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I'm online, trying to find a florist a few towns away to deliver Valentine roses to my wife. Ten listings come up, but I find only one in town. I know there are at least 2-3 others, but have to call directory assistance to find them. I go with the one whose information is right in front of me, as I really don't have a lot of time to spare.

Restaurants have the same issue. It is so much easier to locate a place for dinner on the web, complete with menu, phone number and hours. No web site? You don't really exist. It is unfortunate that we are all at the mercy of technology, but the internet can really make or break many businesses.

The most common misconception is that it is too expensive. Common excuses include not having the skills to build a site, or the time to do it. The truth is, if you have intermediate computer skills and a couple of hours, you can create a good looking web site, complete with a domain name and hosting package for for less than $ 10 per month! If you don't want to spend even that much, you can just buy the domain for $ 7-10 per year, and use one of the many free hosting sites available. The only drawback with the free sites is that they will display advertisements from other businesses on the side of your page, which doesn't look very professional.

As far as web site building software is concerned, both the free and paid hosting packages have easy to use software that they will provide free of charge. Basically, you find a template page that looks nice, and fill in the blanks. Simple. I would highly recommend taking the time to learn to build a custom site however. Some template sites look very generic, but they get the job done. There are many good books on building sites, or use the tutorials that come with the software.

If all of this is just too much for you, call up your local high school and ask if they will allow you to put up a flyer looking for a student to build your site. You'll get it done quickly and inexpensively, and you can employ them for an hour or two per week or month to update the site (which should be done regularly.)

The other advantage of a hosting package with your own domain name, is that you will be able to have e-mail accounts with your domain name. It is much more professional to have an email address such as Management@salsdiner.com, than Sal242@aol.com. You can even use your old AOL or Yahoo mail account to receive the mail if you'd like, as you can direct the new e-mail address to another existing account.

This is just a quick overview of the importance of web sites for small businesses. In the future, I will be publishing more articles providing more information on the subject. Start slow, so some research and have fun... it's really not as daunting as you think!

Learn more about this author, Matt Mckay.
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