The Help Centers

Often internet success is varied. Most people see and hear about eBay, Yahoo, Amazon, Google, FaceBook, MySpace, Digg and many others but rarely think that they can succeed. Often the history of these sites is overlooked and the humble beginnings are just not any way similar to the juggernauts they have become. Yahoo for example was started by a couple of college students wanting to share links to internet sites and now not ONLY is it a major search engine but ALSO a large social networking force with sites such as Flickr, Google Groups and Yahoo 360.Read More Below...

With all of these site up on the net there seems to be little room for a small person to be successful. This is FAR from the case. You do NOT have to create a HUGE website with a vast variety of content and services. But rather grow from what you know. Most clients I run across know that the internet and kinda how it works but are just not 100% sure how to apply their idea to it. I personally like to divide up everything up into questions (Why, What, How, Who When).

Why do you want a website? Do you want to learn internet technology, make money, help your fellow person? Make sure you BELIEVE in what you do. The why question should never be answered with a “Because I said so” (except in cases where you are a parent speaking to your kid). Make the why your mantra and have it guide EVERYTHING else. Often people get caught up in the details of html coding that they miss the fact the website is for helping orphans. Keep your eye on the forest the trees will take care of themselves.

What do you want to do? Now is the time to clarify your idea. In my opinion there are four kinds of websites. Sites that inform(e.g. news, blogs, tips), Sites that sell(eCommerce), sites that present(Photos, videos) and sites that connect(social networking, dating, linking, searching). These classifications are NOT set in stone and can be blended (i.e. MySpace has Blogging, Photo and Video Albums in addition to connecting people) get a scope. Being EVERYTHING to EVERYONE is just not feasible, however, a site that caters to a smaller group of people may be the success you are looking for. Draw pictures make diagrams make lists. With what you want to do make SURE you PRIORITIZE. Having flying hamster dances may be cool but if your site doesn’t have any content are you really
HOW will you do it. What technology will you use? Will you outsource? Where will you host? are some questions to answer at this point. Many clients often fall into the on tool for everything trap and get themselves stuck. Start answering this question from a BLANK slate. Don’t slam down and say FrontPage as the answer to everything. Open your mind. Often the problem is already solved you just have to find it. FIND people who have done it and can tell you how to do it. It’s better to spend a little time and money investigating how to do it rather than having to redo the same thing over and over.

Who is going to do the work? Are you going to do EVERYTHING? Better think again! While simpler website may be managed by a few people or even one. Have you considered being TOO successful for just you? Or that you may not be able to get everything done? Or you just don’t know enough? It’s OK ASK FOR HELP!

When often people say ASAP! But I’ve learned from experience that they want everything from YOU ASAP when they have deliverables it’s whenever. Make a schedule and try and stick with it. If it slides so be it, ADJUST.

Above all REMEMBER WHY YOU ARE DOING IT! It IS work and even hard work but keep in mind your inspiration. Make your dream come to life.

So in summary to build a successful website keep the following in mind.

• Why are you building as website?
• What will it be?
• How will you build it?
• Who will build and run it?
• When will it be done?

Granted this post is NOT large enough to go into more detail. There are SO MANY things that I’ve glossed over but those I’ll leave to another post.