Ten basic steps for building a web site that works

1. Assemble a web site development plan that is integrated with your overall marketing procedure; the content should be consistent with offline materials, the artwork/images don't have to be identical with traditional media, but should be consistent with your overall branding, style guide, usage of colour etc.

2. Hire a web site designing firm that understands your marketplace position and one that won't get "geek crazy" - significance they are so in love with their own designing capabilities, your site gets bogged down with artwork, plug ins, GIF refuse, etc. But, conversely, check your ego at the door when you work with your designing firm - I've see so many good web site designing get ruined by clients who can't or won't listen to what we tell them!

3. Pay attending to "load times," how long it takes a web site to load on a 56 KBPS modem (this is an industry average), if its more than 12-18 sec you may experience the "click of death" - the site doesn't load rapidly and the surfboarder is gone. Of course of study, if your targeting broadband client who are reach your site via ISDN or DSL then you can build a site that incorporates multimedia-ready content that may include streaming audio or video, or Shockwave or Flash capableness - go ahead and let those digital geeks get carried away with film editing edge content!

4. Dare I say it, "keep it simple" - make your site easy to move about in, build a menu construction that is consistent with industry standards, local menus (for a page or subdivision) on the left and global menus (overall site pilotage) at the top and/or underside of each page, keep as much info "above the fold" (above the cutoff point at the underside of a monitoring device), don't make people use horizontal scroll bars unless absolutely necessary.

5. Inculcate "digital speed" into your overall site design, your client/customers should be able to get to their desired area of your site within one or two mouse clicks; they will quickly get frustrated if they have to click-through multiple menus to find information they are seeking.