Getting Started

If you already use social media like Facebook and Twitter, then you know how easy and effective this can be. If you don’t, then just ask around; these are some of the most valuable resources to businesses of all sizes when used properly. You should start with the most popular network – Facebook – and create a ‘page’ for your business. Facebook has plenty of help on creating a page for your organization. If you have a site or blog that has frequent updates or you feel the need to use sentence fragments to keep people updated with your products or business, then using twitter is a great idea. Simply set up a twitter account and make a username that represents your business blog – not the first part of your email address.

Expert Tips

Now keeping in mind that your business blog should not be about you selling products – your social media extensions should encourage visitors to have an interest in your blog. Don’t ever try to sell anything on your blog or page. Simply by drawing in interest you’re creating contacts and visitors that will eventually turn into sales. If someone feels like they are being ‘pitched’ to, they are inclined to believe that everything you now say is a lie. But if you write and update with a knowledgeable tone and don’t sound so desperate, then ‘they will come’.

Easy Methods, Often Overlooked

Some of the easiest ways to promote your blog and your business are to add links and wording things like invoices, emails, receipts, catalogs, ads, products, websites, etc. Just say something like ‘follow us on twitter [@username]’ or ‘Like us on facebook [facebook.com/username]’. Find more overlooked methods…

Businesses

If you are a small business owner and have a website or blog, then these ideas may shock you by how simple they are, but you’ll be sorry if you’re not using them. Start by adding links to your website or blog on anything electronic such as emails and invoices. If you have social media accounts, put their usernames and URLs everywhere. See Best Secrets to Promoting Your Business Blog with Social Media for more. On anything not electronic such as receipts, ads, products, menus, catalogs, newsletters, etc. write out URLs and add messages such as ‘Like us on Facebook [facebook.com/username]’ and ‘Follow Us on Twitter [@twitter_username]’.

Other Ideas

These ideas should work whether you own a business or not.

1. Let’s start with a car: Do you own a vehicle? If you life in North America, there’s a pretty good chance that you do and that’s great! Look into adding some kind of graphic to your car. Even if it’s something as simple as a magnet or bumper sticker with just your website on it, you’re getting exposure. Or, if you would like, you can have your entire vehicle imaged with your ‘brand’. Don’t be afraid to put your site out there.
2. If you’re into blogging, you might consider ‘guest posting’ on another blog. This is where you make contact with a blog publisher and make a deal where in exchange for your post, the blog owner will leave a link back to your site (most likely using your name).
3. But if you’re not into blogging, then try an older style form of advertising. Simply print out flyers and informational papers that encourage potential visitors to go to your site. It may seem a bit archaic but try placing these items around your town in places that get a lot of exposure. Places like bulletin boards, public buildings, stores, anything within readable distance from a road, etc. Just remember that this could be considered graffiti in some locales and you should always obey local laws, always!
4. Start an email chain. Write an interesting blog article recently? Send it to someone (or more) in your contacts. Again, don’t be afraid to do this – All it takes is someone to forward it on. Word of mouth is the best way to gain an organic following, whether it being verbal, email, or social network.

Remember that no matter how little you think the exposure might be, all it takes is one person with interest. Typically if someone is interested, then they have friends and so on… All you have to do is start it.

When did this problem start?

For most of us this problem started when we read that article (which seemed more like a pitch) about how your site NEEDS to be optimized. And of course you trusted them when they used the term SEO and told you what it meant. It’s okay, it happens to everyone.

The truth about SEO

The truth is that if you’re running any kind of website (content, ecommerce, etc.), you do need SEO however; you don’t need to pay someone to do it for you. In short all you have to do is be as accurate as possible with your titles and descriptions. That’s about it. Of course you need to consider the subject area of your site and know its competition before you even start.

Expert Advice:

If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is and you are about to waste your money. Trust me; you will spend more time entering your billing info than it’ll take you to do it yourself…

I still don’t get it…

Let’s say that BeginnerWebs is a SEO firm and we told you we’d get search results tripling your visits all by next week. Do you know what we’d do? We would submit your site to every search engine (there’s already a site that can do that), create a sitemap, check you META tags, and then use your money to pay for some bogus ‘backlinks’ that keep up traffic as long as you pay us every month. But instead of doing that, we just wrote this article.

Getting help is easy:

Visit out resources page with a new search engine section to find everything you need to do it yourself for free.

Update for 1.7

1. Joomla! Explained: Your Step-by-Step Guide

The book will show people that they can build and manage a Joomla! 1.6 or 1.7 website without a technical background. Starting with an introduction to Joomla and how to install it, the book details how to add content, control users, make links and then add extra features to a Joomla! site. The book simplifies things to avoid difficult tasks that are unnecessary for beginners to understand. Written in plain English, the tutorial offers clear instructions, simple explanations, real-life examples, plenty of screenshots and humor. The book is aimed at busy people who want to understand Joomla in a fun, readable and straightforward way.

This isn’t just number one because ‘step-by-step’ is in the title; it’s also because it explains how to do just about everything you’d want to. Using this guide beats troubleshooting and clicking around any day. It is clear and concise – just what we’re looking for.

Joomla! 1.6

It is very important to know what version of Joomla! that you have. When installing it, you are given a choice between 1.6 and 1.7. Version 1.6 is old and will likely no longer be supported in the future. It’s okay to have it now, but you should consider downloading 1.7 if it’s your first installation. Upgrading later can be damaging and painful (incompatibilities).

2. The Official Joomla! Book

The Official Joomla! Book is the authoritative and comprehensive Joomla! reference for every administrator, developer, designer, and content manager. Distilling the unsurpassed experience of two long-time Joomla! contributors, it teaches exactly what you need to know, through practical example sites and crystal-clear explanations. If you’re new to Joomla!, you’ll learn how to quickly create usable, effective sites. If you’re an experienced Joomla! user, you’ll learn how to make your sites more flexible, feature-rich, visually attractive, and useful. And whether new or experienced, you’ll learn how Joomla! really works, so you can fully leverage its power whenever you’re ready. You’ll also get to know the Joomla! community by hearing from twelve community members through in-depth interviews, and you’ll learn how to participate in the Joomla! project in ways that make sense for you. This book covers:

• Plan sites effectively before you start building them
• Create production sites quickly while avoiding common mistakes
• Install and configure Joomla! for maximum efficiency
• Create and edit content for your Joomla! site
• Customize and work with Joomla! templates
• Work with extensions: components, modules, plugins, and languages
• Efficiently administer Joomla! sites
• Participate in the Joomla! community as a user and contributor

3. Joomla! For Dummies

No matter your skill level, this easy-to-understand resource demonstrates how to drop preconfigured modules that already contain PHP and MySQL code directly into your Joomla! site. Thanks to the Dummies fun and friendly approach, you’ll quickly see how easy to create a rich, interactive Web site with Joomla! It demonstrates how to create a business site—complete with shopping cart—quickly and easily and it walks you through developing Web sites with discussions, RSS feeds, picture submissions, and more. It includes coverage of the newest version of Joomla!, explains its completely new administrative features, and reviews its ability to provide different levels of access to different users via much-requested access control lists. As with all ‘Dummies’ books – and this one is no different – they are meant for beginners and that’s it. The product description is enticing but for intermediate users and up there are limit on what this book can do for you.

4. Joomla! 1.6: A User’s Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! 

If you want to build sophisticated websites that can be easily edited and updated, you need to master Joomla. This easy-to-read, easy-to-use guide to Joomla is for every site manager, administrator, and developer. Leading Joomla consultant and author Barrie North covers all you need to get results: installation, administration, site organization, template development, content updates, and a whole lot more. You’ll find tips, tricks, and troubleshooting solutions, as well as three start-to-finish case studies. Case studies are often a good source for experience and inspiration. This book starts with the simplest design and system concepts, and builds your expertise step-by-step. You’ll rapidly master Joomla’s power, even if you have no content management, scripting, or CSS expertise. Experienced with Joomla? You’ll turn to this book constantly for its authoritative, plain-English, example-rich Joomla 1.6 reference content. This guide includes:

• Understand content management, what Joomla does, and how its components fit together
• Build Joomla sites from scratch and systematically customize them to your needs
• Create modern, pure CSS Joomla 1.6 templates using popular grid frameworks
• Use Joomla 1.6’s nested categories to organize content and articles
• Create dynamic pages and effective navigation
• Work with Joomla modules and components
• Learn how to optimize your Joomla sites for search engines
• Follow three start-to-finish case studies: building a school website, a small business site, and a blog
• Identify the most valuable Joomla extensions and add-ons: find them and use them

5. Picture Yourself Building a Web Site with Joomla! 1.6: Step-by-Step Instruction for Creating a High Quality, Professional-Looking Site

This book is written using simple step-by-step instructions and includes full-color pictures so you can follow along easily while creating your own Website. You’ll learn how to create and edit a commercial-quality Website with control panels and content managers, integrate advanced components and specialized modules, edit articles with a built-in text editor, upload pictures, add additional templates for customized pages, and more. This maybe last but it’s still in the top 5. It’s got good reviews and it’s worth a look at. Our honest opinion is that most of these books share all the same information; the only difference is the way that information is displayed. See other top books and software in our Top-Lists category.

All Joomla! Books…

Keeping it Real

When adding new stuff, it’s important to keep in mind that search engines catalog websites based on what they find when they “crawl” your site. This is why you should include accurate keywords in every article. That said; do not ‘pack’ a page full of keywords, this could actually hurt you. For example, if you run a small computer repair business, you might have a few articles about what computer you think is best based on what you see every day. In these articles, keywords should pop out automatically without you having to think. It’s OK to add a few extra but make sure that they’re 100% accurate. The more specific you are the less competition you’ll have.

What the Experts Have to Say

Below are a few pointers to help freshen up your website with limited time and cash.

1 – Brainstorm and Create a Database

We know that great ideas don’t always come at the most convenient time, so when they do come write it down. Whenever you find time just take a few minutes, maybe an hour, and brainstorm some ideas. At least start some articles and put them away for later. By creating a database of sorts for article ideas and drafts, you’ll never run out and you’ll always have something to write about.

2 – Writing Isn’t Everything

Don’t be afraid to go ahead and try some alternatives to writing out articles. If you’ve got more of a hands-on business or personality, then creating video posts is a great idea. Actually, it really doesn’t matter what your site is about, you can really make a video about anything. If you’re really feeling ambitious, you could easily start a podcast or videocast. All it takes is a few minutes a day.

3 – Make the Computer Do It

Try using voice dictation software. This way, you can speak the contents of an article and the program will type it for you. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home is a great program that we sometimes use here. Of course if you’d prefer, there are plenty of free versions out there as well. Either choice you make, it’s worth a try.

4 – Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

Don’t go and try writing an entire essay or book. The internet is full of impatient, click-happy, A.D.D. touched people who have an attention span of a few seconds. If someone can’t find what they’re looking for in the first few lines (that they’ve skimmed), then they’re gone with no hope of return. Break-up what you have into smaller pieces and ideas. It’s much better to have many short articles and pages than to have one really long one. The more pages and individual articles you have, the more exposure your site will be given. People are happier when they get to click around (easily); so actually it’s a win-win. This way you’ll get more page views and more ad impressions/clicks if you’re into that.

5 – Get Someone Else to Do It

Maybe you have a friend or know a college student who has some pretty good writing abilities who would be able to help you out. This is a great idea if you have no time at all. If you’ve got a few extra bucks and some paper, advertize your “opportunity” to some eager writers. It’s cheap and it’s also a win-win.

Don’t Stop

Finally, keep updating and don’t ever get lazy. This only works if you keep up with it. You don’t have to post every day, but don’t slip past every week. If you do it less than 3 times a month, then you’re just increasing your chances that your venture WILL be unsuccessful.

What Is a Copyright?

Copyrighting your material is a way to protect it from being reproduced without your permission. If the work is original to you, then you qualify for a copyright. According to United States Copyright Law, as soon as you create the material (i.e. article, images) it becomes copyright protected.

So, Can I Copyright My Site?

Yes, well most of it. Any part of your site that is original work (meaning that you made it or you own the exclusive rights to it) can be copyrighted. Technically, your work is already copyrighted as seen below.

Do I Have to Register?

No. You only need to be registered in the event that you want to sue for copyright infringement. If you think this might happen, you need to contact the US Copyright Office so that you can register. As mentioned above, your original work is already protected.

What does it all mean?

Since your original work is already copyrighted, you can place copyright symbols, phrases like “All rights reserved” and things like “copyright 2012 yourwebsite.com or company”. You may use these even if you choose not to register. Copyright infringement is very common on the internet and most webmasters don’t even know that it’s happening to them. Using the above markings helps a lot to discourage potential violators. However; the ultimate protection is to get registered. Want to know more?

Legal Content Disclaimer: Beginnerwebs.com and its authors are not lawyers. We do not provide legal assistance or advice; only general information. It is wise that you speak with a lawyer when considering a serious legal matter.

Whether you plan to sell from your site using e-commerce, affiliate marketing, contextual advertising, or none of the above, you’ll need to move your site up in the rankings to get any hope of visitors. Discussed below are the top 10 secrets you need to know to move up and get traffic!

1 – Be Honest With Yourself (and of course Big ‘G’)

First off, remember to provide honest content. Being truthful to your visitors will keep them coming back. But you won’t have any visitors to work with in the first place if you try deceiving Google. Google takes deception very seriously and could deny you a spot in all the results – forget about rankings, you could be completely removed from the catalog. That’s why it’s important to know that traffic services (Google Warning) are not worth the money. Save yourself a few bucks and in time you’ll be way further than if you were paying for visitors.

2 – Blog, Blog, Blog!

Spend some time each day surfing the net to find blogs that are related to your site. That’s right! Surfing around can make you money in the long run. Once you find those blogs, comment on them, make a relationship with the owner. Doing so will get you backlinks. “Backlinks” are a key variable that Google and all search engines look at. The more backlinks you have to your site, the more authority Google thinks you have (because you do).

3 – And Blog Some More…

By all means do as much commenting as you can, but now explore the real meaning of blogging. Get started on your own blog. Having your own platform like this will help you better interact with visitors and help bring about interest in your website (or products). Try using CMS software like WordPress if you have enough skill to place it on your own hosting. If you don’t, there are plenty of free places for blogging… Just remember that unless it’s connected to your site, it does nothing for improving your ranks.

4 – Socialize

You need to socialize more; no, not with your buds, but by using social networking to gain interest and to reach out to potential visitors and customers. Set up a twitter account and a facebook page to start off. Click here for more. Increasing your visitors makes Google notice.

5 – Update Frequently and Effectively

Keep you content fresh and make sure that it is effective! Updating your site with crap will give you nothing in return.

6 – Be Interesting

We know it sounds obvious but it’s easily forgotten; you need to gather interest and grab the attention of someone who is looking at a long (imageless) page of search results. Try using attention grabbing titles like what you see on news websites. Just make sure that the titles are accurate. A search engine visitor will likely leave within 7 seconds if they can’t find what they were searching for.

7 – Keep It Clean

Flashy images are great, but take a look around. Remember the last time you went to a site that was horribly designed or was repulsive and lacked professionalism? It probably wasn’t a fun experience. Look, the days of special effects and weird trekkie images are over. If you want your visitors to take you seriously, then make sure it’s pleasant looking. If you’re still unclear, find out why visitors are leaving. Google will know – don’t ask how – if visitors are “bouncing” back from your site.

8 – Be Specific and Be Detailed

This is especially important if you have product pages; the more information a visitor has upfront, the more likely it is that he/she will make a purchase. Either way you need to include as much info on a page as you can (not fluff). The more keywords you have, the more a search engine has to work with. If Google sees that you have a lot of valuable stuff, then up the rankings you go.

9 – Don’t Pitch; Inform…

Try to think of yourself as informing someone who is ready to buy something from you. Don’t be a salesman. As nice as sales people are, you can pick them out quickly and everything they tell you has to be questioned. By giving potential customers more knowledge about the product, you’ll not only appeal to them, but you’ll give them confidence as well. Google knows the difference; if all you do is pitch stuff, you’ll be way further down than a page that is selling the same thing but has more info (info that Google thinks is important to the person that searched).

10 – Combine and Conquer!

Wait, what? Yes, first combine everything above and your determination and you’ll crush the competition. These strategies alone will do nothing, but together they will give Google (the honest) impression that you have an authority in cyberspace and therefore are more valuable to a given search.

What are you waiting for? Get started!

NOTE: Most of the information in these books can be found here at BeginnerWebs.com, but some people like to have a hard copy in front of them, and that’s okay.

Absolute Beginners

-          Build a Website for Free (2nd Edition)

You need a website. But you don’t need the hassles that usually go with building one or the expense of hiring someone else to do it. Here’s your solution: Build a Website for Free! You’ll learn how you can use new Web 2.0 technologies to create a site that’s impressive and effective. And here’s the best part: You’ll do it all with software and tools that won’t cost you a dime!

• Plan, organize, and design a site that really works, using tools you can find for free
• Discover the simple secrets of writing pages people want to read
• Adapt your site for easy viewing on mobile devices
• Use video on your site–and get someone else to pay for hosting it
• Add an easy-to-update blog and start building your own web community
• Quickly and easily handle “nuts and bolts” tasks, from getting your site name to uploading your content
• Get your site picked up by Google, Yahoo!, and other search engines

-         The Really, Really, Really Easy Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Own Website: For Absolute Beginners of All Ages

Many Internet users would love to have their own Web page—but they haven’t the time, inclination, or budget for learning HTML or hiring professionals. This step-by-step practical guide helps them create a site from scratch, from planning the structure and registering the domain to attracting visitors and updating content. Best of all, the authors’ own supporting Web site offers free software for designing the pages, search engine optimization, and uploading the site to a server…all without knowing HTML!

Intermediate

-          Building a Web Site For Dummies

An effective Web site is the key to success for every venture from class reunions to major corporations. And since Web technology changes rapidly, Building a Web Site For Dummies, 4th Edition is fully updated for the cutting-edge tools and trends.

If you need to build and maintain a Web site, even if your experience is severely limited, this book makes it easy and fun. You’ll learn to plan, design, create, launch, and maintain your site using the most up-to-date tools.

• A quality Web presence is essential in today’s marketplace, and many individuals charged with creating one are unaware of the challenges
• This guide gives novice Web designers the tools and know-how to plan, design, and build effective Web sites
• Provides a nuts-and-bolts guide to site-building, including coverage of HTML, WYSIWYG construction software, CSS, and navigation plans
• Shows how to spruce up your site with topnotch graphics, video, and great content
• Guides you through getting your site online, promoting it, and even making money from it

Building a Web Site For Dummies, 4th Edition is the tool every first-time Web designer needs to build a professional-looking site.

Content Management

-          WordPress For Dummies, 3rd Edition

The bestselling guide to WordPress, fully updated for newest version of WordPress

WordPress, the popular, free blogging platform, has been updated with new features and improvements. Bloggers who are new to WordPress will learn to take full advantage of its flexibility and usability with the advice in this friendly guide.

Previous editions have sold nearly 50,000 copies, and interest in blogging continues to explode.

• WordPress is a state-of-the-art blog platform that emphasizes aesthetics, Web standards, and usability
• WordPress For Dummies, 3rd Edition covers both the free-hosted WordPress.com version and WordPress.org, which requires users to purchase Web hosting services
• Written by an expert who works directly with the developers and cofounder of WordPress
• Shows readers how to set up and maintain a blog with WordPress and how to use all the new features

Like its earlier editions, WordPress For Dummies, 3rd Edition helps bloggers quickly and easily take advantage of everything this popular blogging tool has to offer.

-          Joomla! 1.5: Beginner’s Guide

Build and maintain impressive user-friendly web sites the fast and easy way with Joomla! 1.5

• Create a web site that meets real-life requirements by following the creation of an example site with the help of easy-to-follow steps and ample screenshots
• Practice all the Joomla! skills from organizing your content to completely changing the site’s looks and feel
• Go beyond a typical Joomla! site to make the site meet your specific needs
• Get to grips with inspiring examples and best practices and implement them to enhance your Joomla! site

Other Helpful Materials

-          Starting an Online Business For Dummies

Is there a fortune in your future? Start your own online business and see what happens. Whether you’re adding an online component to your current bricks-and-mortar or hoping to strike it rich with your own online startup, the sixth edition of this popular and practical guide can help.

Find out how to identify a market need, handle promotion, choose Web hosting services, set up strong security, pop up prominently in search engine rankings, and more. The book explores the hottest business phenomenon today—social media marketing—with full coverage of Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other technologies that are now firmly part of the online business landscape.

• Dives into all aspects of starting and establishing an online business, including the very latest big trends
• Highlights business issues that are of particular concern to online businesses
• Reveals how to identify a market need, handle promotion, choose Web hosting services, set up strong security, pop up prominently in search engine rankings, and more
• Covers the hottest social media marketing opportunities, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs
• Shows you specific types and examples of successful online businesses
• Provides the latest on B2B Web site suppliers, such as AliBaba.com

Even More…

The decision is supposed to benefit sites with good original content. Webmasters with sites that offer what Google considers to be “quality”, original content are supposedly going to benefit from this. Google’s aim is to cut down on what some call “content mills”. These are sites that hoard content to be optimized for the older algorithm, which would have placed them on the top of the results.

This is important because the top position usually averages around 25-35% of the click ratio compared to the other nine results. When sites like these are knocked off the top spot, their traffic drops like a rock. The second place click ratio is much lower, at fewer than 15%. If a page drops to the second page of results, then it gets practically no traffic.

So far, it looks like these sites are being penalized in the search results. Sites like article directories are reporting 10% losses; other sites are losing up to 40%. For the owners of these sites, this is extremely bad news. “These changes will most likely result in a fatal ending for a lot of these websites,” said TJ Robak, Chief Executive Editor of BeginnerWebs.com. “It’s about time sites that exist solely for the purpose of making money from [unoriginal] content be removed from the search results.” It’s not just these sites; any kind of site using inappropriate SEO tactics will also be affected. The most recent example being JC Penney; they’re accused of creating hundreds of fake websites to create back links to their site for higher search rankings.

However, the good news for other webmasters and most of Google’s users is that these sites will no longer clog up the results with copies of original content. This opens up the door again for small publishers with good content.

Before the change, anyone without a database of articles was left off the first results page, let alone the top five spots. “It made it impossible for anyone else to compete. It was an unfair advantage that no one benefited from except the owner of the site,” TJ went on to say. Now, small publishers are finally getting noticed in the search rankings. It seems that so far, this is actually working.

It depends on who you ask, but for honest webmasters, publishers, and bloggers, this is definitely a good thing.

So how does this affect you?

If you’re a webmaster just beginning out, you should take this as a warning. Stay away from ideas that involve content scams and tactics you know are considered to be cheating. Your best bet is to be honest in your content and make sure it’s original and of quality such that someone searching for the topic would find it useful and relevant.

Having trouble getting search engine traffic to your site after optimizing it over and over? Here’s an idea…

Have you ever noticed that when you submit a comment on a blog or forum, that there is almost always a field for you to enter your website? The truth is that most webmasters overlook this and lose out on hundreds or even thousands of potential visitors per day.

“But how can a few links on some blogs that I posted on have any effect on my traffic?”

Depending on what blog site you comment on, you really aren’t going to receive any direct traffic. You see, by placing a link to your website in a comment, you are actually placing a backlink from that blog to your site. The more backlinks you have, the more search engines (like Google) will recognize you as a respectable site; and the more respect your site earns, then the higher your search ranking will be.

“But how do I get enough backlinks?”

The key is to comment on blogs and forums that you find interesting and relevant to your website content. As long as you don’t spam and write polite and productive comments, you’ll be viewed as a legitimate site by search engines. You should focus on finding quality sites with medium to high traffic. A site with ridiculously high traffic might drown your comment with dozens of others. By leaving backlinks to your site, it will place higher you in the search results and will subsequently generate more search engine traffic (the best kind!).

This tactic is meant of course, as a supplement to basic SEO practices and submission services like free article directories and social networking methods.