Web development encompasses many stages i.e. Planning, Analysis, Web design, Implementation, Promotion and Innovation. Each of these stages requires use of different sets of tools and professionals with varied skill sets.

Planning and Analysis don't require as many software tools as the experience of the web master or project director. They need working knowledge with all aspects of server and database. Familiarity with Operating Systems and the Internet server applications are required. Experience with IP networks, programming languages and database development are also essential. The two most common Operating Systems used are Windows NT/2000 and Unix, although many also use Linux. Most commonly used Internet programming languages include PERL, CGI, ActiveX, ASP, and Java among others.

In the next stage of Web designing, tools such as HTML Meta tags, JavaScript, CGI, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia DreamWeaver and Adobe Photoshop are used. Web templates, graphic designs, photographs, texts, clippings, audio and video are also included, as per the requirements. Flash helps in animation that gives an identity to a website. Visual Basic is the most common language for scripting and SQL with other database engines are used for database management on the website. To create Search Engine Optimized content, tools such as Overture are used. Once the most popularly searched words in your industry are identified and short-listed, the content creators write content using these search words. This ensures that your website lists high in the search engines and directories.

In the Implementation stage, the website is implemented and tested on various browsers. Any functional errors, if found, are corrected. The Promotion and Innovation stages, help in marketing a website. Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Promotion, Loyalty Programs, Email Campaigns and Online Games are some tools used for website promotion. Tools such as site statistics software and reporting from site searches let you know what exactly your visitors are looking for. The content and marketing strategies are then adjusted accordingly. A website also needs to be maintained and continuously evaluated and updated with respect to content, presentation, layout and technical aspects.

Use of good web development tools ensures that your pages have good content, Meta tags, a high link popularity score, appropriate keywords and visual appeal. Although web development tools are essential, it also takes a seasoned team of programmers, graphic designers, content creators, consultants and marketing staff to work in tandem to create a technically sound, visually appealing and highly functional website. A well-planned site, apart from being high in functionality, is also easy to re-design or alter, at a later stage.

So you want to build a website and at this point you may be very excited. There seems to be so much opportunity online that it seems that you cannot go wrong. You read all those sales pages out there telling you that you only need work fifteen minutes a day and you will make thousands.

Forgive me I am being a little dramatic but I think you get the picture.

The solid fundament when it comes to building websites is to understand why people go online. Number one they go online for information. This information can be entertaining or solution orientated. It can also be sought out for research purposes.

So the first question is which category do you fall into? Now let me give you that tip. If you are interested in a subject lets take health as an example its imperative at the outset to have an open mind.

What you think may work, may not so you have to be prepared for that. Secondly you need to make sure and research thoroughly so that when you make the decision you can at least know that you have done your homework and therefore your odds of success are far greater.

Let me tell you what happened to me. I went out bull headed and just picked a topic that I was interested in and was not adaptable at all. Then I just built a site and put a lot of work into it but got very little results. Then of course I lost motivation and before you know it I almost got burnt out.

I cannot tell you how depressing it is when your dream of working online becomes a nightmare of failure.

To conclude keep it simple, be adaptable, focus heavily on research and understand that it takes work so don't be easily influenced by all sorts of hype that will in essence only distract you.

So you managed to get a website up and working. You managed to set up a pay per click campaign. But you have not managed to get lots of buyers, callers, joiners, clickers or whatever it is you were after. You may even be advertising to a niche market, yet your website speaks to a general audience. If you try to be everything to every body these days and you will end up being nothing to anybody. So let's look at how you might make changes to your site to speak to a niche and get some conversions.

News Flash. The general store can't compete with the amazons of the world.

If you try all by yourself to compete with mega mart, you will get lost in the big black wormhole of the internet-- also known as the limp, lame, solitary server for misplaced website owners. That's why you choose a segment or a niche strategy. It offers you an opportunity to carve a market share out of that big giant pie. The trick is to identify the niche market or brand audience who will value the service or product enough to pay for it.

How can you position to a primary target audience ?

Don't shoot at the ocean hoping to hit a fish. You need to follow a plan or niche strategy to develop your website so it speaks to this primary target audience. A website is a marketing tool. So here is a brief outline regarding how you might go about the process of creating a well-positioned, marketing savvy website that is not generic. This is an extremely simplified website plan for positioning to a target audience but it outlines a process that you can follow.

• Define your site- Before you can actually choose the type of software or tool you will need to create your site, you need to first determine what KIND of site you want. Is it a site to promote your business? Or an eCommerce site to sell stuff? Is it a community forum for like minded. You site definition determines which development tools you'll need. A free template might do the trick or you might like to look into ecommerce programs.

• Define your goals- What do you want this website to do for you? Sell? Get additional business? Advertise more high-profit items or services? Serve as a status gateway for your sales and marketing team? Do you want it to be an informational platform that is supported by advertising. Writing down your goals gives you a focus.

• Define your target market- It's not "everyone on the internet". Big companies spend MILLIONS to define their market and create an appropriate strategy. So you need to research the segment of the population who you are trying to reach. If it's teenagers, is it female teens with self esteem issues? Is it teens who are book worms? If you know which segment it is, you can further define the audience and know how to speak to them.

• Define features- These are the features you want on your site. If you are a real estate firm, do you want an amortization calculator? Do you want a venue for people to leave comments? Do you want a slide show, streaming video, audio files? Do you want a schedule of how-to clinics and sign up capability for these clinics? What about registration and payment capability? All of this helps determine the tools you use, the package you might buy the host you will choose. Some hosts are better if you happen to be posting lots of video or audio content for example. Still others offer ecoommerce packages with a higher level of tech support for these customers.

• Target marketing strategy-Your marketing strategy is a plan to reach specific objectives. It does not have to be catchy. It just has to define what you would like the site to accomplish. Example: For instance, you want your computer repair business to cater to home office entrepreneurs who want same-day repair. Your focus is getting computers fixed fast from a remote location and keeping the business person at peak productivity by minimizing downtime. You may also want to get an affiliate cut for spyware you recommend on your website and other products that keep computers virus free and performing smoothly. You want to keep in touch with your market through a newsletter with free tips on how to boost performance and with latest virus alerts. You would like to start offering monthly contracts for being the "IT Department" for the home office entrepreneur and eventually establish yourself as the go-to company for IT services.

Remember to write or use copy that does not focus on yourself or your company, but think strategically in terms of how your product(s), service or company benefits your target market. Then your website should guide them along the path to the action you wish them to take much like a live sales person would do. Plan your website well and it could become one of your least expensive and highest yielding marketing and sales tools.