Or the 5 buckets of internet success, as we like to call it. The reason we say bucket is because in order for a bucket to work, you have to put something into it. In this case it will be time or money or both. That's an important concept so go back and reread those two sentences. At first you might think these are "no brainers" and we used to think they were too. But we can tell you that after developing and hosting websites for the last 10 years, the following things are what we see messed up more than anything else and the main causes of failure on the web.

Bucket 1. Development:
Develop a high quality, functional, easy to use website. Know and learn your audience. Forget what "you" think is cool, nifty, or easy and make sure you get into the heads of the clients you want to reach and retain. Meet the needs of your clients, and offer them a reason to return to your site.

Relevance: Make the website content relevant to the target audience. It is important to deliver content that is relevant to your product or service. Make it clear what you do on your home page. Make the ability to buy or make the decision to work with you easy to get to and fast. For example, many real estate brokers originally started out providing neighbourhood portals for anything and everything that was going on in the city/town/county they service. However, all this accomplished was diluting the original purpose of their website - which is to sell houses. Now, real estate brokers are realizing that their websites need to be streamlined toward their original purpose.

Budget: You need to determine what is more important to you, having the site built for the months to come or having the site built in phases that ultimately reach your goal. One of the key areas to determine the budget needed is to determine how frequently the content will need to change. The more the content needs to be update the more functionality you will want on your end to make those changes by yourself thus not having to pay a web developer every time you want to change something.

It is important to understand that the more functionality you add into the site to accommodate your need for frequent updates, the more it costs up front. Remember, the development and maintenance buckets are typically inversely proportional. The more you spend on development, the less you will need to spend on maintenance. That typically results in a higher profit margin at the year's end. If you are tight on budget and need to get it up fast to start making money, be prepared to pay for constant changes until you can get it to where you need it to be.

Bucket 2. Maintenance:
Consider the maintenance and upkeep of the site. If you need to regularly update and change the information, photos, data, etc. on the website then you should consider investing more funds into the initial development of the website in order to create a Content Management System (CMS) which will accommodate the ability to make those changes on your own on a regular basis. Constant changes can be costly, and even though the initial development might be less money, you will certainly pay a lot more over the course of even one year if you do not account for that need.

Bucket 3. Hosting:
It is important to make sure you have a website hosting package that fits your needs, and a webhosting company that is reputable, reliable, and supportive. You will save yourself some time and headaches if you understand the needs of your hosting prior to jumping into the first, cheapest hosting package you get solicited on.

Your website design firm is a very good place to get advice, even hosting companies are good to get advice from. You need to be aware that there are many different languages used to build websites and they all have certain requirements for hosting. Will your site use a database to deliver content? Does it have a shopping cart? There are literally thousands of shopping carts out there from simple to complex and from free to enormously expensive. All have varied hosting requirements. Do your home work. A few simple questions will save you a lot of hassles down the road.

Bucket 4. Marketing:
Know your market. Have a budget. If you can't afford this step, then you can't afford any of them. Don't even bother. Seriously. We can not stress to you enough how important it is to make sure that in your over all plan (you do have a plan, right?) you block out the appropriate time and/or money to invest into a monthly marketing plan.

Whether its your time sending out emails, calling people, or even as simple as walking around parking lots sticking flyers about your site in the car windows, all the way up to full blown advertising campaigns with banners, magazine ads or TV and radio ads you absolutely need to tell people to come to your website. Not only do you need to tell them once, you need to tell them often and repeatedly. We have seen many people build a website and not leave enough money to market on a regular basis, and within a year they are gone. If you cant market, you are simply throwing your money away.

Bucket 5. Participation:
Actively participate in the business through the website. We know you are thinking... "Well DUH! Of course!" but the truth is, and wesee it all the time: that there is a misconception about having a website and it "working for you". The truth is, the website won't be any more successful than a brick and mortar store front that you never step foot in. You need to work it.

It is true that a website makes that whole process, faster, easier and cheaper. But it does not run on its own. You need to know what is going on. You need to get accurate statistics on your website traffic. Where are your customers going? When do they come to the site most? WHO comes to the site most, what paths do they take? Learn the patterns of your website and you will be able to manipulate the traffic to where you want them to go. Keep track of trends and new technologies. Stay up to date. Stay involved.