A How-To Guide for Creating a Profitable Website

I’ve decided to embark on a long-term project which essentially is going to be an ongoing feature on the blog, entitled “A How-To Guide for Creating a Profitable Website”. Not too catchy of a name, but it gets the point across. I’ve developed a preliminary outline for it (shown below), and I think I will be able to build it up into a very useful resource for anyone who is involved in creating and/or growing a web property.

If anyone has some ideas about what I could add to this outline let me know. Hopefully I will be able to start on the posts tomorrow and we’ll take it from there. One of my hopes is that people will be able to suggest additions to it as we go along and it can become something that is incredibly valuable to someone who may just need a few tips or is completely clueless about how to introduce their business or their passion on the web. Go team!

1.1 Choosing a Domain
1.2 Buying a Domain - What is it Worth?
1.3 Buying a Domain - How to Find One?
2. Keyword Research
3. Evaluating Competition
4. Positioning Your Business
a. Your Services
b. Web Design
5. Pay-Per-Click Campaigns
a. Creating a PPC Campaign
b. Creating Compelling Ads, Improving CTR
c. Landing Page Optimization
d. Split Testing / Day-Parting / MVT
6. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
a. Page Titles and Meta Description
b. Navigation / Site Structure
c. Content Management
d. Link Building
i. Directories
ii. Press Releases
iii. Link Bait
iv. Link Buying (2-3 Parts)Competitors
v. SERP Monitoring
vi. Record Keeping
vii. Reciprocal Links* / Trading Services
7. Long-Term Growth / Selling Out