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Keys to Developing a Successful Website for Your Startup

Every new business needs a website, and most entrepreneurs will be designing and optimizing their first site for themselves. Driving traffic to your site is a slow process, but steady, dedicated attention to search engine optimization techniques will eventually pay off.

Avoid using a boilerplate format for your business website. The look of your site reflects your company image, and you don't want the first impression to be negative. Do not settle for a website through a "free" web hosting service. Not only will your message be lost in all of the advertising the host company will place on your site, but the templates they offer are the tent cities of the internet. The templates offered by even the best web-hosting sites are not great either...basically the trailer parks of the internet. Instead, find an easy-to-use website creator program and take the time to put together a site that reflects the image and culture of your company. For most startups, putting together a decent website will likely take a full week of work (unless you are a master graphic artist).

Your homepage should present the basics of your business, but most experts emphasize that it must also be "sticky" -- it should encourage potential customers to stick around and click through additional pages of your site. Be sure you provide good content for your visitors. The more impressive they find your site, the more likely they are to come back and pass your web address on. Whatever business you are in, there is plenty of content you can provide your customers. If you are having trouble developing content, check out the sites of your competitors to see what they offer. Then, try to do better. Of course, you don't want to give away all of your secrets, but for whatever reason, consumers these days expect some free information before they even think about buying.

Be sure to incorporate basic SEO techniques as you build your site. Keyword placement, meta-tags, internal links, and other simple tools can go a long way in getting your site ranked in the search engines. It can take months to show up at all, but by setting off on the right track you will reduce the time and increase the value of your website once it does hit the search engine results. Also begin working on getting links back to your site from other sites. The search engine companies put a high value on quality linkbacks. Don't waste your money purchasing linkbacks -- as soon as the search engine companies identify those scams, the links stop counting AND your website could be penalized for trying to cheat the system.

Once your site is up and running, use the available tools to analyze how well your optimization efforts are working. Check out WebsiteGrader.com for a free evaluation of your site. In addition to offering tips on how to improve your grade, this program allows you to compare your site with your competitor's results. Use the analysis to make the changes they recommend, and run the WebsiteGrader again. Repeat until your site earns an acceptable grade -- in line with or above that of your competitors.

Developing an effective website for your business will take time. Most likely, you will want to make major changes several times during the early stages of your venture. A good website creator software will ease the process, and using established tools to see how you are progressing will provide clearer guideposts to follow for upgrades and improvements.

About the Author

LaunchX.com is dedicated to training entrepreneurs to turn their good ideas into great companies. The LaunchX System provides step-by-step education in the mindset and skill set entrepreneurs need to succeed. Our program includes intensive seminar training, key business software, and specialized workbooks that teach you the fundamental skills you need to achieve your financial and worklife goals through entrepreneurship. Register today for our introductory course and see what LaunchX can do for you!