Joining the World Wide Web revolution is no longer just a good business tactic—it’s now a necessity to keep existing businesses afloat and get fledgling endeavors off the ground. And unfortunately for the “Mom & Pop’s" of the world, this membership doesn’t always come cheap.

Sure, some search engines and internet providers offer a limited number of easy yet unimpressive do-it-yourself Web templates at a relatively low cost. However, no two businesses are exactly alike, so why should their sites be?

If you are not able to afford a custom-designed web site, Yahoo Small Business (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com) offers over 300 easy-to-use templates, along with a domain starting at just $11.95 per month. From my personal experiences, if you're going to go with a pre-made solution, Yahoo Small Business is the best idea.

You can also use Yahoo GeoCities (http://www.geocities.com) to design a web site with point-and-click technology, and then register a domain name to link directly to your GeoCities page. This is very cheap, though from a professional standpoint, the cons outweigh the pros. Your site will be loaded with pop-up ads that only generate money for GeoCities. These annoy the visitors to your site and sometimes even cause their computers to crash. You will not be able to embed any eCommerce into a GeoCities site. If you decide you want to copy and paste some HTML code from an online resource to your GeoCities site, it will often not display properly. The display when editing your GeoCities template often has completely different dimensions than what the user will see on his or her screen when looking at your site.

Believe it or not, you CAN actually get a custom designed web site for a price starting at only $500 from Custom International Enterprises. (http://www.custom-international.com)

Custom International Enterprises was conceived with the notion that all businesses owners deserve exceptional and affordable Web services from a company that truly understands the walls entrepreneurs run into in the early stages of entering the commercial market—especially on a modest budget.

Custom International's Web services include, but not limited to: Web design and development, site remodeling, search engine optimization, flash movie presentations, graphic design, and online stores/shopping carts.

Dreams are the foundation of all successful ventures and our services are here to support the dreamers.

Article by Tatianna Geliga, CIE Communication Director