If you are interested in developing a website for yourself, a small business or nonprofit organization and have little or no development skills, I highly recommend using Microsoft Office Live at:
http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/ All you need is an e-mail address to create your Microsoft Office Live account. Afterward, you can create a website with their easy to use (though somewhat limited) development tools which include an ample number of themes, styles, color schemes and webpage components. Once developed, Microsoft Office Live will host your website and provide you with a personalized domain name and up to 500 MB of storage space all free of charge, at least for the first year. All you pay is $14.95 per year afterward to retain your domain name, the hosting is still free. Amazingly, there is no advertising displayed with your site and while the Microsoft Office Live branding is turned on by default, it can be turned off by clicking a checkbox under site options. You are limited to one free website per account, but you can create multiple accounts using separate e-mail addresses, i.e. Yahoo mail, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. The price is definitely right (FREE) and I think your site can look pretty good with some effort. I created the two sites below in about one afternoon each: http://mayorscommittee.org/ http://secgcc.org/ I also help a local nonprofit organization maintained their website via EarthLink's Business Solution Websites. Like Microsoft Office Live, you can create and maintain websites with little or no skills. EarthLink's website development tools are a bit more robust, but you are charged monthly for hosting and storage depending on size and service options. The site I maintain is: http://cowboysandrosesrenegaderanch.com/ The options above may not be adequate for highly optimized robust business needs, but they are quick, easy, affordable solutions for anyone who needs a relatively simple website presence. Steve - C4, 20 years
