Be realistic. There is no guarantee at all that you will make money on the Internet, not even if you read a dozen articles and follow 173 ?key tips? to creating a profitable website. The product or service you are selling is probably the biggest variable, and then there are the vagaries of the economy, consumer spending patterns and all the rest to consider. But the biggest factor'is you.

The best you can do is to be persistent, get honest feedback from business professionals and do your best. Many of the tips are common sense ones, but with common sense rapidly becoming quite uncommon, it will help you to read and study up. The following are not in order of importance, as every tip here is important. The main thing is to put everything you have into everything you do, and adapt along the way when you learn new things.

1. Easy reading ? The same rules apply here as with print publications. A famous art director of ?Life? magazine put it this way: ?The page has to say ?Read me? and not look like a chore.? If your text is too small or you use too many (or too weird) fonts that are hard to read, visitors will give you the heave-ho and click over to something else. Even the color scheme you use can make reading difficult, so pick contrasting colors when you are selecting font and page colors. Consider keeping it simple, like using a white background and black text for great contrast and readability.

2. Easy navigation ? Surfing with a website's mini-universe can be a frustrating task if the navigation and layout is not done well. Visitors want to find the information they need on your site without a great deal of hassle. Bad navigation is a sure and certain way to tell your customers you can't be bothered with saving them time, and that they should probably not come back. Don't let this happen to your website. Keeping all the ?nav links? together is a one way of making navigation simpler. Always insert a ?back-link? to your home page on all the other site pages.

3. Targeted readership ? You must always keep your target audience in mind and forget about pleasing everyone. Who are the people who will most likely be visiting your site? You need to do enough research to understand your customer, then customize the website around their needs and desires. Your site's look and feel, plus the content and the all-important ?call to action,? should all be tailored to the actual human beings who will be visiting your site.

4. Simple contact method ? As it has been proven quite conclusively that people are more willing to fill out web page forms than send an email, you should put a contact form on the website and not rely on just an email link. You have to make it easy for people to contact you, so put links to the form on all the site pages and put your phone number on every page, too. Don't make people hunt for you when they are ready to talk business or give you money.

5. Kill the dead links ? If the links on your site are not in good working condition, you will simply alienate the visitors, so make sure to check your website on a regular basis to make sure they are all working properly. Just one dead link could result in a potential customer departing your site entirely. Enough of these occurrences and your website's search engine ranking will drop like a stone.

6. Keep content fresh ? The better and ?fresher? your content is, and the more you offer your visitors in terms of quality (rather than simple quantity), the more often they will come back with repeat business. Search engines are known to hunger for fresh content and information on the websites over which they ?crawl? so updating your copy on a regular (daily if possible) basis can really help lift your site ranking. One good way to encourage those return visits and repeat sales is to update the site with any new information your visitors would find useful and interesting. To determine what this should be, refer back to #3 and get a solid feel for the people reading the material. You can write new articles, offer special Internet deals, provide useful resources and helpful links, and generally ?serve the customer? fresh, virtual meals.

7. Be efficient ? Most people don't appreciate having to read through a ton of material to find the one or two specific things they need. You can help them (and keep them happy) by ensuring that your copy writing is clear and to the point. With the world seemingly spinning faster every day, people just don't have the time to search for information all over your site. To give them a clear understanding right away of what your site offers means balancing good navigation with clear instructions and headings. Consider adding a ?blurb? on your landing page that tells people, succinctly and clearly, precisely what you do, who you are and just how you can answer their questions or solve their problems.

8. Comfortable viewing ? Excessive scrolling on website pages quickly becomes irritating, and visitors that feel they have to do too much scrolling will be annoyed and leave the site. Minimize the scrolling, both up and down and side-to-side on your website. Make it a comfortable and simple reading experience.

9. Site size and download time ? Unbeknownst to many, not everyone has a broadband Internet connection. In fact, only about 57% do, as of the July 2008 report from the Yakima Herald. Than means that nearly half of all your site visitors will be online with a dial-up connection. Don't overdo it with the animations, movie clips and high-resolution art (which is unnecessary in any case). If you commit to keeping your graphic file sizes below 100k you can make your site load with fairly good speed for your dial-up visitors. Make sure to test your site with all browsers and connection standards.

10. Browser compatibility ? Test your website with all of the popular browsers. You want to make sure that your website looks the same in each, as browsers will display websites differently for a variety of reasons. Test everything that you change after your initial testing, too. Your aim is to generate repeat visits (and purchases) so you need to minimize the complaints, and browser incompatibility is a major sore point ? still!

Site visitors can be fickle and are easily be turned off, but if you are thoughtful and creative you can integrate these various strategies to keep them coming back. Use these tips when creating, changing, updating or revising your website, and be persistent in your efforts. Get good advice when you need it, and honest feedback, too. You don't need pats on the back from the family and friends when you are most concerned with clicks on computers and customer satisfaction. Stay on target!