Ben Franklin used to sit down with a piece of paper, draw a line down the center and put what he thought were the positives for the decision he was evaluating on one side, and the negatives or potential downside on the other. Once you have thought of everything you can and have written it down on the appropriate side of your ledger, determine which side has more compelling information to help influence your decision.

The questions below will help you identify what, we feel, are issues critical to the success of any web site you develop.

The fact is that 94% of all web sites don't generate enough money to pay for themselves. One of the biggest reasons is that 9 out of 10 web development companies either don't have the skill, or just don't care if your site actually makes any money. You want to make sure that the web site developer you choose understands that your site must compliment your business strategy and the overall positioning of your company.

Beyond design, the biggest problem of most sites is the lack of a marketing centered approach to the site. We treat everything we do from a marketing perspective - - which includes the development of your web site. Your web site should complement your overall marketing strategy and extend your ability to reach more customers and prospects in a cost-effective manner.

First of all, your web site can provide a way for prospects and customers to understand not only what it is that you have to sell and why you are different from your competitors but, more important, to do so in a low-risk environment where they can find all of the information they need in order to feel comfortable that you are who they want to buy from. This can either eliminate the need to sell in person, or at least begin to establish a relationship that will shorten the sales cycle.

Second, a way to do business with you that transcends the limitations of the physical walls of your business. A web site can make you more convenient even for your most loyal customers.

Not only can you, but you must insist on it in order to command the kind of presence you need and, more important, get the kind of results required to compete in today’s market. If you choose a Prosperity site, your site will be fully e-commerce enabled and will come programmed with a shopping cart and a simple easy-to-use system to add, update and remove products & descriptions - - right from your Manager’s Console. Your site will also include Prosperity Sites’ "virtual terminal," with a simple user-friendly 3-step activation process.

As we all know, sometimes too many choices can be just as bad as not enough. Here are a few things to consider…

First, decide how much your time is worth. Second, decide if you want to build your own site or opt for a custom design and content package. You noticed how we said design and content packages? Decide if you have the content you need in order to do it yourself (see # below), or if you are going to need assistance.

Prosperity Sites will stand behind you if you run into problems, get frustrated, or get into a time crunch. If you determine that you need more support than you originally thought, we will give you credit for the investment you have already made with us toward one of our custom design and/or content packages. Features, flexibility, and support are why we say that your Prosperity site is the last web site you will ever have to buy!

Your website should be more than just a bunch of pretty pictures or simply your company brochure on-line. People no longer judge how good or how effective a website is by how pretty it is. Our customers are looking for results - - are yours any different? You must have a message that speaks to what is important to those who buy your product or service. Then your message must be delivered in a believable, compelling way. The job of your site is to facilitate doing business with you and your company.

Prosperity Sites has experienced 99% uptime. No technology-driven company can vow perfection - - that would simply not be true. Prosperity Sites hosts all its sites at one of the largest web hosting facilities in the United States. All systems operate under triple redundancy standards.

In the event of a power failure we have onsite independent power generators for back-ups. This is far more than most companies are able to offer their clients.

This is a very important question - - because people can’t buy from you if they don’t visit your site, and they can’t visit your site if they don’t know it exists.

After you have registered your web site via one of Prosperity Sites’ search engine submission services, you will need to use the following traditional marketing methods to increase exposure to your site: If you have a brick and mortar store you should put your "www.yourname.com" on your store door, windows, shopping bags, receipts, print media, business cards, brochures, or any other materials you produce that comes in contact with the buying public.

Beyond that, banners that advertise that your business is now open 24-hours a day online at "www.yourname.com" for e-commerce transactions are very important. And, of course, word of mouth is still king in most places and networking events are also a good means to spread the word. When you have something good to say, say it well, and say it often.

You can register your site on search engines through the Manager’s Console. Simply go to the marketing tab and click on the search engine option. The steps to register your site to search engines are spelled out. If time is an issue, Prosperity Sites also offers a results-oriented search engine registration program that submits your URL (www.yourname.com) to over 1,500 search engines worldwide every month for a low monthly investment of under $29.95 a month.

You will receive 15MB of storage space for pages and graphics - - enough for over 150 pages, which will exceed most business needs. Prosperity sites are completely dynamic, so most of the graphics are hosted by our servers and therefore do not count toward your 15MB limit.

All Prosperity sites include a "Getting Started" tutorial to train you on the basics of how to update, design and maintain your website. We also offer 24 hour/7 day a week technical and customer support to help answer any questions you might have about your web site and the Manager’s Console. Send an e-mail to support@prosperitysites.com for a timely response.

In theory, we could have your site online within 24-48 hours if you currently own your own domain name and it is pointed to our servers. In reality, the creation of a site that fits the image of your company, and the creation of content that separates you from your competition, will take longer and will depend on how much time you are able to invest. But the capability and resources are there to respond very quickly - - on average you should be able to be up and running in 14-30 days.

We will help you select and register your URL address for you from a list of choices you provide. Your domain name registration fee is included with your signup (a $70 value). you can visit our domain bank at www.prosperitydomains.com to see if your desired name is available. then we will reserve it for you when you purchase your Prosperity Site.

We won't confuse you with math equations and computations, we simply allow up to 5,000 visitors per month for your monthly fee. And you can check how many visitors you have had at any time simply by going into your Manager’s Console.

Yes! You can have up to 15 e-mail "forwards" from your web address at no additional cost. An e-mail forward is a high-speed account that we set-up for you at your domain name and then forward to one of your existing e-mail accounts. For example, we could set up "you@yourdomain.com," and any e-mail sent to this address would automatically end up in your mailbox.