So you've decided to build a business, but your expenses are soaring and you know the importance of exposure in the community. Your advertising budget is almost down to zero but you still dream of a time when your next receivable will be large enough so that you can actually own a web site.

A web site is no different than buying a car, a house, or even groceries. If you research the market you will know what owning a web site entails. This will make it easier for you to determine how much you have in your budget to spend on a site. There are several necessities in owning a web site.

1) Your Project - Remember, your web site is your web site. The designer is there to help you in organizing your thoughts about how you want your web site to look, but most often, he/she cannot create the text about you, or your product or service, without your input. There are some designers, however, that are qualified to write your text using information that you provide to them. Be prepared to hand over any information on your initial meeting that will help your designer in the creation of your site. If you need photographs and have no one to do the shots, you can expect to pay for the designer's time to do the digital photography.

Try to have an idea of the image you wish to portray to consumers. It could be warm, artistic, corporate, friendly, or a combination of all. In order to get what you want, it may take communication and brainstorming.

When choosing a designer, there are several questions you need to ask.

1) Do you have a portfolio and where can I see it?

Upon your review of their portfolio, really look at the sites theyâ??ve built. Are they user friendly? Do they get the message across? Are all links functioning? Does it appear that care was taken in building the site? Are there â??call to actionâ?? statements? Keep in mind that the visual appeal is only part of what makes a good website.

2) Do you have a list of references I can call?

3) What is your primary focus in building sites?

4) What is your experience in optimizing sites for search engines?

5) Can you work within my budget?

Domain Name - Your domain name should be catchy, but short. Remember, this is the name that people will remember to go to. There are several ways to choose a name. 1) your business name 2) your personal name 3) your service name 4) your product name. Years ago, the only extensions to choose from were .com and .net. But like telephone area codes, the WWW had to create new extensions to provide for the large volumes of site owners coming to the Internet for their marketing needs. Today, the extensions offered are: .com .net .info .org .us .biz .ws .name .tv .cc .de .jp .be .at .uk .nz. Some of these can only be used if you are a certain type of agency, i.e. .org goes for non-profit agencies.

Your domain name, in addition to giving you an address on the Internet, will also provide you with an e-mail address that includes your domain name (i.e. cara@doitallonline.biz). Registering a domain name is quite simple. Do a search for domain names and go to any site that is offering the service. There should be a search option on the site where you plug in the name you want and it will automatically return an available to buy or unavailable to buy for you and provide name options to you if yours is unavailable. If youâ??re really stuck on the name you want but it is unavailable, some companies offer a back order option which requests a fee. This fee will run around $20.00. The company providing this option will keep an eye open for when it is available and notify you. Keep in mind that it could take anywhere between 1 day to 10 years to get that name and you will never know how long you need to wait. In most cases it is better to change your name.

Hosting - Think of hosting as renting. You pay a monthly fee for having space for your web site to reside on the hosting companyâ??s server - Much like paying a landlord for your residence. The larger the space or technical your site is, the more you will pay each month. Most services are the same. Things to look for in finding a service are:

1) Is there someone you can speak with 24 hours, 7 days a week? If not, you may want to locate a service that provides this assistance to you. It can become very frustrating sending e-mails and waiting to receive a response while you have no exposure.

2) What is their down time? Some companies are down for periods as long as 24 hours. Find a company that keeps your business open - all the time.

Web hosting, depending upon the size of your site, can start at $3.95/month.

Search Engines - Common fallacy is that once you have your web site up, any one can put in one of your key words to search and your site will come up. As the web world continues to evolve, the search engine industry is becoming more stringent about what a site needs in order to be listed. It is not as simple as it used to be. The truth about Search Engines is, in order for your site to be picked up and put in their directory, several basic things must be done.

1) Meta tags (includes title, description & key words) must be written according to the site's content.

2) You must have key words placed inside the text on each page of your site.

3) Your site must be submitted to search engines for their review.

4) Site popularity will boost your rankings.

If you do your research of designers and find one who is search engine savvy then you will be insured of proper meta tags and key word placement within the site. Unless your contract states otherwise, # 3 is not included in the cost of designing your site. Your designer may offer to do it for you, however, there are on-line services that can provide search submissions to you for free and others who charge a fee and guarantee submissions on a time schedule. Be aware that it can take anywhere between 1 week up to 1 year to be listed on a search engine, depending on their policies.

Maintenance - Your site needs to be maintained in order to continue to have visitors. In product sales, it is important to provide your customer base with new products. If you are not in a business that provides new products, offer monthly specials on your services or valuable industry information to your visitors. The primary function of maintenance is to give your potential customers a reason to return to your site.

If your maintenance includes items that are similar in nature (employment listings, art pieces, classifieds, etc.), it may be best to purchase a script that will allow you to do this yourself. This can be costly. However, in the long run, it will save money as well as your time.

If you want your designer to maintain your site, be clear as to how much maintaining/updating there will be (amount of information, as well as time). The fee charged for this service should be based upon this information.

Redesigns - If your site needs a redesign, this could mean a total makeover which includes search engine optimization or something as simple as creating links for easier navigation. Be ready to answer this question - How do you want to change it? When it is time for you to follow through with this decision, you next need to decide who is going to do the site. There are basically 2 options.

If you want to do it yourself, there are companies that will provide you with a template to create your own site. These services are fine if you just want to have a web site that is created by using their template. Most template services provide you with options of background colors, font styles, inclusion of photographs, navigation (link) bar styles, and layout of page.

It will take time for you to figure out how to use their program, as well as how to optimize your images so that your page downloads quickly. This type of service limits customization for your unique business and is time consuming for you. The charge for this service is on a monthly basis and starts from $4.95/month for a web page.

If hiring a web designer or company, your site will be customized and will save time on your part, but unfortunately, will require money up front. However, if you research the market you can find a person or company that will serve your budget needs. If going with a company, you may find that some companies will give you a free domain name, but you will still need to purchase hosting of the account. Some may offer packages that include site, domain and hosting.

The market provides a price range of $500 - $1,000 for a simple 4-page site. The lower cost sites probably will not offer free domain registration. Most companies require payment up front, while others may accept a down payment, ranging from 50%-75% of the total amount, with the balance in full at the time of completion of site. You can find companies that will make payment arrangements with you and it would be worth your while to seek them out.

Web sites are a wonderful marketing tool for your business if you use them as another source for exposure - and in the long run, they can be less expensive to own. For additional information, feel free to contact Cara at Creative Communications by Cara Summerfield, 928-277-4296, www.csummerfield.com for answers to your questions.

Cara Summerfield is a writer and web designer. She works with the client's vision and applies her marketing skills to bring small business to life on websites. She uses her knowledge of marketing, redesigns and the Internet to provide optimum web sites. She has worked in web design since 1997 and has made it her mission to help small business owners get the marketing exposure their business deserves. Living in Payson, Arizona, she seeks a higher quality of life.