If you have ever been to a "bad" website, you didn't need an expert to tell you it was a bust. Maybe you didn't know exactly why it was bad, but dysfunctional web sites tend to exhibit similarities that make them unlikely success stories.

For instance, have you ever visited a site and wondered "what are they selling anyway?" I know I have. I get frustrated with websites like these and quickly start my search again for a website that focuses on the information I was looking for.

A well designed website can either make or break your website success. The tips below will help you get started and to learn what works for a successful website. These tips are by no means all-inclusive; you will also learn a lot through "trial and error" just as with any brick and mortar business. These tips will however, help you to avoid web blunders that hinder even more seasoned web developers and designers.

Must-Have Tip #1 - Make it clear what you do. Find a niche market and don't try to be a "jack of all trades" selling multiple and unrelated products, services, or information. Instead, figure out who your target market will be, and what products and/or services you provide that will appeal to this market. Then, stay on topic; don't throw in a bunch of irrelevant information just to try and lure visitors. They will resent the deception and you'll lose customers.

Note: It is very important to note that search engine crawlers index and categorize your website based on the text and content you provide on each page. The content on each page is also compared to all other pages on your site, so having a cohesive set of pages that focus on your niche product or service is always better than trying to provide too many products or services.

Must-Have Tip #2 - Do your visitors know how to contact you? You would be surprised how many websites leave no way for a customer to contact them with questions or to order their products and services. Think about it this way: if you stopped into a store that provided widgets, and no one was around to help you or answer questions, how comfortable would you feel spending money with that company? You wouldn't, of course, because if they can't even make themselves available for questions before the sale, they certainly won't take time for you after the sale.

If you worry about getting too much spam, or receiving unwanted phone calls by leaving your contact information on your site, make sure to add your business phone to the federal "Do Not Call" list, and use a contact form instead of just providing your email address. This won't eliminate the problem of spam (what does?) but it will make it more difficult to abuse your contact information.

Note: Always respond to email in a timely manner. Treat them as you would any business phone call. Customers typically expect a higher-than-average response rate when shopping or doing business on the internet; if it takes you longer than 24 hours to respond to an email you will probably lose a customer. Even an "I received your email and will respond to your question shortly" is better than waiting too long to get back to a customer.

Must-Have Tip #3 - Don't use flash introductory pages. Everyone knows they are fun and entertaining, but if your site is designed for sales, a business, or for a professional purpose, what will they add to your site? In fact, for many, these are just another added aggravation they have to wade through to get to the information they really want.

Note: If you must use a flash intro, be sure there is a "Skip" feature clearly marked so visitors can bypass it if they choose.

Must-Have Tip #4 - Focus your web copy on satisfying the needs of your customer. Content can make or break the sale, or determine whether a visitor stays or finds another site to shop. Be sure to provide your costumers with unique and interesting words to help pique their interest and differentiate your products and services from your competitor's.

A well-thought through home page and a few articles that prompt a desired action, while simultaneously provide information to help your visitors quickly (in one or two clicks max) find and pay for products and services will keep them interested, and coming back again and again for future information and purchases.

Note: Consider hiring a contact writer if you're at a loss with web content. This may be a significant investment, but the results, and the success of your site, will definitely be worth it in the long run!

Must-Have Tip #5 - Update, update, update. This cannot be stressed enough; if you provide no reason for visitors to show up on your site again, why would they? If the information is the same week after week, month after month, who would want to? Even your local Wal-Mart will provides weekly sales flyers to entice shoppers back to their store! Keep your site fresh and updated!

In closing, I am sure you are reading this article because you want a professional website. If you have programming skills and can write your own code, great! If not, there are many affordable, quality online website builders available; many hosting packages also provide web software and templates. With a little elbow grease and effort, you can build and maintain a successful website as well!

Selecting a domain name - Domain name provides an identity to a website. It confirms your space on the internet as it denotes the name of your website that is entered by a user in search box to land on your site. For instance- yahoo.com, sujivan.org, usa.net and so on. Usually the user should opt for a domain name that ends with .com, .net or, org. These are the most common extensions used by the surfers. Many companies offer domain names at discounted rate, so keep an eye on online discounts if you want to purchase domain name at discounted price.

Web Hosting - Every website that is being launched requires a web hosting for database support and web application. Many service providers offer free web hosting service, this should be avoided and instead go for companies providing this service by taking some nominal monthly fees. Otherwise chances of the host offering free web hosting to put up their banner on your site is there which may prove harmful for your business. If the user does not have much traffic they can go for shared hosting and when increases switch on to solo web hosting traffic.

Website design and development- Next step is to hire a professional web designer to design your site. Take a note that the designer should have knowledge of HTML which is basic requirement for web designing. If you desire increased traffic to your site make sure that it is pleasant looking, fast downloadable and dynamic. Once web design part is complete then move for website development. Hire a professional web developer to develop advance functionality of your website.

Content creation - Content management and creation is one of the most important aspects of any website. It can be considered as heart of any site, as relevant information, goals, objectives, discussions, etc fall under the content category. Can you imagine any website without content? Not possible, it's the backbone of every site whether personal or commercial. The content should be to the point and relevant, devoid of any grammatical errors.

Search engine optimization - To get increased traffic to your website, it is essential that it is visible in first or second page of major search engines like Google, msn and yahoo. This can be done by search engine optimization of certain keywords that the user is likely to enter in the search box. Higher rank in the search engine lands more visitors at your website. You can hire an SEO expert or give this work to your web development company who has this facility.

Thus these were certain essential key steps for starting up a successful website. These are followed by other website enhancing tools like online marketing, multimedia designs, graphics, flash, ecommerce, database application, logo design and website maintenance.

One should agree that content is the main thing that keeps visitors coming back for more to your website. Without content, your website is a dead duck in the water. Here are 5 smart ways you can create content for your website without breaking an arm and a leg:

1. Outsource Your Content

You can hire a professional freelancer to create content for you. This is an easy way to get your content created hands free. But the only problem is cost. If you have tons of extra cash lying around, then this is a viable option.

2. Use RSS Feeds

By installing RSS feeds on your site, you can have fresh new content generated practically on the fly. RSS Feeds can typically grab content from new blog posts around the web, news sites and other websites. You can also promote your content via RSS feeds using FeedBurner.

3. Use Blogs

Create a blog and allow people to comment on your posts. The comments are also a way of creating content for your site, only you are not writing the content, your readers are.

4. Create A Forum

A forum is one of the best ways to have tons of content created for you by others. If you have a popular forum, you'll have loads of fresh new information posted by the forum members.

5. Leverage Articles

Take reprint rights articles from article directories and publish them on your own website. There's a whole world of articles out there on article directories that you can use as long as you include the resource box with them.