Custom Built Web Site
A Plan That Works!

To be commercially successful, a custom built Web site needs to be more than a store front.

The site must let you share your values, knowledge and know-how with the world.

It must be flexible and under your control at all times!

The best way to obtain exactly what you want is to either:

... according to your exact specifications and requirements.

You can easily achieve this by taking advantage of computer future technology trends , that apply to Web entrepreneurs, as implemented by responsible firms, now.

Let Vivi Labo, from Frederiksberg Denmark, explain to you, in her short video, how she built her Web business, and it's custom built Web site � without any prior technical knowledge! Yes, it is indeed possible!

The approach I propose you take will help you identify:

What tasks have to be done.
What tools and resources will be required.
In what order to do the tasks for best results.

This site planning process will help you build your web site to best fit your pre-established business plans and goals. Careful planning will also determine the commercial success of your Web site..

You can be in business everywhere at once, day and night, 24/7. That's virtual ubiquity!

It is a lot like a cooking recipe

Planning a commercial custom built web site can be compared to cooking. You are translating ideas and concepts into an actual recipe, that you will execute later. As you develop your recipe, you do some testing in the kitchen and some research but, for the most part, you use your knowledge and know how. You determine what you will require and how you will do it:

ingredients (for substance, texture, nutritional value and flavor),
tools (and technologies),
proportions,
sequence of actions.

Technical aspects to consider

When planning to build a commercial custom built web site, there are many technical aspects that matter.

If you were to do everything yourself, you would have to take all the technical aspects into consideration prior to, and in preparation for, the ultimate building and operations stages that will come later.

Side note:

Admittedly, much of the technical considerations mentioned here can be taken care of automatically. The technology is there today that can free you from having to "get your hands dirty"!

Having your own custom built web site does not cost an arm and a leg anymore, far from it. You do not need to hire the costly services of web site creators, or a custom web site developer either. I will have more to say on this in the section on how to build a home based business Web site .

In a way, owning and using a commercial web site is somewhat like owning and using a car. You determine where you need to go to and under what conditions.

You can plan to drive to and from work, or plan a long trip, without having to actually build a car. You just buy the car that fits your requirements, put gas and oil in it, maintain it regularly, carry what you need in the trunk or glove compartment, take on passengers � and drive off.

Of course, as is the case for your custom built web site,

You have to learn the rules, regulations and proper driving etiquette.
You have to learn how to drive the car!
You have to register the car with the proper authorities before driving off.
You still have to know a little about how things work. It helps considerably when things do not work out as expected and you have to get them fixed!

Site Planning Task Sequence (workflow)

Even if you do not do everything yourself, you still have to know what custom web site design consists of, and why. The more you know how your web business works, the better. The quality and relevancy of the decisions you will have to make later, at building time, will depend on your general knowledge of what a custom built web site is made of and why. So, here are the main aspects in a nutshell:

Site purpose: you get that information straight from your business plans. The type of site is determined by the choices you have already made during your planning process. You are targeting a specific clientele group on the WWW. Your site has to be adapted to your target clientele. It has to "speak" to them. They must feel comfortable and at home when they visit it.
Optimization of your web site concept for increased effectiveness.
Site structural design : (logical and physical)
Human interface design: (i.e. ergonomics � but do not forget the Search Engines! A picture may be worth a thousand words to humans � but means nothing to a Search Engine!)
General technological considerations: (image file format, e-book file format, programming languages)
Transactional considerations: (i.e. how your customers select and pay for something, download e-books and other files, subscribe to a newsletter or e-zine, submit feedback, contact you, search your site, comment your Blog)
Marketing related technicalities: (META tags, keywords , headers, links, image ALT description, content) (newsletter or e-zine) (blog)
Income generating technicalities: (i.e. plan page structure and layout to integrate AdSense and other on-page advertising, such as e-books)
Site publishing technicalities: (submission to SE, directories and specialty hubs)
Site operations related technicalities: (update, modification and expansion considerations; e-zine or newsletter publishing; email management, feedback management, �)

You will be making many important decisions during the site planning process. You will have to live with those decisions a very long time. It is therefore imperative that you do your planning right, the first time.

You choose your small web business as carefully as you would choose your significant other. That is precisely why you should opt for a custom built web site, and plan it carefully.