Get a Domain Name: You're going to need a domain name if you don't already have one. Try to get the actual name of your business if at all possible. If your business name is long or difficult to spell you can try shortening or abbreviating it. Always try to get the ".com" version for a business. For groups or organizations a ".org" is often a better choice. Domain prices will vary but I use moniker for most of my registrations, they are reasonable, reliable and have a great service.

Find a Good Hosting Company: Many people shop for hosting companies based on price, which isn't really the best criteria. You want a quality hosting company that gives you a reliable hosting plan with good service, at a reasonable price. Depending on your bandwidth needs it should cost anywhere from $150 a year to $500 a year for large packages. Most small businesses don't need a dedicated server. Recommended providers are IX Hosting, LunarPages , iPowerweb , HostGator , Midphase , Apollo Hosting, Pair, Westhost, or Dreamhost.

Find a Good Designer: This is often one of the hardest and most expensive steps of the process. Depending on the skills of your designer and complexity of your project this will run you a few thousand dollars. Don't cheap out and use a template or let someone inexperienced design your site for you. It's worth building it right the first time.

Make it Search Engine Friendly: Make sure your designer uses search engine friendly techniques such as CSS instead of tables. Avoid things like flash, AJAX, java, or complex animated JavaScript whenever possible. They may look nice but they are completely unreadable to the search engines so you won't be seeing a lot of traffic or rankings from them if you use them.

Use Your Own Email: Nothing says I don't take my business seriously like jsmith123@aol.com as an email. For your website use generic names like info@businessname.com or contact@businessname.com. For your business cards use jsmith@businessname.com. You can configure your email so all of the addresses end up in the same inbox.

For more tips on how to promote your local business be sure to check out my complete series on local search or visit How to Promote Your Local Business Online for Free, How to Drive traffic to Your Local Business Website or Promote your Local Business for Under $900.