I started writing an article about this for an article site I had just joined. It was done! I wrote so much! I was so thrilled! I hit "Submit!" And as it turned out, it had timed out and the entire page reset. My face was probably priceless but so was my utter rage. So I've been careful about what I write since then. I have a Notepad document open as I type.

And then I make several threats and continue writing. But back to the point.

Hosting
This one's simple. Dear god, if you ask me questions about this, I will scream very loudly. But seriously, if Trap17 isn't right for you { O_O }, look around. If you feel like you want to pay, go ahead. Always make sure you look over features and guidelines before you buy anything or subscribe to anything. You might get yourself into a lot more trouble than it's worth to put your site online. Two things you want to consider: space required and features required. If you don't care about databases, don't bother paying extra for them. Most hosts will allow you to upgrade later if you need. Second, estimate how much space your site is going to take. If you have a lot of downloads planned, get lots of bandwidth (transfer). You don't want to pay fees for going over your limit when you could have easily had as much as you wanted.

Your identity
People don't like going to sites and seeing, "John's site - things John likes - about John". They like creativity. Not to sound cheesy, but we're all creative in our own ways. Mix around your name, a favorite hobby, a favorite color, a favorite element, a cartoon character, a TV show, a word from the dictionary - anything can be tossed into the blender here and can make your name.

Color scheme
Plan this out BEFORE you start your site. What I do is I take a greyscale palette and add a few accent colors. If you have a bright color, use it sparingly - use it in accents. You don't want a site with a huge bright orange background and such. Or, you can take an image (refer to "Your Identity") you want and pick colors from that. You can later work that image into your site as a header, background, etc.

DESIGN FOR CONTRAST AND READABILITY (I think I made a word, oh well)!

Content
Cheesy again, but write from the heart! It's your site, people can't tell you what you want on it or what you don't. But every site will find viewers in the end. Every site will find commenters, if that's what you want. Don't go by the standards of other sites - where everyone has affiliates, topsites, voting, polls, forums, graphics, downloads, tutorials, etc - pick something you know you can do. I'm sick of seeing 100+ tutorials on how to make a CSS file on sites. Please please please please please please please be original. This is your baby, don't make it a genetic match to everything else in the world.

Design
While accessibility, semantics, and valid code is great, don't throw yourself overboard trying to get it. Work towards it a little at a time. My first few sites were horrid but I still loved them. One thing you want is to always improve, or try to. If your header loads too slow in one version, make it smaller in the next. Always keep your eyes open for little errors.

Hints: Most people like navigation at the top or left of a page. Make sure headers and links look different from normal text. Always underline links (default), and always check if you can view it across browsers.

Validity
I recommend it, but as I said before, you don't have to. This will push you well on your way to your site being SUPERAWESOME across most browsers as well as semantics. (http://www.validator.w3c.org)

Advertising
Be nice, be yourself. Don't impose things on people on your site. Find ways to introduce user interaction - forums, comments, polls - people like being involved in helping you make your site better. Make a few small images and distribute them. Let people link to you and you can link back. Don't expect your site to become popular instantaneously overnight, but let the site grow. One visitor can lead to five, and on. It's gradual, but if you keep trying, you'll get the popularity you want.

Hope you enjoyed this! My other one was tons better

thank you very much for that wondeerful article
i will implement it when my site is ready because the former site i hosted didnt attract much trafic
and i will try to give freebies on my site so that they can reviste for more offers

This is a helpful little article. I've read millions of e-books about this(but more for bussinessy type websites), which are hundreds of pages long, and you end up forgetting most of it. Im quite new to web creation and design, and i dont know very much... thanks for posting.

Hmm I am reading your article and it looks quite good and I agree with most of the points you presented there. However I would also like to know on which site are you posting articles.

Thanks in advance.

Indeed this is great. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with all of us. I know that I for one got a lot out of that article and will start trying to apply what I have learned from it.

You know what you are talking about. Thanks for sharing your knowledge how to make a website successfully.
You give alot of tools, hints and tips and I will use some them when making my own homepage successful.

I should say thanks for you for the article. All these are known, but it helps when someone explains or gives their personal touch. Also i have a site (http://www.computerkindness.org) of my own which i am trying to boost for various reasons.

Thanks again.

The is a great guide, especially since I am just about to start making my site! I definitely learned some stuff that I didn't know a minute ago. Thanks!