How to make websites successful: Planning!

Before starting a new web project, you should be aware of the factors that are essential for making websites successful. In this short series we are going to have a closer look on the importance of planning. What do you need before starting your project? First of all, find a niche in the market where competition is as small as possible but which still attracts a considerable number of people. Then, you need to develop a business plan. Just trying your luck without thinking first what your products are, how to promote and make money with them, how to recruit and retain customers, what the USP of your product or company is, etc. might work in some few cases, but chances are much higher that you are going to fail. Don’t spend weeks of consideration just focusing on your business plan – using helpful resources like http://www.myownbusiness.org/s2/ will save you lots of time. Think hard about your domain name as it will directly affect the perception of your website on the market and therefore, will have direct impact on the number of your visits. Your ideal domain name should be short, unique and easy to remember. Also, consider that choosing a high quality hosting provider is time well spent. Go for dedicated server hosting! The more reliable and faster your website, the more satisfied your visitors will be and the better for your rankings in search engines. More on this interesting topic on http://www.chromaticsites.com/blog/the-official-successful-website-checklist-challenge/

The W3C CSS validator

A very useful tool for those who don’t know it yet: The W3C CSS validator. Just enter your website URL, upload a CSS file or enter the code directly in the text field and hit the “Check” button – in just a few seconds you get an overview about the CSS errors and warnings found in your file!

Build a company website in less than an hour

Is it really possible to build a nice looking website with useful information in less than one hour? It sure is. All you need to do that is a) find a hosting provider to run your website, b) install a content management system (CMS) that helps you to set up pages without having to write a single line of code and c) get a template that fits your requirements and looks attractive. As far as the CMS part is concerned, WordPress is my absolute favorite. You can install it within minutes, you are able to choose between thousands of free templates and plugins and its user interface makes it fun to use each and every day. Much more information on this topic here http://blog.kissmetrics.com/build-a-company-website/