If there's anything I have learned, it is that the process that you use when building a website really helps the finished product.

The key ingredient is having good communication with the client. Not just at the beginning, but all the way through the process. It's better to let someone know you are having trouble with something immediately and it could take longer than expected, rather than staying quiet and having to explain why you are running late.

The next is having a good reference point. Those specifications documents that you were taught to write back in college... they are for convincing managers to pay for something. When it actually comes to being on the same page as your client, nothing beats a WIREFRAME.

A wireframe is a text only version of the site. It doesn't need any graphics, and it doesn't need all the content, and it has no programming. What the wireframe does is provide the client with some visual clues as to how the site will work. It is the skeleton. It has no meat, no fancy graphics, not a logo, or a fancy navigation menu.

By getting the Wireframe right, you are going to spend alot less time second guessing what the client actually wants at the development stage.

Once you and your client are happy with the wireframe, fix it in stone. Everything refers back to the wireframe. Do not add extra functionality.

Once you have a good wireframe, you can start making things look pretty, and developing any customised functionality that is required.

While you are developing, keep in mind SEO factors, and coding standards. Being mindful of it now makes it easier later on. Ensure you build in some form of analytics. (Google Analytics is great)

Keep the customer in the loop, let them play with the development code online so they can see the site developing. Let them know when you have made progress, and when you haven't. Staying quiet is a really bad idea. Keep hassling them for actual content. If the client is not going to provide content, ask them if you need to hire a copywriter to do it for them. Some people are to busy, or just don't have the skills to write content.

So the site is done.

Test it. Get some sort of bug tracking software, and ask everyone you know to run through it, and have them lodge bug reports. Software to manage this sort of thing is going to save you, because doing it by email is just too hard, and paper is too easy to loose.

Market the site. You can't build a site, put it online and mention it in the local paper. You need to promote your site wherever you can. Buy PPC advertising, banner advertising, mention your site where appropriate in related forums, get creative, but PUT YOUR SITE OUT THERE.

Analyse how your website is going. Measure the results and make improvements based on them. Try and be the holder of the analytics for websites you build, and then give access to those analytics to your clients. It is this end of the chain where you will get more work. Maybe not by the client, but if you continue to follow up, through people they know.