Before you start
Have you stopped to really think about the implications of owning a web site? It's not just a case of building it and hoping that they will come. There is plenty of work that has to be done both just to get a site up and running, as well as to keep it successful.
Since there are plenty of factors that will affect your final decision on web site ownership, perhaps I can give you a few pointers as to what you should be researching and considering before making your final decision.
Is your Site Idea Viable?
Not every idea that works in the real world is directly transferable to the web; just because you are good at selling products from your store does not mean that you will be able to sell them from your site.
If you just want a web site to tell the world a little bit about yourself or your business, then there is certainly nothing wrong with that. However, if you put up a site and expect it to be able to cover its costs and make you money from the outset then your project is likely to fail. Don't expect your site to make you rich overnight, if anything you should view any income from it as supplementary when you first start out. Once your site has been around for a while you will be able to make more accurate assessments about its profitability and longer-term future.
Thought about the Costs?
There are many costs involved with starting a site, regardless of whether or not you are doing the bulk of the work yourself. There are development costs, promotional costs, hosting cost and domain name costs to name but a few.
Doing the bulk of the work yourself isn't as cost free as you might think. If you are building the site in your free time, then you lose quality time with your family; do it during company time and that could mean lost work hours for the company you work for (unless you are employed specifically to build the site).
Once you have your site built, you'll then need somewhere to host it and perhaps a domain name. Depending on the long-term goals of the site, you may even need to pay for special promotional exposure. The number of good quality free hosting that is available is declining, and you really should consider paying for your hosting along with a suitable domain name if you want to be taken seriously. Fortunately, the costs of hosting and domain ownership are coming down.
Keep it Legal
Ok, so you may have no intention whatsoever to host any illegal material on your site, but if you are not careful you can find yourself breaking the law quite easily. Depending on your site audience, you may need to design your site to cope with those with special needs; certain sites should comply with the Web Accessibility Initiative by law, so you should find out if the site you are proposing is one of them.
Another problem arises if you collect personal data and you have children visiting your site. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was designed to protect the privacy of children under the age of 13. If you are collecting personally identifiable data on children under 13, you need to get consent of their parent or guardian and display privacy policies about the data you are collecting in a prominent position on your site. Of course there are many problems with trying to verify parental consent; some sites have simply not wanted the legal hassle and have restricted access for children under 13, effectively barring them for using their services!
One other issue you may want to research is that of Copyright Law, this can save you getting into a tight spot if you are unsure of what exactly you can and can't do with respect to copying an image idea or an article. If in doubt, always try to find the original copyright owner and ask for permission; it can save many unwanted emails and costs in the longer-term.
Make sure it is for the right reasons!
If you are building a site to try and stake a claim to a bit of net fame, forget it! There are much more interesting and less time consuming ways to find fame on the net! I mean, everyone knows about Yahoo right? Yet even though Yahoo is one of the most visited sites on the Internet - how many people can actually name the two guys that started it off (without looking it up that is)? My point exactly!
You don't have to have a site to be known on the 'net, a pretty strong opinion about what you like and dislike and the nerve to voice it will get you pretty far in that respect! However if you do want to have a little corner of cyber space to call your own - make sure that you do it for all the right reasons, otherwise it will look neglected and be lost with all those other ghost sites out there that nobody has ever seen. A successful site doesn't have to be one that has a lot of visitors each day or even each month, it does however need the right conditions in which to develop and grow with its owner.
Get Motivated!
If you are not truly motivated to work on your site, it will show. The best site anyone can ever make is the one that they really enjoy working on, usually those about a hobby or idol. If you are considering making a site just because everyone else you know has one, you won't really be motivated to work on it and your site will suffer as a result. Basically if you can't be bothered updating or you think that you'll lose interest in the next few months or so - I'd recommend that you don't bother making a site, you'll be able to use your time better elsewhere!
Be Creative!
If all you have on your site is typical of the kind of site you are developing, then your site cannot really stand out as being "different". The trouble is however, that new ideas are now running very thin on the ground and it seems that most sites have the same basic features now a days. The only way to stand out is to do the typical features differently, be it in layout or design. Creativity is the key that makes an average web site a great web site... so if you do decide to make a web site, let your imagination run riot and always strive to be original!
And don't take it Personally!
One thing that many web site owners are guilty of is that they tend to take any comments about their own site a little too personally. If you know that your are the kind of person that will take such comments personally - and you can't do anything constructive with the feelings that you may have about the people who make such comments then you should not own a site!
Sending hate mail in retaliation will get you nowhere and will probably earn you disrespect as a result. Instead you should be able to look at such comments objectively - if it’s just an insult, ignore it - the sender probably wanted to annoy you and you shouldn't give them the satisfaction of knowing that they did! If it is a comment about how easy or difficult something is to use then think about what they said, you can choose to ignore it, or address it - depending if you are keeping the site for yourself or your visitors.