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Founder
Joined: 09 Mar 2002
Posts: 43413
Location: Columbia, SC
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 Last week I covered the general idea of how long it takes to build and create a successful website online; (View Success on the Web - Part I). Quite a few people have since contacted me off the site or through private message (PM) and asked if I would go into more depth on each of the major steps in creating a successful site. So, here we continued my short series on Success on the Web - Part II: Initial Content & Selecting Domains.
So what's the first step in building a webpage; at least beyond deciding to build it at all (read Part I of this series)? Well the answer might surprise you. Many people immediately go out and register their new spiffy domain with a registrar and then start telling folks about it; mind you, nothing exists on the site. Big mistake, huge mistake... don't do this. When you're site goes live, it's like stepping out in public, and unless you're a nudist, well, you get my drift (no pun intended). The first step to building a website is, you guessed it, to actually BUILD the website. Before you even think about domains, design your site, fill it with as much content as you can, and act as if it's been live for months. Putting as much detail and content into your site prior to your launch will help you in more ways than can even be mentioned. And here's why. There are spider-bots all over the internet... zipping through and following links and storing as much information as they can about the web, reporting it back to their leaders like the tech bots they are. We know them as Google, Yahoo, MSN,  Altavista, and Ask Jeeves to name a few. While the chances of any bot finding your site right off the bat are rare, I wouldn't suggest taking the chance. Many people mistakenly register their domain, spread the word about it (as I mentioned above), and even go so far as to promote it to the search engines first hand, asking them for a visit on their next go-round. All the while, they are sending people, bots, and other traffic to a site that says "Bob's Website - Under Construction." Well, whoop-tee-doo. Google et al will proverbially 'laugh' at your site; there's nothing there, and for all "they" know, there never will be. Don't make this mistake. Build your website, THEN buy the domain. That way, when your site goes live, all your content is in place and when the bots and people come, your fully functioning site and all it's content is right there staring them in the face. And search engine bots love rich content.
Now onto the other step, the purchasing of the domain itself. During the late 1990's and even into the early 2000's there was the idea that "if I describe my site in my url, people will remember it better." Well, that might have been the trend then, but so were slap on bracelets and giant mobile phones; things change. No one wants to type in www.Bobstacklebaitandfishinglures.com. Huh?  Exactly. If you're choosing a domain, take a lesson from the big leagues, eBay.com, Google.com, Yahoo.com, Amazon.com, Expedia.com, pronetworks.org... ok, so I like to give ourselves credit too, but you get the point. Less is more. Some still argue that "keywords" in your domain help with your PR (Page Rank), but this is less of a factor than many will admit. You'd be better off choosing a good and short one-word catchy domain rather than a descriptive and lengthy one. Instead of www.Bobstacklebaitandfishinglures.com, just www.BobsFishing.com would do the trick. Don't use 10 letters when 5 will do. And the last thing to consider when purchasing your domain is to make sure you register it with a host that will allow your site to index (meaning you can index the directories as such; www.pronetworks.org/directory/file.htm). Today many of these "forwarding service" domain holders have popped up that allow you to forward a domain name's traffic to another host, many of them free. Don't do this, it's the worst thing you can possibly do when attempting to get your site into the engines. Not to mention it really can confuse people when they go to one URL and end up at another.
Next time (Success on the Web - Part III) I'll cover a few more big steps... choosing a host, why simple is better than high tech, and why content remains king.
Until then, happy building...
 
John C. Derrick
Chairman of the Board
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