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There was a day when it was not important for businesses to have web sites. Business contacts were made through local networking and advertising. Quality web sites were expensive to construct, and reached limited markets. Many businesses successfully opted to place advertising budgets in quality ads in various printed media. Unless there were a plan for using the web site to conduct business, the value of having one was limited.

The times have changed. Quality web sites are now rather inexpensive to create and maintain. For businesses that sell goods and provide remote services, web sites reach a world-wide market. Web sites are even important to businesses that provide only local services as more consumers are searching the Internet for local businesses every day, while attrition shrinks the market that searches printed media.

WEB SITES COST LESS TODAY THAN BEFORE

When the first pocket calculators hit the market, they cost several hundred dollars. Today, calculators that perform many more functions than those first ones can be purchased for less than ten bucks.

The same thing has happened to the price of web sites. Domain names that once cost a hundred dollars now cost less than ten bucks. Web hosting that once cost hundreds of dollars per year can now be purchased for as little as fifty dollars per year, and offers much more space and bandwidth than before.

With an artistic eye, and a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, creative pages are a few clicks away. These editors write the code in the background as the user adds elements such as graphics, text boxes, and pre-designed "goodies" (like feeds and snippets) to a blank page. The elements can then be adjusted or arranged for visual appeal and purpose. Even a novice should easily be able to build a multi-page site in a few hours. The main problem with novice work, however, is it must always be improved upon, unless it is done well the first time. On the other hand, each improvement brings a sense of accomplishment. The most important thing to keep in mind when designing pages in WYSIWYG editors is that the coding becomes more complicated as elements are added, which may cause the pages to load slowly for people using dial-up connections.

More experienced designers may write the code so that content loads more efficiently. These designers are readily available through freelance agreements. Most freelance designers also offer graphics design, and know of resources to inexpensively add productive and interactive

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