Web sites are constructed in numerous ways. Some are very simple using just a smattering of HTML while others are so elaborately designed that they require the skills of multiple people. You need to find the right balance between the amount of effort you put in to a site and the return on investment you hope to receive.

As I mentioned, there are several paths you can follow. One involves using web design/development programs such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage. These programs provide you with various templates and the ability to customize these templates to suit your needs. For the most part, these programs will handle the HTML for you behind the scenes and all you need to do is type in your content the same way you would with a word processor. However, when you want to stray beyond the limitations imposed by these programs you will become quite frustrated.

An alternative solution involves using web-based web site builders such as WordPress or MoveableType. These programs are generally geared towards building blogs, but with some research you can manipulate the behavior to make the site fit the more traditional mold. In my opinion there is no better software than WordPress especially given the $0 price tag.

Regardless of the approach you take, you'll need to determine what infrastructure your web site will be using. Typical answers to this question include ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, and Perl. Your infrastructure will likely also include a database such Microsoft's SQL Server, MySQL, or even Oracle. The combination of all of these things will give you the specifications for your infrastructure. You then need to make sure that the web host you choose supports the platform you've selected.

Finally, you may find that you want to include photographs or some other type of graphics on your web site. The good thing is that you don't have to do anything special here. Any image in jpeg (or jpg), gif, or png format will load just fine with all web browsers.

So what's my preference? All but one of the sites in my network use PHP and MySQL as the infrastructure. The one oddball, which happens to be my longest running site, is written using ASP with Microsoft Access as the database.