Something that has a huge impact on a site's development is the degree of interactivity it enables. Every site allows people to navigate it using links, of course, and most enable the use of contact forms and search boxes....
With a website, the competition is only one click away. When people see your site in search engine listings, they'll see your direct competitors at the same time....
It might be tempting to dive straight in and start designing your website, but, before you do anything, you need to stop and think. Why are you building a website in the first place? What do you want it to achieve?...