Course 188
This lecture was originally presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2013 in New Orleans.
There are 3 basic steps to creating your first website: selecting and purchasing a URL, choosing a hosting or self-hosted program and then implementing a CMS (content management system, i.e. blogging software).
Choosing an URL is easy and should consist of 3 keywords which typify the goods or services for which you'd like to rank.
Self-hosted sites, such as those offered by GoDaddy.com or Bluehost.com, are inexpensive and offer the most flexibility in terms of both function and SEO.
CMS, or blogging "software," is the best for creating a modern website. Our favorite is Wordpress.org, providing turn-key design and the best SEO.
<a>Randall V. Wong, M.D.</a>
<a>Medical Marketing Enterprises, LLC</a>
Website 101: 3 Steps to Creating Your First Website
1. Web Site 101:
3 Steps to Creating
Your First Website
Randall V. Wong, M.D.
Medical Marketing Enterprises, LLC
AAO: 2013
Course 188
2. Randall V. Wong, M.D.
Financial Disclosure
Co-Founder
Medical Marketing Enterprises, LLC (O)
www.MedicalMarketingEnterprises.com
3. Goals
After this course, you should be able to;
Choose a domain name
Choose a hosting service (GoDaddy, Bluehost)
Choose a CMS (software)
Prepare to launch your site!
4. 3 Steps to Starting a Web Site
Domain (www.mymedicalpractice.com)
SEO
The suffix
Hosting
Self-hosted
Hosted
Website development
.com vs. .org vs. html
5. The Domain: Maximize the SEO
Choosing a Domain
Best to maximize the SEO of the domain, but not absolute
Use a combination of popular keywords used in search
“www.BethesdaRacketStringing.com”
Vs.
“www.WongWongandWong.com”
6. What’s in a Name?
Choose 3 keywords which describe your services
Combine them
Maximizes the SEO of choosing a domain
7. RetinaEyeDoctor.com
Retina + Eye + Doctor
www.RetinaEyeDoctor.com
Ranks Globally
Has both SEO of the URL and the site is optimized
8. Keyword Search
Use Keyword Search tools to determine if a particular word is commonly
used
E.g. “Eye Doctor” is searched more often than “Ophthalmologist”
“Keyword Tool”
12. Buy the Domain
Usually purchased for $10-$15
Cost per year
Best to buy for 5 years, signifies you are “trusted”
Spammers and Black Hat sites will buy for much shorter duration.
15. Domain Ownership
You may or may not want to pay for anonymity
We recommend using a company credit card and listing yourself as the
owner and at your office address
16. Domain Suffix: Does it Matter?
.com
.net
.org
.edu
In general, the Domain suffix is intended to signify the type of company or
organization, but any entity can enter domains with these suffixes.
17. Country Codes and SEO
Domain suffixes
Country Codes
.ca – Canada
.cn – China
.de – Germany
.au - Australia
Not all country codes are available
SEO – host URL in same country
19. Hosting: Where to Store Your Site
Hosted (Free)
Self-Hosted
Blogger.com
GoDaddy.com
Wordpress.com
Bluehost.com
Godaddy.com
HostGator.com
20. Hosted: Pros vs. Cons
Pros
Cons
Free
URL unprofessional
No Server Maintenance
Limited design themes
No Downtime
File Access/Ownership
Free URL
Poor SEO
27. 3 Types of Websites
Resource (Static, No SEO)
Marketing (Dynamic, SEO)
Engage/Interactive (Dynamic, SEO, “Blog”)
28. Web = Blog
Modern website must be on CMS
Design is fully customizable and can look like any website
Can “add” function when you are ready
E.g.: Change a Resource site to Marketing site
30. Web Design is Obsolete
Does not improve your rankings
Expensive to change
Themes/Design for blogs is now very cheap and turn-key
Great Looking Page, but Will Not Rank!
34. Web Design
Obsolete from SEO perspective
Turn-key Themes
3rd Party Themes
Studiopress
Genesis
Thesis
35. Conclusions
Owning your own website is cheap, not economical, but cheap
$10/month (Best ROI)
Best and Only Marketing Strategy (Billboards)
Your First Step to Social Media!
36. Take Home: Starting a Web Site
URL
Hosting
Blog Software
Blog = Website
Design is Obsolete
Maximize SEO value in your decision making process!
37. Thank You
and
To Your Success!
Randall V. Wong, M.D.
Amy Wong, Esq.
Medical Marketing Enterprises, LLC
7726 Bradley Blvd.
Bethesda MD 20817
240.230.7353
RWong@MedicalMarketingEnterprises.com
Amy@MedicalMarketingEnterprises.com
38. 188: Website 101: Three Steps to Creating Your First Website
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Hinweis der Redaktion
Please feel free to email me prior to the lecture!Randall.V.Wong@gmail.com
Domain name: also known as the URL, it starts with “www.yourwebpagehere.com”Hosting Services: There are tons. We like GoDaddy and Bluehost.CMS: Content Management System (software/program/blogging platform)
There are 3 basic components to creating your website.Domain: this is the “www” or your website addressHosting: refers to where your website is hosted or storedCMS = Content Management System (Wordpress.org is the best)
You should choose a URL that gives you the best SEO.Choose phrases that are meaningful.
Choose 3 keywords which might be used to find your office; you might choose location, specialty or service. Stay away from using your name, if patients are searching you by name….they already know about your practice.Once established, Google will, however, link your name automatically with your website during search.
This is the URL to my retina blog.It now ranks as one of the highest in the world. You can imagine how often I rank “locally.”
Choose keywords that are popular search terms.
Cost of a “non-premium” URL is inexpensive. Purchase should be 5-7 years to provide “trust.” From Google’s perspective, anyone who has owned a website less than a year, or, who has purchased a domain for a year might be a spammer.
Checking availability of a domain is easy. Enter your desired URL. You will then find availability and price.
Two favorites of ours are GoDaddy and Bluehost. There are certainly many others. Most “3rd party” hosting services are one stop shopping….buy your domain and hosting for one low price. In general, most of the hosting sites are quite affordable.The services provided by these two vendors are MORE than adequate for ANY small business site.
Domain ownership simply means, “Who owns this domain?”You may elect to make this knowledge public. Your ownership of your practice/business is public knowledge. By default, why not disclose you own your own website? In other words, no need to pay extra.
The suffix really doesn’t matter for SEO purposes. “.com” is generally considered for commercial small businesses and is easiest to remember.
Country codes do matter with respect to SEO.Choose to host your website in the same country as where you practice/live.Hosting your site outside of your country waives a red flag for Google and can decrease your SEO as your “trust” becomes questioned.
So called “self-hosted” sites are absolutely the best. They offer you complete control of your content, allow you to maximize your SEO and allow all kinds of e-commerce, if desired.
GoDaddy.com,Bluehost.com and HostGator.com all offer self-hosting.
Unfortunately, you can’t migrate a “hosted” site to “self-hosted.”For the little bit that it’ll cost, just start off on the right foot with self-hosted sites.
Most companies offer great service, fast download times and provide live customer service. Don’t forget to make sure your hosting company runs Wordpress.org.
Self hosting means that you are paying for storage of your files on a 3rd party server. Whoever you choose as your hosting company, make sure they have a greater than 99.9% uptime, 24/7 customer service and the ability to host a Wordpress.org site (most do).
Website = BlogWhat does this mean? A modern website should be built on blog software, e.g. Wordpress.orgOlder HTML generated webpages are simply antiquated and completely obsolete.CMS now offer turn-key design, limitless function, but also have the ability for users to add their own content in the form of comments.This is the biggest advantage of a blog.
One advantage of using a CMS such as WP.org is that you can easily change your website depending upon your needs.Most practices have a “resource” type site; hours of operation, about pages, directions, insurance information, etc.No marketing value, but at least a footprint on the web.With time, you may want to change or add function….no problem with CMS such as Wordpress (really anything blog).
Just like the exterior paint and shine of this car, website design is catchy to the eye. Neither, however, is indicative of the actual speed of the car nor the RANKING power of the site.The two, website and SEO, are not related.
Web design is expensive yet has no impact on your website rankings.
“Blogging Software” = CMS (Content Management System)Blogging software, such as Wordpress.org, is the modern version of Dreamweaver or Frontpage (so called HTML generators).
Different than Wordpress.com.Most popular CMS Used by most successful bloggers and website developers.Maximizes SEO.Focus is on content.
Web design is history. No value from SEO perspective.We’ll talk about turn-key themes; easy and cheap ways alternatives to expensive webpage desigers.We use Studiopress frameworks and themes.I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t use anything else!Affordable, coded for SEO to name a couple!