The amount of time you devote to your website will depend on a number of things – which differ from one business to the next. Keep in mind that it need not be your own time – some of it, or even all of it, can be handled by an employee.

1. What do you want to achieve with your website? I you want it to be a showcase for an ever-changing inventory of products (like clothing or gifts), it is likely to take quite a bit of time to maintain. On the other hand, if all you want to do is to build some credibility, you need not work on it for more than an hour per week (to add new content). In fact, depending on your industry, you could add one page per month and still be fine.

2. How aggressively do you want to promote it? Are you in a hurry to make it profitable? Or are you willing to just keep at it and let it grow over time? if you want to market it aggressively, you will be spending some time submitting to directories, commenting on busy blogs, and networking.

3. Social networking: If you are limited on time, spending 5 to 10 minutes per day on Facebook will allow you to grow your network – and eventually it will get to the point where it starts growing by itself. At 5 to 10 minutes per day it will not happen overnight – but it will pick up speed as you go along. You can get away with less – but then the growth of your network will really be slow.

4. How fast do you want your website to grow? If you want to add information to convey your expertise, you may want to get it to a reasonable size as soon as possible. As such, you may want to work harder on it to get it off the ground. Of course, you could incorporate this into the construction cost of your website – but it could take it out of your price range – or at least out of the “sensible price” range.

What you add to your website need not be phenomenal. It could simply be 200 words on a question that a lot of your clients ask. It could simply be an entry about new developments in the workplace or industry. Heck, it could be a video (taken with your camera) of a job well done, with a short description.

It will just make your website seem fresh – and people tend to think that fresh information is better…