Take some time to surf the net for sites that provide similar services. Find a few that you like. Try to articulate why you like them. Come up with the 'look and feel' you want your site to have.....serious, playful, casual, formal.... whatever.

Make an outline of what you want the site to contain. This will determine the number of pages and their heirarchy.

Something like this:

• Home

• About

• What

• Where

• Contact

You will also need to compile following:

• Images...in digital format Do you have a digital camera? I do. I can take some pictures for you if necessary. I am not a professional photographer. We can also purchase images online from professional photographers.

•Text.... Do you already have brochures, flyers, etc? Gather them together. We can probably use some of the same text for the site. You can revise and update if necessary. Do you need a logo?

•Description...25 words or less of your business. Write a "just the facts" description of your site. The description should make use of the key terms that the search engines will target.

•Keywords...consider researching what are the best descriptive words for your site, rather than guessing. The What People Search For page has a list of resources that will allow you to do such research. Search engines use these words to find your site when people go looking for your service. It's a list that is hidden in the code of the page. Choose keywords that can be reflected in the page's content. In other words, the keywords need to appear in the content of the pages. Concentrate on fewer keywords as crawlers only look at the first ten or so.

Keywords need to appear at the top of the page (headline,first paragraph and title). Consider "expanding" your text references, where appropriate. For example, a stamp-collecting page might have references to "collectors" and "collecting." Expanding these references to "stamp collectors" and "stamp collecting" reinforces your strategic keywords in a legitimate and natural manner. Your page really is about stamp collecting, but edits may have reduced its relevancy unintentionally.

The name of the company is less important than the description and keywords unless it is a "universally" recognized name like Coca Cola or something.

The names in the description and keywords need to appear within the text of the page several times, which can lead to awkward writing, but it helps to get recognized.

•Links...The absolute best way to get recognized is to build links to your web site. You want links from good web pages that are related to the topics you want to be found for. People also find sites through word-of-mouth, traditional advertising, the traditional media, newsgroup postings, web directories and links from other sites.

•Good Titles...Failure to put target keywords in the title of a page is the main reason why perfectly relevant web pages may be poorly ranked. The title of each page should use the keywords.

•Domain Name... I can help with this, or maybe you have one already.

• Host...This is the computer that serves your pages to the viewer. There is a monthly charge for this service. The cost varies. You need a host with a good tech support team.

Your website will include the following:
• have an intuitive navigation system;
• have optimized graphics that load quickly;
• email addresses of your choosing;
• have a clean and an elegant design.

Also available:
• domain name registration;
• search engines submission;
• search engine optimization;
• monthly maintenance;
• as much "hand holding" as you need.

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