Few Pakistani small and medium sized businesses realize how easy and inexpensive it is to make your website. Lets consider what you need to build a website:

1. Domain name – This is the address of your website. You can buy a domain name for Rs. 860 a year. That is Rs. 70 per month. I recommend namecheap for domain registration.
2. Web host – Your website needs to reside on a computer that makes it available to visitors who come to see your website. This is a specialized service and its called website hosting. Basic web hosting prices start at Rs. 150 per month.
3. Content Management System – A CMS allows you to easily create and manage a website. You can use a simple blog type content management system like serendipity or a more flexible, albeit harder to use, CMS like drupal. Both serendipity and drupal are free. There are a host of CMS out there and you can try them out at www.opensourcecms.com.
4. Content– This is easy. You have your typical business overview. Listing of services or goods that you provide. Contact info. Then there is content that changes regularly. Price lists, schedules of events etc. Keeping this stuff updated is easy with a CMS!

So as you can see making a website is really not that expensive. It’s actually the cheapest marketing tool you can have. For around Rs. 200 a month you can have an online brochure that your customers can always access from the comfort of their homes!