Following on from buying your domain name in the first article [1]The Domain question is? you now need to whip up a website to meet your customers expectations.

A Website is easy isn't it - just a few pages of stuff about me?

No, it never is and the quicker you realise this the better. It is essential that you recognise immediately that it is not only up to you to build a motorway from your site to the customers PC screen but, you also have to go and collect them in a fast limousine and deliver them to your site and then hold their hand while they get around and hopefully eventually buy from your online business.

Not all websites make money in fact at least 70% of them never make a penny

Do not believe just because you can build a website in Word or Frontpage that you have the skill necessary to make it flow and work for you. I have seen many a shining example of a website that despite its sleek upmarket, flash and swish image nevertheless failed to draw in business because of massive failures in understanding that the customer is the only important objective of your site, and surprisingly not your design, flair, ego or desire. This is not a pulling machine or a hotrod racer, this is a municipal vehicle designed to ferry people reliably and competently from point A to point B and your website is the road, the road signs and traffic control. Don't let there be a ditch or dead end.

The Speed of delivery can make your site live, or die

Your website has to be quick to load [5 seconds] easy to see where to go [clear call to action] smooth transition from page to page [unfussy clear instructions] and an easy-peasy simplified buying experience [tip] make it easy for people to buy from you. Seamless action end to end.

Think seriously about using a proficient web designer. They cost you in monetary terms but, the results can be the difference between having a pretty site and having a good business - the two are rarely the same, but a good designer can make the form follow function and achieve much the same result. Money well invested [tip] Find someone you can work with, not just on price or track record, but one who understands you and can interpret your needs.

Writing an article online is not the same as reading a paper

People do not have the attention span to read poorly crafted long winded texts when browsing a site on a sometimes dim CRT screen. If you put this article into a website you would have lost your reader by the 2nd paragraph. Keep text very short, punchy and informative. [tip] Get a good copywriter [a 4N speciality] and give them everything you want to say and then listen to them when they tell you its NOT. Let the copywriter and web designer work together and you will get a much better site if you stand back and let them get on with it.

Finally, don't use crap pictures on your site - for the sake of a few ££'s get some decent images or you will regret the results and so will your designer - [tip] put something in the budget for buying stock pictures or if you can afford a photographer [see 4N for a good selection] the results will be amazing.

Your site is finished and uploaded and looks great - now you can stand back and watch the money roll in.. Wrong - look for our 3rd article in the series titled. [3]Driving Buyers to your online Store to see why this is just the start.