---End of gloom and doom

The only thing that I like about this approach (it worked for me) is that as you are learning html and graphics design, not many people will really see it :-)

The point I'm trying to make is don't put the future of your business on the -possibility- that you will make enough money to register your domain name, and moving up to a paid host.

With the masses moving to the Internet, you have to quickly find a way to put yourself in the -smaller- percentage that will actually manage to make money.

---So, what -should- a beginner do?

Personally I like the 'all or nothing' approach in which you find a good domain name (you better hurry on this one), pay someone to design your site for you (if you don't have the skills), and open an account with a reputable hosting company.

You've probably heard the old adage "it takes money to make money." This is true in this business as well...to an extent. I say "to an extent" because you don't have to have a million dollar advertising budget to have an Internet presence.

Spend every minute possible finding and utilizing free promotional opportunities. If you can afford it, set aside a specific amount of money and call it your advertising budget.

As you learn these things and start to make progress, you will start to see some income. Be very strict with that money. First, you pay yourself back for the registration fees, hosting fees, web design fees, etc.

Get yourself a separate checking account that all business transactions are done from.

Earmark a certain percentage of income for additional advertising.

Spend a little time marketing your site -everyday-!

The more I look at 'affiliate stores', such as TTA Superstores ( http://affiliatematch.com/ttasuperstores ), the more I like the idea.

Using TTA Superstores as an example: within a few minutes you can have a very professional looking website, with products to sell, and a way to make money.

This cuts down on the html learning curve, and the time necessary to find affiliate programs with the products that you want to sell.

They generate the website for you based on a number of templates, then you promote it, and if you make any sales you get a percentage of those sales.

The nice thing about this approach is that you get to skip ahead to the marketing and promoting phase of your Internet presence.

And as you are learning how to bring people to your site you have the ability to make some money from them.

You still need to get your own domain name and have it point to your TTA Superstore. This is necessary because:

Good domain names -really are- disappearing at a very rapid rate. A big reason for this is that there are entire companies out there that have a business model based on buying and reselling good names. They dedicate people to going through the dictionary grabbing everything they possibly can.

And the ridiculously over-inflated prices amaze me. If you visit Great Domains at http://www.greatdomains.com you will see what I mean.

There are the biggies like loans.com which sold for $3 million dollars. Well, it is a short name, easy to remember, and there is a ton of money to be made in Internet loans.

This I can somewhat understand. But what about those that have: myreallystupiddomainname.com and are trying to sell it for $150,000?!

That part I don't get. But either way, the name that you want for your business will be gone if you don't get serious and grab it.

Besides, it used to be a $70 decision...not anymore. A newsletter that I follow recently mentioned http://www.000domains.com as having great service, and at a low price.

They register your domain, for as little as one year, up to 10 years, for only $13.50 a year!!!

If you can't afford $13.50 for your business...its time to get that lottery ticket again!

Anyway, if you can, go ahead and find an inexpensive website host, the ones for $10 a month will do. Create your index.html and then have that page point to your TTA Superstore.

Don't do any automatic redirecting, make it a decent page with your keywords, and a description of your store. A nice graphic will do, or you can even copy the look of your actual TTA Superstore. Then put a 'Click Here to Enter' link that sends them to your TTA Superstore.

This is very powerful for several reasons. You can control your keyword selection and experiment with different looks and content for your main page.

Many search engines penalize you, or won't even list your page if it automatically redirects to another site.

If you outgrow your TTA Superstore relationship, or come up with a better idea and decide you want to change it, then you can just modify your index.html file and move on.

It is much better to be in control. And, you won't have to start your promotional efforts all over again, because your name will be out there all over the place already.

Plus, you now have a www.yourname.com address to point your friends and potential customers to.

Well, we've talked about a couple of options here. You can choose either one, just make sure you have the right mindset if you decide to throw up something on the free sites.

Don't base your success or failure on them...instead use them as a training ground to prepare you for when you are ready to create a -real- website.