I get asked maybe a dozen times a week, how do I manage to make a living off my websites. There are a hundred variations on that theme, many of which include the expectation that I'd in some way be able to help them do it or even do it all for them. I think I'm fairly generous with my advice, but just wish people would listen! So, get those listening ears on and raise your hand if you recognize yourself in any of these.

Don't pay a lot of money for someone to build your website for you. Just don't. Okay, if you're Rupert Murdoch and want to pay $500,000,000 for a website, fine. If you need the money to pay next month's mortgage, then better to do it on a shoe string. Start off with something inexpensive. Publish your writings on Wordpress, or sell your wears using osCommerce. Build a new community using phpBB, or SMF. Tinker with the design yourself a bit, or hire a freelancer from a marketplace like the one on Sitepoint. Remember with design, less is more.

Target an easily defined niche. This one really gets me. People I know who should know better do this all the time. If you're interested in famous actresses, for example, don't try to make a site generally about all acresses. Look for up and coming stars, and look around the web to see what kind of fan sites are already out there. When you find a star that doesn't have thousands of popular sites already established, you found a good niche. It works well with every topic. You're probably not going to do well if you try to launch the next best webmaster forum, there's a million of them already around. However, if you look hard enough for an under-served niche you may be able to find room in the webmaster community for another successful forum.

Don't use a crappy domain name. Yea, I know I said above don't spend a lot of money, but you'd truly be better off spending a couple hundred to a domain broker for a spiffy name than using something like "the-worlds-best-website-about-famous-acresses-right-here.com" (unless, of course, you're into Black Hat SEO, in which case you wouldn't even have read this far into this article). There are two general ways to go with picking a domain name. The obvious. Pick something that perfectly describes the site. SmallBusinessForum.com for example. I bought it from BuyDomains.com because it exactly described the site I wanted to create here. Even better is when you can come up with a unique name and build a big brand. How does Google.com sound to you now? How would it have sounded to you ten years ago?

Don't spam for traffic. Every day I get naive webmasters coming onto one of my sites and spamming for traffic. Sometimes it's even for a good cause. For example, this week I had a coin dealer come onto my coin forum and promote a board he setup about coin forgery. I'm all for promoting education about coin forgery, but I'm all against people using my websties to promote themselves. I spend a good hour each day removing spams from my own sites and from sites I volunteer to moderate. You don't build a business by annoying the heck out of your peers. If the coin dealer with the coin forgery board had approached me and asked, I would have promoted his board for him. But no, he just took it upon himself to make nearly a dozen posts and private messages trying to promote himself. Don't do it. Make friends with peers who run websites on similar topics to your own. You will need them.

If you build it, they probably won't come. Yep, most websites flop. That's exactly why I told you don't spend the big bucks on it. Especially if it's your first. Treat your first as mostly a learning experience. People won't just find your website, it doens't happen. Sure, great sites come along all the time, MySpace, Flikr, and hundreds like it are popping up all the time. They don't happen by accident. The buzz needs to start with you. Even if you have a killer idea, and it's well executed, you need to be the one who starts the buzz. There's tons of good information here at the Small Business Forum about marketing, and that's just the tip of the iceburg. Educate yourself, learn how to market your site and build buzz. Then they will come.

Good luck everyone!

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Peter T Davis
Frixer, Inc.
Helping people make profitible businesses on the web.