Firstly – things to note:

1. We use WordPress – partly because of the functionality ot offers us, and partly because it allows you to add to it easily afterwards.

2. We recommend hosting from Elitehost – the unlimited package, going at R29/mo is more than adequate for most websites. Their service is great, and is arguably the best available locally. International clients can simply use Hostgator.

3. The package is valid for 4 pages – home page, about us page, information page, and contact us page. Anything else and above can be negotiated. You have to supply the content of these pages – but we will rewrite it to be search engine friendly.

4. International clients please contact us for prices in your currency – which will depend on the current exchange rate.

Website Creation:

a. WordPress setup, plugins and settings

b. Appearance – simple but sensible design

c. Rewriting of content to be search engine friendly

d. Online contact form and email addresses created on new domain

e. Generic privacy policy and legal disclaimer (legally required)

Promotion:

a. Connection to Facebook, Twitter, Amatomu, Afrigator and Myscoop (both to gather followers and to automatically distribute new content)

b. Short slideshow video (app 1 min) – uploaded to Youtube and embedded on website

c. Downloadable brochure and basic cover design

d. Submission to three major directories, and one article written and distributed to three websites

Interested?

CLICK HERE to contact us – and see what we can do for you…

Firstly, there are two types of dynamic websites – and this article only deals with one of them…

On the one hand there are websites that actually generate results pages according to what the search engine visitor was looking for – in other words, it generates a results page as a result to give to the search engines…

In my opinion, this is trash – since most of the time, the results offered are not relevant. It just clutters up the search results, preventing websites with real information from appearing.

On the other hand, however, you have websites built on CMS platforms – or content management systems. These include systems like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal…

All of them are easy to add to, all of them are easy to add functionality to, all of them can have their appearance changed in minutes…

And all of them have an RSS feed.

For the uninitiated – an RSS feed is a real-time syndication mechanism. It is a streaming signal about changes on your dynamic site. It can simply be headlines, or summaries, or everything, and WordPress even allows a feed for the comments if you use it as a blogging platform.

So to get back to your question: How to promote a dynamic website? …..

1. Submit to RSS (and blog) directories and aggregators – these differ from normal web directories in the sense that instead of just displaying links to your home page, they will show the links to your latest additions to your website.

2. Go to Odiogo.com – and convert your RSS feed to a podcast for all the world to listen to (for free). You can then systematically start submitting the podcast link to podcast directories.

3. Use Twitterfeed.com to send your RSS feed to Twitter and Facebook – you can even send it to multiple accounts if you use more than one of either.

4. Many social networks allow you to add an RSS feed to your profile, and show your latest updates.

5. Create Web2.0 pages and add your feed – places like Hubpages and Squidoo as well as most free blogging hosts will facilitate importing an RSS feed to your page or sidebar.

6. Subscribe to your own feed at iGoogle, MyYahoo and MyMSN – and instantly keep the search engines up to date about changes to your website.

Of course, what you do for your own dynamic website’s promotion, can also be done for anything else on the web that has an RSS feed…

Your Youtube channel, your Twitter profile, Your article author profile, other blogs you may have, and Web2.0 sites like Hubpages and Squidoo…

Imagine your online leverage when you start sending all of these to Twitter and Facebook via Twitterfeed, and start submitting all of these to RSS directories and aggregators…

The possibilities are huge.

Sure, it is understandable that your efforts on the internet should result in sales, or services rendered. After all, that is the whole purpose behind your presence on the internet. The problem is not with your expectations – but in the way you try to measure it.

Consider this:

A 100 people visit your website – and only one of them actually decides to do business with you. That leaves 99 people simply leaving your site – or do they?

If you are smart, you would have tried to capture email addresses, and at least put yourself in a position to close the deal afterwards – by being able to keep in touch.

But even if you did, a lot of people would still be leaving your business website. However, let’s look at what happens:

One decided to follow you on Facebook – one more prospect you are keeping in touch with. Another decided to use the “like” or tweet this” button, giving you additional exposure. This will undoubtedly result in more visitors coming to your website…

However, this still leaves you with a large number of people simply leaving your site. But what are their sentiments when they leave? Some of them may be thinking “what a waste of time”, but some will be thinking “I have to remember this, or add it to my browser favorites”.

Some of these people will eventually come back, and some will mention you to others – which will translate into sales or services rendered, even if at a much later date.

Of course, you have to keep in mind that your visitor, depending on the niche or trade, will probably be buying form you again, and could refer you to friends and family – none of which would have happened if he or she did not stumble upon your website.

If you start calculating the total worth of each client, including recurring business and referrals, it can quickly run up the numbers.

Lastly, of course, your business website worth is relative to the value of the content you place on it – which will determine how much it contributes to your credibility. The more value you deliver, the more visitors will come back to you, or recommend you to others.

Many people are stuck on uptime (the percentage of time that your website is up and visible to visitors). While it is important, it should not be the only deciding factor in making your choice.

You will obviously be looking at storage space, and bandwidth (the amount of traffic you may allow in a month). Normally, storage space is not much of an issue – unless you want to start uploading pictures and video – these take lots of space, and if a visitor will be looking at a number of these, it can run up the data amounts quite quickly.

If you intend to build a website that will use a lot of data, or attract a load of visitors, you may want to look at getting a dedicated server (meaning you physically have your own computer on which your website is hosted – normally it is shared with a few others).

What you also need to look at for your hosting account requirements is the facilities. What will you be needing? AT the very least, you will need Fantastico – a software that makes it easy to install any of a number of website scripts in seconds. These scripts include WordPress, Joomla, shopping carts, help desks, php scripts, image galleries, and more. It basically cuts the construction time of your website dramatically.

Lastly, you need to look at support. We live in an age of electronics, and things do go wrong from time to time. How long does it take for your host to get back to you? Do they have online support, or at least 24/7 support? Are they people you can talk to, or are you always just told to get in the line?

For me, the last is the most important of all my hosting account requirements. I need to know I am dealing with real people – who will understand how much my little problem means to ME.

Which is why I host with, and can recommend, Afrihost – for South African users. For international users I recommend Hostgator – which I also use for other projects.

Consider this:

Just like in your physical business environment, the (visitor) customer goes through a “buying cycle”. It starts with browsing (when your time is often “wasted”), then it moves on to research, where different brands and models are compared, and it (hopefully) ends in buying.

The traffic from some sources are much more likely to send you “browsing visitors”, while others are more likely to send you “research visitors” or buyers. So which is which?

Firstly, the most focused visitors usually come from search engines. Usually, once a visitor reaches your business website through a search, he or she is already in the research phase, and closer to buying. Whether he or she found your website on Google, or clicked on a PPC advertisement you placed does not matter. What matters is that he or she was searching for something specific before landing on your website.

Secondly, visitors referred from related websites are also usually reasonably “targeted”. After all, they have been to a relevant website, and expressed an interest in your website. These also include people reacting to articles you wrote and submitted to directories, as well as press releases, forum posts carrying your signature, etc. In most cases these visitors landed on the specific website due to a Google search anyway…

Next, the visitors that are referred via a social network like Facebook or Myspace are often valuable as well. Keep in mind that people often follow the recommendations of their friends or people they know – which is how you obtain visitors from social media sites.

However, in contrast to that, people arriving from social bookmarking websites like Stumbleupon, Digg, etc, are usually only browsing. They just happened to see your small business website among the popular sites of the moment, and decided to come and visit. As such, they rarely take any action that you can profit from, and usually leave right off the page they landed on (bounce).

Other visitors that are often “useless” are visitors from FFA sites (“free for all” advertising sites), traffic exchanges (I watch yours, and you watch mine), and safelists (shared mailing lists). People using these are usually only trying to gain exposure for their money making opportunities – and fail to realize that they are not accomplishing anything.

At the end of the day, not all sources of traffic to your business website are equal – and not all will be profitable. Keep that in mind when you start promoting it.

Firstly, business is not about how much you make – it’s about how much you KEEP. In short, it’s not about turnover, or even gross profit – it’s about NET profit.

Now, consider these five factors. For the sake of simplicity, we use the example of a restaurant:

1. Getting more customers – for most people, this seems like the only option – and they chase it day after day. However, it is only one building block in the growth of your small business. Let’s say you start off by simply asking your customers to recommend you to their friends.

2. Making more profit per sale. Now this may seem like you have to run up high prices, but no. All you have to do is increase the NET profit.

For instance, in a typical (profitable) restaurant, the final profit margin is around 20%. So on a plate of food selling for R100, the net profit should be R20. In order to up your NET profit by 15%, you only need to increase the price by R3. Do you think your customers will complain about the price being R102.95? It is rather unlikely.

3. Selling more items per sale – Now this is where many businesses fall behind – usually in how the staff is trained. Remember the old American expression “do you want fries with that?” It is a typical offer for an add-on. ALL the profit on the add-on sale is profit you would not have had at all. In a restaurant it would be an offer for a nice sauce, or a side dish, or a new cocktail. It all adds up. Not everybody will take you up on the offer – but those who will, is bound to quickly add on to your existing profit.

4. Make more sales (as in more regularly) – now this may not be an available to say, a real estate agent. But in most cases, good service and a touch of salesmanship will keep your customers coming back more regularly. For instance, the restaurant could do theme nights from time to time – which will (for that night) bring back some customers that would otherwise taken longer to return.

5. Extend the lifetime of the customer. Make an issue of finding out what your customers want, and give them as much as possible. The longer you can keep him or her around, the more money you stand to make.

Not all of these options are available to every business – but do try to apply as many of these as you can. Even if you can only make minute differences in each department, the end result will be the result of accumulated improvements.

Mathematically speaking:

1.15 x 1.15 x 1.15 x 1.15 x 1.15 = 2.01

So what can possibly go wrong? After all, you are paying a “professional” to build your website…

1. Your “professional” may not be as professional as he or she claims to be – and you have no way of knowing if you do not have some knowledge of the internet yourself. You just have to accept anything that you are told, and hope for the best. And reputable companies cost…

2. Your “professional” may only be doing half the job – some people do it all (design, construction, promotion), while some only do the design and/or construction (development), leaving the promotion to be done by a separate company or individual specializing in SEO (search engine optimization). If this is the case, you are likely to end up paying more than you planned on.

3. Not enough potential – firstly, some things are not really searched for that much on the internet. Although the figures are constantly improving, your prospects may just not be using the internet that much at present. Secondly, you may be selling to a market that relies on passing trade, and make mere pennies per customer. Depending on what you are selling, it could mean that a huge amount of effort will produce only mediocre results.

4. Depending on your trade, just having a website may just not be enough. It could be that the competition for your trade (in your area) is above average, or it could be that your trade requires some measure of trustworthiness – so people will be looking around to see if your name is mentioned anywhere else (yes, word of mouth has found its way to the internet).

At the end of the day, just having a website does not guarantee success. It needs to be well researched, well built (and it’s not all about the appearance), and well promoted. And if you do not know what your web developer is doing, you are flying blind…

Business partners. No, not the type who want to buy half your business.

Joint venture partners. For instance:

You own a boutique. A local hairdresser connects with you thanks to your website. She happens to have a very busy website on hair care tips, ideas and styles. So, in order to make some money together, you both recommend one another on your websites. You could even offer special discounts for people referred from each other’s websites.

While the concept is not open to all types of industries, it can be applied in many – all it takes is a little creative thinking.

Having your own website out there means that you can be discovered by people who would otherwise never have known about you.

Firstly, expanding your audience is easy. As a rule of thumb, around 40 – 50% of the people you follow will follow you back. So all you do is to visit the profiles of people who have many followers, and to follow fifty or so per day – it’s quick. After having selected around 200 Twitter users, leave it for two to three days, to see who follows you back.

Then, visit Twitter Karma and un-follow those who are not following you back.

Secondly, create a simple but neat profile that will bring your message across. You could use a picture of yourself as a profile picture, and then use a picture of your business activities as a background picture. This way, you will be able to come across as human, while still being able to use Twitter for branding.

Lastly, keep in mind that Twitter is a social network – with the emphasis on the “social” part. Ideally, you should spend a little time there every day – even if it is just ten minutes or so. Remember to also have a “human” side – so respond to other tweets here and there.

Additionally – Using twitter for branding is about building credibility – so don’t just send one advertisement after another. Try to offer some value – like tweeting a link to a useful article or piece of news every day, and also tweeting a link to a page on your website or blog every day.

Just following these basic steps will already help you to start building your business’ brand on Twitter – and create a platform that will not only give you an audience and grow your credibility, but also send you some website traffic.

More advanced use and techniques can come over time as you become more familiar with the medium.

Say for instance, you searched for “dog grooming service”…

You will see a boatload of results, but…

1. Not all of those results are websites. Most of them are just links to the actual competing websites. Just like your website will be gathering links over time, others do as well. There are links from directories, article directories, videos, social profiles, social bookmarks….

One site can have thousands of backlinks – especially of it has many pages, and each page has a good number of links pointing back to it.

2. You can still “fly in under the radar” – by simply using what is known as “long tail keywords”. This simply refers to strings of three and four or more words used in a search. However, the longer the search string becomes, the less websites (or references of websites) there will be that contain the exact phrase. While fewer people will be searching for the specific longer phrase, say “dog grooming service jacksonville”, there will be a LOT LESS competition – allowing your website to appear in the search results.

As you add more and more pages containing articles on long tail keywords, you will gradually increase the amount of traffic you can expect from the search engines.

3. The numbers are not always real…

Firstly, place the search term in ” “. This will limit the results to those that contain the whole of the phrase, and cut a LOT of them out. While nobody usually does this while searching, you have to keep in mind that search engines will display the most relevant results first – so the ones that only contain parts of your search phrase will only come later down the list anyway.

4. Not all of the results are always in the competition…

For any given phrase, go down the list of results – right down to the last page. You will see it suddenly stops way short of the mentioned number of results – for instance, it may state there are 1984 results, but if you keep opening the last available page, it may suddenly stop at say, 500 (just an example). So in fact, you only have 500 results to compete with – the others are possibly poor quality, or are not unique enough to warrant inclusion in the results.

Once again, the 500 are not all websites – and your actual competition (websites/companies) is probably a tenth of that…

So don’t stress about the numbers – it’s not nearly as bad as it seems.