Since the existence of creatures such as panda and penguin, webmasters are more nervous and cautious about launching new web sites. They are worried that it would be almost impossible to monetize.

But there are still webmasters out there with great ideas that feel that the content and features they have thought up can overcome any Panda or Penguin and lead to monetization.

Webmasters at a WebmasterWorld thread are discussing tips on what it takes to launch a successful site in the long term in 2013.

Moderator, goodroi, Greg Niland (who I have not seen in ages), started the thread with just about 30 tips. Other webmasters then came in to add more or to add commentary or clarity on those tips. Here are some of the tips that stand out for me:

Minimize the use of frameworks, plugins & add-ons, they are cool today but will cause headaches tomorrow
Ask yourself what your new site offers that isn’t already on 100 other sites
Expect Google rankings to be weird for your first year
Don’t launch the site until its good enough to attract webmasters to link to it
Once you find the perfect domain, check to see if it was previously registered and used for spamming
Archive all keyword data, its going away fast
Launching a new site today is a much more weird process with many more anomalies than in the past

Plus many more at the thread.

So if you are thinking of launching a new site in 2013 or started working on a site, check out this thread.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.