1) Assemble a web site development plan that is integrated with your overall marketing processes; the content should be consistent with offline materials (if you have any), the graphics/images should be web friendly and consistent with your overall branding, style guide, usage of colors, etc.

2) Try not to get "geek crazy" - meaning you become so in love with the latest design technology, your site gets bogged down with graphics, plug ins, GIF garbage, etc. But, conversely, check your ego at the door when you work at your design. There are too many sites cramped with meaningless junks they literally turn visitors away. A decent design is what you need.

3) Pay attention to "load times," how long it takes a web site to load on a 56 kbps modem (this is an industry average), if its more than 12-18 seconds you may experience the "click of death" - the site doesn't load quickly and the surfer is gone. Of course if you are targeting broadband customers who are reaching your site via ISDN, DSL or Cable modem then you can build a site that incorporates multimedia-ready content that may include streaming audio or video, Shockwave or Flash capabilities - go ahead and let those digital geeks get carried away with cutting edge content!

4) Keep it simple - make your site easy to move around in, build a menu structure that is consistent with industry standards, local menus (for a page or section) on the left and global menus (overall site navigation) at the top and/or bottom of each page, keep as much information "above the fold" (above the cutoff point at the bottom of a monitor), don't make people use horizontal scroll bars unless absolutely necessary.

5) Inculcate "digital speed" into your overall site design, your visitors should be able to get to their desired area of your site within one or two mouse clicks; they will quickly get frustrated if they have to click around multiple menus to find the information they are seeking.

6) Develop content that is web-enabled, people don't read web site content like they do offline media, keep your paragraphs short, no more than two to three sentences, put in white space between your content, include links in your pages - don't try to tell your whole life story on your site - get people to call you (hello the telephone still works!), e-mail or fill out a profile form.

7) Make your site permission-based marketing ready - Seth Godin, author of "Permission Marketing" book champions building a long term relationship with a customer by asking their permission to continue to market to them and incorporating value/information in all communication processes.

8) Ensure your site is optimized for Search Engines by identifying 8-12 keywords that people will use to find your site, then incorporate these keywords in your site content (to drive relevancy with s/engine spiders/bots) and then submit your site to the top ten search engines. It is estimated as much as 70% of all traffic to most web site comes through search engine. If you want to attract tons of visitors, this is an important step to take.

9) Delve into your log server files to uncover "digital tracks" made through your web site - your log files are raw files that show how and from where (in most cases) people accessed your web site, where they went on your web site, how long they stayed, etc. Web Trends is the defacto industry standard, but there many other products on the market that can achieve similar purpose.

10) Think global in your overall site design - the greatest Internet growth is occurring outside North America, so it is essential to build a site that can be accessed easily by people around the world. What issues do you need to look at? Load times are very important (again), develop content that avoids colloquialisms that may not be understood by others who may not speak the same language, you may want to make your site content available in diverse languages, there are a number of emerging applications that will facilitate this process, ensure your ecommerce capabilities can be utilized by all.