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Your website as a 'Jigsaw Puzzle': All the pieces are equally important in assembling the Big Picture.
If you've ever put a jigsaw puzzle together you know it won't work without all the pieces, and you know that the pieces all have to be put in the right place.
I spent about six hours last Wednesday trying to show a friend of a friend how to build a website to advertise his business and sell his stuff. I'm still annoyed with him...
Annoyed because he simply could not understand that there is no easy, all-encompassing, simple answer to the question "What is the most important thing, and what do I do first, second, third, etc?".
A successful website is the total of all it's parts. There really isn't one part that is much more important than another part, and some of the most vital parts are never seen by a visitor.
The way I see it, a successful website has four main parts:
* Good Content
* Good Design
* Good Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
* Effective Advertising
...and each of those main parts could be broken into a number of important secondary pieces.
If a webmaster leaves out just one of the four parts, his website will never gather a large following, and if he leaves out many of the secondary pieces from a part then he will be leaving money on the table... and he may never even know it.
To continue with the puzzle analogy
* First you put the frame together - that's the good design...
* Then fill in the center - that would be the good content...
* You assemble pieces in a particular way - that's good SEO...
* You show all your friends - that's the advertising.
This is the critical 'Big Picture' concept that my friends friend (and some webmasters) miss: that the whole is greater than the sum of all of the parts.
Each little piece, all by itself, may not seem all that important... but when you assemble them all together, you create the successful website that you want.
Building a successful website is no more complicated than putting all the essential elements together.... one piece at a time, just like a jigsaw puzzle.
This is just one article, I can give you brief overview of the pieces, but I don't have room to go into full details for each piece.
Good Content pieces:
Content is all about giving the surfer the information that he is looking for...
* Articles, reviews, descriptions, etc.
* New information on a regular basis.
* Lots of information - the more the better.
* Staying focused on the main website theme.
* Using 'Sticky' features, if applicable to the theme.
Good design pieces:
There are as many good designs as there are website topics, so webmasters can express their creativity while still following all of the good design conventions...
* A good internal search feature.
* Feedback and/or contact forms.
* Pages that 'work' in all browsers.
* Proper syntax, good grammar and spelling.
* A pleasant, but non-distracting, overall design.
* All internal links and features working properly.
* Pages that load fast, even on a slower connection.
* An easy-to-use shopping cart system, if applicable.
* A good sitemap, one that people and 'bots can use.
* Text that is easy to read on pages that are easy to scan.
* Navigation that is easy to use and the same on all pages.
Good SEO pieces:
Optimizing for search engines has become big business, but if you can't hire a SEO team, following these tips will help a lot...
* Using a robot.txt file to direct the 'bots.
* Using keywords for page and file names.
* Getting inbound links from related websites.
* Using keywords in your internal website links.
* Using keywords naturally in the text on your pages.
* Using keywords in your headline tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
* Using keywords in your title tags and META descriptions.
* Using keywords inside <strong></strong> and <em></em> tags.
Effective Advertising pieces:
Not all types of advertising will work for all types of websites, but webmasters should still advertise as much as they can afford...
* Links on other websites.
* Offline advertising options.
* Online classified ad websites.
* Use of Blogs, forums and RSS.
* Use of a good 'Tell-A-Friend' feature.
* Your newsletter - your opt-in list is gold.
* Pay-per-click ads at Google, Yahoo & others.
* Other newsletters, buy ad space or swap ads.
* Write articles for re-printing with your URL in the bio.
* Press releases, especially if you are looking for local customers.
Yes, that's a lot of different stuff, so you can see that building a successful website is not something that happens in a week, or even a month. But I can tell you that if you take the time and make the effort to put all the different pieces together then it will work.
There's nothing new or secret here! Odds are that you've read about these parts and pieces in newsletters, ebooks and other articles so many times that you are overlooking a fundamental truth: All these little bits are essential to the big picture!
Even so,
Pay attention! It is the sum total of all of these "little things" that creates the big picture, don't overlook these important parts in a futile search for some "magic bullet" or "Secret to Success".
This is the real world, not Hollywood, and there aren't any magic tricks... only determination and the willingness to learn what works and apply it to your own situation.
Make the effort to learn, take the time to do it right, pay attention to details and your website will be successful....
and that makes it all worthwhile.
To Your Success!
Tim
Related Tools & Resources:
Cross-Browser Testing Tools - Online and downloadable browser simulators for testing your designs
Cross-browser strategies for CSS
Using Press Releases for free advertising and publicity
How to Write Articles to Promote Your Website
FreeFind - good free internal search option.
Free Online Site Map Generator
Add-Free Tell-A-Friend Form - No annoying ads in this Tell-A-Friend
Online Modules and Content Management Tools
By Tim Brown © 2006. About the author: Tim is the webmaster at http://BLT-Web.com, where webmasters can find free tools, advice, tips and other useful resources designed to help them build a successful website.
Webmasters & Publishers:
You are welcome to publish this article free of charge on your website, newsletter, or e-zine, provided:
* You don't change the article in any way and all links remain intact.
* You include the entire article, including the "about the author" box.
* In doing so you agree to indemnify the author, blt-web.com and its directors, officers, employees and agents from and against all losses, claims, damages and liabilities which arise out of its use
* I would appreciate it if you send a courtesy copy of your publication to
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