If you kind of get that in order to make serious revenues online, you need a quality site and to be able to monetize it correctly, then pay attention. There is nothing to buy today, just straight shooting – we’ll look at the real challenges behind setting up your own site, and then maybe squeeze in some of the fun stuff like what you can earn and the benefits you can enjoy once you’ve done all that hard work.

It may not be pretty. It may not be what you want to hear – but it’s the truth. And you need to know it.

1. The Real Challenges Of Site Design.

I get it all the time. Clients who have spent hundreds on tools, software, home study courses on site design – but when push comes to shove, they find that setting up their own site can be a nasty, time consuming, hair-destroying activity. Perhaps that is why, when you put out even a simple project on site design in sites like Elance, even the lowest bid comes out as a few hundred bucks. If you need something more complex, then you can end up paying thousands or more.

Just like surgery. Or architecture. Or accountancy – site development is a skill that takes MUCH learning, effort, trial & error. It is not an easy skill, and that is why people are often stunned at how much site developers charge.

Why is site development so tricky? It’s due to the multiple skills required in getting a good site up and running. Here are some of the challenges…each of these can take upto days, weeks even months of intense learning to understand and apply:

 - Knowing The Infrastructure – You must be able to know what engine will run your site – do you want it to be HTML, a CMS like WP or Joomla or something very different like .net (etc). There are experts in all of these fields who have spent years studying the systems, and even more years applying their skills. Personally, me and my staff are skilled in WP (a content management system that most of my readers are familiar with). I’ve used this and have become an expert in it over a period of years. It is very difficult to compete against pro’s – it’s a little like trying to play tennis against Roger Federer…even if you are competent, he’ll wipe the floor with you.

- You need to understand the basic elements of registering domains, setting the DNS with that of your hosting, FTP (file transfer protocol), and depending on the site type setting correct permissions on different files & folders (so that you do not get hacked for instance, and to keep passwords secure). You also need an awareness of Cpanel.

-  Then there come the aesthetics – again, depending on the infrastructure you use this can be tricky to get right. For most infrastructures, you can purchase themes and templates – but the professional ones cost a LOT of money. I have spent over $300 getting the developer rights to the best professional WP themes. I invest in them because I know that it gives my sites and my client sites the best possible look and feel. My philosophy is always, let the experts design the best, and pay them to acquire it.

 - Graphics design – all sites need quality graphics and banners. We’ve all been on sites that are so ugly and have such poor graphics that it is impossible to take them seriously. Online, your site is your place of business. It’s the only impression you can give a potential client about how good you are. How professional. Get it wrong, and you will lose them.

 - Feature rich – again, for my WP blogs I have spent hundreds to acquire the developers licence for numerous plugins. A plugin is something that enhances your site by doing something special. As an example, I offer to set-up membership sites for my clients within the IM niche – so they can make money in much the same way I do. The developers licence for the plugin to run the membership engine cost me over $200. That’s multiples of what I charge clients to setup their whole site

 - Quality content used , with a concept of keyword density. On the web, you need to understand the importance of keyword density. If your article is about diets, you will need to use a good variety of balanced keywords. Keywords that your site visitors will be researching.

 - Ideal blend of monetization & content. Your site should have laser-targeted ads, CPAs, affiliate links so that you’re able to maximize your in come.

 - Creation of the site with SEO and traffic generation in mind – there are tricks that a good developer can use to make sure that their site gets maximum traffic from the search engines. One of the tricks that a WP developer should use is to know multiple ping sites and add these ping sites to the blog. This way, each new piece of content written on the site will notify these blog search engines and automatically draw traffic. Over the years I have discovered about a hundred of these ping sites, and I use them for all my and my client sites. Tricks of the trade.

Now, if you are reading this as someone who does not have their own site, and does not have the expertise to set one up – I have laid out the major challenges you are up against. The gurus will try and sugar-coat the truth…they’ll tell you that if you buy this course, or that super-duper software that it will all be ok and that you’ll get a perfect new site in minutes. I’ll leave it up to your good judgement if you think that is true or not.

This has all been quite dark stuff so far. But there’s good stuff now. Because once you get your site up and running, you have an asset that is capable of making you money. In effect, you have set-up a business that can generate revenues, and perhaps even be sold in the future for thousands or more. Why else do you think the guys who have all been around for years, put in 12 hour days on their sites? Because we’re all building something. And with each passing hour spent, the value of that business and website increases too.  It’s all about the long term.

So, here is why having your own site WILL be the best investment you ever make…

-  Your site gives you a point from which you can offer either your own or affiliate products and make commissions. The great thing about the internet is that site owners can make revenues from multiple sources. From things like CPA, PPL, ordinary commissions, Adsense, information products, advertising – the streams of potential revenues are almost endless. You just need to get up and running.

- If you have been trying to make money without your own site (some gurus will say it is possible, just to make a cheap sale on something) – it is practically impossible in the long term. The best you can do is send your clients to other people’s sites. Maybe you’ll make a sale, or maybe they will go there and buy other stuff for which you’ll get no commissions. With your own site, you have the power to add new content regularly and to send your hard earned clients to your own webspace.

- In building your site, you are building a BRAND. Do not underestimate the importance of this. Over the years, if you are able to build a brand that has clients and regular visitors, you are building an asset that has real monetary value. People will pay real money to acquire it. Site owners who started off like you have been able to sell their sites on for tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands and more…by slowly building their brands.  It may not happen overnight, but it has to start somewhere – for everyone.

 There you have it. The many challenges behind site development, and then the real world rewards of doing it right.

I understand that this is one of the biggest challenges that almost every newcomer to the internet will face. That is why I decided to try and create a service that will give clients all the benefits of premium & complete site development for a fraction of the real cost. I’ve spent months trying to come up with a solution to this problem. And it’s almost here. I’ll let you know more soon.