Build your own Website!

Are you curious about how to build your own website?

In August 2006 I started this website. It was just an idea of something I love to do (cooking with kids). It has really gone better than I could have imagined. Within the first 6 months the cost of my webhosting and building company, SBI!, was paid for. A few months later I was able to renew for another year. Now that my site is over a year old, I'm making enough in one month to pay the annual fee. I love the fact that while I was having a busy summer my website kept making money and growing on its own.

My second website http://www.kids-sewing-projects.com is well on its way and #3, http://www.kids-meal-ideas.html is coming out of the woodwork.

I'd like to share what I have and am still learning about building a website. I've tried to include some of the questions and thoughts I had when I was first thinking of building a website and trying to find the answers.

Debbie Madson

1. Find your passion!

To build your own website you have to really enjoy your topic. Think of something you love to do, could talk about a lot or something you think about often. A topic you are passionate about A passion is just something you really enjoy talking about, doing or living. For many people it might be a craft hobby or a physical sport, but don't forget part time interests such as computers or dog shows. Many people have a small business and build a website to help spread the word globally and increase sales locally.

Here are five questions to help you understand what your
passions or interests are...Pull out paper and a pen and jot
down your answers.

If you have two hours free without interruptions what
would you spend the time doing? Think beyond housework or errands and try to imagine something that you would love to have more time doing.

What are your hobbies or interests?

What hobbies or sports, throughout your life, did you participate in? Think back to high school, college, 5 years or 1 year ago. Make a list.

Is there something you've wanted to learn? Now may be the
time to discover new interests you didn't know you had.

With Site Build It you will be able to do brainstorming and see how profitable or what subjects you have on your list have high demand. High demand simply means lots of people are looking for information on that subject. The other important factor of Site Build It is you will discover if there is a large supply of websites on that same subject.

You want a subject that many people are looking for but also something that doesn't have a lot of websites already out there. At least good quality information websites which is what people are looking for.

Assignment 1: Take out a piece of paper or notebook and
jot down your ideas, passions and interests.

Assignment 2: Print off this ebook.
Webbuilding Masters course

It is a big ebook but it will answer many questions you might have. Read it little by little when you have time. It is worth the effort!

2. Making Money

Once you've started your website, how do you make money to support the site and extra for you? First off it may take up to 6 months or more to start money coming in. That is important to realize. First you have to build quality content that will drive traffic to your website. Without traffic you can't make money. Without good quality content you won't have traffic. The SBI mascot is a tortoise reminding people to take things slow and steady. Keep building and building pages and information then the traffic snowball will start rolling.

One of the favorite money makers is with Google Adsense. You simply sign up with google, copy and paste the HTML code on your pages and it targets ads that may or may not have relevance to the information on that page. Someone clicks on the ads and your money starts accumulating. At the end of the month if you have reached $100 you get paid. If not it keeps adding month after month. There are other programs like this such as Yahoo! Publisher Network and a few other new and upcoming ones.

Affiliate programs are another big help in making money. There are many stores and companies that have affiliate programs. Sometimes you have to do a little research to find what will work for your website. Programs like Clickbank, Commission Junction or Share a sale have multiple stores that you can advertise for. You put the information or product for sale on your webpage and if the reader clicks through that link and buys something you get a commission. You have to experiment and see what programs you like. Some large companies like Amazon will provide great visual for your website but you may make very little money with them.

Another idea is to sell your own products. Whether they are information products such as ebooks or products you will ship to your customers you can place a shopping cart such as wahmcart.com or use paypal. Or you can also sell your products through clickbank, click2sell.eu or other egood selling companies.

Read up on selling your own egoods here.

3. Building Traffic

If you build it they won't just come -how do you drive traffic to your website?

Another favorite function of SBI for me is they do all the behind the scenes work. Each time you create a page it has to be sent to the search engines. This is how most websites get their bulk of traffic from people searching a topic and the search engines have the page listed. SBI automatically submits your pages. That is worth a lot for me because I don't have time to do a lot of tedious tasks such as this not to mention the patience!

Here is a quick run down of how the whole traffic building process works. Build content=Traffic

4. Who has the time for a website?

I have three small children ages 7,4,2 so I understand this concern. I work during nap time and after they go to bed at night. Several time periods of 15 minutes of quality work a day can make a big difference.

This is a big reason why I was sold with Site Build It. They do all the tedious tasks that I just don't want or have time to do. This leaves me with more time to do what I need to do such as writing pages and adding to my blog or sending out a newsletter.

Here are three ways I find time to build my website.

I do a lot of brainstorming during the day while I'm doing multiple other tasks.
I've gotten so I keep paper and pen handy wherever I am or go so I can jot ideas down or write when I have a brainstorm or find myself waiting.
This has really helped me so when I do sit down to my website working time I can type up those ideas and put
them together.

I keep a running to do list so that I don't get too overwhelmed. Perhaps even a step by step outline of how I'd like a page to go. I find if I am too overwhelmed that there is so much I want to do, that is when I don't get anything done. Being organized helps immensely.

I set goals each month and sometimes each week of what I want to accomplish. But try not to stress over it too much if something comes up and changes your plan.

Here is how some other mothers do it... Work at Home Moms

5. You have something to share!

You really are an expert in something, everyone is, you just have to pinpoint what that is.

Another thing about SBI I forgot to mention they have a money back guarantee!

Read why I chose SBI web hosting. (It is so much more than web hosting)

Give it a try and if you have any questions, customer service is quick and reliable.

Best Regards,