The Entrepreneur"s Guide to Building a Website
They call the internet 'the virtual world' and that's what it is - an electronic mirage - but one in which anyone can earn an honest living, now made much simpler by modern software and online facilities.
The first process, that of choosing a URL and finding an Internet Host are normally merged into one because competition has forced most internet hosts to offer a free service to help you find and appropriate URL and domain name for your business, and for a small annual fee they will 'host' your site name, whether or not it's active at the time.
So that's easy.
Your URL name ...
is an important element is your quest to get to the top of the list in Google or other search engine searches in a process known as 'Search Engine Optimisation' (SEO).
Top Level Domains 'TLD' You need to conform to the international standards .
com - the classic TLD for any site anywhere in the world.
.
biz for business sites
com' is heavily subscribed and it is generally a better to choose a less prestigious TLD in order to get the domain name you want.
Selling your brand It is always better if your domain name tells the visitor something about you.
If you sell cheese it's best it mentions cheese, if you're determinedly local, then the name of your locality will help.
Think as you do when undertaking a search on the internet and are confronted with a dozen or so site names: what catches your attention?.
Try to pick something memorable.
Almost all single English words are already registered - 'cheese.
com' is unlikely to be available - so go for a compound of two or more words related to what you do or sell.
The cheese merchant of Lincoln might try lincolncheeses, or countrycheeses or countrycheesesforyou.
There's a much better chance that one of these will be available.
KEI -the Keyword Effectiveness Index The KEI is a measure of how effective a "Key Word" is for a web site.
There is no point having a keyword that no one searches for and less point having one that every site in the world uses.
SEO specialists look for a 'long tail' - a series of words that are often used in searches and served by only a few sites Run a Google search for 'key effectiveness index' and try out all your possible domain names split into their various elements.
The one with the highest KEI wins! Check your domain name availability.
Your prospective provider will have a facility to do this but failing that go to your browser and type 'whois'.
Notes
The first process, that of choosing a URL and finding an Internet Host are normally merged into one because competition has forced most internet hosts to offer a free service to help you find and appropriate URL and domain name for your business, and for a small annual fee they will 'host' your site name, whether or not it's active at the time.
So that's easy.
Your URL name ...
is an important element is your quest to get to the top of the list in Google or other search engine searches in a process known as 'Search Engine Optimisation' (SEO).
Top Level Domains 'TLD' You need to conform to the international standards .
com - the classic TLD for any site anywhere in the world.
.
biz for business sites
- .
info for informational sites, - org for nonprofit sites,
- net 'Internet-related'
- us,.
co.
uk,.
ca,.
de,.
fr or whatever your local country TLD is.
com' is heavily subscribed and it is generally a better to choose a less prestigious TLD in order to get the domain name you want.
Selling your brand It is always better if your domain name tells the visitor something about you.
If you sell cheese it's best it mentions cheese, if you're determinedly local, then the name of your locality will help.
Think as you do when undertaking a search on the internet and are confronted with a dozen or so site names: what catches your attention?.
Try to pick something memorable.
Almost all single English words are already registered - 'cheese.
com' is unlikely to be available - so go for a compound of two or more words related to what you do or sell.
The cheese merchant of Lincoln might try lincolncheeses, or countrycheeses or countrycheesesforyou.
There's a much better chance that one of these will be available.
KEI -the Keyword Effectiveness Index The KEI is a measure of how effective a "Key Word" is for a web site.
There is no point having a keyword that no one searches for and less point having one that every site in the world uses.
SEO specialists look for a 'long tail' - a series of words that are often used in searches and served by only a few sites Run a Google search for 'key effectiveness index' and try out all your possible domain names split into their various elements.
The one with the highest KEI wins! Check your domain name availability.
Your prospective provider will have a facility to do this but failing that go to your browser and type 'whois'.
Notes
- Virtually all the worth-while.
com domains have already been taken! - A country TLD like.
co.
uk is a great way to target those people living in that country - There is no point having a website if no one ever visits it.
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