There are two types of mistakes that are common:



Technical mistakes and Management mistakes. Let's take a look at both and how they can be avoided.

Technical mistakes arise from a lack of understanding of the Internet and the technical environment within which the Internet operates. You have to realise that you are working within certain constraints on the Internet - namely hard disk space and bandwidth.

1. Ignoring bandwidth restrictions.

Bandwidth is the most important one that will have an impact. There is a big difference opening a photo or document on your local machine and downloading it from the Internet. If you place photos or documents on your website that are huge it will be very difficult for your visitors to navigate your site and even view your web pages. Pictures especially are the main culprit, since normal text take up very little bandwidth.

All pictures and photos should be optimised for the Internet. A good photo editor program (even the Microsoft Office Picture Manager) is essential to do two things:

a) To scale the picture down so that it can fit onto a web page - pictures should not be larger than 800 pixels or even 1000 pixels wide. Do ensure that you select to retain the ratio when you scale pictures down so that the picture retains the right proportions.

b) To resize the picture physically so that it takes up less physical space. JPG pictures especially can be saved at 60% to 70% compression without the naked eye being able to see it. Use JPG for real life photos with gradual color changes, but rather use GIFs for drawn graphics, sold blocks color and text. Be careful if you use JPG for these since the compression WILL be visible to the naked eye.

2. Cluttering your website with pictures and animations.

Be aware of the latest style in website design. DO NOT clutter your website with animated gifs such as envelopes posting themselves, rotating animals or any distracting elements. These are very old fashioned in Internet terms by now and instead of attracting or drawing attention, these elements will cause your website visitors to leave - quickly.

3. Using non-standard fonts

Do not use exotic fonts on your website. Each font that you use needs to be installed on each local machine of your website visitor and you have no guarantee that if you are using Acanthus in your website design, that each and every person in the world that opens that page will also have the Acanthus font installed. The results might be unpredictable, to say the least.

Stick with fonts that are common to most Windows and Mac installations. These are Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, TImes New Roman and Georgia.

4. Not building your website for search engines.

A common error is building a site that ignores search engine needs. The result is that search engines don't list the site in their search results. Internet browsers don't learn about the existence of the site and the site stays unknown.

5. Not hosting your site with a provider that is scalable.

A few individuals host sites with companies that are not scalable. The result is that when you have outgrown your current package you cannot upgrade in terms of bandwidth or hard disk space. Scalability is an important criterion to be kept in mind while hosting sites. Otherwise, the site is unable to accept new visitors when the traffic peaks.

Management mistakes arise from a lack of understanding on how to conduct business on the Internet. Conducting business on the Internet is not just a hobby, in fact, if you do not see it as a serious business that is going to consume a lot of your time and resources, your website will fail.

1. Lack of business plan

Make a definite business plan and to stick to it. The business plan should not be abandoned if the business progresses slowly in the beginning. Also, the plan must ensure spending on marketing. You are going to have to market your business as well as market your website if you want to really see a return on your investment. Most businesses make the mistake of depending on the Website to carry all the advertising burden for the business, whereas the actual website actually needs its own marketing budget before it will start to contribute positively to the business.

You must define your target group and invest in advertising which targets them - both offline and online. Patience and persistence are needed, because you may not get immediate results. Networking with family, friends and co-workers also helps. Make yourself visible to the online communities. Avoid spamming, which has a negative effect.

2. Not ensuring that you plan for the lean periods.

You might need the help of your bank or other source that can provide short term capital, advice and resources. You will have to invest in your business and re-invest once you start to have some cashflow. On the Internet (as with any business), things do not happen overnight. It takes time to be successful. Make a budget and keep track of your cash flow. Before you pay yourself a high salary or buy a car, think about whether you can really afford it. Your own business, whether offline and supported by a website, or whether wholly online consumes a lot of time, energy and money and you have to be prepared to invest that in order to be successful in the end.