Chapter 6
Setting Up Your Website
By now, you know which market or niche you want to get into and you know there is a large enough market out there to be profitable. So the next step is to reach all those people who are anxious to hear your message.
Without spending thousands of dollars in advertising the most cost effective way to reach an audience is through a blog and a website. You will communicate with others through the written word.
Most people respond by saying, “But I’m not a writer.”
Everyone’s a writer. All you have to do is write down what you would say to someone who is standing right next to you. Really. It is that simple.
With grammar and spell check it makes it even easier than ever to communicate with others. Besides, once you start writing on purpose, you will improve your skill quickly. Also, you will start paying attention to other bloggers’ articles and learn from them. I will talk more about the kinds of things you can include in your blogs at a later lesson. (Hint – some don’t include any writing at all)
Let’s talk about technology
In just a bit I’m going to be talking about setting up your website. Some of you may already be familiar with this process and some may not. I am going to assume everyone is a beginner so I don’t leave anyone confused.
I was born a long time ago; in the days before the internet. At a time when phones were connected to a wall and had a rotary dial. And your TV only had 3 channels. Yes, I am that old.
What I am trying to say is that technology frustrates the heck out of me. And if you feel the same way, don’t fret because there is plenty of help around. Plus advances in technology now make it even easier than ever to benefit from and use. Most of it is simply reading instructions; and pointing and clicking.
I do not recommend spending a lot of money on your first website.
Notice I said, ‘first’ website. Your website is going to change and grow as you and your business change and grow. (I am on my third version for the same business)
One of the advantages of doing business online is that you can grow, change and adapt quickly and without a lot of expense.
Really, all you need to get started is a nice looking home page that displays your content and an opt-in box that offers your ‘lead magnet’ (See Chapter 9) to collect email addresses.
If you really wanted to start on a budget you could use your Facebook page with a listing to all your articles. You can even put your opt-in box on your Facebook page.
Here are several ways to approach your website technology needs:
How you tackle your technology needs will be determined by your comfort level and your pocketbook. All the technology you are going to need in the beginning is relatively easy to use and, either free or very inexpensive.
Option number 1:
If you would like some assistance with technology you can hire a freelancer to assist you. Here are some suggestions:
1. Contact a local college or tech school and ask them if you can post an ad for some tech help.
2. Search and/or place an ad on Craigslist. Just make sure you check references in advance.
3. Go to one of these websites: www.elance.com or www.odesk.com. They are both excellent sites for finding freelance technology help at a great rate.
Option number 2:
Everything I am going to recommend to you has on-line and/or video tutorials to walk you through every step of the process. So if you don’t want to spend any money at all on technology help, you can do everything yourself. (At least at this stage). There are no technical skills required. Just the patience to read and follow directions.
If money is very tight (trust me, I have been there) and you would like to get a site up and running yourself at no cost, here are 2 recommendations:
First recommendation:
You can set up a free WordPress website and even a free domain name. (However, the free domain name will not be transferable in the future because it will be a WordPress site. Meaning, instead of looking like this: www.yourname.com, it will look like this: www.yourname.wordpress.com. It can only be used on their site. You can’t transfer it in the future. You can also set up a free WordPress site with your own domain name but it will cost a few bucks extra.
Go to WordPress.com, read over their tutorials and set up your own site. You can also find a ton of WordPress tutorials on YouTube if you need them.
Second recommendation:
You can set up a free website and blog at www.weebly.com. This is a very easy to use free site. (You can upgrade for only $4 a month if you’d like).
Go to their website and click on the Menu button in the upper left hand corner. Start with “Features” and look around. It also lets you publish blogs. You can even register your Domain name through them which means you do not have to transfer the name to another site. (Please note: I am not an affiliate of Weebly and receive no compensation for referring them)
Other free website options:
Both of these options are worth investigating. See which one you are most comfortable with. Go online to get recent reviews.
Please note: Just because a resource is not mentioned in this guide does NOT mean it is not a valuable resource. It just means I am not familiar with it. There are so many; plus new resources added all the time; it would be impossible for me to be familiar with all of them.
As I mentioned, the best thing to do is go online and seek out reviews and do a little research.