1. Think About Your Audience Before You Start
Who are they? What will they want? Where do they live? What are their ages? Tailor the look and feel of your Site to the customer who will be buying from, browsing or using, it. Consider tailoring content for different countries, as this will yield positive results in terms of repeat visitors and sales.

2. Keep Your Web Name Simple
Shorter names are far more memorable so keep your website name short (15 characters max), simple and easy to remember. Try to avoid words which are spelt differently around the world eg. jewellery and jewelry. If you're a UK only company, get a co.uk website name as this tells potential visitors you're based in the UK. If you trade internationally, go for a .com or .net name.

3. Start With Your Head Not Your Heart
Have a clear idea of what you want your website to achieve, its purpose and its structure. In a note pad, produce a 'Site Map' first by outlining the title of each page and what it will contain. This will save time in the long run. Also remember to put your customers first. It's what they want that counts, not you!

4. Design It Right
Use consistent colours with good contrast on a solid background. Red text on a green background, for instance, is a big no-no as 10% of the UK population are colour-blind. The percentage of those with reading difficulties is even higher so clean, simple colours are essential. Keep text size to at least point-size 12 and animations to a minimum. If your customers want moving images, they'll watch TV!

5. Put Contact Details On Your Site
Scammers and fraudsters don’t put legitimate details on their websites, so make sure you do otherwise you're likely to lose some 70% of potential customers. Include a landline telephone number, building address and email address in the 'contact details' pages of your Site – a mobile number is not enough.

6. Don't Write Reams and Reams
Remember K.I.S.S. -- Keep It Short & Sweet -- overcomplicated terms and words are a real turn off so don't write too much copy for your homepage. No more than one paragraph ideally. People browse websites; they don't read them like books. If you need to include more in-depth copy, situate it deeper within the website.

7. Get On Google
Anyone can get on Google but it takes effort to get listed at the top of search engine's results pages. Let Google know about your Site at www.google.com/addurl. Add META tags to your pages and give each image an ALT tag. Add reciprocal links on your pages as Google loves linked sites and will boost your Site up the listings Don't try to trick Google as they know every trick in the book.

8. Keep Your Website Up To Date
Use relevant, fresh and up to date content. Consider adding a News or Events page. Aim to update content at least every two weeks as this way Google will reward you with a higher results page ranking.

9. Don't Plagiarise..
.. or 'borrow' other peoples copy, images, music or text. You will be found out and possibly sued. This sounds harsh but it happens to website owners all the time so write your own copy, book your own photographer or use royalty free images from stockists such as istockphoto.com or www.sxc.hu.

10. Avoid Being Ripped Off by Designers
If you have decided that DIY products such as Mr Site are too limited for your website needs, there are steps you can take to avoid being ripped off by website designers. Firstly ask to see examples of their past work, talk to their clients, and ask to see testimonials. For a small website, expect to pay £300-£500...