Local Business Owner's Step by Step Guide to Creating an Effective Website with XSitePro

Here is my simple guide to creating a website that will generate new clients for your small business, local business or service business.

Step 1 - Register a Domain Name

Think carefully before registering your domain name. The best names are short, punchy, easy to remember and easy to say out loud. If you're a service provider e.g. "Bill Smith Plumbing" then using your own name is a good choice - billsmith.com

These days I recommend you avoid ultra-long, keyword-hyphenated names e.g.

these-are-my-top-targeted-keywords.com

They tend to look "spammy" and I have a suspicion Google has the same view. That's not to say you will be penalised, or you won't do well with keyword-hyphenated names, but I no longer think it's necessary to gain an edge in the search engines, particularly Google.

Take my own domain name as an example - stevepronger.com. No keywords there, just branding, and it hasn't prevented me from ranking well on keywords I want to rank well on.

For .com domains I do recommend you register your name for 5 years or longer, rather than just one. I believe this is a key trust indicator with Google. It shows you are serious and intend to be around for a while. Spammy, page-generated sites tend to be registered only for 1 year at a time.

Country-Specific Domains

If you're a local business servicing a specific geographical area outside of the US, and you want to be found when "pages from [your country]" is selected when searching Google, then I would recommend registering a country-specific domain as your primary domain. Although there are other indicators, this is the only sure way to flag your site as being from a particular country. It's also a good idea to register the .com version of your name, if it's available, and "park" it on your hosting account so it points to the same site.

Which Domain Registrar?

Although they are not the cheapest, I recommend Melbourne IT. Here's why...

I was recently contacted by a client who advised me that her site had been down for the last 24 hours. A quick check revealed that her domain name had expired. I contacted Melbourne IT (the original registrar) who advised me the domain had been transferred to another (cheaper) registrar.

However, the email address had been recorded incorrectly so my client never received the renewal. The consultant at Melbourne IT then advised me that they never expire a domain without making every effort to contact the client, including snail-mail and telephone. The current registrar had only sent the renewal to an incorrect email address.

Here’s another story. I have a number of international (.com) domains registered with a well known US based registrar. They are one of the cheapest around. Recently I discovered that a domain I had registered with this company was pointing to their default “parked domain” page instead of the site I had designed for a client months ago.

As I’m not the owner of this domain (the client is) I can’t get any information from this registrar as to why they have done this, and I’ve been unable to contact the client. What is likely to have happened is a spammer has forged this particular domain as the sender and a recipient of the spam has complained to this registrar, who then, without notice or investigation, reclaimed the domain, even though my client was totally blameless.

I’m still trying to sort out the mess, but the upshot is all my hard work on this site has been undone and I no longer trust this registrar.

Moral of the story? You get what you pay for and cheap domains are a false economy. I would rather deal with a registrar I can trust, even if that means paying a few more dollars a year.

I am an official Melbourne IT affiliate.

• Register an international (.com) domain
• Register an Australian .com.au domain
  

Step 2 - Download XSitePro

• Download XSitePro software here
• Watch the XSitePro videos

Create Your Site

• Click on File/New/Project and enter a name for your project
• Click on the Add Website button and name your website
• Choose a template style (I recommend Affiliate style)
• Choose a template (you can change this later)
• Enter basic website information - description, keywords, author etc

Add Pages

For a small business service provider I suggest:

Home Page

• stress benefits
• answer "what's in it for me?"
• identify problems and offer solutions
• talk to your visitor one on one as if they were in the room with you

Services

• full description of services offered

Testimonials

• Use only real ones and get permission first

Contact

• Full contact details and enquiry form
• XSitePro has a special area for creating a contact page. Click on "Other" tab/Contact details

For your contact form to work you will need to install a script on your hosting account. Your hosting service provider will have instructions on how to do this.

Privacy

• XSitePro has a template you can modify to suit

Site Map

• XSitePro will automatically create a site map. Click on "Other" tab/Site Map

Consider adding:

• Articles - establish yourself as an expert in your field
• Case studies
• Links page - exchange links with related, non-competing services in your area

Optimise for Search Engines

XSitePro will help you do this - click on the SEO tab under Web Pages. Your main targeted keywords should be your service + your location. For example, the page title on your home page should be:

Plumber Harris Park | Bill Smith Plumbing Parramatta District

Your Meta description tag (entered under the Info tab) would be:

"Looking for a plumber in Harris Park? Bill Smith Plumbing have been providing superior service to Parramatta districts for over 10 years"

Step 3 - Set Up Your Hosting Account

There are a huge number of companies out there offering website hosting. For the novice webmaster, it can all become rather confusing. But for your average small business service provider, it doesn't need to be. Reliability and support are your biggest concerns. As for hosting plans, I recommend you stick with the basic or starter plans. They will usually provide more than enough storage space and features for the average small business.

Which Hosting Provider?

• For hosting in the US I recommend Hostican
• For hosting in Australia I recommend KangaWeb

After you've set up your hosting account you will be sent a confirmation email containing your account details. I suggest you print it out and keep it in a safe place.

Enter Your Hosting Account Details into XSitePro

• Click on Publishing Details
• Enter the FTP details - you'll find this info in your confirmation email for your hosting account. Be sure to use the right directory. If you're not sure, check with your hosting company. For KangaWeb accounts the directory is called www. Click on the Test FTP button to make sure everything is ok.

Delegating Your Domain Name

In order for your domain name to point to your new site you have to "delegate" it, or set the "nameserver" details. This information will be in the confirmation email from your hosting account. There should be a Primary Server Hostname and a Secondary Server Hostname. There may also be Primary and Secondary IP Addresses.

• Login to the Domain Management area with your registrar
• Navigate to the area where you set or change the nameserver details
• Enter your Primary and Secondary Server Hostnames (it's not usually necessary to enter IP addresses)
• It may take up to 24 hours for your domain to start pointing to your site

Step 4 - Publish Your Site

• Click on Tools/Publish or the Publish button to upload your site.
• Type your domain name into a browser and you should see your site. If you see a default page from your registrar or an error message wait 24 hours and try again. If you still don't see your site make sure you set your nameserver details correctly and if necessary contact your registrar for help.
• If you see a default "under construction" page from your hosting company you need to delete that file. If you named your home page file index.html the "under construction" file should be automatically overwritten when you publish your site. But if you named it index.htm you will need to delete the index.html file. You can easily do this via the Control Panel in your hosting account. Ask your hosting provider for help if necessary.

Congratulations - your business is online!

Step 5 - Get the Search Engines to Find & Index Your Site

Although most major search engines have an area where you can "submit" your site it is far better to let them find you through links to your site. You should however submit your site to directories. Directories are human-edited, as opposed to search engines which use “spiders” or “robots” (software) to index your site.

Some directories are free, others are not. The paid directories will list your site much quicker (usually within 48 hours) and tend to be better quality links. Submit to as many directories as you budget/time allows, but do this progressively over a period of time.

See my article on search engines for advice on where to submit your site and how to create inbound links:

Next - Recommended Resources

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