Some websites seem to have instant fame, but most tend to lack growth and lack careful planning. There are 9 steps that all webmasters should undertake while developing a website:

• Planning
• Simple Layout
• Quality Content
• Update
• Backup
• One incoming link
• User interaction and Community
• Reinvestment
• Dedication

Planning

Before you start to design a website, you need to think about why you are creating the website and what its goals are. Try to answer the following questions before going any further:

• What is the aim of the site?
• Who is the site aimed at?
• What content will the website have?
• Who is in charge of each job on the website?
• How are you going to backup?
• Do you have room to grow?
• How can you make sure that your site is secure?
• How can you tell if your site is a success or failure?

Simple Layout

Many designers will spend countless hours on a website design, only to find that somethings are not compatible in some browsers. When designing a layout:

• A simple layout will :
• • take less maintenance
  • be easier to read
  • be quicker to create
• It does not need to look too flash, but it does reflect your professional image
• Content is more important that layout

Quality Content

Quality content is the biggest key to a successful website. It may sound simple to start with, but finishing off things that your have started and making sure that what you do is complete, can be the hardest thing. When creating content make sure that:

• It can be read / skimmed with ease
• There are no:
• • Spelling mistakes
  • Grammar mistakes
  • Errors
  • Broken images
  • Incorrect information
• That it is original

Update

If you want visitors to return, you need to make sure that your site has new content and is kept up to date. An up to date site will also archive a better listing in Google. When updating your site, watch out for:

• 404 links
• Out of date or wrong information
• Things that could be improved
• Ideas for new pages / sites
• Things that can be expanded on

Backup

There is no point putting a lot of work into a website if you are going to loose the entire site during the first major catastrophe. Mistakes happen, a backup every now and then will be worth its weight in gold. When backing up remember:

• Back up often
• Back up everything
• Test all backups work
• Backup now!

One incoming link

Do not believe the myths saying that "the more links the better", and "more links means a better position in Google". Links will come naturally to a good site with solid content. All you need at the start it one link to your site from a page that can be found from Google, and that is it. Google and all the other search engines will find your site through that link and tell the world about your site.

User interaction and Community

For a site to be truly successful, there needs to be a lot of user interaction. You are not going to be able to create a very large website single handedly, but you can with help from your websites users. Allow users to add to your site, even if it is only in the form of comments.

Reinvestment

Most websites make money, ether from advertising or e-commerce. One important method of making your website grow is reinvestment. No matter how small your profit margin is, you should be spending at least 5 percent of your profit on ways to help growth. This could be in the form of advertisement, creating more content, camera gear or even getting a better looking logo created.

Dedication

To have a successful website, you need to be dedicated. No website can function without time and effort and if you lack one or both of these, your website will be an instant failure. You need determination and to work on your site for well over a year. If your do not have the dedication, do not bother.