There are two main ways to get your own web site: Having someone build one for you or doing it yourself. If you've never even considered building a web site before, you may certainly feel some trepidation in trying to create one. After all, could you do as well as the professionals that make those beautiful web sites you see when you surf?

The upside of using a service or buying a site pre-made is that you can get a website optimized for a keyword or several that looks like a million bucks. The problem is that hiring someone to do this falls under the same rule as any other type of work:

Good, fast, or cheap: Choose any two.

Getting web sites built for you will cost money. Getting a large, spectacular one custom-built quickly will cost you big bucks. Buy one premade, and while it may be inexpensive, it's all but certain it's been sold to someone else too, which is not good. Plus, neither way is guaranteed to get you a site the way you want it.

The other option, then, is to do it yourself. I built two web sites with Notepad, Internet Explorer, and a reference after learning HTML from a library book. So my sites were good and cheap, but took a good long while.

Yes, you can buy a template program, and they're a good idea. At some point, you're going to want to build simple but effective eCommerce sites quickly if you choose to make money this way. But if this is the way you want to go, you may as well know the 'how' and the 'why' of the net, including web sites. Therefore, I highly recommend learning the basics of HTML.

There are a lot of good reasons for this, but they're all variations on the same thing: Knowledge is Power. If you know HTML, you can make changes to your web sites when and how you please without relying on a third party or the restrictions of your budget. If you need to tweak your ad copy or make your site more user friendly, you just do it. No waiting and hoping someone you've hired will get the job done right and within a reasonable frame of time.

This is especially good if you don't have a lot of money. You just check a reference out of the library or buy one and build your own site without a massive expenditure of cash. The principles and commands of HTML are very simple. And if you're feeling ambitious, you can learn JavaScript and really make your site fancy. Even if you don't, there are places online to get free scripts to add without knowing how to program them.

If later you get some manner of rapid coding aid (like a template generator or WYSIWYG editor), you'll understand what it all means and can make them work for you that much faster. But get the basics down, and web site creation will just be that much simpler for you.

Ryan Ambrose is the webmaster for Financial Self-Reliance, a site about how to actually make money on the net. The Web Site eCommerce section can be found here. Copyright 2006, Ryan Ambrose.