Get the right fitting in at economical price is also a great deal of long term ISK making efficiency.Before you begin, you should download Quickfit (http://www.elegance-corp.net/quickfit/). This little program lets you plan your setup without the need to buy a ship, equipment or learn the skills. It's an essential tool if you want to properly plan and achieve a maximum of efficiency.
The main areas you want to look at when designing your ship are damage per second (DPS - firepower), damage absorbtion (tanking ability), energy (how powerful your capacitor is), speed (ability to make a run), defense (all disruption abilities).
Take a good luck at the ship, its boni and description to get an idea what it is suited for. All ships are optimized for something and perform best at that task. Using it for multiple purposes or a different than the intended one, usually end you up with sub-optimal performance. An of course along with good isk price.
One of the biggest challenges will be to balance duration, damage output and armor. A chain is just as strong as its weakest link and the same goes for your ship setup. Over-doing it in one area, will always lead to a vulnerability at a different point. There are two choices you have there - Try to go a well balanced route and be rather self dependant, or rely on others to cover those weaknesses while over-optimizing your ship for a single purpose. Keep in mind that you fly what you CAN afford to lost, don't over spend your easy earned isk. They run out quicker than you think they do.
