How To Set Up A Website

Getting Started

Here's how to set up a website to make money. Why you need a website and a professional approach, plus the skills and tools you'll need.

Make Money From Home - Why You Need A Website

What is the best way to make money from home using the internet? Wherever you look there are scams and dodgy schemes that might make you a few dollars if you’re lucky, (and mostly you won’t be) but I really believe that the only way to earn a decent, sustainable income online is to build a website based on a tightly-focused theme.

Google (and the other search engines will always try to follow their lead) pride themselves on giving their searchers exactly the information they are looking for. If you can provide relevant, unique information in your niche then you will get a top search engine ranking and you will get the visitors.

Through your great website content you have on your website you ‘warm up’ or ‘presell’ your visitors, so that when you recommend a product or service they are ready to click on your affiliate links and buy.

A website is the only way you can do this effectively and with long-term sustainability. And these days, you can set up a website quickly, cheaply and easily. In fact, they probably have the lowest startup costs of any business.

A Successful Home Business - Why You Need A Professional Approach

To set up and run a successful home business, you need to approach it in a professional way. It doesn’t matter what level you want to get to, whether you want to earn money part time to supplement your regular income, or you want to grow a full time internet based business.

Like it or not, it’s a competitive world out there, whether you’re trying to find and/or keep your 9 to 5 job or run any kind of business, online or off. If you approach making money on the internet in an unplanned, ‘let’s-just-see-what-happens’ way then you won’t do well.

But there’s an upside to this… by setting up a home internet business in a simple, step-by-step way you will already be ahead of many, many others.

But the core principle behind any successful business, full or part-time, online or off, is that you add value to whatever it is you’re doing. A carpenter will add value to the wood by using his skills to turn it into a cabinet. A storekeeper will add value to the goods he sells by providing advice to his customers and a welcoming, convenient environment in which they can buy.

So if you build a website focused on a niche market that interests you, what are you bringing to the table? What value are you adding?

Well, you’re providing useful, relevant information about the subject. You’re making recommendations based on your own experiences. You’re offering your take on the topic, in your voice. You are an expert.

This is what you put in, and if you do it with integrity then it will show and you won’t have to worry about pushing for sales because they will follow automatically.

Tips To Make Money Online - What Skills Will I Need?

Perhaps this section should have been entitled: Tips To Make Money Online - What Skills don’t I need?

• You don’t need to be a computer geek. Things like buying a domain name for your website (your site.com, .net, .info or whatever) and hosting it on the web are really easy, and I’ll be guiding you through every step of the process.

• You don’t need to be a website design wizard. With the website management software I use and recommend you can have a great design for your site on the web very quickly.

• You don’t have to panic about finding a suitable niche if you don’t have an idea for one already, or finding keywords to base your content on. There are some excellent free tools available which will help you with this. I’ll show you what they are and how to use them.

• You don’t have to be a salesman. Your information website isn’t going to be about the hardsell. It won’t be necessary. You’ll just be making recommendations for the products or services you promote.

• You don’t even have to be a writer. There are ways to get unique content for your website even if the thought of penning a paragraph or two brings you out in a cold sweat!

Easy Ways To Make Money Online…?

Are there easy ways to make money online? That depends. If you mean, are there quick ways to make money online without putting in any time or effort then I’m afraid the answer is no. At least, there aren’t any that I’ve found so far.

But… if you put the work into your website in the early stages then you’ll find it builds a momentum of its own, and that’s when you really start to reap the rewards. This is what is meant by passive income. It’s when your website is earning you money 24/7 with minimum input from you.

The groundwork takes time, planning, patience and persistence, though. You’ll most likely be discouraged by early results, but you just have to keep going, following the process which I’ll set out for you. Remember, the extra mile is never crowded. Stay with it and you will succeed!

Money Making Websites - What Basic Tools Do I Need?

The good news is, you don’t need many tools to build money making websites and the ones you do need are either free or fairly inexpensive.

• You will need to find a company to host your website on the internet. There are several good ones, and they cost around $7 per month. For this, you will usually get unlimited domains and all the support you will need. I use and recommend Blue Host.

• You will need to buy a domain name - that’s the name of your website, such as your website.com - and you can get them through your hosting company’s control panel. This costs around $10 per year per domain name.

• You will need some good website design software. This is the most expensive item, but it’s well worth it for the time and effort it saves you. The software I use myself and recommend is XSite Pro, which is currently priced at a one-off payment of $197.

These are the only things you need to pay for to get up and running. All the other tools you need, for keyword research for example, are free such as the Google Keyword Research Tool and SEOQuake. 

How To Build A Website For Income - An Overview Of The Steps To Take 

• Find a niche - in other words, what is the theme of your website going to be?

• Do keyword research. Are there enough keywords with enough search volume and relatively low competition to make this theme viable?

• Will you be able to ‘monetize’ your website?

• If it all looks good, sign up for web hosting and register your chosen domain name.

• Start building your website!

• Continue to ‘flesh out’ your website with unique, informative, valuable content.

• Promote your website. Instigate a link building program.

• Make money from your website! Look at affiliate products to promote, the Google Adsense program or marketing your own product such as an ebook.

BACK TO TOP OF PAGE

From 'How To Set Up A Website' to 'Build A Website Buzz Home'