The development of the internet has led to millions of people deciding to set up their own online business. Many people simply believe all they have to do is think of a good business idea, purchase a domain name, get a website developed/hosted then simply register it with search engines and hey presto!, the customers will flood in. The truth however is a much different story. When things do not go as planned many website owners simply give up within the first 2 years.

My advice to anyone who is contemplating starting an online venture in the future is start now. So what do I mean by this?
• Have a brain storming session, try to think about your business idea, try to be original but not too whacky.
• Purchase your domain name as early as possible, search engines dislike new names.
• Learn about the art of SEO a great source of information is www.highrankings.com by doing this you will be able to distinguish good business services from terrible ones, i.e link building services.
• Start saving, each start up will need funds when starting out a rough ball park figure would be in the region of £5000.
• Look closely at what your competitors are doing; check who their sites are linked to.
• Visit business and web design forums, try and source out a good reliable web designer.
• Find a good web hosting company that provide a reliable service at a reasonable price.
• Think about a logo, prices vary from £10 - £500, check out a designer by the name of Eagle at www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk
• Your business will need relevant Terms and Conditions and probably a Privacy Policy, forums are a great source for advice. My advice is to get a legal specialist to draft your T & C's.
• All good websites need unique content added regularly, try to work out how you will get around this, generally it is done by incorporating a blog or article section to your site.
• Find links that provide you with free directory listings and search engine links.
• Decide how your marketing budget will be spent, generally people list with Yahoo and MSN and Business.com this can cost in the region of £500 alone.

As you can see there is plenty you can be getting on with before you even get started, do not make the same mistakes as most people, which is to rush in because it seemed like a good idea at the time. By being prepared and having a good work ethic your business should have a better than average chance of being successful