I advise my clients to concentrate on WSO (website optimization) and marketing. But isn't SEO mostly website optimization and marketing? Yes. But, it is a slightly obfuscated version. So lets get back to basics and and address the issues in their fundamental state.
I'm convinced that by dividing the tasks into WSO and marketing it will help to concentrate and focus our efforts.
First things first -- you need a website.
If you want to sell a product or service from your website you need a website. That much is obvious. Do not worry at this point about how people are going to find your website. When selecting a name and building your website, almost everything you need to know will come from an earnest desire to have the website and build it. I'll show you what I mean.
If you want a website devoted to cupcakes, then you need to think about using the word cupcake in the name of the website. Notice that I said, you need to think about using the word cupcake in the name. I did not say you MUST use cupcake. Look at google.com. No where in the website name does the word search appear. So it is possible to have a domain name that does not contain words exactly related to your prime interest. But they must be related somehow.
Using common sense you can deduce that a website name of Pets-Galore.com will be a poor choice for a domain devoted to baked goods in general and donuts in particular. A good friend is starting up a website about cooking called CloisterKitchen.com. That will work for her website. The website relates recipes and training videos related to cooking method developed in a kitchen that is part of a cloistered nunnery. Makes perfect sense. You could if you had an odd sense of humor and felt adventuresome use the name Yummy-Lumps.com for a website selling donut holes and cupcakes. The words cupcake and donut hole do not appear in the name. But it could work.
So using common sense and a sincere desire to actually tell people what your website is and does through its name you will inevitably come up with a reason name -- even though we have not talked about SEO stuff.
Having a name is not enough. You need content.
Again we shall avoid fancy SEO considerations and just talk about content from a common sense perspective.If you write a letter to a friend inviting them to come for a visit, you need to actually include an invitation in your letter that asks them to come for a visit. Since a letter is a written form of communication you must use words to convey your wish for this friend to come visit. AND, you must use words that your friend will understand. When generating content you have to split your attention so that a portion of your attention is used to write the content and a portion of your attention is used to read the content as you go. This way you can answer that all important question: "Does this content get my point across?"
If you know that your friend is a lazy reader, then you might want to include your invitation in several different ways. You may want to repeat the significant portions of your message several times in the content of your letter. This just makes sense.
Start with a sincere desire to communicate, use your attention, and tell yourself the truth. You do not have to study SEO. Just care about your reader getting your message, use your attention, and be willing to see what is rather than what you hope.
It all becomes obvious. If you want your reader to know you are selling cupcakes, then you need to talk about cupcakes. If the words on the page discuss your pet cat, the neighbor down the street, and rainbows how can you dream that anyone reading such content will get your message about cupcakes.
In summary:
- A domain name without content is not a website
- Content unrelated to the purpose of your website is not a website.
More later.....
