Copyright © Liane Bate
http://www.HonestMoneyMaking.com

There is no doubt that the first time you get your website up, running, and hosted, you are thrilled to bits about what you have accomplished, whether you created it yourself, or had someone else do it for you. When you have your first official URL and can direct your friends and family to your site, you are suddenly a web-master and can't wait for the rest of the world to find you! But you know, too, that whenever you have tried to search for any topic on the internet, you get millions of results that you have to weed your way through to find exactly what you want. You know that your site is going to be one of those millions of weeds that someone else will be passing by, unless you know how to get people interested in what you have to offer.

As simple as it may sound, the first major attention-grabber is what words you put at the very top of your page to lure people in to see what you've got for them. If your headline doesn't grab them right away, you may be losing a visitor just like that. Your website is probably one of many that people will browse through, so if you want yours to be the one they notice for more than a few seconds and continue reading, then make a bold headline that shows them how their lives cannot be without what you've got. What grabs your attention more?: "Hi, I'm so-and-so and my site is all about making money online", or "Have you been searching all your life for that perfect online dream job that creates multiple streams of residual income from the comfort of your own home?" Okay, that may be a bit wordy - we all need practice, don't we? - but you get the idea!

Once you have your killer headline in place, you want to offer more than just links, products, and services. You want your site to filled with good content in the form of articles and blog postings. These can be original articles that you write yourself, or you can post articles on your site written by other people as long as you include their resource box at the end complete with their links. If you really hate writing, you can hire a ghostwriter to write the articles for you, but I get the most satisfaction and sense of accomplishment from writing my own articles, and it's not as hard as it seems if you like to learn new things. The reason articles are so effective these days is because you are offering your website visitors something of value for free, which will make your visitors come back to your site to read more. If they know you are an expert author on a particular subject, you become an authority who they can trust.

Your website should also invite visitors to sign up for a free newsletter that will allow them to receive more information from you on a regular basis. This opt-in form should appear on every page of your site, because you never know which page your visitors will decide to sign up on. This will make them interested in your site because they are anticipating more good information from you with little effort on their part. You want to offer a freebie at this point to entice them to join. You can compile all your articles into your own ebook, or write a short report to give away that has some crucial information in it about your products or services.

In order to get people to your site, you have to advertise your site by spreading your links around the internet via articles, blogs, or exchanging links with other similar sites just to name a few ways. Another effective method of advertising your online business that is sometimes forgotten is to send out a press release for free or by paying to get wider exposure. This is a really fast way of getting additional traffic to your site. Send a press release whenever you've just released an ebook or report, or when you've made a big change worth telling the whole world about. Just search the internet for "free press releases" to get ideas if you don't know how.

Professional development and continuous learning are vital in the field of online business and internet marketing. The learning never really stops, and if you are willing and enthusiastic about this, then you will learn all you can and find ways to make your website stand out from the rest. I have touched on a few ways here, but there are many more ways left for you to discover. With a little elbow grease, persistence, patience, and lifelong learning, your website will become the budding flower that people seek, not the weed that's plucked out and forgotten.

Liane Bate owns a Plugin Profit Site web business, is a member of Success University, and the IAHBE. To build an online business that really stands out, visit the Plugin Profit Site, and develop your learning curve at Success University