Writing is the Key
One thing I learned the hard way at my first attempt in website building is to get my initial writing done in the site categories BEFORE I actually build and publish the site. Content is king, along with SEO and keywords. This is just my personal opinion, but once a site is published and being indexed, Google is ranking it by relevant content and keywords. So my first time around the block, I had "sort of" a site up and running, and it was being indexed and ranked by Google.
However, my content was scarce and of poor quality. In addition, I was still tweaking my site layout, widgets, and ad spots. So my advice to newcomers is not to rush into building a site and publishing it until you have at least 6 to 10 articles written that you can plug into your site immediately. Do the research on your site theme, check out your competition to see what they're writing about. Notice their Google ranking, keywords, and how well they're interacting with their visitors. Are they taking polls, asking questons that ellicit responses and comments, etc.? But equally as important, get your basic site layout done before publishing it. This way you won't have to spend unnecessary time tweaking every little thing that's not perfect.
Your site doesn't have to be perfect when it's published, but at all costs, avoid having to do massive changes when it's newly published. Make a list of areas and widgets you will need on your site, and draw out what you want your landing page to look like if necessary. Then choose the template that already contains most, if not all, of those elements. Get your expert content up with keywords that correspond to the traffic you need to attract. Blog about your topic weekly, and keep the content coming!
Recent Comments
2
I think this is good advice to think about your site structure a little at the start and to have a few articles under your belt with which to create it. Thanks for sharing. All the best, Gail
It sounds like you have some pretty good experience going in here at WA!