You have decided that the time has arrived when you need to have an internet prescence for your small business. You are fully aware that the future of advertising and gaining new clients will be internet based. The old favourites of paper based business directories, newspaper adverts and media advertising may soon be a thing of the past. We all have to move with the times if we are to continue to succeed.

What is often scary for the new website owners are all of the initial costs involved with setting up a site. I remember all too well just how expensive it was around ten years ago when I had my first website designed and built. It was based on the subject of speech coaching for stuttering and I was investing in this new site at a time when I did not have a great deal of money. I have to say that it has proven to be one of the best investments that I have ever made. The website certainly enabled a lot of people to find out about the stuttering therapy service that I offer.

The initial costs of setting up a website include paying for the design, the domain and the web hosting. Then there are the ongoing costs of web promotion; there is of course no point in having a top notch website if nobody ever visits it.

So how can we obtain a web design service for an affordable fee? Just like it is in other forms of business it is not so much what you know but who you know. It is a good idea to ask your friends and colleagues if they know of any professional web designers, especially if these friends or colleagues already have a website. This way you may be able to secure a deal on "mates rates".

A second idea is to search for freelance web designers rather than going to a web design agency. Many up and coming web designers start up on their own on a self-employed basis and are normally happy to offer a discount whilst they are building up their portfolio.