Building a good website
If You Build It, Will They Come?
They may… but first, let’s answer a few questions.
Why are you building a website?
The days of simply throwing together a website and being a raging success is long gone (if ever there at all). People have become acclimated to the internet and now they search for quality information above anything else. There are too many other players who have set the bar higher than it has ever been. Unless you are building a hobby or vanity site where the content is more personal rather than commercial, simply offering information about anything (or everything) will not be conducive to bringing in dependable traffic. Too many variables have been put into play to simply build a commercial website without doing some serious planning first.
Will your website fill a need?
Anyone with a desire to start a viable online presence must create and follow a business plan. Using strategies that have a proven history of working well can fast track your website to success. Before you start building it you’ll need to make sure that you have all of your basic concepts in place. Offering information or products that are solely yours, ground breaking, life changing, in demand and/or unique to your customer base are fundamental to a getting a positive response.
Will your content be unique and timely?
If you’re building a website based on an idea, a product, or content provided by a third party such as a turnkey website, a clone website, a repacked shopping cart, or a centralized affiliate program, you’ll probably fail and spend a bunch of cash in the process. The only people who’ll benefit from you selling their ideas or products will most probably be them. Before you start sinking money into a “get rich quick program” you might want to reset your thinking a bit. Offering something that is solely yours or in a way that nobody else does is a good place to start.
Think Unique!
The internet is made up of almost 250 MILLION URL’s publishing nearly 28 BILLION pages of content. While many of these sites offer great information, tools and products, the bulk are either registered and parked or are part of a vast sea of web clutter. Web Bloat is a term I coined for websites that don’t really offer anything of merit or unique value. Websites that offer little contextual value and only offer Ads, Backfill, and Affiliate links would be in this realm of uselessness. These website are simply there taking up valuable space and they dilute legitimate pulling power. Domainers (URL Investors) are notorious for creating these types of “instant content” sites.
Are you an expert at anything? Do you have access to products that are unique and marketable? Do you have business contacts that others may not? Can you offer products for less than the other guy? Do you have a unique spin on an already tapped market? You’ll have an inherent advantage that most do not, if you can offer something useful with content that is unique.
When you have decided that you are going to start a website the first thing you should insist upon is a standard of quality in what your new site offers. Try your best to not become just another meaningless website in a sea of other meaningless websites and the payoff could be grand.