I'll spend up to one hour talking with you about vacation rental websites - no charge. I'll be happy to answer your questions whether we do a website or not. If we do a site, I'll know a lot more about your property and your requirements. If we don't do a site, you'll know more about the process and me.

The web is technical magic. Doing websites seems very confusing and complicated. It's an investment of your time an money. I want you to be confident you are making the right decision even if you don't choose me. Let's talk about.

About: $500. It all depends so we'll have to discuss it.

My estimate is based on one free hour plus 10 hours at $50/hour. That generally includes:

• Consultation via  e-mail and telephone. This is a surprisingly large portion of the hours. E-mail is the fastest for some things and slowest for others.
• Helping your get a domain name and web host.
• Creating a basic design and navigation scheme for your site.
• Publishing your content, that is, publishing the information about your site that you provide me.
• Culling, cropping, enhancing, and otherwise making your picture fit your site.
• Building your web pages. (This really depends.) It typically includes"
• • Home page.
  • Picture page.
  • How to rent page.
  • About the area page.
  • How to get the page.

  • Guest comments page.
  • Contact page.
• Publishing your site.
• Editing and proofing your site along with you to make sure it's correct.
• Sending you a bill.

Did I mention that it really depends:

• How good are your pictures?
• How much information can you provide for your site?
• Is your information of good quality, edited, spell checked, etc.?
• Are you intimidated by the process?
• Can we spend more time discussing your site on the phone than we do by email?
• Any number of factors that become apparent as we work together.

About: $120 a year. You'll purchase this separately so that you will be the owner, not me. It's easy and I'll help you.

You've got to have a host. It's a nice safe computer somewhere on the Internet. We put your site there so surfers can find and access it.

I use Crazy Domain Insane from Dreamhost. It costs about $120 a year. It contains far more of everything that your site will need. You can even see  how many folks visit your site and which pages they look at. Some hosts cost less, some cost more. I use Dreamhost because it is a good value, it works, and it saves me time because I already know how to use it.

Most Internet providers (Comcast, Earthlink, et al) offer you hosting free as part of your account. We can use this but by and large it will prevent you from having a unique Domain Name. That may be just fine.

About $25 a year. We can get one of these when we sign up for a host. We can use a domain name you already own. You will purchase this separately so that it will be your property. It's also easy and I'll help you.

A domain name is the URL or address of your web site. when someone types "myreallycoolrentalhouseonsharkisland.com" they'll find your site. If you use your free service the URL might look like, "home.nc.rr.com/mycoolrental."

You don't have to have your own domain name if for example we use your Internet provider's free hosting service. But it's probably worthwhile, makes your address more memorable, is not very expensive and it's fun pick a name.

$1.00/minute.  You'll want and need to update your site. We'll negotiate each change.

Want to change the rental rate? The change will probably take me 1 minute. Send me a new picture? It may take me 5 minutes depending on the quality. Want to add a new page? That depends.

The most time consuming part of updating your site is communicating your changes to me. You'll spend 10 minutes writing an email. I'll spend 3 minutes figuring what you mean, then 5 minutes replying that I can't figure out what you want and the cycle repeats. Nothing wrong with this of course. It's just that the most time consuming part of updating is communicating.

Varies: $400/year. You'll pay directly for this. You don't have to do this but it greatly increases your chances of being found on the web.

The Reference Library contains my Guide to Rental Web Services and a page full of Rental Listing Sites.

It's your job to help me make your web site unique and valuable to your renters and potential renters. There is lots to do:

• Provide interesting, clear, and useful content.
• Update the site to make it current and even more useful.
• Place ads in rental directories.
• Put your web site's URL into your rental directory ads.
• Tell everyone you meet about your property and web site.
• Respond quickly to all e-mails generated from your site.
• Keep a list of prior renters and potential renters so you can notify them when you have openings, special deals, improvements your property, etc.

Varies: $50/hour to teach you how.
About $100 - $300 for software.

Managing your own web site is very satisfying. I can teach you but we'll need to discuss it. You need a little knowledge and a little courage.