What first? It's hard sometimes to know where to start when looking at a new venture, so I will give you some pointers to what I see as the easiest way of deciding where to start (just using my own common sense).
- Understand the web
Familiarise yourself with how people use the internet, what they look for, how they click on things, and if I can give you one huge tip, spend a bit of time just searching for some of the things you like and do - so that you can see what type of results come up in the search engines. You see there is a lot of rubbish on the internet - and engines like google are only waiting for something more relevant and better quality to take its place.
- Subject area you know about
Think of a subject you know a lot about (it could be nappies, football, property, care work - anything). I always think it is nice to work on something you have a bit of a passion about.
- Research Keyword research
Take the top line word for your subject, and put it into a keyword tool (see tools here) to see what search terms people usually use around that subject. There may be more than one top line word - for example Property and House are both high words for a property investing. When you have a list of all the top searched terms under those keywords you really have a kind of site map plan - as this is what you need to build your page around. You need to know what people search to make them pages that will come up.
- Marketing style -Ways to make money online - e-marketing, shops etc
Think about how you want to make money? Are you going to try and collect a database of people? Do you just want to supply information and have advertising? Will you have a shop? For me, I normally go with the subject 1st, then the ideas for making the money fall into place during building - this of course is after several years of experience. For tips on making money online go here
- Site plan
Once you have your list of ideas for making money, and the site map of search terms you can make a plan of your site. You note down say top 10 main sections of the site (using the property example again - How to find property, financing a deal, Pitfalls, Tips and Tricks, Events, discussion etc) , and slot the pages under each section. There, you have a site map to work around.
- Site Spec
A bit more specialist, you should seek advice here if you don't know how to write up a site spec - however here is an example of one to help you out.
