Be sure you have clean HTML code. Your site must work in all browsers and across all platforms. A good HTML editor will write clean HTML. Many developers still write in text mode and occasionally forget an opening or ending tag. One bad tag can ruin your whole page.

There is a bevy of discussion these days on use of CSS (cascading style sheets) and yet I see very little mention of how differently Netscape and Explorer interpret these commands. If you do not want to perform necessary testing yourself use an online service to do it for you.

Be sure your JavaScript works on in all browsers. Recently, I was asked to critique a specific site only to find image rollovers did not work properly in Netscape. This is basic stuff. Is your CGI reliable? These behind-the-scenes programming tools that are used to enhance a site can easily destroy it if they do not work properly.

5) Content The US Postal Service cycling team has depth and discipline. On a Web site, this is reflected in quantity, quality and consistency of your content. Aside from articles and white papers, content must be short and consistent throughout site. Stay well focused and direct content to your potential client base.

6) Anticipate Every day before individual race begins, US Postal support team drives ahead to next city. They literally dominate a hotel and prepare for arrival of riders. The team chefs take over kitchen, preparing types of meals each individual rider prefers. Anticipating feeding habits of a machine that burns over 5,000 calories a day is no mean feat in itself. The cyclists never look at a menu. Their individually prepared meal is waiting for them when they arrive.

As you lay out your web site, try to anticipate where your visitors will go next. You can then design your navigation system to lead visitor to next page, or set of pages. You can pre-load images so visitor does not have to wait for them to load. You can direct people to a specific page by continuing a block of text onto another page. Imagine yourself as a chef for a racer who hates meat, will tolerate pork and devour chicken. How long would you last if you gave him a rare steak?

As with most things, you get what you pay for. Consider your time, what you have to invest, and what your goals are. If you want to do anything beyond just basic text and pictures, you'll be better off to buy a good HTML editor.

Whatever you do, if you plan on making a good web site, you need to learn at least some HTML. Here are a couple of sites that offer tutorials to get you started.

http://reallybig.com/category.php3?catid=63 http://www.bignosebird.com/ Scroll down to 'For Those Just Starting' Section.

One other great way to learn is by making a very simple page in an html editor and then looking through code. Look at a particular section of your page, then examine how code makes that section. What <> tags do what? makes bold lettering,

The better editors like Front Page do pretty much everything for you. However, knowing at least a little about code can help you identify problems.

Often, items you'll want to add to your site will be available for you by copying and pasting actual HTML code onto your site. Here's a tip. If you do that, and it doesn't work, it's probably because code didn't copy over right. At least with Front Page, you have to copy code from it's source, paste it into a text editor like Notepad, and then recopy it before HTML will transfer over correctly.

Here is probably best suggestion I can give you for building your first web site, and it's something I've learned hard way. Stay simple. It's better to have a simple site that everything works on than to try to do too much beyond your abilities and end up with problems.

Start simple, learn more, and work your way up. Get an HTML editor and work in it BEFORE you purchase web hosting. There's no point in paying for a spot on web before you have capability to fill it.

Consider what you want out of your web site and search for what will help you meet those goals. Don't be afraid of HTML. I'd dare say 99.9% of web sites you see out there were made by people that don't know anymore about it than next guy does. They have just practiced with their HTML editors and kept at it until they got results they wanted.

Learn first, start simple, then expand. You can have your own web site, just take it one step at a time.