If you are looking to start a website and get your online business going, there are some simple steps you need to take to start off on the right foot. In my last article I discussed “5 Mistakes Webmasters Can Avoid“, so be sure and read over that and avoid beginner mistakes.

Now to start a new site, the most important thing you can do to increase your chances of success is plan ahead. the first steps you need to do is get a domain name. Anyone can buy a domain name for around $10 at Godaddy.com. Hopefully, you already have an idea what your website will be about, so start at Godaddy and search for a good domain that you think is brandable and hopefully it will have a few keywords.

Understand that most of the great domains will be taken already, names like Online Poker.com and Pokerstrategy.com will be taken. But you still can find quality domains, so take your time and search around until you find one you really like. do not settle on a sub-par domain. Also, be sure and check the .net and .org domains too, sometimes you will get lucky and find a great domain.

After you find a domain, you need to think about what website system you want/need to run. There is so many great systems you can use for your website. For example you maybe planning on a website that will be hundreds of pages, you may want to consider a CMS (content management system) like WordPress or Joomla. Both of these systems are free, easy to install, and very easy to use. (This site is on WordPress)Also, you can google “CMS” to find more options.

You may also decide you want to use a static HTML coded or .PHP website where you can use Web Expressions or Dream Weaver. Both these types of sites are easy to use as well, and usually cut down on any extra code that some CMS will have. You can google around and find these programs and tons of video tutorials to help you learn the systems.

Once you get a good domain, and a website system then you are ready to get your site up and start writing your content. As we discussed in the last article, your content will be the most important factor in the success of your website. You need to write detailed content that is going to be relevant to your website theme overall. If your site is about Pot Limit Omaha, you should be writing content about various PL Omaha strategy, questions, Poker Rooms that offer Omaha, etc.

The great thing about writing pages and pages of content is that you will eventually not only rank for the normal PL Omaha terms, but you will also start ranking for “Longtail keywords” that you didn’t specificially target. Remember this, because webmaster DO NOT determine what people search for, our visitors do. <<<

Research Your Niche – Finally, as a webmaster you need to conduct research often. You need to study the SERPS and study your Stats so you can find out what terms you are ranking for, and see what terms people are searching for. There is a ton of tools that can help with this.

• For website stats I use : Google Analytics
• For Keyword Research I use: Google Insights <<< See Example