The Internet has opened a whole New World of opportunity for all of us. With the vast amount of information available at your fingertips, it has never been easier to communicate your message to the world. Your web site will enable you to create your own home on the World Wide Web. That home may be as simple or dynamic as you'd like and is only limited by your imagination.

Although designing a great web site is an important part of developing a successful online business, it is only one small part of an overall plan. Although many new Internet entrepreneurs believe that all they need to do to make money online is to put up a web site, that couldn't be further from the truth.

The truth is developing a successful Internet business takes a great deal of time, thought and effort. It takes a sincere commitment, a lot of patience, and a lot of personal drive, there are a lot of lessons that must be learned, and a lot of failures that must be endured. However, if you're truly passionate about your business and success, it will happen -- you will succeed.

A major factor in determining your success is the amount of time you take to educate yourself. Please don't take this point lightly, as it can literally mean the difference between your success and failure, you must first develop a strategic plan and design your web site accordingly.

Here are some questions to assist you in developing your strategy:

� Who is your target audience?
� What products and/or services will you offer?
� Will you sell affiliate products and/or services?
� What type of design will you use?
� How will your site be navigated?
� What type of graphics will your site use?
� Where will you obtain your graphics?
� What fonts will you use?
� What type of content will your site offer?
� Where will the content come from?
� How will you gain your visitors' trust?
� How will you build your credibility?
� Will you write your own sales copy or hire a copywriter?
� How will you accept payment through your site?
� How will you process your orders?
� How will you deliver your products or services?
� How will you collect your customers' information and store it within a database?
� How will you automate portions of your business?
� How will you decide on a domain name?
� Will you publish an ezine?
� How will you collect email addresses?
� How will you send out mailings?
� How will you drive traffic to your web site?
� How will you advertise your products and services?
� How will you test your advertising?
� How will you market and promote your web site, products and/or services?

Although this list of questions is far from complete, it will give you a basic idea of exactly what is involved in developing a successful web site. As you can see, there is much more to take into consideration than just learning HTML. You must look at the entire picture and design your web site accordingly. Plan your work then work your plan.

Above all else, you must be willing to invest in your business -- not only monetarily, but also your time. Although there is a lot of free information available online to assist you, keep in mind...you get what you pay for.

The great thing is you don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are many successful Internet entrepreneurs that have been where you are right now. Subscribe to their publications -- listen to their advice -- purchase their products. If you begin by following in the footsteps of successful Internet entrepreneurs, you will eventually begin making your own paths and find your own success.