How to
Start a Business - Keywords and their costs to Newbies
A question I hear many Newbies ask is: How
to start a business? Seems simple enough until you consider all
the hidden costs of doing business on the Internet. Of course,
there are the obvious costs of hosting, auto-responders, and so
on. Yet and still, there is an even greater cost that can only
be paid in one currency: Your Time.
Many Newbies that want to start a business
only look at the costs of website design and hosting. However,
getting the website built and hosting it is only the most basic part
of how to start a business. Newbies don't understand that "Build
it and they'll come" doesn't work on the Internet.
The brick-and-mortar analogy of finding a
location for your business and then stocking the things you're
going to sell, doesn't work for the Web. It won't work because
nobody will know you're there. The only way you can attract
visitors to your business is with the universal web language:
The Written Word.
I must confess, as many former home spun 'n
green Newbies will tell you, I had not considered the true costs
of ownership as I pondered how to start a business. The real
cost of ownership of any Web business is in acquiring dominance
for many of the words and phrases that accurately describe your
business to the Search Engines.
The particular words and phrases are called
keywords or keyword phrases. To get an idea, think of the
briefest and most succinct way you could describe your business,
using no more than 2 to 5 words. Think of the way an average Net
surfer would search for your business. What would be the
simplest, yet most effective, search terminology?
As you grapple with the idea of how to
start a business, consider these things all Newbies should be
aware of:
a) When choosing the words for your website
URL, pick words that are high in descriptive value but with
medium to low total competition. As an example, you don't want
to choose a set of URL keywords that will have very high
competition, such as "website design." Use the
Overture tool to
check out the popularity of your chosen keywords.
b) Once you've made-up your mind about your
website URL keywords, look for related words or phrases that
have the same meaning. Realize that Search Engines are very
specific about search terms. As an example, the term "Newbie"
doesn't have the same SE meaning as "Newbies." Seems odd but
those are the facts.
c) As soon as you arrive at your URL
keywords and you do a search for all related keywords and
phrases, you'll get an idea of the "real costs" this article
expounds. Once you add up all the main keywords and phrases, the
related phrases, their singular AND plural usage; the mountain
of expense associated with "how to start a business," will grow
astronomically. You could have a total of a few hundred to a few
thousand keywords/phrases.
d) Let us say
the cost of owning one particular keyword phrase is a well
written web page focused on your keyword phrase. That means that
to "own" a couple of hundred phrases, you would have to write at
least 200 web pages dealing with each keyword/phrase in a very
focused way. What about your competition? What if they have
written 1,000 web pages using the same keyword phrases? Your
cost of ownership will escalate that much more.
Since the cost of any particular keyword
phrase is dictated by your competition, you should include it in
your initial assessment to start a business. The time component
and the expenditure of effort to own a piece of the Web are very
real. All Newbies that are wondering how to start a business
should read this article in the most sober way. I hope it helps
them consider the real costs.
by Francisco Aloy
(C)2005 Francisco Aloy
==================================================
Note: This is not a general release article. You may link to it.
You may not copy or distribute it in any form.
|
