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Michael 10:56 PM 10-05-2011
Sharlan PM's me with questions about websites and advertising. I asked to to start a thread and if it takes off I will make it sticky.

Just a little insight into what I do. I started creating websites in 1995 with such brands as Daycare.com, Nashville.com, PalmSprings.com, Manicure.com and many others. I have a lot of experience in making money in the virtual world and some sites have generated over a $1mil a year in profits. You can read about some of my work here: http://dnjournal.com/cover/2006/december.htm

sharlan: What do you find important to put in your website, what do you feel is best left out? Do you have a section for daily updates on what the kids are doing?

Other providers would have some good ideas. I would suggest you engage your potential clients in a way that gives them a virtual feel of your facility. It is important that you "lead" your visitors to the information that is most important be it "potential clients" or "current clients". Information is great but you must offer it is simple ways.

sharlan: Do you put in lots of pics of your daycare area - inside and out?

I would suggest you use pictures of in and out but not too many since large pictures or information slows down the viewing process. There are ways to reduce file size in pictures and I will cover that in future posts.

sharlan: Do you go to other websites and steal their ideas (JUST KIDDING)?

Always look at other sites for ideas. Here is on that signed up today on Daycare.com. www.OrganicKidcare.com

https://www.daycare.com/php/showlisting.php?ID=00179911&p=1

There is a lot they are doing correctly on this site. The fact that they have a great website and also advertise on Daycare.com is multifaceted. The fact Daycare.com is listed #1 on Google, Bing and Yahoo for the term "daycare" helps get their website into the higher rankings or searches. This is a secret many advertisers use to gain higher status in search results.

sharlan: Do you buy the domain name (is that the right thing) from Google for $10 a year?

There are many registrars that you can get your name from. It is not like the old days when Network Solutions was the only one you could get a domain from. They use to charge $50 a year! These days you can get them as low as $8. Choose from a registrar that offers others services you may need like getting your email address with your domain name michael@daycare.com or URL forwarding which allows you to "point" an address at your name.

Example: If I get a free website from weebly.com and buy my domain name from goDaddy.com for $8. I can point my Weebly site to my new domain name. That way you see my site at MyChildcare.com and not mychildcare.weebly.com
Remember Weebly.com owns mychildcare.weebly.com but you own MyChildcare.com. You can advertise MyChildcare.com knowing you will always own the name (as long as you pay the reg fee every year).

There is a lot more I can write about and if there are any questions feel free to ask them. I would like this thread to be referenced by anyone looking for website information for any business field.
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