There are many things you need to consider when you are building a website. To begin, will your site be informational only (brochure-style site) or do you want your visitors to be able to make purchases (e-commerce)? If you are selling your own products, you will want an e-commerce site (also knowing as shopping carts) so that your visitor can quickly and easily become a customer.

Many 'start-up' business opportunities have a website that you are given as part of the package, but I would consider that a gateway only. You need to have a site, even if it's just a single page, that you can optimize for the search engines. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a big business and incredibly important to the success of YOUR business. We'll talk about that more later.

If you have some knowledge of HTML, you can buy a WEBSITE TEMPLATE and add all the content yourself. Check out our source for website templates here. I've included a few good tutorials and informational articles below, that may help you get your template up and running:

What is HTML? - http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/

Basic Frontpage tutorial - http://edwebs.org/learning/software/frontpage/basics/

Free Dreamweaver training - http://www.learnthat.com/courses/viewlets/dreamweaver/

You're getting your site built - now you need those little extras that make your site unique. Images, clipart, etc., will help create an impression on your website visitors. A few words of warning, however: Just because you CAN does NOT mean you SHOULD.

Things to avoid on your new website:

The Sound of Music - unless music helps make your point on your website, leave it off. If you MUST have it, do not have it loop. Let it play once, and maybe give your visitor the option of playing it again. Don't make your visitor leave your site to turn off the sound.

Animations - One is more than enough. Enough said.

Animations/movements attached to the mouse - yes, they are kinda neat, but your site is meant to represent your business. 'Kinda neat' does not sell.

Any combination of the above - if you cannot restrain yourself from adding one of these things, only choose ONE. You want your visitors to see what you are SELLING not jumping images or rabbit mouses.....

Choosing a domain name - One thing to think about when choosing a domain name is to keep it as simple as possible. You will want to be able to tell people, over the phone if necessary, what your domain name is so that they can go to your new website! If it's an extremely long, messy or contains lots of dashes, etc., it will be difficult to make someone understand what you are saying. If possible, have your domain name relate in some way to your business. If that isn't possible, a good method is to choose a phrase that means something to your business.

Example: A bookkeeping business could have: www.KeepYourBooks.com

Example: A candle business could have: www.WaxOnWaxOff.com

You want to use your business name, if possible, but if that isn't available, you want something that will stick in your potential customer's mind. I think I would remember waxonwaxoff.com for a long time :)

Now, you have your domain, you have your hosting, you need to get your files up there. If your hosting provider doesn't have a web interface for FTP (the method by which you will upload your files), you'll need to download an FTP program.

Click here to download a 30 day free trial of WS_FTP, my personal favorite.
http://www.ipswitch.com/_download/wsftppro.asp

Another program I've heard of but have not used is CUTE_FTP. Click here to download a trial of CUTE_FTP. http://www.cuteftp.com/downloads/gsftps.asp

Ok, that's pretty much it. Your website has been completed, content added, and it's been posted. Now it's time to optimize!

Optimization involves all elements of your website - they must work together to get your site placed high on the search engines. Also, you must choose target words and phrases that are both searched on, and do not have tons of competitors. It's a difficult dance, but it can be done.

Debbi Cunnington is a freelance web designer who enjoys building pleasing sites for her clients. If you are interested in web design services, or would like to take a look at her digital photography album, visit her website here: http://www.cimmeronstudios.com