Thorough research is first and most crucial stage of setting up a successful dot- com venture. The 80% of dot-com firms who will fail in future will do so simply because they do not understand their market and customers and hence cannot survive in long term, due to lack of planning and research. Do not make same mistake.

Stage 2 Once you have a clear idea and evidence your concepts will work as a business venture, it is time to call in technical expertise to build a working model. At this stage, all of research and knowledge of your marketplace is critical to success. You will need to convey your ideas across to people who may never have been in business and have no grasp of business fundamentals. As they will probably be responsible for design of complex programs to ensure seamless operation of your services and transactions, it is crucial you make them understand your goals. Specialist consultants who design projects specifically for Internet can help here, however demand for their expertise is high and they are certainly not cheap.

Have a Written Project Plan Most designers and programmers will thank you for a simple project prospectus, summarising what website intends to achieve in short and long term. This is known as project plan (similar to a business plan). From there they can draw up a technical specification for website prior to any work being performed, listing all of functions and explaining how each program will work to achieve your goals. Only when you understand workings and are happy with how things will work, should you proceed on to next stage of designing technology.

Things to look out for: - (a) Will systems be robust and capable of handling large traffic volumes? (b) Are e-commerce and transaction sections secure and reliable? (c) What administration systems will you require in real world? (d) Can systems be enhanced and improved for future growth? (e) How fast will they operate? - Surprisingly important on Internet.