Building a Website for Your Home Based Business
Posted in Watkins Business by Eldon on November 24th, 2006 Not long after I started my Watkins home business, I decided to build my own personal web site to promote my Watkins business online. This is not something I had to do, because the group I signed with (the Summit Group) provided a free web site that was quite sufficient for promoting a Watkins business online. I built my own personal Watkins site to complement the free site I got from the Summit Group. A personal site would give me added opportunity to rank well in the search engines for my most important keywords (watkins, watkins products, watkins business, and so forth). Most new network marketers don’t go to the trouble, because they are generally provided with free sites to use for promotion when they sign up. In my case, I simply wanted to go the “extra mile” to make my Watkins business a success.
I am often asked by new Watkins associates in my downline, “how do I build my own web site, like you have done”? I would like to provide the basics, and I will expand on each of these points in future articles here. Following are the basic steps to building a personal web site to promote your network marketing, MLM, or direct sales business. Please note that some companies do not allow you to build your own site to promote your business, unless it is a generic business opportunity site that doesn’t mention the name of the company. With this generic type of site, you can collect leads and then send them details about your business privately.
To build your own website for promoting your Watkins business, or any other home business opportunity, you need to:
1) Select a domain name. Most of the best “.com” names are already taken, but with some creative thinking you can find a name that will be good. In my opinion, dot-com names are still preferred because they are universally recognized. Your domain name should be obviously related to home business, or work from home, or something similar. Here is an article from Yahoo Small Business with tips for finding a domain name:
Finding and Securing a Domain Name
2) Choose a web hosting company. There are many good hosting companies out there. I personally use Aplus.Net and have had good luck with them.
3) Choose a template for your site. There are a number of excellent web site templates (designs with graphics and everything set up and ready to add your own text). Do a Google search for “web site templates” to start.
4) Build your site. I prefer Macromedia’s Dreamweaver 8, but it is a pricey program and not necessary to have for designing your first site. If you are using a PC with Microsoft Office installed, you may have a copy of Microsoft FrontPage already, which is an excellent web site design tool. You will need to come up with informative and promotional text for your business. It is perfectly fine to start with a one-page site and build on that as you grow your business.
These are a few of the basics for building your own web site to promote your network marketing or direct sales business. In future articles, I will expand on these points and add more detail. To look for additional information, just use the search box above.
About the Author:
Eldon Beard is a Watkins Manager with Associates All Across the USA and Canada
