Four Steps to Website Success

There are many websites on the Web, but not all are successfully receiving traffic or making money for their webmasters. We'll tell you the four steps you can follow to make sure your website isn't one that falls into the unknown Internet abyss of web site failures.

1- Register a Domain Name
The very first step to take is to register a domain name. This name is how your website will be known and listed on the World Wide Web. It will be your URL, or web address. An example of a domain name is www.mysite.com. Dot com is the most common domain extension, but there are many others to choose from. Using hyphens and alternate spellings in a domain name can help if the .com is already taken. We like to register our domains through GoDaddy. They offer the cheapest prices for domain names and are always having a good sale. Where domain names are concerned cheaper is better. Owning a domain name doesn’t mean you have a website, it is just the name. To have a website you also need a web host.

2- Find a Host
Once you have a domain you can find a host for your domain. In order to have your website visible to the world, you pay someone else, a web host, to store your site files on a fast server that makes them available 24/7 to site visitors. There are millions of web hosts to choose from with varied pricing and features. We recommend iPowerWeb as a reliable web host to start with. They are competitively priced ($7.95 per month) and offer all the tools webmasters need to get a web site up and running smoothly. iPowerWeb will register a domain name for free when you sign up for hosting.

3- Join Affiliate Networks
Now that you have your website up and running you are ready to sign up for affiliate programs so you can make money with your website. The best place to start is to sign up with an affiliate network, like Commission Junction, that can give you access to many affiliate programs. Commission Junction will track which merchants you are an affiliate for, the traffic you send merchants, the sales you make, and how much you will be paid. They send out one monthly check for all the revenue you have received from your affiliated merchants. Using an affiliate network is much easier than signing up, tracking sales, and receiving payment from multiple different sources.

4- Increase Your Website Traffic
Unfortunately, your website will never make money or be a success if no one sees it. Once you’ve registered a domain name, signed up free a web host, and added some affiliates to your website, you need to begin soliciting traffic, or visitors, to your website. Traffic to your website can come in many forms: word of mouth, printed advertisement, email campaigns, other web sites, and search engines are the main sources. Search engines offer the highest possibilities of traffic if your website places well for a desired key word. We suggest reading the Search Engine Bible to help you figure out the complex game of search engine optimization.

It is no secret that these four steps can take time and a lot of hard work. But if you take advantage of the resources available and proceed in the prescribed order your website can be a success.

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