Creating a web site is crucial to your home business success and your efforts to make money online, regardless of what home business method you decide to go with. In fact, aside from determination and will, your own website(s) is the single most important factor to your success.

With the advancement in web programming, you can easily create a working web site using many of the free web site generators or software. We will explain how to get started building your web site in a minute. First, let's review some of the benefits of having your own web site.

One of the biggest hurdles a home business company has is reputation and trust. Why should anyone trust you with their money, especially when there are much bigger more reputable companies around. With online shopping, internet users can easily go to websites like Walmart.com and buy almost anything they could possibly need. Having a professional looking web site is one way that you can combat the "big guys". A web site is your chance to talk to the customer without the customer feeling pressured.

On a side note, did you know that over 95% of all Internet users use the internet to search information only? Your web site should be designed to educate the customer on your product or business. Tell them everything they could possible want to know in an informative and non-pushy manner and you will not only fulfil their need of more information but, you will also gain some credibility in the customers eyes. If they see you as an expert in your field or product, they will be more likely to buy from you.

In addition to creating a "professional" impression of your home business, a web site allows you to generate extra income with little to no effort. Affiliate marketing is a good example of how any business can make extra cash just by having a web site.

Let's look at an example. Bob Shoemaker in PA started his own business as a personal finance consultant. He traveled around to his friends, families and referrals assisting with debt management and retirement planning. He built a web site so that his potential clients could get more information after his sales pitch (if they were still uncertain). His potential clients would use the business card he gave them, log on to his web site and further educate themselves about personal finance. Why should they use his services? What other options could the look into? What about credit card debt? Bob was able to answer all of these questions and more without pressuring the client. Even if the potential client did not hire Bob as their finance consultant, Bob knew they were still in the market for something.

The fact that they were visiting his web site proved their interests in personal finance. He then added affiliate links on his site that linked to credit card and debt consolidation companies. By including these affiliates, Bob was able to get up to $20.00 per client that signed up with each one of his affiliates links. If Bob ended up losing a potential client (they did not want his services) at least he was able to make some money of the person. In the end, Bob was earning half of his income from personal consulting and the other half from his affiliate campaign.

So the crux is that having a business website of your own is not very difficult. It just requires a basic knowledge of computers and can bring out some very decent results to your earning potentials.