The truth is you DON'T need a web designer to develop a site for your small business. If you have some computer skills and a little bit of time to devote to your web site, you can make it yourself and spend as little as $6.00 a month on it!

Here is a list of facts that you should be aware of before you pay your hard earned money to a web designer:

1. "Build it and they will come" theory is just a myth when it comes to online business. Nobody will come to your web site unless they are already familiar with your company or their friend has told them about your site.

2. "Pay a lot of money to your web designer to create a fancy web site with all bells and whistles and your sales will skyrocket overnight". This is another myth that many web design agencies are using to impress you with their skills and get you to buy their services. The fact is, most small businesses who are making money on Web have a simple web site with a good sales letter. No need to pay top dollars for technical gadgets.

3. "Get a web site for your business and make $5,000 within a month". Nothing can be further from truth. In fact, many businesses don't see any profit for 4-6 months! It takes time and a good marketing strategy to start getting sales.

4. "Sell just one product on your web site and make a lot of money on it" is not how successful business owners make profit online. They first attract their visitors with a free or very low-price item, generate a customer list of e-mail addresses and contact them over and over again with special offers and sales letters about a high-end product.

Domain Names If you are going to register a domain name then I suggest you shop around registrars for prices. I used 123-reg.co.uk, a UK based registrar who I found most helpful. If you are inexperienced with domain names, I suggest you read up on them, otherwise you may run into some head-scratchers.

Think of a catchy name for your domain, so people will remember it. Then register it. The domain may take 24 hours to be registered but in that time you can be finding a web host.

Web Hosting Unless you have a fast computer and are always connected to internet, you will want to find a web host, who will keep your files on a big server, and to find a free one shouldn’t take you that long, but most of them put their own pop up, or built-in adverts, which can ruin way your website looks when you upload it, especially if you used frames.