You want a Web site for your small business, but you don’t want to fool around with HTML coding, cascading style sheets, etc.
It doesn’t have to be a world-beating site, but it should cover all the bases, and at reasonable cost.
Microsoft Corp., believe it or not, has a solution.
Why is the software giant giving users a free Web design tool when it’s selling Expression Web, the successor to Microsoft FrontPage, for $299?
The official answer would suggest these products are for two different users. Expression Web, which I’ve not yet reviewed, is aimed at Web designers and will compete with Adobe Systems’ Dreamweaver. The free Web design tool, part of Microsoft Office Live Small Business, is designed for those who aren’t code jockeys.
The nice thing is that Office Live Small Business is a good way for the small business user to get on the Web. Within a few minutes, you can be on the way to having your own Web domain (apart from one Microsoft gives you free), having free Web hosting and designing a serviceable Web site.
For a lot of small- to medium-sized service businesses — such as pet sitters, professional organizers, accountants, cleaning services and the like — the Office Live Small Business system might be all you need.
Microsoft wants you to have a “Windows Live” I.D., which means signing up for a free Microsoft Hotmail e-mail account. Once done, your e-mail address becomes your I.D. and a way to sign into Office Live.
If you like, you can use the domain name Microsoft will “give” you, such as “MyCompany.Web.officelive.com,” but that’s a bit of a mouthful. Instead, you can link the Office Live site to your present Web address, or sign up for one via Microsoft for $14.95 a year.
That’s more than registrars such as GoDaddy.com will charge you, but the price includes keeping your contact information confidential when it comes to a “WHOIS” search of your domain name. That cuts down on spam and calls from telemarketers.
I registered a domain, and within 90 minutes, it was up and active.
Promoting it to the “primary” domain for my Web site had things in order in about 60 seconds after clicking the appropriate button.
The Office Live site will integrate your Hotmail account in a browser window that resembles a Microsoft Outlook screen. You get a bunch of templates from which to choose a main style and online editing tools to create hyperlinks and embellish text that you enter. You can upload photos and other items to incorporate into your Web pages.
The finished product can look good. Again, this isn’t going to give a totally “custom” design, but for many businesses, it will more than suffice.
Office Live delivers on its promise to create a Web presence for small-business. There are additional tools and services to help you communicate with customers, sell products online and do other things, so the service can become relatively comprehensive.
I also like its promise: Microsoft may well offer other, higher-end applications in a “free” Web version — Office Live will be ad supported — while saving the full package for software buyers.
Meanwhile, check it out at www.officelive.com, especially if you’ve got a business to build. Note, though, it works only with Internet Explorer and Firefox. Safari users need not apply.
• Read Mark Kellner’s Tech blog.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.