1. No-Name Nobody's: Many small businesses choose to set up shop in the online world with a Web site name or URL on Geocities, Angelfire, Tripod or MSN, rather than having their own Web address. Which company would you feel more comfortable buying from — www.members.tripod.com/loudinismagicshop or www.loudini.com? (The latter is a real Web site, specializing in magic accessories.) I don't think I'm the only online shopper who feels reassured by "real" business Web addresses.The same is true for e-mail addresses. If you are running a small business, it's a great idea to set up an e-mail address that uses your business Web address. When you send messages to potential clients, to your bank or to suppliers, joesmith@coffeespark.com (not a real site) looks far more professional than joesmith@aol.com. Bypass deadly sin No. 1: Make your Web presence a professional one by finding a good Web address for your business and using it for both your Web site and business e-mail.

2. Pokey Pages: Many small-business Web sites load far too slowly. I've checked out small-business Web sites that have taken so long to load that my computer froze for more than five minutes. Most sites aren't that bad, but if your Web pages take more than 200 seconds to load over a 28.8K modem, you run the risk of losing visitors to your site. Photos and graphics with large file sizes are usually the culprits when a page loads slowly. Reduce the file size of individual graphics and photos on your Web site to no more than 10K.

3. Picture Paucity: You wouldn't send out a marketing brochure that's all words and no pictures. So why do so many companies create Web pages without graphics or photos of any sort? If a single picture paints a thousand words, use a judicious number of them on your Web site to communicate volumes. Photos of your store or office, your products, your employees — these images make your business feel "real" to online visitors. Images give you a tangible presence and let visitors get a sense of the kind of business you run.

4. Mind you, using pictures doesn't contradict deadly sin No. 2. It's important to use photos on your site, but it's equally important that the file sizes are small enough to load quickly on your Web page. The other key is to use only high-quality photos, which often requires a photographer. Again, you wouldn't send out a marketing brochure filled with cheesy photos, would you? Because it's likely to be seen by many more people than most paper brochures, your Web site should be the best marketing brochure your business has ever created.

5. The "If I build it, they will come" Delusion: One of the most common mistakes small businesses make is to assume that if there's a business Web site, customers will suddenly start flocking to it. Don't wait to start marketing your firm online. As soon as you are happy with your Web site, get going with the basics of online marketing. I recommend at least five marketing efforts when you launch a Web site. You can tell how strongly I feel about each of these marketing efforts because I've devoted an entire column (or two) to nearly each one.o Be proactive in listing on search engines.o Start an affiliate program to encourage and reward other businesses for sending you online customers.o Be proactive in finding sites with which you can trade links.o Consider joining a banner exchange like bCentral's Banner Network or SmartAge's SmartClicks.o Start collecting visitors' e-mail addresses on Day One, so that you can lure them back to your Web site.Using these five steps, you can set up an online marketing effort that will help ensure that customers come to visit the awesome new Web site you just built.

6. Phoneless in Cyberspace: Don't forget to put your phone number prominently on your Web site. Many small-business executives have said the way their Web site is most frequently used is a customer looking at it while calling the company. Customers will refer to something on the Web site, but they actually buy products or order services on the phone.Unless you are working out of your home, it's also a good idea to put your mailing address on the site. It adds to the comfort level of knowing you are a "real" business.

7. A Barrage of Banners: Joining a banner exchange can help bring traffic to your Web site, but putting two, three or four banners on a page, along with buttons for Amazon, Netscape and five or six other affiliate programs just makes your site look busy and cheap. You'd never find a large-company Web site with multiple banners on a page (OK, don't send me examples . . . I'm sure some big company makes this mistake, but don't follow the lead).If you join affiliate programs such as Amazon.com's, you'll probably find that you get much better results if you provide links to specific products in context, rather than a generic button to those companies' home pages. For example, if you run a Web site selling Raggedy Ann dolls, why not show a selection of books about the history of rag dolls and link to Amazon.com so that customers can buy them? You actually get a larger percentage of the sale from Amazon this way. And you provide a service that makes sense for your business, rather than another distracting button on your Web site.

8. Disappearing Acts: I am floored by how many small-business Web sites are here today, gone tomorrow, and back again next Tuesday. It's been a real issue for me. More than once I've had my editors drop me a note asking why they can't find a particular small business's Web site, when I've visited the site only days earlier. It may sound obvious to say that it's incredibly important that your Web site is up and running when customers go looking for it, but the disappearing act is a mistake that many small businesses make.How to make sure your site is up? Either assign an employee to check the site several times a day, or use a service that will notify you if your site goes down.

9. Antique Information: You'll want to keep the information on your Web site current. I've seen small businesses that have forgotten to update phone numbers, showed daily. The importance of web site maintenance.