1. The search for a web designer. Unless you really feel that face to face meetings are a priority, there is really no reason why you can't hire a web designer outside your local area. Most people turn to search engines on internet for their search.

2. The designer's portfolio. Once you stumble on a website that catches your interest, look for samples of their work. Freelancer or business, anyone who claims to be a web designer has design portfolio. Because taste is a personal choice, it's possible you won't "like" all of examples in designers portfolio. But even if you don't like particular colors or theme they used for a particular client, look further into design. Ask yourself these questions:

Are there designs clean and crisp? Does overall design have a professional appearance? Is navigation clear and easy to use? How Is their language, grammar and spelling usage? 3. Check references. If you think designer can do a good job for you, check their references. You'll find contact information for past clients in designer's portfolio. They can give you their real life experience with design company.

a) WEBHOSTING

A webhost is a company that stores pages and pictures and other files of your website. When a person visits your website, they will request these files from your webhost's server so they can view website. When choosing a webhost, be careful to choose one that is reliable. After all, if your webhost has problems for any reason, people won't be able to visit your website, and you won't be earning any money.

In addition, different webhosts have varying services and tools that they offer. Some of more important points to consider when choosing a webhost are as follows:

* SPACE AND BANDWIDTH - Space refers to how much file storage space is available for your website. For a standard website with about 20 pages with graphics, 30MB is plenty. Online stores might require more space depending on how many products and pictures you have. Bandwidth refers to how many files can be downloaded and viewed by visitors per month. A normal website with reasonable traffic (200 visitors a day) will need about 2GB bandwidth. Again, if you own a business with lots of products and webpages, you might need more bandwidth.

* DOMAINS AND SUBDOMAINS - Usually, webhosting accounts are charged per domain, with $10 per domain being a reasonable price. However, you can buy larger hosting packages that allow you to host multiple domains and websites on same account. Subdomains are just different sections of your website's domain, with 5 subdomains rough standard. You will need to make sure how many domains your account entitles you for, in order to calculate which is better webhosting package.

* EMAILS AND AUTORESPONDERS - Emails are various email addresses that visitors can write to you. Most websites will use about 2 or 3 emails (maybe a webmaster email and a support email). Autoresponders are email addresses that will reply someone with an automatic email. You will only need autoresponders if you are on vacation and wish to leave an automated reply in case anybody emails you.

* SCRIPTS - If you want to add extra functionality (such as forums or polls), you will need to be able to run scripts. Make sure your webhost allows you to run scripts for your website. The more common scripts are Java, PHP, Perl and CGI.