Don't go public until you're ready

If you've spent weeks or months designing your web site, you may be anxious to open it to be public. But before you do, put the storefront through a rigorous testing schedule to make sure everything in it works the way you expect it to. Click each of the links or icons in the storefront to make sure it works. Examine every page to make sure it shows you really want to display without errors or omissions. Ask friends to test the store from different types of computers at different times of the day or night, and to report anything that seems confusing or slow. Make sure the store's performance is acceptable, and ask your service provider to make some changes if it isn't. Customers have little patience with sites that don't perform as advertised, and their first shopping experience will be their last unless your store is ready to sell.