Websites - Beginners guide

Eric Frei

When you been around a while and know like the back of your hand the gimmick's, the "experts", the bullshit, the free sites and the pro-built you get a pretty good idea of what is best.

I'm not full of shit either, most sites I build including many of mine rank #1 in Google if not worldwide then certainly Australia wide or state wide etc.

So you want a website.

Type into google free website you'll get heaps.... so what the heck do we need all those website and SEO people for? Heck, Godaddy etc will give you a domain plus free sitebuilder plus free hosting for like $50!

But not all things are what they seem.

Once you get involved you'll here terms like, "Your FTP access details", sitemap, htaccess, robots.txt file, css, apache etc.

Some people have asked me to help their proforma generated sites ... I cannot. Why? Because, no ftp access, template and java driven sites on subdomain hosting etc.



What am I on about? Simple. It's called renting versus owning, getting something for nothing or close to it.

Some Golden rules of mine.

1/ The website name (Welcome to YOURWEBSITESNAME.COM) does not have to be your business name.

2/ Whilst graphics can be impressive and web designers love them Google doesn't give a shit.

3/ Always buy your domain name and own it, it's your cyberspace real estate.

4/ Once you own your domain name then buy hosting, avoid a combo as it can get sticky to keep the domain but go elsewhere due to poor service or a site that continually crashes. If you own the domain then you can jump host to host whenever you please, when your host SUCKS you can simply "FTP" all your site's files to a new host and switch the DNS, your old host is toast.

Generally in this day you get a .com for around $10 a year, whooptydoo, if you have to scab out on that then get a life.

Generally in this day and age you get reasonable hosting for around $100 a year, if you have to scab out on that then see a shrink.

Generally in this day and age you can build a site from some template software for nothing, and it will look OK. It might take you 20 hours though but like painting your house just because you can buy paint and a roller it doesn't make a tradesman painter worth nothing, time is money.

You can pay a website builder but be careful, ask for a limit and don't get too wrapped up in what I call "tinsel + bells and whistles".

If you've now got to the point you have a domain and a website hosted somewhere but no traffic.... HELLO.

You now are at SEO point in life.

You need to have the site "tweaked" to perform in Google.

Well, you can sit and scan the net for info, have a go or get an expert.

Again, experts will charge.

What's time worth for keyword research? What is the best domain name? How do I beat that site in front of me? Why isn't my site #1?

And if you think you can flick some-one $50 or a PM/email to get the answers ... see a shrink.

I get asked all the time, deep questions, shallow pockets.

If I know what it takes to be #1 and not one pro or otherwise has knocked me off in 3 years then why the hell would I tell you how to do it when my livelihood depends on it?

If gaining that knowledge came from spending lots of money and time then why would I give it away?

Most SEO experts will protect their competitive clients from such, I can SEO a tree site in Melbourne but not one in Brisbane that's for sure. In fact that's a free bit of advice, I find it crazy that people way outside of a service area compete for it in Google, that's called your geo-target, or lack of. Target your site to your geographical area.

Threads open, go for it.

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Bruce Hopf

Awesome Ekka. Thanks for the Step in the Right Direction. Bruce.

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clementine

Yep! Good info, I'm struggling though, can't get ftp access anymore, what am Ito do?

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Eric Frei

You need to get the codes again from your host.

You need the username and password.

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