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  TalkFreelance     Business and Website Management     Articles From The Experts :

How to keep your website going?

Thread title: How to keep your website going?
     
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02-11-2005, 12:00 AM
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yni420 is offline yni420
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  Old  How to keep your website going?

Today is in the age of technology and “I have no time” line. Internet today is as common as calling a friend or watching TV. If you are a regular internet user like I am you know that websites keep coming and going like no business. I myself have seen sites begin, grow and then die…… It is a sad but true fact that a visitor will leave your site faster than you can say “Oh My God”. So how do you keep your website going? Well, here are a few tips that I have found useful and have seen in sites

1.Innovative Thinking

In other words “Think outside box”. Do something which no one else in their right mind would do.  . It is a fact. History is witness that those who have dared to be different and do different are the ones who succeed in the internet.

Let us see some examples

Hotmail - People wrote off the guy who made this as some college guy with an attitude…. But those same guys were not laughing when Microsoft brought the site from him for an amount I will never make in my life time or would even dare to dream of ….. (The guy retired when he was in college). Hotmail became a trend setter and now there are various email sites which provide the same. But we will always remember Hotmail the first email site of the internet.

Google – Google was written off as another search engine but look at it now. People vouch by Google search results and once you use Google you will never need another search engine.

So the trick is doing something different. When you decide to invest in a website make something which someone has not made….. Sounds difficult and it is…. At this time where there is a website for everything how do you find something different? Well the best place is in your daily life. Think what you would feel would be useful in your life in the internet. Another search engine… maybe…. a photos site …. maybe…. If someone has beaten you to it, then do the same thing in a different way like Google did.

Be Different and Do Different

2.The site

Nobody likes a shabby site where the graphics are not good…. navigation is not easy or contents are not up-to-date.

Your site should look good and feel good. The aim of any site should be that once someone comes to the site he should not feel like leaving the site and should find what he was looking for in the site…. somewhere or the other….. He came to the site expecting something and if it is not there he will go away.

Even if you have good contents and graphics if your site is not well organized then it will be a turn off.

Think out your site properly.

Some key questions you should ask your self are:-

• Why do you want to start the site?
• Who do you want to attract?
• What would visitors see in the site?
• How should the site look?
• Who will find my site interesting?

The list is large as any web designer would know.

Well organized, easy to navigate, up to date and good looking site should be your aim.

3.No Tap Dancing please

I have seen sites which keep changing their addresses every other day. Unless of course you are involved in anything illegal don’t do it… Fix an address and stick to it. Sometimes circumstances force you to close one address and start another. That is okay. But as humanly possible, stick to one URL and make sure the other URL forwards to the new one automatically. This all depends on whether you are a web site is a paid one or a free one. This is not a rule but something you should keep in mind.

4.Reinvent yourself

A human has a very complex with hundred of thought processes and way of thinking and so if you want to keep someone interested in yourself you have to reinvent yourself. Don’t remain static. Welcome change ….

As an example, I would be like to tell you about a magazine published in India –

Digit Interactive - This was the first magazine to start giving out CD with their magazine. They became the first to provide Movie VCD with their magazine (Ice age was the movie they gave). Then they went on to be the first to provide DVD with their magazine. They are one of the most successful magazines in India.
Their secret …. Reinventing them selves all the time. People look forward to the magazine each month because they know there will be something different in it each time.

But you should be careful how much change is brought about. Too much change and it could be a turn off…. You should not change so much that the people who used to visit your site can’t recognize or relate with you like they used to when they first came.

But change you must because no one likes to come to the same content and same pages all the time. Change is inevitable if you want people to keep visiting your site.

5.Proper Advertising

No point in setting up a site and no one hears about it. Advertising in forums is a sure way to make sure some one visits your site. Mentioning your website in visiting cards, emails and signatures is another way of publicity. Word of mouth is another means of advertising. Tell your friends, family and acquaintances about your site…… If you have money you could consider giving ads in Magazines, using Google ad words and such.

6.Sell not your site but what your site stands for

Most of the time your site stands for something or the other. Sell what the sites stand for and not the site. For example if it is a company site sell the services it provides. If it is a jokes site, sell the fact that the site is for enjoyment. When you tell some one about your site tell them why you started the site and why you think they should visit it. People need a reason to visit a site; you should give them the reason.

7.Role of Administrator

As administrator of your site, your work is cut out for you. It is up to you to advertise the site, keep it up to date……it is also up to you to make sure that the site remains in control. No abusive languages….. keep bad members out… encourage good members. You have a responsibility to the people who come to your site to maintain the site and keep it up to date. People should find coming to the site enjoyable and risky or a pain in the ***.

If something goes wrong you will be blamed. You should be ready to take criticism in the right spirit. Be a ready listener but you should put your foot down when the time comes.

It is your site and no one will run it better then you.

8.Be open to ideas

Sometimes you are in a rut and don’t know what to do to pick up the site. Look for ideas around you. In other sites, from site members, from friends, from the feedback you get. Keep an open mind and don’t be discouraged. Sometimes ideas come from the least unexpected quarters and so you should be ready for them.

Even when you are not in a rut make sure you are always in the look out for opinions and ideas. Since you don’t know when you will need them.

Be positive and thing positive

9.Keep your friends or co workers involved

Sometimes our daily bread depends on the site. But at times it does not. In such cases people have their jobs and work to attend to and so can’t be online all the time to make changes and keep control.

Keeping your friends and coworkers involved will help in such situations.
They can go online when you can’t. That way the site will be alright and you can do your work also.

A website is a back breaking business and therefore always have people involved who are willing to share responsibility when needed.

{Most of the ideas I have stated are well known but I have found that most websites make the same mistakes causing an early end to an otherwise good site. People may not agree with the views stated. The ideas are purely individualistic and not proven theories. These ideas need not be accepted by all}


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