With that in mind, let’s go over a few of the basic costs involved in building and running a website.

The first cost is that of building your site.  If you build your own site it can be done virtually for free.

You own your computer, already have internet access and either have an HTML editor in your computer or can find one for free on the web so there would be no cost incurred if you build it on your own.

If you want someone else to do it for you then there are fees involved.  You can have a pre-fabricated site put together for you at a price as little as $50.00.

However, this is a very basic, very bland, one or possibly two-page site; probably not what you’re looking for.  For a more professional-looking site with, say 10 pages, you’re looking at a price range of $500 to as much as $1,000, or more.

Having a good idea of what you want in a website can save you a lot of time and money when having one built for you.

Running your website can vary in price range, as well.

Depending on the web host you use, how much server space you require, how many optional features you have on your site and how much maintenance you want the web host to do the price can range from a very basic $19.95 per month to well over $250, or more.

You will want to discuss pricing and options with several web hosting companies before you make your choice.

One important thing to remember when considering site building and hosting is to do your research before choosing a company to build your site or host it.

A little time doing research now can save you a lot of money later on.

While, without a doubt, there are programs and methods out there that work, and work well, there are also a variety of schemes and programs that not only do not work, but are frowned upon by reputable marketers and customers, alike.

Top on my list of schemes to avoid are the Million Hits Traffic Generation schemes.  Some people believe that the more traffic to their site the better their sales.

In searching for a means of driving massive traffic to their site they wind up joining some traffic generation scheme that promises to generate a million hits on your site.

Next they will waste away their valuable time clicking away on traffic exchanges.

Now, don’t get me wrong, not all traffic exchanges are schemes.  However, some are exactly that.

Not to mention everyone who’s using this traffic exchange is a business owner, so unless your business has more to offer than the other’s do you won’t get any further with this method than you would have with any other.

Another scheme to avoid is the "sale" of traffic. Companies will offer to "sell" you massive amounts of traffic, usually some phenomenal number like a million hits or 10 million hits and in truth what it turns out to be are popup and/or popunder advertising.

I don’t know about you, but I’m plain tired of popup ads and will avoid sites that use them.

Programs like the ones I just mentioned are not and will never be replacements or solid alternatives to the tried-and-true methods of generating traffic such as SEO, pay-per-click and others.

Understandably marketers will have times when they’re frustrated with a lack of results, however with a little time and effort, along with education, there are a variety of methods that can be used to generate traffic and, once in place, require minimal maintenance to continue to produce results.

Although there is more work involved in these methods, when done correctly they produce real, steady results and they won’t annoy your visitors!

The problem is you’re feeling as if it’s all work and no play.  Sound familiar?  If so, you’re not alone.  Many people with home-based businesses have felt like this as one time or another.

The trick is not letting your business take over your life.

While hard work and sacrifice are necessary with any business, you still have to maintain the balance between work and personal time.

The first step to finding a balance and maintaining it is to decide how much time you need to dedicate to your business.  In order to do this you need to sit down and figure out exactly how much time you truly need to dedicate to work in order to grow and maintain your business.

One important note to remember, when doing this is that you cannot sacrifice all of your time striving for rapid growth, you need to be realistic with this.

Once you have decided how much time you need to dedicate to your business you need to create a work schedule for yourself.

This will allow you to block out time for work and leave you free time to spend with your family, take care of household chores, attend social functions or just relax with a good book.

Remember, you won’t be any good for your business if you’re on the verge of a breakdown.  Taking time for yourself is vital no matter what kind of work you do.

And with a home-based business it’s only too easy to spend far too much time working and far too little time taking care of your self.

Last, if you find yourself overwhelmed with work and simply can’t steal away for an hour without fear of falling behind you may need to look at getting some help.

Once your business has grown just so big you may need to take on an assistant.  While the idea of having an assistant in your home may not be right for you there are still alternatives.

Many people are telecommuting and taking on virtual positions these days.  There are websites entirely dedicated to virtual work.

People in all fields are looking for virtual jobs to beat the commute or allow themselves more time with family.

Many people aren’t sure exactly what niche marketing is and why it may just be their best bet.  Let’s start off by briefly discussing what niche marketing is.

Niche marketing is marketing to a specific, target market.  An example of a niche market would be this:  rather than targeting just automobile owners you would target the owners of only BMW’s.

This would allow you to concentrate on a specific area within the automobile market.  You could further narrow down the market by targeting only the owners of the BMW Z3.

Now that you understand what niche marketing is let’s discuss why it may be your best bet.  The first reason is narrowing down the competition while narrowing down your market.

There’s much less competition to be had if you’re marketing to just BMW Z3 owners rather than owners of automobiles in general.  It also provides for you to establish yourself as somewhat of an expert in a particular field.

At the same time you can target very specific, underserved markets making your competition nearly non-existent.

Another plus to niche marketing is that it allows you to devote your time to and energy to a group of people who are generally very devoted to whatever product or interest is at the center of your market.

Using the BMW as an example again, owners of BMW’s tend to be very loyal to that brand.  If you were to choose to market to BMW owners you could very well have a very loyal group of customers.

As you can see there are many benefits to niche marketing.  Although it may take a little time and effort on your part to nail down just the right niche market for you, in the long run it is bound to be well worth it.

Just remember, do your research and take the time to see if there’s any way to narrow your market down before you jump in.

So why should you do this and how can you keep and eye on a competitor on the web?  Let’s take a moment to discuss this.

The main reason why you should keep an eye on the competition is to measure their level of success to yours.

If you don’t take the time to stay on top of how the competition is doing you may soon start losing customers to them, and getting them back can be hard to do.

You not only want to know if they make changes in their advertising methods, but you also want to stay abreast of changes in products or services, special offers, or other things of this nature that have the potential to entice your customers to visit the competition.

Now let’s talk about how to keep an eye on the competition on the web.  First you’ll want to track their ranking on the popular search engines.  Search engine ranking is a great indicator of where the traffic is going.

Second, you’ll want to regularly take time to visit their site.  This will provide you with an inside look at what products or services they’re offering and keep you abreast of any changes they make.

Last, you’ll want to sign up for their newsletters and other mailings.  This can keep you on top of special offers and upcoming changes they have planned.

Keeping an eye on the competition does take a little time, but not so much that it isn’t worth doing.

Staying abreast of what’s going on with your competition will make a major difference in how successful you are at competing with them.

Whatever the case may be, you need to know the basics before you get started.  Let’s take a quick look at what you need to have and what you need to do.

There is very little you actually need in order to build your own website, and just about everything you need is available for free somewhere on the Internet or in your computer.

This probably comes as a surprise to you, but at least it’s a pleasant surprise!  And to top it all off, there are scores of websites and tutorials on building your own website available at the click of your mouse.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1.Basic computer skills (which I’m sure you have already if you’re reading this blog!)

2.Access to a personal computer (there again, you’re reading this blog, so you can check that off, as well)

3.Access to the internet (another check for this requirement!)

4.an HTML editor (FrontPage comes pre-installed in many computers, but if you don’t have it, no worries.  There are plenty of free HTML editors available on the web. Just do a Google search for "free HTML editor" and you’ll quickly find one. )

5.A place on the web to publish your page. (This is where you will want to bypass free and go for a paid service.  If you intend to use this site for business there is no substitute for a paid domain.To be taken seriously and considered a professional you need to have a paid domain with corresponding e-mail address.)

As you can see, there’s not much that you need to build a website.  You will want to take the time to read up on the HTML editor that you choose to use so that you will have a firm understanding of how it works.

With just a little time and effort you will quickly have your own website, built and designed by you.