Access to the world's marketplace isn't the only big change. Traditional jobs are becoming scarcer. Maybe your job future doesn't look as assured as it once did. This is a good reason to look at income from a small business. In fact, there are entrepreneurs out there who have made a lot of money from the Internet.

There's a hurdle first: you don't know how to make a Web site. You may think a Web site costs a lot. So you haven't done anything.

Novices can get plenty of help creating a Web site. Many people are in business to help novices set up a Web site using a template. There's a problem with the result, though--you don't know enough HTML to add affiliate links, shopping carts, or clickable ads, the items that will earn your Web site money. What you really need to learn is a bit of HTML, just enough to get the job done.

So how can you learn HTML? There are tutorials on the Internet, and books on the subject. Here's a tip: you don't need to learn a lot of HTML! You just need to know a little to be able to modify your Web site for links and shopping carts. And we'll let you in on a secret: it isn't hard!!

To make your Web site, you will need special software that creates the Web site and the HTML code. Here are your alternatives: Macromedia Dreamweaver, the top of the line at several hundred dollars; Microsoft Front Page, at around $100; and Nvu. Nvu is open-source software, in other words free. Open-source software is maintained by programmers or companies who donate their time, and it's available to anyone at no cost. Why would programmers work for free? Many of them want to provide us with an alternative to Microsoft.

Web hosting is something else you will need that can be costly if you are not careful. Web hosting is renting space on a server. Hosting companies offer fancy solutions for big bucks, and also simple solutions for little money. If you buy both Web hosting and domain registration from the same company, you may get a better deal. Domain registration is reserving your domain name, such as www.mywebsite.com. In fact, you can probably find companies that offer both for as little as $25 per year for a simple Web site. Open a search engine and type in "cheap domain hosting" and see what you find!

Internet users are buying plenty of e-books these days. E-books are books without the paper and cover. Sound odd? Basically, they're just the information. You can print them out on your printer, or read them on your computer. The best thing about them is that you can get your book immediately, a popular feature in our culture. So look around for an e-book on how to use Nvu.