Target Your Market First 1. Who are your customers? 2. What type of language do the customers respond to? 3. What type of graphics are suitable for your market? 4. Are you targeting locally, nationally, or globally? 5. How much traffic do you really want and/or need? 6. What are your website goals? 7. What are your expectations?

Below are two articles concerning starting a website and starting a blog.

How to Start a Website Starting a website involves preparation of content, finances and design considerations. Depending on your project goals, you may also have to consider programming and database costs. For example, if you want to start a website that involves social networking, you will have to spend a lot of time and money on developing a database that will suit your needs. If you want interactive features on your site, you will need to hire a programmer who can design an interactive feature that suits your needs. There are essentially three major types of websites. 1.   Websites advertising services and/or providing industry-specific information. 2.   Websites selling products. 3.   Websites with social networking intent. There are a variety of plattforms for building websites. 1.   You can do it yourself with web-based templates that are provided by a variety of servers. 2.   You can hire a designer to design a custom template for you. 3.   You can buy a design software and learn how to use it, and develop your own custom template. There is one constant that applies to all types of websites and all plattforms for building websites. CONTENT DEVELOPMENT Yes, you can build your own site or you can have someone else build your site. But, what is the content of that site and how do you determine what the best content for your site is? How do you determine what your keyword strategy is , and what is the market you are targeting? These are very important decisions that will affect the performance of your site. The Myth of the Automated Money Machine A website does not automatically generate success. A site is always a work-in-progress. Just as a house needs constant improvements, so does a website. You may want to change the look from time to time, or you may want to add or alter content. Improvement decisions are based on the performance of a site. If you are not getting what you want from your site, perhaps you need to make some changes. Websites have to be constantly monitored and analyzed for performance issues. If you are expecting to put up a site and have instant riches deposited into your back account, you may need to check your expectations. Like any other business venture, websites take time to become successful. There is no overnight wealth, so leave that expectation behind when starting your website project. The most important things to do before starting a website are to research your intended industry, analyze the jargon associated with that industry, and consider how much you are willing to invest in your project. Websites can be profitable, but websites should not be impulse buys. Take your time when considering what you want from your site and how you will go about obtaining your goals.