Now that you have a basic idea of how to start getting your web site information together and ready to present to a web designer, I will go over the last points to ponder and let you make your decison on how to get started.

One thing I always tell my clients is to go surfing for awhile and make notes on sites they really like. How easy a site is in terms of navigation. How easy it is to find information. What they really like about the layout and design of a web site. These elements really help define what a client wants and what a web designer should expect to aim for.

In some cases, a client doesn't really know what they want other than they want a web site. They want to be in on the technology boom. Their friends all have web sites. Why shouldn't they have one too? In such cases, I always refer back to my first rule: start small and think big. A web site is not by any means the final answer etched in stone forever. It can change to meet the needs and demands of whatever a client wants.

As your web site begins to come together, you will start getting your own ideas on how to improve it. Not suprising, but layout and presentation often change dramatically within just a few short weeks. The original idea is still there but the client suddenly discovers they can make it even better. It is nothing to be ashamed of. It is just the way the art of web design is.

Many clients have heard the adage, "build it and they will come". How true is this statement? Well, it is true to some extent, but promotion is the key. With so many web sites now online, it takes much more than just having a web site to get people to come to your web site. If you do not have something so entirely new and unique to the world, it might seem difficult to get anyone other than friends and family to visit your site. It's another reason why I tell clients that when building a web site, start small and think big. Each and everyday make a list of things that you can change or offer.

Getting visitors to your web site once is usually not as big a problem as getting them to come back again and again because they can always find something new. Or coming to your web site and staying for a few minutes and then straying off to other web sites. This is called web site "stickiness". The stickier you can make your web site, the more your web site will succeed. If you continually have new pictures or new products or services, it will make your web site sticky.

The last two points I will touch upon concern the success/longevity of your web site and web design vs. web site promotion. I have already briefly touched upon the success of a web site, but it is important to know that many web sites come and go faster than a person can keep track of them. A web site is basically a business without the overhead that a brick and mortar business needs to sustain itself, so it is no wonder that high web site attrition abounds.

It is my opinion that a new web site owner plan on making the best of it for at least one year. Budget for all your web site expenses for at least that first year and make the best run at making it work and turn a profit (or at the very least break even) in that first year. Again, if your product or service is not entirely unique, it is the goal to aim for. If after the first year you find yourself shelling out more money than you are taking in, stop and take stock and devise a new strategy.

Web Design and Web Promotion are often lumped together as being very similar. I ran into a situation a few years back with a client who hired me to design their web site and get it up and running. After a few weeks, the client asked me why they were not getting any orders? Wasn't that something I was supposed to help with? I had to explain that while I designed and built the web site, I was not a part of their sales team spending off design hours promoting their web site products and services. It was a tough situation as a designer, because sure, you want to see your clients business thrive. When they do so, in all likelihood it will bring the designer more referrals.

The web designer can really only go so far as he or she is willing to go before crossing into the "promotion" end of web sites without charging additionally for that. A good web designer will certainly tell friends and colleagues about the new site he or she is designing, but in real life, they are designers and not neccessarily sales specialists. Of course some designers like myself are willing to take on a web promotion project, but it is clearly explained fromthe beginning that desing and promtion are two separate services.

A good designer will give a lot of great ideas along the path of their design travels that will be helpful in empowering the client to create a strong promotion campaign. But beyond that, they are crossing into additional services that they need to charge for to justify their own time and business.

Just to name a few helpful tips on promoting your web site...you have a solid web site built that you can be proud of; tell EVERYONE you meet about it! Make up business cards with your web site address and email address. Leave these EVERYWHERE. Make your business cards as important a tool as possible within your budget. Create flyers and announcements and post these everywhere and anywhere you can. Getting your business name and web site out into the public eye is a strong, key promotion strategy.

Contact other web sites that you know and really like. Offer to exchange web site links with them; they add a link to your site on their site, you add a link to their site on your site. This really does help promote your web site further by attracting cross-traffic. If your offer a product or service that is industry specific such as automotive, research related trade publication magazines and newspapers and consider taking out an ad or two for a period of time within your budget.

Promotion is a game within itself and while some strategies work, others are not as sure-fire. But with a little time and experience, you will develop a strategy of your own and learn the ropes and find yourself suceeding more and more. Or as some prefer, they will simply hire a promtion specialist and use such a service to get their web site, products, and services noticed.

Gary Pfalzbot, Jolly German Internet Services, 2008