Now is the best time in history for small businesses, because of the Internet. You can reach customers anywhere in the world from your living room. All you need is an idea and a Web site. But you don't know how to make a Web site--yet!

There are other big changes happening as well. For example, job security isn't what it once was. Fewer companies are offering benefits, and the ones that do are charging for them. With all this considered, perhaps you'd like to start a Web site to earn some money. Perhaps you'd even like it to become your mainstay.

There's a hurdle first: you don't know how to make a Web site. You may think a Web site costs a lot. So you haven't done anything.

Making a Web site is easy for novices these days. There are plenty of Internet businesses set up to create a template Web site, so you don't even have to learn HTML. But there's a drawback--without HTML, you don't know what you need to know to manage your Web site! You will need to know at least a bit of this formatting language for Web sites. As Webmaster you will need to add affiliate links and shopping carts, not to mention clickable ads, if you want your site to earn money.

Learn HTML? Isn't that like learning a programming language? Isn't it hard? The answer is, no it isn't really a programming language. It's a formatting language. And it's really not hard at all. The basic principles are very simple. Here's another bonus for you: you don't need to know very much HTML at all to do what you need to for a simple Web site.

You will need to use Web site creation software. There are basically three alternatives for you: Macromedia Dreamweaver, which is several hundred dollars; Microsoft Front Page, which costs around $100; and Nvu, which is free. Nvu is open source software, originally part of Netscape-that browser that was a competitor to Internet Explorer in what seems like the distant past now. Open-source software is publicly available software that is maintained by programmers on their own time, usually because they want to provide us with an alternative to Microsoft.

Web hosting is something else you will need that can be costly if you are not careful. Web hosting is renting space on a server. Hosting companies offer fancy solutions for big bucks, and also simple solutions for little money. If you buy both Web hosting and domain registration from the same company, you may get a better deal. Domain registration is reserving your domain name, such as www.mywebsite.com. In fact, you can probably find companies that offer both for as little as $25 per year for a simple Web site. Open a search engine and type in "cheap domain hosting" and see what you find!

E-books are becoming more and more common. When you buy an ebook, you are paying for the information in it, pure and simple. In fact, that's all it is, information. You have to provide the printer if you want a hard copy. E-books are popular because they provide information instantly--something that folks in our culture are happy to pay for. In fact, you may be able to find an e-book on how to use Nvu.