Before you start make sure you have a spiral notebook (to keep track of your different online accounts), pen and a cup of joe (or whatever you prefer, LOL). I typically keep a spiral notebook for each of my domain names and I also have a smaller like a 3x5 spiral notebook that I keep all my passwords in.

The first thing I suggest you do when building your own website or blog is to get an email account. In fact you should have three email accounts. A personal email account, main email account for your site and an email account you can use to sign up for different websites and services. Gmail, MSN, and Yahoo are free online email accounts you can check anywhere you have an internet connection and a pc. It is also good to get one of each email account from each provider. That way if you want to use their services, then you will already have access and don't have to waste time in setting up and account.

You might have heard the term "Niche" before. A niche is a product or service directed at a highly targeted audience. To find your niche, you should list your interests, hobbies or passions and things that you are good at. Take a look at your different lists and if you see topics that are the same, but are on different list those are the niches you need to look into.

Getting Keywords can be frustrating to some, but if you know where to find the tools it makes searching for your keywords that much easier. Google Adwords is a great resource to get keywords. You will also need to keep a list of keywords for Search Engine Optimization (See Below).

When deciding on a domain name make sure you really think it through before you decide to purchase it. Also make sure that your domain name is related to your niche or topic of your site. That will make it easier to market/advertise your site later on.

Hosting also known as Web Hosting can also be purchased with your domain or can be purchase elsewhere. Make sure you choose a reliable hosting service. Make sure you have enough webspace and bandwidth transfer to handle your site. Most hosting services will let you upgrade your services. If you dont have enough space and bandwidth your page will have a error message on it and your site will not show up.

Make sure you research what products you need in order to run your site. Also you can get a lot of the software you need for free. Free software is referred to as OpenSource or Freeware.

Selling stuff online can not only be confusing, but quite frustrating to new people. Typically most hosting plans have Ecommerce plugins that make it quite easy for you to sell things. There are also free sites where you can get an online store also.

Search Engine Optimization is also known as SEO and was very confusing to me in the beginning because I did not understand how it worked. So let me break it down for you.

• Keyword Research
• Website Optimization
• Content
• Link Building
• Search Engine Submission
• Tracking & Analysis

Promoting your site takes a lot of time if you dont have a ton of money to spend on advertising. Submitting your site to different Search Engines like you did with SEO is one less thing you have to do to promote your site. Join forums that relate to your niche. When you are registering for the forums that you have chosen make sure that you add a signature to your account. That way when you post or reply on the forum you can promote your site. If you have a blog make sure to submit your site to blog directories. Last but not least, Social Media like Myspace, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg and Twitter.

Keeping your site going is something you will have to work on everyday in the beginning. Depending on your niche or what you are trying to accomplish with your site will determine how much time it will take to maintain your site. In the beginning you should try to work on your site everyday even if it is only 30 minutes to 1 hour.