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Over the coming years electronic communication and commerce will inevitably increase at a faster rate then ever before. The Internet gold rush is over, and now websites must compete for cyberspace, eyeballs and the dollar. It is time for web development to become more focused on quality rather than quantity, effectiveness rather than glamour.

Your website advertises your business. So do it right. If you have a website, ask yourself these questions:

• What are the objectives of my website?
• Can the objectives of my site be met?
• Does everything on my site work the way it should?
• Is all the information on my site up to date?
• Does the look of my site reflect my business and my image?
• What impression does my home page give?
• Can my site be found on the net?

If you are thinking about having a website built, these are questions that will be relevant to you also. You need to have addressed those during the planning phase of your website development. Your website can be a cost-effective and valuable marketing tool which, when used complementarily to your existing marketing plans, can help to grow and expand your business. Your website should work for your businesses effectively, and there are some basic steps you can follow when starting off, that can help make that happen.

Plan it
Think it through, map it out and determine what the objectives of your website are. They may be to advertise or sell your products or services, impart information, gather information or to teach something to the users of your site. Consider impact! What will be the first impression that users of your website when they open your homepage for the first time?

What content do you really need? Remember site flow, and how users will navigate through the site, moving through the pages, and using the links. Is it sensible and logical? And of course make it easy for people to contact you! That\'s what your site is for! So plan the site, get feedback from others, and get it working correctly from the outset.

Build it
There are two options here. Build it yourself, or obtain the services of a web development company. The first option is noble and ambitious (unless you actually are a web developer!) but if you are serious about a website I wouldn\'t recommend it. A poorly developed site will probably do your business more harm than good. There are web development companies and lots of them too, so shop around, get quotes, find a good one (not necessarily the cheapest), and then ask the right questions. As your site is being constructed, review progress with your web developer periodically to ensure your and their expectations are being met.

Test it
A brand new website should be tested thoroughly, especially in instances where there is a level of inbuilt functionality in the site, such as database searches, form submissions, shopping facilities and online payment. Make sure everything works as you think it should. A good idea, as in many situations, is to put yourself in your target market\'s shoes, and use your own site from their perspective