There are two approaches to DIY Website Construction.

The first is to go about gathering and purchasing all of the components separately. The second is to buy a package that has all of the components and build your website yourself using the tools at your disposal.

When you think about what you will need for a DIY Website Construction, consider the following:

• Domain Name
• Web Hosting
• Templates or HTML program
• Keyword Research
• Content generation
• Autoresponder
• Sitemap submission
• Community or forum for support

If you don't do this on a regular basis, putting all of the pieces together for a DIY website may seem overwhelming.

But you don't need to put all of the separate components together to do your website yourself. You can buy a package that combines the best of everything.

One thing, though. Your best bet is NOT one of the domain name services. These services allow you to get a "brochure site" up quickly. But they don't help you generate a website that sells. And, unless you are putting up a website just for friends and family, there's no use in a website that doesn't sell.

Instead, you should look for a package company whose goal is to make your site sell. They're not there to sell lots of additional components, they want you to succeed.

For one price, you should get your domain name, web hosting, templates, keyword research, an autoresponder, email addresses, sitemap submission, statistics monitoring, and more. You also want to make sure that there is some level of support for the community whether it is phone based technical support or a welcoming forum.

If you're not ready to put all of the components of a DIY website together yourself yet, I recommend Site Build It for a package deal. It includes all of the necessary components and has a very supportive forum community.

To get the SBI package deal, click through to my Small Business Website Marketing Blog.

Normally, if you want a professionally designed, custom-built website for your new virtual assistant business, you should be prepared to spend at least a few hundred dollars.

But, all that can change if you know where to find the best deals and the best designs for the lowest price.

First, it costs more to have a brick-and-mortar company design a website for you. Have you seen those newspaper ads that offer a 5-page website for $500? These are probably companies with physical locations. They have to charge more simply to pay for their overhead: office rent, designers' wages, advertising costs and so on.

Therefore, it would be wise to use a virtual assistant (VA) instead! As you already know, VAs often work from home so they do not have high operating costs like a big company does. On the other hand, a VA will be able to design images with quality similar to (or better than!) those of designers from big companies.

However, choose your VA with care. The best way to find the right VA for your project would be to go to visit the website of a VA association. There you can post your RFP (request for proposal) and have hundreds of talented VAs bid on your project, so you will get the best deal. You will also be able to choose your designer based on her experience, past transactions and client testimonials, so your value for money is secured.

Another route you can take is to purchase the Virtual Business Startup System, created by Tawnya Sutherland. It comes with several beautiful, easy to use templates, perfectly suited for a new VA. The templates are easy to edit wth the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.

There are a lot of reasons you might want to start a website. It is a great way to communicate with friends & family, and it is a great way to meet new people online and create conversations on the internet. Whether you have an idea or belief you want to promote, or a product you would like to sell, a personal or business website can be the solution to your marketing and communication goals. These days, a lack of technical knowledge doesn't have to be a barrier to getting started.

The good news is you don't need a degree in programming to start a new website. You don't even need to know a single line of code for that matter! If you can install software packages through a web-browser interface, you can set up a Content Management System (CMS) that will allow you to design, create, and manage any number of pages, articles, and stories. Some web hosts even have utilities like Fantastico that will automatically install a variety of Content Management Systems from blogs, to forums, to picture galleries or e-commerce websites.

Content Management Systems not only give websites more interactivity and functionality, they also allow people with few technical skills to get up and running with an online presence. The most popular ones like WordPress, Simple Machine Forums, phpBB, and Joomla are all free to use with varying regulations on how you can modify or transfer use of the software. Each of the programs also has discussion communities built around them where new and experienced users share advice & knowledge with the most common errors and user requests. If a problem pops up, there is a good chance that someone has already posted a step-by-step solution to it somewhere on the web.

As easy as it is to create and initially customize a new website, there is also no limit in how far you can take it. As you install easy to use CMS packages, some of the vocabulary will become a little more familiar and you'll naturally find yourself a little more comfortable with the technical aspects of your new hobby. So long as you keep regular back ups, you can confidently learn new skills by trial and error.