Small Business Builder: Secure Web Sites

April 17 -- Yes, you can create your own E-business Web site. With no experience … no waiting … no jargon … and almost no money.

A very small company has created a very easy way to put your business online … right now, if you like. All you need is a computer with Windows 98 (or NT or 2000), about 10 mb of disk space, an Internet connection, a little word-processing experience, and about $25.

Using a powerful tool called the wtkEditor, you can construct your site literally in minutes. There are enough options to give your site a unique look and feel, but not so many that you're drowning in a sea of choices. It's easy to edit and rearrange content, change fonts and colors, insert images and links, and set up a catalog.

Web Sites to Go

The wtkEditor is the creation of Dan Cline, president and founder of Seattle-based Software Engineering Solutions Inc. Cline is a software engineer and consultant who thinks like an entrepreneur … in this case, like an entrepreneur who wants go online quickly and economically … the kind of entrepreneur who might say, "OK, make me a dot-com."

Popular Reads

Hantavirus updates: Canadian cruise ship passenger tests positive

• May 17, 4:26 PM

Alex Murdaugh murder convictions overturned by South Carolina Supreme Court

• May 13, 5:45 PM

Dad wins legal case, won't let daughter see grandparents

• May 15, 9:20 AM

Originally, Cline explained, he developed the wtkEditor as part of a low-cost E-business development package marketed at one of his company's Web sites — www.makemea.com. For under $300, SES will build a site in just a few days. Clients get the wtkEditor as part of the package, so they can make their own modifications to their sites anytime.

But some people, Cline realized, would rather use the wtkEditor to build their sites themselves. For $24.95 you can download the product from www.wtkeditor.com and do just that. SES will host your site inexpensively, though you can use any hosting provider you choose. The software's built-in shopping cart allows you to safely accept credit-card payments through PayPal (which charges 30 cents plus a percentage of each transaction amount).

If you already have a Web site, an excellent, easy-to-follow tutorial shows you how to cut and paste content and images using the wtkEditor. One of the wtkEditor's biggest advantages, said Cline, is that clients have complete control over their sites, which are stored on the clients' own computers.