Creating a functional site is not simple but it need not be hard.

Setting up an effective and useful site that not only does something but also sells stuff for you need not cost you half the annual budget. In fact if you follow the Globally Local blog you will know that all you need is a little support, a small amount of "pocket money" (just to buy the inexpensive items you require), and access to a good host.

In this article we explain what you need to get started with a functional web site.

You need the following three things for a functional web site.

1. A domain name. A dot com is probably best for your web site unless you want to target a specific country. You can buy a domain name for a very small amount of money.

2. A Content System. While it is possible to do without a CMS to help run your site, your life is going to be a hundred times easier if you can get one. As they start from FREE you'd be mad to miss out on such an opportunity. The Content Manager means that you do not need any HTML knowledge to add content. You simply need to write the content. Some have a WYSIWYG editor in them these days. Some are easier to install than others and you might want to pay your local geek to do it for you. visit opensourcecms.com to get an overview of what's available.

3. A host. You need to put your site's files somewhere. What you need depends on the Content Manager you selected. If you followed the above recommendation you will need "tag;Linux, php and MySQL" which also happens to be a very inexpensive combo.

Does that sound like too much fuss? Globally Local offer linux packages that allow you to register a domain and auto-install all sorts of content managers onto your site so that you need not know anything at all.

Getting a functional website set up has never been easier and so there is no excuses left for not getting on in there and grabbing some of the action.