Most new websites, like most new businesses, fail. Why? As in all business analysis, there is no single answer. But there are severalthings  that many website failures share.

1. Specialize: This is too easy. We're going to repeat something from another article here: Have you ever done a Google search on a 'general' website? Probably not. When you go to a Search Engine, it's always because you are searching for something specific. So that's how you want to make your website. You want it to have a focus; you want it to provide information that some people will be looking for. That is the first step to a successful website.
2. If I build it, they will come NOT! Building a web-based business is no different than building a brick-and-mortar business. It won't matter how much of your heart and soul you have put into it, or how much money you have spent on the 'pretty' - If you don't tell people it's out there, nobody will come.
3. Advertise, Advertise, Advertise Refer to number 1 above. But does this mean that you have to spend bzillions of bucks to advertise in order to be successful? Well, I suppose you can if you have bzillions of bucks to spend. But most folks don't. One of the coolest things about the internet is that there are so many advertising options that will accommodate so many budgets. This is quite different than trying to advertise the old-fashioned way. However in both cases, advertising will never never end.
4. Search Engine Optimization - SEO You might have heard this term before, and what it means is that your website has been built to be found on the Search Engines when people do a search for your type of product or service. So why wouldn't they find you? Let's say you make jewelry. Maybe handmade birthstone earrings. And that's your site. So someone goes to Google and types in 'Jewelry'. What are the odds that your site will come up on the first 'search results' page?  Or the 100th?  How many big-bux jewelry companies have paid big-bux to monopolize the first page? You don't have big bux. What do you do? How can a 'little' website compete with the big-bux sites?  This is one more beautiful thing about the internet. There is definitely more than one way to skin that cat. Maybe event a million ways. And the price tag doesn't have to be in the big-bux range.

So if you've learned one thing here:  the building of your website is only the beginning of the process - not the end.

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