For newbie's starting out with an online venture the notion of building a site can be a challenging one. There is so much information out there it's hard to know where to start. What direction should you go in to yield the best results?

Where you really need to start is with yourself. Write down what you wish to accomplish and put together some form of outline that will help you stay focused. One thing is for sure when doing anything online and that is you will find yourself getting distracted here and there when seeking out information.

This happens to us all but if you have an outline posted in front of you then it will be easier to stay focused. To make life easier on yourself you can use a site builder to build your site.

The advantage of a site builder is that it will help you to construct your site without having to worry about the technical details. The good site builders will also help you to construct your web pages properly so that your reader can understand your message and the search engines can figure out what your pages are about.

This will help your site to get indexed and into the search engines which overtime will provide you with free targeted traffic and if your webpage's are set up right this traffic will make you money.

In some cases site builders come with hosting as well. Once again this provides you with less to worry about and you can get on with the task of building your site around your favorite topic.

To conclude keep it simple, stay focused and you will achieve your goals.

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.

A question I often ask my target market is, "what's your biggest challenge with building your business online?" And one answer I get frequently is this:

How do I make my website earn money?

If you've got a business online, then it's likely you have some sort of web presence. Perhaps it's a one-page 'sign up for my list' kind of site, or a full-blown brochure site with a menu of choices, or maybe your site is in the form of a blog. Regardless of what kind of site (or sites) you have, if they're not doing what you want them to - and since we're in business, ultimately that means making some sort of a profit - then it's time to make some changes.

But how do you REALLY know whether your site is working or not? Here are four strategies to test and track your pages to know what needs fixing:

1. Let the numbers speak

I'm sure if the sky was the limit, you'd hire the most expensive web designer with the fanciest tools to create the most spectacular site imaginable for your business - and someday you just may do that.

For now, though, even an ugly site can make money. I can think of at least two sites right now that I personally think are not that pleasing to the eye, yet I know they are raking in the bucks each and every month, year after year.

So don't get caught up in having the most polished and professionally looking site. Focus more on having the pieces in place that will bring you the cash, too.

2. Give your site only one job

Think of each page of your website as a separate entity with one main purpose. It may be to sell something, or to sign up for your list, or to get people to call you for an appointment. Whatever it is, make it clear that that one thing is the action your visitor should take from being on that page.

3. Track your numbers

Most web hosts offer statistics that you can use to watch your numbers, or there are other web stat programs that you could use as well (such as Google Analytics). However you are keeping an eye on your numbers, you should be looking for two things: how many people visit your site and how many people take the action you want them to take.

From those two numbers, you can figure out your conversion rate, which tells you how many of those visitors took the action you wanted them to - like sign up for your list. If you make small changes to your page AND watch these numbers at the same time, you'll be able to tweak things to increase your conversion rate.

4. Make one change at a time

This is a very effective way to increase the conversion rates on sales pages and sign-up pages. Change just one thing - for example, the headline - and watch your numbers. Compare those statistics to your previous ones and decide whether or not to keep the change. (You can also do this via a split-test in your shopping cart, where the software does the number crunching for you.)

I see so many sites that try to be all things to all people by offering everything under the sun in too small a space - a website - and all that does is confuse people and encourage them to click away. Remember, 'a confused mind always says no', so always go back to the main questions when considering making changes to your website: What's the purpose of this page? What is the one thing I want my visitor to do here? And then design your copy around the answer. Keep it simple and you'll get better results every time.