The URL issue is getting more difficult but not impossible. I recently purchased howtoart.com for my wife and we’re setting up something there in the coming months. There are still great domains available, one just has to be willing to spend sometime and creativity on it. I think you did a great job though in your market.

I agree completely about getting feedback. With PT I did about four beta tests with public feedback before I released the new site live. You definitely need to get as much feedback as possible!

Also a good point about the professional logo. I’m pretty lucky to be in a small niche with few competitors, but others may need professional logo design services. Fortunately, rates are pretty reasonable these days.

Also agreed, though I don’t know if heavy inter-linking helps with PR that much, it is a great idea for many reasons. Not just content theft issues.

Thank you very much for your feedback!

The URL issue is getting more difficult but not impossible. I recently purchased howtoart.com for my wife and we're setting up something there in the coming months. There are still great domains available, one just has to be willing to spend sometime and creativity on it. I think you did a great job though in your market.

I agree completely about getting feedback. With PT I did about four beta tests with public feedback before I released the new site live. You definitely need to get as much feedback as possible!

Also a good point about the professional logo. I'm pretty lucky to be in a small niche with few competitors, but others may need professional logo design services. Fortunately, rates are pretty reasonable these days.

Also agreed, though I don't know if heavy inter-linking helps with PR that much, it is a great idea for many reasons. Not just content theft issues.

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Select a distinct name for your site or blog, along with an easy to remember URL

This requirement is getting more difficult. I spent months entertaining different names before settling on the name On Financial Success. Time will tell if it is catchy enough. It certainly works well in a sentence.

Get away from default themes and create your own look.

Choose the colors you want to represent your site (ex: Red, Black and White for this site)

Make sure you get lots of feedback during this stage. Sometimes a design looks beautiful or usable to the designer, but no one else. It's frustrating to fall in love with a design only to find out that everyone else hates it.

Create a unique logo for your site using those colors

The more competitive the niche, I think the more important a professionally designed logo is.

It is important to remember, however, that links are still the currency of the Web and, in addition to linking your logo, it is important to include text links back to your site.

Not only is linking back important to the search engines, but it also gives you an opportunity to highlight older, hopefully relevant content for your readers. I think focusing on interlinking articles also helps with PR. My young site jumped from no PR to 4 overnight. I really don't have many outside links pointing to me, so I think the heavy interlinking must have played a large role in assigning my PR.

Choose the colors you want to represent your site (ex: Red, Black and White for this site)Make sure you get lots of feedback during this stage. Sometimes a design looks beautiful or usable to the designer, but no one else. It's frustrating to fall in love with a design only to find out that everyone else hates it.Create a unique logo for your site using those colorsThe more competitive the niche, I think the more important a professionally designed logo is.It is important to remember, however, that links are still the currency of the Web and, in addition to linking your logo, it is important to include text links back to your site.Not only is linking back important to the search engines, but it also gives you an opportunity to highlight older, hopefully relevant content for your readers. I think focusing on interlinking articles also helps with PR. My young site jumped from no PR to 4 overnight. I really don't have many outside links pointing to me, so I think the heavy interlinking must have played a large role in assigning my PR.