One of the biggest mistakes I made was trying to do everything myself. Now what I mean by that is when I started I had to learn how to build and setup a website. I had to learn PHP so I could build a script to run my website using a database. Then I had to learn marketing, website promotion, search engine optimization, link building, bookkeeping, and so on.

I learned by trial and error. Even though money was tight at the time I would have saved a lot of time by buying a pre-made business website. I could have concentrated my time on more important aspects of my business like getting traffic to my website.

This is exactly what I did when I started my second online business. Although it cost me more in the beginning my second business started making money the second week after I launched it. In a few months it passed up the first business I worked so hard on. I knew I was on to something.

I started buying and promoting pre-made web businesses and spent my time on promoting them. The results were pretty impressive. I now own and run over 60 web based businesses.

My point is you have to decide how to spend your time. What will pay off the most in the long run. Trying to learn all aspects of running an Internet business is too time consuming and you will end up knowing a little bit about everything and master of nothing. The day I decided to stop trying to do everything and concentrate on one thing was one of the best decisions I ever made.

This bring me to another point I am going to write another article on but I will mention it quick here. If you buy a website or start your own you will never make any money if you just let it sit there. You have to actively promote it. This is how you should spend your time. A web business is worthless if you never get any visitors to it.

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see. People will buy an Internet based business and they might submit it to the search engines then they sit back and wait for the money to start rolling in. Of course it never does. Eventually they give up. They should have learned how to promote there site and concentrated on that.

So in review, decide on one thing and concentrate on that one thing only. Become an expert at it. Do what you are good at and let the professionals do the rest. If you want to start your own Internet based business buy a website with a script already installed and spend your time driving traffic to it. You will be so far ahead of the game you may even impress yourself!

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How does a search engine work? Two things figure greatly in making search engines work effectively and efficiently: the electronic search spider and the sitemap.

What is a sitemap? A sitemap is basically a page or pages that serve/s as a directory by listing all the links to all documents and files found in a website. It is not merely a random listing of links, but organized in such a way that it gives the web user an idea of how all the information that can be found in the site fits into an outline or framework. It is like viewing the table of contents of a book, or viewing the “concept map” of the site’s content.

What is a spider? In SEO language, spider is not an animal found in your closet. This electronic search spider is actually a bot which collects data and copies content to be stored in the search engine’s database when keywords are fed into the search dialogue box. The spider reads the content of the site and sends another bot to follow the links and copy the content contained in them.

What purpose does a sitemap serve? A sitemap like any other map gives directions to a navigator. It primarily targets search engine spiders so that they are properly directed to your site and to the links where keywords entered in the search dialogue appears. As such, it is actually a useful tool in search engine optimization. A well organized site map would guide the spider to find the information it needs when keywords are entered during a search operation.

As an additional beneficial consequence, sitemaps have proven to be useful even to web users. Since a sitemap displays all the links to information found in a website, it helps the user to search for a particular topic in mind. Many users also use the sitemap to navigate between pages in a site.

What are the benefits of having a sitemap for my website?

1. No page would be left unturned Going back to the purpose of sitemaps, having one would mean faster and easier tracking and crawling of spiders all over your site. As a result, search engines would surely get to the view all the pages of your site and not just the pages containing random keywords.

2. Easier navigation for site visitors Once a web user has accessed your sitemap, they need not go back to the search engine page to look for what they need. If what they are looking for is in your site, then they would have an easier and faster way of locating it.

3. Potential advertising value If it so happens that a relevant product or service company reaches your site, then it would be easier for them to see how best they can position themselves in the different pages of your site as a paid page advertisement.

4. Encourage greater traffic to your site If your company website has a sitemap then potential buyers would have an easier time in accessing your latest products and services. Moreover, they would not miss out on any product that might be off future interest to them since the sitemap would display all information found the site.

How are sitemaps formatted? There are at least three major types of sitemaps: indexed, full categorical, and restricted categorical. An indexed site map appears as an alphabetical listing or directory. A full categorical map displays all links classified into categories; while a restricted categorical sitemap displays all links listed in a chosen category at a time. The full and restricted sitemaps are very similar except that the former displays all links in all categories all at once in a page, while the latter focuses only the links under the selected category for easier and less eye-straining viewing.

The most widely used format is the full categorical. Based on the results of a 1999 SURL study on sitemap designs, the full categorical format is most preferred by users since it is easier to search for topics within the site and it allows easier comparison between and among categories.

Some tips in setting up your sitemap

1. Link the sitemap only to your homepage. This is to ensure that the spider starts searching from your homepage down to all the pages listed in your sitemap. In this way, no page would be left unvisited by the spider.

2. Do not go beyond 30 pages for a sitemap. Large websites having 50 or more pages should not go beyond 30 since this adds more pages to the site, and might make search engines think that the sitemap is a link farm. Also, this prevents overcrowding of links which could be tiring to view.

3. Check all the links listed in your sitemap. It can be discouraging when you click on a link only to find out that nothing is displayed. Test your sitemap; click all links in every page to make sure that all links are indeed linked to the right page.

4. Give keyword-rich titles to sitemap links. Keyword-rich titles give your site more advantage in being searched properly under the right category. But be sure to have this sitemap link linked back to the sitemap (e.g. back to sitemap).

5. Provide a short description for the links in the sitemap. Doing so would give readers a better idea of what to find in the link and save them time on surfing.

6. Be consistent in designing your sitemap with the other pages of the site. Employ a recurring design and the same HTML template for all pages to establish identity and build character to your website.

Now that you have learned basic things about sitemaps, maybe it is time for you to build one for your site.

To build your first online small business web site you have several options. You could hire a professional web design company to build it for you. I have had several problems with this. First of all who do you hire out of the thousands of companies out there? Are they trustworthy? Will they deliver on time? will the site look the way you want it or the way they want it? Will they make changes for you in a timely manner and for the same price? These are some of the problems you will run into. Not to mention the high cost of hiring a professional company.

Another way to go about it is to hire someone from a freelance website. You place an add for the job you want done and people bid on it. This option is a lot cheaper than going with a professional company. But again you have no idea who you are hiring and what you are going to get.

Then there is the option of building it all your self. This presents several problems. If your site is data base driven do you know how to set it up? Will you be using a script written by someone else and will it work with your website without crashing or giving you errors? Believe me I have spent many hours trying to get several scripts to work with each other. All it takes is the simplest typo to bring your site down. I spent an entire day once trying to figure out what I did wrong. I finally found out that I had typed a , instead of a period.

Then we come to my favorite option and that is to buy a business web site that is already done. You will know what it will look like. You know it will work. You will know the final cost. You will know that everything will work with each other. Doing it this way is the most cost effective way. Once your site is up and running you can always change the look of it. A big piece of advice here is to always back up everything before making any changes. That way if you make a mistake you can always upload your backup copy and start over.

You have to decide on how much your time is worth. I would rather spend my time getting business to by website than working on the design. Believe me it is much more profitable that way.

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