If you do it right, your website can be the best marketing tool you have. Ilya Pozin, founder of the Web design firm Ciplex, on how not to screw it up.

How will you get people to your website? What do you want your visitors to do? The right approach to planning a great website is to work backwards.

Unlike your offline business your online website business is open round the clock for every single day of the year. You are working even when you are physically present at your business office.

Be found on search engines like Google. This opens up a whole new range of customers! We are not saying you will get to the top of Google for a search like “holiday home”, but you may get to the top for a search like “holiday home sauventerre france”.

The cost of web design work varies wildly. You could ask for quotes from 10 different designers and receive 10 completely different dollar amounts, ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. How do you decide what amount you’re willing to pay?