Try out Word Press

If you’re new to web design, Word Press is one of the best web design options for affordability flexibility. It was designed as an an open source blogging program, but there are tons of options to design pages to go the traditional website route. In addition to running the eCommerce SOS blog, I also have a few other accounts including a Word Press account to keep my siblings in touch sharing updates on everyone’s families. It’s a great place to share pictures with loved ones and friends who live far apart!

Register for a Word Press account and play around with various options, like uploading pictures, changing templates, changing widgets, etc.

Technically, Word Press “hosts” the site for you, but if you want to use a different domain (that doesn’t have Word Press in the name) you have to sign up for an additional hosting provider, like Blue Host, 1 and 1, iPowerWeb, or Hostmonster, just to name a few, once you’re ready to launch the site. You’ll have a lot more flexibility if you have the site hosted by a company that gives you FTP access so you can attach a shopping cart plug-in, use new themes, etc.)

See www.wordpress.org for a collection of tutorials, as well as http://free-wordpress-plugins.blogspot.com/, where you can find a list of good plugins to make various functions work. You can get a free shopping cart plug-in at http://www.instinct.co.nz/?p=16.