- Decide Exactly What You Want from Your Web Site
- Decide on a Structure for Your Site and Develop a Rough Site Plan
- Decide What Interactive Elements You Need
- Decide What Graphics You Want to Include
- Write the Text for Each Page in Your Site
- Determine Your Budget and Timeframe for the Project
- Establish Your Web Infrastructure
- Collect Your Toolkit
Establish Your Web Infrastructure
Putting your Web infrastructure in place before proceeding will help you in a number of ways. By having an ISP-connected PC, you will be able to monitor your site and immediately begin using the Web site for its various purposes. If you already have host space arranged, you can avoid the costs of having your Web developer handle these arrangements for you. In addition, by registering your own domain name and renting host space yourself, you will be sure that you retain access to these critical components of your Web site and reduce the risk that your Web developer could hold your site hostage should a billing dispute arise. In fact, as the owner, you can simply lock out a Web developer, should you decide to fire him, and prevent his damaging your Web site out of revenge. If you decide your Web developer is not doing satisfactory work, I suggest you first lock the person out before having a confrontation. You can always let the developer back in if you do manage to resolve the dispute.
If you allow any employees access to your Web site as part of their duties, make sure that the termination process includes changing the passwords to your Web site and email systems.