Getting your website done up for your online marketing business? What are your expectations for a good website? What are the important factors that you are emphasizing on to get the desired results from your website? How do you plan to achieve such desired results that will project your website favorably with visitors and customers alike?

Designing a good website and making it work for you and your online business requires tremendous effort in meticulous planning, serious consideration and purposeful fine-tuning. Without all these factors, the vast amount of time, money and effort spent on starting up the website can all be wasted easily.

To achieve website success, it is imperative to consider the following points:

(1) Planning

Draft the plan for your website. What is the exact purpose for the website? This is important because it will set the direction that should be taken for the whole process of designing your website.

(2) Content consideration

Content is the meat and forms an integral part of the website. It is important to think about what content should be included on the website. Another aspect will be how often the content should be updated and how to get reoccurring content.

(3) Designing the website

This plays an important role in keeping your visitors for the first four seconds. The design of your website must speak its intention and desirability very clearly. What it has to show to the visitors must be made known in that very short time span. No beating around the bush whatsoever. It must be distinctly clear in sending its message across.

(4) Encouraging visitor participation

The website for whatever reason it is being designed must attempt to bring in visitors not only for the sake of traffic but also getting them involved by participating in the signing up of the free articles and newsletters that you are offering. The whole process must one of interaction, not just a one-way communication.

(5) Setting up the website

This poses no problems simply because there are professional web designers that you can approach for a certain fee, or alternatively, there are nowadays user-friendly software that you can purchase to design and build your own website, bearing in mind that the design has to be somewhat agreeable within limits to the intention of the website.

(6) Execution of follow-up

It will be extremely damaging if some visitor poses you a question but it is not being followed up within the same day. This reflects poorly on the efficiency on your part. It tarnishes the image of your online customer service.

(7) Promoting your website

In any marketing campaign, there is the element of promotion. After having posted your new website, it is crucial to spend some time in promoting it. It is new and therefore it has not garnered recognition or publicity withing this short period of time. It must be given some push through promoting it. There would be teething problems initially, so the website must be given close attention and nurturing, at least in this initial phase of being hosted.

(8) Executing maintenance of the website

Having set up the website on the internet, it is very important to maintain it. Enliven it with new and fresh content. Make it appealing as each day passes by and visitors returning looking forward to reading new information. Put a warm smile on your website everyday. It will be like what honey is to bees. The path to website success is being subtly laid ahead.

The prerogative after the website is being hosted is obviously getting visitors to know and come to your website. Without visitors to your website, the whole purpose of designing and hosting it will be defeated.

How do you plan to attract visitors to your website? There are several ways of realizing this plan:

(1) Submission of your website to various search engines

Submitting your site to various search engines will help in some way. Of course, it would be advisable not to place full reliance on them as they can be inconsistent. If budget permits, bidding for a spot on the search engine would be a more viable alternative simply because an extra bit of control can be exercised. Overture.com is one good choice.

(2) Put up various free offers

Who would not want to accept free offers if given? This can be best executed by explaining why the visitors in accepting the free offers would understand more about their problems on hand. "Grab free information relating to your backaches. You'll receive more of such information if your just sign in and allow me to mail you these free related information on a weekly basis".

(3) Put up ads online

It is a good opportunity to put up ads online. Run your paid ads in e-zines. Put your ad buried in another person's e-zine, or you can choose to buy a full page ad. The whole process will induce the source of incoming traffic to your website.

(4) Use word-of-mouth

This method is viral and is usually effective. Let the world know about your website by inserting your personal signature file on your name cards, brochures, leaflets, just to name a few. Inevitably, as this usually turns viral, it will lead to more website visibility.

The internet provides the opportunities for online success. All that is needed to be done is to leverage ourselves with technology. It is equally crucial to understand that website success needs good effort in planning, designing, hosting, promotion and maintenance of the website. Nothing is further from the truth that a well-maintained website is one guaranteed of success in the long run.

Your Small Business Website doesn't have to be a challenge. You'll be able to get it up and running without a professional web-designer, you'll be able to describe you're unique value proposition, and you'll have an offer waiting to bring in business that already believes your solution is the correct one for them.

One of the biggest myths about creating a website is that you have to use a web-designer. Designers can bring a great service, but your goal is to make information available and to interest clients in your products and services. To leverage this, you should look for a templated site. Simply put, that means you pick out a predesigned website and make a few customizations that are appropriate for your business. Usually you have hundreds of choices from which to choose. Then you add your images, upload your logo; and more importantly use your voice to communicate. Quick and dirty in the world of websites can be worth more than you ever thought.

Give them a reason to pick your business over the competition. Price isn't the only comparison people are looking for. And sometimes you don't want to compete on price-it limits your audience. Do some research on your clients. How do they search for your product or service? Are you saving people time and stress? Could your value be in the way you integrate with something they are already doing? Formulate your 'sweet spot' in the industry and broadcast it. This is the one piece of information that you can't afford to not include on your website. Make it the central message and use your features and benefits to back it up.

State your offer! You've got their attention now make them an offer. So often a company puts so much energy and effort into their website, but they forget to ask for the sale. Whether you are selling products or services, you must give them explicit instructions about their next step. Should they sign up for a newsletter? Download a report? Call for an appointment? Customers love simple directions for the next step. Present your features and benefits and then drive them into a sale. Otherwise you're leaving money on the table.

So you've made the offer. They identify with the features and benefits, but how do they know that this is really for them? You need to offer proof. This could be a video on youtube demonstrating the actual benefit or perhaps testimonials from your customers. This is big because you've led them down the path of searching and research. Make sure they know that they have chosen correctly. You ease their mind and add third-party credibility to your site's visitors by including statements from like-minded customers.

Many times small business owners are fearful of their website. They don't know what it requires to set up a website or what it needs to include. Taking action can be as simple as finding an easily editable templated site that you can quickly customize, broadcasting your unique value statement, asking for the sale, and providing credibility from others. Erase the fear and profit from your small business website.

Most web development projects include one or more of the following elements...

• Database design and creation
• Server-side computer programming
• Client-side computer programming
• Web page design

Each of these elements has to work in its own right, and in cooperation with the other elements. The more complex the project, the harder it is to bring it all together and make it work correctly.

How to keep the cost down

Here's how you can make sure your web development costs don't run over budget...

1. Insist every aspect of the development is described in an Agreement document, and make sure both you and the developer sign it
2. Don't make changes after work has started

The key to achieving the second of these two items lies with the first. You should insist that an Agreement document be created, and sit in on the process.

You need both end-users and developers in the same room, working through each aspect of the development. The end result must be a document that fully describes the development, is clear (unambiguous), and easily understood by both users and programmers.

Every minute you invest creating this document greatly increases your chance of bringing the project in on budget.

Why it's worth it

Many of the problems that usually cause headaches during a complex development could have been discovered in advance, if an Agreement document had been created. When users and programmers get together and discuss their respective needs thoroughly, the resulting development is far more likely to go smoothly.

This kind of interaction forces both users and programmers to think through what's actually required to make the system work. The ongoing interaction reduces the risk that person A assumes person B knows what they're talking about.

Users are committing to a specific set of functions for an agreed price. The developer is committing to develop those functions for an agreed price. This means both users and developers have a self-interest in being thorough.

Should a user change his/her mind about something after the Agreement document is signed, the cost of development must be renegotiated. This punishes the user for failing to think things through.

Should the developer discover he/she hasn't fully understood what's required to complete some aspect of the project, he/she can't ask for more money. This punishes the developer for failing to break down each stage of the development and understand what's involved in completing it.

Assuming you do your part, you won't need to make changes after the work has started. As a result, you'll bring the project in on budget even if the developer hasn't done his/her job properly.