To promote its Office Live services, Microsoft is offering a free small business website.  You’ll need to set up an account and use their free web design templates to design the site.  You also get a free domain for one year and free business e-mail and e-commerce for one month.  Obviously Microsoft hopes you like the service enough to keep using the website and start paying for it after the free period runs out.  The prices are not too bad though: about $30 a month for an e-commerce site with e-mail and 1 GB file storage.  

With the economy so challenging, it may be time to market your business better.  These days, businesses are expected to have websites, so you’re behind the curve without one.  Of course, Office Live isn’t for a big company, nor will your site have the sleek trendy look you would get by paying a professional web designer, but this is a quick and easy way to get your business online with a trustworthy hosting company.

Expiration Date: unknown