Steps in a website project

Setting up a website that makes a difference may involve more than you bargained for:

1. Define your web application - its target audience, content, navigation, interaction with users, … Will it still work for 1,000 pages? How will it work when you reach 10,000 pages?
2. Consider insourcing versus outsourcing: you do not want to become a programmer, but many web technologies are nowadays readily available from the desktop.
3. Select a domain name (that is still available). With time, you will probably develop several web applications. Will you host all under the same domain, or will each have is own?
4. Find a web developer (that will unlikely to go bankrupt in the near future)
5. Select a content management system - a technical detail, but it can make a difference between heaven and hell. There are many good systems around, and selecting a mainstream one may save you some grief in case of trouble
6. Select a hosting solution. Think about your hosting architecture, that will need to grow with time. One dedicated server may not suffice.
7. Select an analytical package for web statistics (e.g. awstats)
8. Develop content
9. Soft launch - be ready for the unexpected
10. Scale up content development & promotion
11. The price of success: your website may become slow and unresponsive due to increasing traffic, and may even collapse. Or you may get hacked. Make sure to have a good relation and ongoing communication with your developer and hosting company.
12. The next steps: develop blogs, online communities, set-up a forum