Every day, the Web is growing more important - but gas is getting more expensive. Many business owners, faced with tightening budgets, can't afford to pay a design firm thousands of dollars to create and market their online presence. Fortunately for those who are willing to a little research and devote some time, you can get online - and even market your site - for very little.

Step 1: Get A Domain Name

Your domain name is your identity on the Web, and it's important to find and registering a domain name that represents your business. You need something memorable, concise yet descriptive, and unique. And you don't have to pay much - some registrars offer domains as low as $5.99 per year. Others, such as Yahoo Small Business and GoDaddy, offer the first year's registration free if you sign up for a web hosting package.

Typically, it's best to use an established, well-known registrar. Compare prices and features - look for things like DNS control, and domain locking.

Here are some resources you may find helpful:

• Selecting A Domain Name - Tips and suggestions.
• Small Business Domain - Offers domain registration resources and compares major domain name providers.
• Boa Domains - If the domain name you really want is taken by a reseller, domain brokers such as this can often negotiate and get the domain at a great price.

Step 2: Get Web Hosting

A domain name, such as work.com, is simply a placeholder that points visitors to the real location of your site's content, a numeric address on a web hosting provider's computer. Web hosts are responsible for delivering your site to web browsers, managing your email, and other tasks. Needless to say, it's imperative that you choose a web host that offers reliability and performance.

There are a lot of web hosts - and most of them are just reselling services from a select few. Try to stick with a large, well known name. The industry is very competitive, and the lowest price is not always the best value. However, most web design firms charge five times what dedicated hosting companies will, so you can realize some great savings by doing some research. Here are some resources to help you select a quality web host:

• Questions To Ask About A Web Host -The industry is competitive, and small companies may offer unrealistic features and pricing. Learn what matters.
• Cheap Hosting 101 - Compares major web hosting providers such as Yahoo, 1&1, iPower, and GoDaddy.
• HostIndex - If you want to go with a lesser known host, check for reviews here.

Step 3: Web Design

The site owner on a budget has a number of options, including:

• Premade Website Templates
• Content Management Systems
• Website Builders

Website templates are simply premade sites that you can customize with web editors like Dreamweaver (commercial) or Kompozer (free). Commercial providers such as TemplateMonster offer high quality templates for a fee. A number of other sites offer free templates, and many are of good quality. A search for 'free web templates' will yield useful results. For the easiest editing and most search engine friendly, choose a CSS-based template.

Content managment systems such as Wordpress, Joomla, and Drupal are software packages that run on your web host and manage your site. You can log in to their administrative interfaces to create or delete pages, modify existing pages, and more. Content management systems are free, and have large communities offering templates, help with customization, and "modules" that expand functionality. If you want to start an online store, I recommend free CMSes such as Zen-Cart, osCommerce, or Magento. Many functional and attractive sites have been created using these free solutions, and customization costs can be kept to a minimum, or avoided altogether with some time and study.

Website builders such as Yahoo Small Business Websites take you step by step through the process of creating a website. Other major providers offer similar solutions, which typically come as part of a web hosting package at no additional cost. Website builders allow you to choose and customize designs, add your own logo and text, and create your site's layout all through your web browser. While web builders aren't as advanced as CMSes or offer the glitz of premium templates, they are one of the quickest and least expensive ways to get online.

When designing your site, make sure that the navigation is clear, the pages aren't overstuffed with information, and the graphics are appealing. These sites are worth a look:

• Webpages That Suck - This popular site highlights mistakes in usability and design to help you avoid problems with your own site.
• Website Builder Reviews - Reviews some popular website builders.
• Content Management Systems - Comprehensive table of Content Management Systems that can power your site.
• Free CSS Templates - Offers a number of quality templates that can be easily customized in HTML editors like Kompozer.
• Premium Website Templates - Affordable but stylish commercial templates.
  

Step 4: Search Engine Optimization & Marketing

Once your site is built, search engines such as Google offer great opportunity for you to attract customers. Search users are already interested in your product or service, and if they're not ready to buy immediately, are actively seeking out companies in your field.

To complete, your website needs to be "search engine friendly", a term used to describe sites that are built to be accessible and optimized for search engine crawlers (which are responsible for finding and categorizing content). You also need quality links from other sites pointing to you. Search engines, especially Google, judge the number and quality of your site's inbound links as a gauge of the usefulness of your site.

While good SEO is typically expensive, site owners can often achieve great results on their own, with some time and effort. Here are some good starting points:

• SEOBook - Offers training modules and discussion for site owners who want to know more about SEO.
• Link Quality Guidelines - 13 ways to determine whether a link will help your site's search rankings.
• SEOChat - Free forums where site owners can find help.

If you get stuck, full service developers such as Tri-City Commerce Group or 109 Creative can help you along without requiring you to let them do all the work.