What would you do with $500 what would you do?

Hi,
I'm a Webmaster. I create Web sites for small businesses and individuals.

Invest in your own Web site. Then, your investment will return an income and in a year or two your Web site will support you. You will be out of the rat-race, have no boss, and free to do whatever you want.

Below are some of the things you need to know about creating your own Web site.

First of all, how do you determine what's a great Web site?

One tool to evaluate the popularity of a Web site is Alexa which is owned by Amazon. You enter a URL and it will show you where it stands based on 65,000,000 websites. Google and other search engines are in the low hundreds. However, some individual Web sites have an Alexa rank of 100,000 or less. These Web sites attract a lot of traffic. Even a Web site with an Alexa rank of 500,000 is still in the top 1% of all Web sites ranked by Alexa. Most Web sites come up with an Alexa rank of "no date" which means no traffic for that Web site. As far as the 'net is concerned, the Web site does not exist and is a waste of money. It may be a hobby site and the owner doesn't care.

Another test is your page rank in Google. It you have a Google page rank of 1, that is excellent and it means that when a certain keyword is entered in Google, that keyword will display the 10 best ranked Web sites for that keyword. There is even a PageRank icon that Google supplies that is like a guage of the Web sites popularity.

Most of the answers tell you where to go to set up a Web site. Get a hosting company and domain name. Sure, you can use GoDaddy and it's a good service, but that is not where you want to start.

That is putting the cart in front of the horse. Completely, back***wards.

First, you need to do some research on keywords and find out if there is a demand for your product or service. You need to find out if there is a huge demand for what you are selling and very little supply. Anyone of those places mentioned can create a Web site, but you need a Web site that works.

99% of your efforts should be in promoting your Web site. Creating it is easy. There are hundreds of Web sites that will let you create a Web site. That's the easy part. None of them will help you with Internet marketing. Driving traffic to your Web site is your main concern. Without traffic your Web site will fail because it will be invisible to Web surfers.

In fact, you don't need to do any advertising. For example, to get your Web site known, you can create press releases and send them to various newspapers, radio, and TV stations. This is free advertising. You can announce that you have just created a Web site, or that you have created another page on your Web site, etc.

Another way to get free advertising is to write an article and submit it to various Website that publish articles. It doesn't have to be more than 300 words and you sign the article and it has your Web site address or URL in it and people will be curious and visit your Web site.

I just helped a local boatyard owner put up his Web site. He really loves it.

We already have one page of the Web site ranked number one with Google and we did not do any advertising. That means the first page that comes up on Google with specific keywords, has a page from the boaryard on the first page of Google. It only took a few days to analyze the keywords and create the Web site. The best thing about it is that anyone can do it with only rudimentary knowledge of the Internet and computers.

No technical knowledge is required.

If you're using Yahoo!, you have more than enough knowledge to start your own Web site. But you want a Web site that works. One that creates some income. This is known as Monitising your Web site. There are several ways to Monitize. You can put up Google AdSense ads that cost nothing and when people click on the ads, you make money. You can become an affiliate of many companies and when some one buys, you make a commission. You can sell ads on your Web site, etc.

You can begin to Monitize when you have 30 pages in your Web site. People come to the Wordl Wide Web looking for information or content. They are not looking for your Web site or business.

Content is king. If your Web site has quality content that people like and admire, that content will drive traffic to your Web site. Lots of traffic means many people are clicking on your Web site. The more traffic you get, the more chances you have to make money.

However, I would caution you not to try the free Web sites as they will not help you in the Internet marketing side of the business. You want to pick a system that does it all from keyword analysis to Internet marketing. Like the one the boatyard owner used.

Once you decide on your little niche which you found by doing keyword analysis, you name your domain and you get published on the Internet. Keyword analysis finds out things like how popular your keyword is, how much that keyword is in demand, etc. You want to pick keywords that have huge demand, but very little supply; this is where the money is.

You may have a hobby like collecting stuff or you like to set up home theaters. Something you are passionate about. With passion, you can write lots of content on your favorite interest that will interest other people. Here are some real site subjects:
Cookie Kitchen, your own biz, small biz guide, home biz guide, remote control cars and trucks, gear for motorcycles, Tunscany villas for rent, Beaches in Anguilla, Poker, juggling, pregancy guide, flat stomach, doggie quotations, women's health, puppy names, etc.

Most Web sites exist to sell something. They are one huge ad for whatever it is your selling. It could be hard goods or soft goods or even electronic books, sometimes called e-books. E-books are books you download online, One company that sells them is called ClickBank.

You must find a niche for your Web site. You need something to hook that surfer. Something unique. That's why you need a niche. None of those sites listed will help you find a niche.

People find your site via keywords. They are not looking for you or your Web site. Like Kayak Rentals. They enter Kayak Rentals into Google and Google finds all the Web sites with that keyword. If your Web iste is popular, your Web site will be on the first page of Google. The boatyard Web site has one page ranked number one in Google.

How do you know which keywords will make money? There are keyword analyzers on the Interent. Most of the good ones cost money, not a lot but some. After all, you can't expect to start your own business without some investment, even if it's on a shoestring budget.

The boatyard bought a system for $299. It has 50+ software modules that allow anyone with practically no technical knowledge to create their own Web site.

What is great about this system is that they have a forum where you can go and chat or ask questions about creating Web sites and experts will answer your questions free of charge. There are many steps to creating a Web site that works - one that produces an income. Free web sites just don't cut it. You need this industrial strength system to create a Web site that works and makes money.

You need to know how to Brainstorm keywords, how to write to presell, how to build your site, how to attract traffic, when to Monitize, how to Monitize, how to find the best niche for you, interpreting keyword supply, demand and profitability, RRS and blogs, E-zines, look and feel templates, how and where to get graphics, setting up forms, etc.

Then, when you have a Web site, you can submit it to the Forum and they will critique for free. There is even a Water Cooler where you can chat, gossip, rumors, etc. all in a friendly manner by people who really care.

With all the free Web sites out there, many people can create a Web site. But after wasting a lot of time on these free sites, they come to realize that they just don't work and that's when they give up.

It's like the gold miner in California who struck gold and he went to get some machinery to get the gold out of the ground. When he came back to his gold site, he dug a little with the new machine and the gold vein gave out. He gave up and sold the machine to a couple of miners down on their luck. They dug in the same place and bingo, just 3 or 4 feet from where the vein gave out, they struck another gold vein even bigger than the first.

So don't give up. Keep digging.