If you are a MySpace user, you have learned what an easy to read and fun profile looks like. The only problem is, you may not know how to create or find out. Most of the time when you see an awful MySpace layout, it’s because its sloppy, hard to read, or has annoying links you didn’t even see. That is because since MySpace has been growing so much, so have the layout sites. In fact, MySpace layout sites have been generating tons of revenue through advertising. This advertising can even be through hidden spam in your own profile.

Once you start seeing all the nice profiles on MySpace, you instantly hit Google and start searching away for a great free MySpace layout site. What you don’t realize that the ones you are going to find the easiest will most likely have the most spam. As a website publisher myself, I understand why this spam is there, and what it accomplishes. But as a MySpace user, these hidden links can get annoying. So you have to know what you are looking for in a layout.

MySpace layout designers will put hidden backlinks to their site in all of their layouts. What this does for them is 2 things. 1. It creates free advertising for them and possible hits from all over the MySpace world. 2. These backlinks help their page rank in Google. The more links to their site, the more important their site looks to Google, therefore the higher up it will rank when MySpace layouts are searched for. The site MySpace Trends goes into great detail about this, and how web marketers use this.

Now all hope is not lost when looking for a good layout. These backlinks that MySpace layout designers use is not all bad. In fact, it does help keep your favorite MySpace layout site in business. But knowing what you are looking for is important.

Try and stay away from the layouts that have lots of links and menu bar modifications. I have found that most of the back links will come from modifying the menu bars. The good MySpace layout sites you will find are the ones that let you “hack” your MySpace profile. This will let you edit one aspect at a time instead of just throwing a new layout on your profile all at once. This will also let you control any unwanted layout designs, and you will also become familiar with the coding.

These tips will help you create a great looking MySpace layout without much hassle.

If you’re thinking of starting a website for personal or business use you should know of some very cost effective ways to get you up and running on all fronts. It is possibly for very minimal investment to get web hosting, advertising and even design out of the way. Doing this leaves you with more time to focus on the core of your business or hobby.

Web hosting is an obvious essential for the online business and for any website. The options for web hosting are nothing short of astounding these days. You can get all the features, free domain names, free SSL certificates and much more for under $80 many times. This alone makes online business very tempting for many. A physical storefront is many times an impossible solution for anyone with less than 5 digits of income stashed away somewhere. An online business can give you unlimited advertising space, a broader market if you’re in a remote area, and very small overhead.

Add to this the fact that some hosting providers offer free pay per click advertising credit with many of their hosting plans and you have a definite winner. This means you can secure a domain name and hosting many times for less than $80 and get free advertising credit to start your marketing endeavors once you get your website up and running. This is beneficial for personal sites as well. Free traffic is free traffic.

Hosting companies many times offer coupons or vouchers for Adwords, YSEM and Adcenter. These credits usually range in value between $35 and $250 when they’re all added up. Aside from free advertising, these credits also give you the oppurtunity to practise and learn pay per click search engine marketing strategies without having to shell out too much cash up front.

As for quick and painless design, there is an answer for that too depending on your needs. There are many large template sites out there offering quality web templates for open source scripts. The scripts I’m talking about are free and cover just about any commercial or personal need imaged on a web page. Scripts like Zen Cart, osCommerce, WordPress, Joomla and others will allow you to implement ecommerce, blogging, content management and many other features that would usually cost a fair amount of money to implement. A combination of one of these and a professional template can get you up and running in a hurry.

As an example, osCommerce is a powerful open source ecommerce platform with support for multiple shipping and payment methods. osCommerce is free, easy to install and templates on Templatemonster go for about $150 apiece. With $150 and $90 for good web hosting you can be up and running and have advertising credit for a total of $240. If you have trouble with installation or need help then open a MySiteFix account for free. Putting in a ticket for oscommerce install will run about $35 and leave you with an easy and cost effective support solution for your small business.

In conclusion, look before you leap. Take the time to do your research and you may find that you get alot for a little. The chance for hosting, domain, design, advertising all in one or two quick purchases makes good sense.