an offline business. In other words, don’t just build an online store and expect folks to find you — study internet marketing (advertising, article submissions, social networking) so that folks will find you. Build an internet business.
Even an for an offline store, “If you build it they will come” might not necessarily work, right? You still have to give flyers away, advertise on tv or billboards, tell all your friends about it, have a launch party, get listed in the telephone directory. You do everything to let folks know your business exists.
When I created my first site, I did not stop until I got it on the top of page 1 of Google, Yahoo, Ask, Alexa and other search engines and directory for my desired keywords. I optimized each and every PAGE so that they too appeared in those same places for their keywords. I continue to maintain the site and add value to it by making sure the user experience is second to none.
Those are my O’s for the success of your web site.
If you can think of any more, just add them by placing a comment below.
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