I am about to build me a Web Site and sale watches and a few other
items.
Friends have told me that a company called Verisign Inc. Is a good
company to use to build the site. Do you agree or do you know of a
better one.
   I also need to know how to get the site in front of as many people
as possible. When somebody types in watches or wholesale watches I
would like my site to pop up on the first page if possible.

JIMNBAMA

Hello jimnbama,

Great questions!

Q. Is Verisign a good company to use to build the site?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Verisign is part of Network Solutions. Since it is a recommendation
you are after, I will advise you to not use them for website design.
Here is why :


1) This is not their area of expertise. Their initial business line is
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates, and domain name
registration/management.

2) The site building features they are offer may be simple to use, but
your site will be generated from a pre-built template.

3) Other companies offer similar services, with better prices, and far
better customer support.

If you want your site to be simple, don't mind using their templates,
and paying a monthly fee for each page, then it's an option. It's
simply more economical and unique to hire one of the many college
students that may need the money, and will offer great design for a
competitive price. Here are some sites that allow you to create a
project (in your case - building a website), and lets the programmers
bid on your specifications. You don't pay a dime until you are
satisfied you have found a competent person for the job :

Script Lance
http://www.scriptlance.com/

FreeLancers Direct
http://www.freelancersdirect.com/

For a few pages, good design, and built in ecommerce, you are probably
looking at spending around $100, which is still very cost efficient.

If you can implement web pages yourself, and are looking for a quick
start template solution, I recommend TemplateMonster. They have
programmers that make templates, and you buy the template to implement
however you see fit :

Template Monster
"Create a unique web presence using pre-made designs and templates of
the highest quality."
www.templatemonster.com



Q. How to get the site in front of as many people as possible?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is always the part that involves dedication and planning on the
website owners part. Being number 1 for all search requests is not a
guarantee that anyone can make. However, getting prominent positions
with Pay Per Click search engines will ensure you get decent exposure,
and probably good conversions. These engines search results appear
above number one 'regular' positions in nearly every large search
portal today. (With the exception of Google) Here is a site that lists
over 500 of these types of engines, with a small review for each :

Pay Per Click Search Engines
"Pay per click search engines, pay for placement or pay for ranking
search engines are a highly effective way to attract cheap, targeted
traffic to your website. The best and most popular pay per click
search engines are Overture and FindWhat..."
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/

Of course you will have to spend a little money on advertising, but it
is the only guaranteed method of achieving the results you desire,
short of cheating the system ;-)

You may also want to look into Google Adwords. (Not meant as a plug,
we researchers do not work for Google Search, but are independent
contractors.) Their conversions are making headlines, and I can attest
to their effectiveness having used them in the past myself :

Google Adwords
https://adwords.google.com/select/


Getting top positions in 'regular' search engines requires patience.
You will need to ensure your site is built to accurately reflect what
it is you sell or do. I recommend reading some material for each
engine you are trying to obtain top listings with. Search engines
coders are getting more adept at catching the mechanisms current users
abuse to get to the top. Here is the place I recommend you start
reading, as it offers information from all angles, and tells you the
real information you will need to effectively market your new site :

Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/index.php


Search Strategy used to assist with this answer :

Prior knowledge ;-)


Should you need further resources or clarification, please do not
hesitate to ask. I'm not satisfied until you are. Thanks for the great
question!

SgtCory

Hello Sgt Cory
  Thankyou for the answer. I believe I can get this thing going now.
JIMNBAMA

If verisign is the same company that I am thinking of, I have heard
nothing good of them.

jimnbama,

Thanks for the great rating and the tip. I look forward to hearing
more from you in the future.

Thank you!

SgtCory

I would definitely not use Verisign for building a web site.  I would
also not use them for registering domain names because they grossly
overcharge for it.  I would recommened registering domain names using
dotster.com or godaddy.com.  As for as building web sites are
concerned, I recommend using the services of elance.com which allows
you to post your project on their site and have various companies bid
on completing the project.  Furthermore, it is going to be very
difficult to get site listed on the first page of search engines.  The
advertisement costs will not be worth the outcome.  I highly recommend
that you abort the plan to develop your own site because it is too
capital intensive.  Instead, I recommend that you open up an ebay
store front and sell on their site.  This will save you a lot of money
because you would no longer have to spend money on advertising costs
to attract potential customers.  Ebay already generates millions of
hits a day.  I am speaking from experience and I hope you take this
all into consideraton.  Good Luck.