by Mona Abdulla

Created on: January 13, 2009   Last Updated: April 09, 2009

In this day and age, if you don't have your own website for your business, it's almost as if you do not exist.

Recent studies have found that people are more likely to look up a business online than in the Yellow Pages or other traditional "old-school" ways. If someone searches for your business and they don't find you, chances are they will turn to a business they do find and you will lose customers. You pay a lot of money on traditional advertising for a huge number of people even though very few of them may be interested in your products.

Internet advertising is different, it is targeted. Everyone who visits your web site is there because he has specific interest in your product or service.

Getting and building a website has become much easier than it used to be. In fact, if all you need is a simple website where people can get basic information about your product and contact information, you have no excuse for not building a website yourself.

Many options exist online for the novice to put together a professional-looking website. They are inexpensive and easy to use.

The first thing you have to do is come up with a domain name for your website. That's what people will type into the address bar to find you. Come up with something that is easy to remember. Don't be too cute; you want people to find you and know how to spell your website name. Make sure it relates to your business.

Go to any domain search and type in the possibilities; it'll tell you whether it's available or not.

Building your website can be easier than coming up with a name for it-once you know exactly what you want your website to do.

How many pages do you want and what will each page need? Do you want people to be able to purchase something from your website? etc..

You must consider these things before you begin building your website. Once you know what you want and need on your website, then you can go look for sites that can offer you everything you want. Don't opt for the free hosting sites; you want your site to be free of annoying popups and banners that are not related to your business.

Look for the free website development sites allow you to develop a website, then charge a nominal web hosting fee. These websites are customizable, down to text and pictures and are extremely simple to put together. The websites can have blog links or PayPal payment choices and most have hundreds of layout choices so you can avoid having your website look like your competitors'.

You also can have the option of setting up an on-line store, but that will likely cost an addition monthly fee, usually starting at less than $10 per month. One site, for example, charges $10 per month to sell up to 500 items.

And if you really don't trust yourself to make your own website, then by all means, hire someone to do it for you. Just remember, if you have a business and you want people to know you are out there, get on the web.

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