This blog is taking a temporary break while I re-work some of my websites.
Please feel free to browse away as most of the information isn’t time sensitive.
If you don’t find something of interest here, please try website-academy.com
Back soon!
laptopmanpaul
Posted by pt23
webcumbria.co.uk
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Readers of this blog will know that I’ve been doing much work recently on search engine optimisation and techniques for getting a website as close to the top of the search engine results as is possible.
My reading and online research resulted in me discovering a new service which I’d never heard of before, but which seems to pull together best practice in one product.
It’s called Site Build It! and it helps you to build websites from the keywords up.
Take a look at this video for a quick overview …
The key concept behind Site Build It! is that there’s no point building a brilliant website unless people can find it.
You can spend as much money as you want and throw as many flash animations at your front page as you can, but if no-one is interested in your website, you’ll do no business.
It seems so basic, but it’s actually THE crucual point about making a website.
Site Build It! reverses the usual process that you’d go through to build a website.
It starts with keywords … you generate three ideas, keyword search them, then work out what niche online searchers are looking for but not finding … and that’s your business opportunity.
The range of tools built into the package is superb.
You get Wordtracker with your annual fee, along with many other tools which help you to spot and refine your niche, then work out it’s profitability.
It completely removes the ‘finger in the wind’ approach to website building … you know you’re onto a winner before you even start to build your website.
Site Build It! uses a system called C>T>P>M … full details are available by clicking the info banner below:
C>T>P>M involves:
a) creating content that you know people want to find … because you started the entire process by doing your niche keyword research.
b) creating traffic because your nicely keyworded content is being found in the search engines.
c) your pre-sell to customers, because they’re already interested in the subject covered by your website and you’ve built a relationship of trust.
d) finally (and not firstly as in most websites!) you monetize your website … and hopefully create a good income stream.
Site Build It! uses a step-by-step, systematic process.
You bolt in searchable keywords to each page you build - as you go along - and your ads and extras reflect these niche keywords too.
The system is also suitable for beginners - templates and ‘hold your hand’ guides are provided - but you can also use the system with Dreamweaver, Wordpress or whatever you use to make your own websites, making it good for webmasters too:
Having built your website, you then sign up through Site Build It! to a number of RSS feeds, which effectively blog your content.
Readers of this site will know how I’ve been instantly impressed by the results delivered by RSS and blogging.
The entire blogging/RSS system is integrated into the package, saving time, effort and removing the need for technical knowledge for people who are new to the web.
It’s even got a built in newsletter manager … as far as I can see everything that I’ve discovered as ‘best practice’ whilst looking at how to market websites effectively is in this package.
And if you don’t like the modular/formulaic look to the templated sites? You use the tools, but author your website with your favourite software package, whatever that is.
So why am I resting this blog?
Well, Site Build It! seems to offer absolutely everything that my research has recommended … and to be honest, I think the sites that I’ve built so far haven’t done brilliantly because I left the SEO and the ‘niche’ bit until last.
So I’m going back to basics.
I’m parking this blog for a while so that I can give Site Build It! a good run for its money.
I’m going to follow it through from beginning to end, build a niche site, and see if it performs as well as the Site Build It! say it will.
It’s cost me £175.23 GBP for 1 year … which includes all the tools (Wordtracker, template builder, hosting costs and so on) and the support and resources available for that money are superb.
It’s a tad ‘Americanised’ but don’t be put off by that, it really is rooted in best practice and there is lots of evidence to show that it works as a system.
Check out some of the demo websites and look at their Alexa rankings - you can’t fake those figures!
If it doesn’t work, I’ve wasted £175 … though there is a full refund on offer if I don’t like the product.
If it does work, I’m going to Site Build It! all my existing websites. Although they’re beginning to do some business, it’s not enough and they’re just not making the progress that they need to.
So, once I’ve built my new niche website, I’ll be back on this blog, talking you through it and letting you know how it goes.
In the meantime, take a look at Site Build It! yourself and see what you think.
They claim 62% of SBI! sites, in a recent study, were in the top 3% of all websites.
That’s quite some statistic, the ’science’ seems to add up, so let’s see how I get on with it.
If you’ve had experience of this product, I’d be interested to know how you got on.
Posted by pt23
webcumbria.co.uk
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This competition is now closed - winner details coming soon.
The prize: Search Engine Optimization for Dummies by Peter Kent
The answers: 1 - 5 - 8.
The winner: Name has been drawn - currently awaiting reply with full UK address.
Thanks for all your entries!
The image below shows that email number 46 was selected at random in the draw as outlined in the rules.
A full list of rules is available via this page
This competition was listed on the following websites:
The Prize Finder - UK Competitions
Posted by pt23
webcumbria.co.uk
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Back to school means back on the bus
With the kids back to school this week, it’s meant that the car has been requisitioned once again and I’m back on the bus.
That’s actually not so bad, because I get a lot of my reading done on the bus.
Most of what I pass on in this blog is gleaned whilst eating my morning bowl of porridge or during my short ride to and from work.
I’m currently reading Search Engine Optimization for Dummies by Peter Kent
I’ve already warned that it’s serious SEO time, and I’ll be passing on the tips I’ve learned step-by-step as I work through this book.
So let’s get started with what I’ve found out so far.
My ‘back of a bus’ top ten SEO tips
Tip 1: Ditch the fancy flash intro on you website.
They’re an irritation to visitors, and usually just an excuse for designers to pose.
They’re rubbish for SEO though because search engines like things to read, like text.
Any text in a flash animation can’t be read … so don’t do it!
For the same reason use embedded video sparingly.
Tip 2: Don’t use .gifs, .jpgs or .pngs for that matter as part of your site navigation.
Use text where you can, not images.
In fact, don’t replace text for text embedded within images at all.
Once again, the search engines like stuff to read and if you do this, they can’t read your stuff.
So click here for my blog is better than a button like the one below:
The rule of thumb is to avoid embedding text into images, create lots of readable text instead.
Tip 3: Don’t use frames.
Browsers struggle to read frames, which means you’re going to miss out on SEO opportunities.
And they’re just plain nasty too.
Browsers need to read a website’s source code.
Find a website made with frames, then using the toolbar at the top of your browser select ‘View’ then ‘Source’ … see what I mean?
Internet Explorer shows you the frame-definition document, the pages within the internal frames tend to become orphaned.
Tip 4: Add a sitemap to your website.
Let the search engines know where they should be looking.
You should also produce a visual sitemap that your web users can read, also known as a table of contents.
See more on sitemaps elsewhere in this blog.
Tip 5: When you create links on your pages, make them descriptive as you can.
Apparently, usability testing indicates that people like long link text ie links which describe what they’re taking you to.
So rather than me writing click here or more, it would appear that website users would prefer something like find out more about my IT blog and in addition, the search engines like it too!
Tip 6: Create error pages with links to other areas of your website, perhaps even a sitemap or table of contents.
You can read about creating error pages elsewhere on this site, but the key concept with this SEO tip is that your web users, and the searchbots, won’t reach a dead end on your website, even if they end up somewhere they shouldn’t really be,
Tip 7: Search engines like simple.
At it’s most basic interpretation, that means black text on a white background.
The fancier and more complicated your webpages are, the harder it is for the search engines to work out what they’re about.
Think ‘words’ whenever you’re working on your website … words are clues for search engines and help them to index your site correctly.
Tip 8: Much has been written about the Google sandbox, but what is certain is that the longer a domain has been registered, and the longer a site has been active, the better.
Register domains as soon as possible, get a few pages and some links pointing to you as quickly as you can and you’ll start that long, slow haul to the top straight away.
Tip 9: When selecting keywords, make sure you remember ‘the search tail’.
These are the phrases which are not right at the the top of a search list, but which go on to represent a very high percentage of the total searched-for keywords.
Peter Kent recommends that you don’t aim for the top, where it’s overcrowded, but for the search tail.
He says if you only focus on a primary term, you’re missing most of the action.
Tip 10: Use your text carefully
Without overdoing it, here are some text-based tips for making your pages more easily readable by search engines:
- Use particularly important words -the sorts of things people will be searching for in your particular field - at the top of the page
- Use bold and italic keywords
- Put keywords in bulleted lists
- Use keywords multiple times on a page … but not too often!
Next bus stop?
I’m only up to chapter 5, and you can see how much useful information I’m extracting from Search Engine Optimization for Dummies by Peter Kent
There’s more to come in future posts, and please pass on your own tips via the comments form at the bottom of this page.
Posted by pt23
webcumbria.co.uk
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Reselling with a difference
I keep dithering about whether to offer reseller hosting packages.
I fear that offering reseller packages would have me constantly bogged down with customer queries about how this works and why that’s broken.
However, I’ve discovered an alternative … and I like it a lot!
Enter stage right ResellerClub.com
I can’t even remember how or why I found this website now, but it immediately caught my interest.
ResellerClub.com is a reseller package with some very key differences to what’s normally on offer.
The blurb says: We offer an exciting range of fast moving, high margin products, ready for you to sell.. start now!
What this amounts to is that you can re-sell the following services:
- Domain names
- Website builders, including with ecommerce
- Digital certificates
- Domain/mail forwarding
- Live chat services
- Mail and web hosting
- Sub-reseller packages
In addition, customers get a 30 day money back guarantee with many products.
What I really like about this service is a) the automation … once set up, I don’t have to lift a finger, all sales, refunds and set-ups happen instantly and automatically b) my reseller account is set up with price suggestions clearly indicating my ‘mark up’ on products, but I can easily change prices to suit myself.
When you sign up with ResellerClub.com you’re given your own customisable area - here’s mine.
If you want to you can integrate your ResellerClub.com account into your existing website using their APIs … I intend to play with this function, but haven’t worked out how to do it yet.
This really is the simplest, most sensible type of reseller account I’ve seen, and as you can see I’ve signed up and intend to give it a try.
One thing to flag up … money.
Once again, I like this system because it doesn’t cost you anything to set up.
However, you do have to credit your account with $200 when you open it.
This amount is refundable, but it’s a float you have to maintain … and the bigger the ‘float’ you keep, the better rates you get on the services that you sell.
As far as I can see, if someone buys from your website, you pay ResellerClub.com at cost price from your account, and your customer’s money goes into your account at purchase price … seems fair enough to enable instant and hassle free purchases.
It’s well worth a look if you’re considering becoming a reseller, it’s the most interesting and diverse package that I’ve come across so far.
If you’d like to find out more about becoming a reseller, you can do so here.
I intend to use this with some work I intend to do in the network marketing area, as you can see from the new grid-based website I’ve set up below.
Once I’ve worked out the APIs I should be able to integrate it much better.
Posted by pt23
webcumbria.co.uk
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