If you don't have thousands to invest into your new online business idea but still want to get your site up and running at low cost, check out my list of free website software that will help you create site that is cool looking, easy to update and with all the web 2.0 goodies ;)

Free cheese only in trap? Not this time!
These examples of website software (let's call them CMS, from Content Management System) are from open source world - that means you can download them for free, install on your own (step by step graphic installing), and use them as you like and for whatever business you like! Why they are free? Because thousands of developers like to play with code and even more thousands of users and IT people believe that best things in life are for free and community built ;)

OK, there you go, the sweet and short list of free Content Management Systems to kick-start your business idea online:

Joomla

www.joomla.org
Definitely the most popular CMS today. You can build simple site, or portals and shops, or social networks.
Installation is fast and easy, only five steps and your site is ready to customize, add or remove modules, enter text and images, and change design templates (they are thousands out there!).
Positive:
free to download, no registration,
thousands of free site designs,
thousands of plugins and extensions,
huge forums with fanatic community,
stable development, regular new versions
Negative:
does not have built in SEF option, requires plugin
adding new article or new menu item - takes time to learn..

Pligg

www.pligg.com
It works and looks just like Digg! Create site where people can vote and comment your topics, links or products.
Installation is easy, just enter required settings and click 'next' until finished.
Positive:
free to download,
lots of free site designs,
lots of plugins and extensions,
good forum with support community,
built in SEF option,
stable development, regular new versions
Negative:
the configuration of some crucial parts of site is difficult for absolute beginner,
some SEO features are not that easy to configure,
requires you to register on Pligg forum in order to download it for free

WordPress

www.wordpress.org
This blogging platform is intended for blogging, but with the right design template and customization you can turn it into great business site!
Installation is the easiest i've ever seen! Only one step and you can log on and start to customize and create your content.
Positive:
free to download,
hundreds of free site designs,
hundreds of plugins and extensions,
good forums, huge support community,
built in flexible SEF option,
extra stable development, regular new versions
Negative:
some SEO features will work only with plugins,

Drupal

www.drupal.org
One of the most popular CMS today. Build sites, portals, online shops, etc.
Installation is easy, the configuration is not that easy.
Positive:
free to download, no registration,
hundreds of free site designs,
hundreds of plugins and extensions,
huge forums with support,
stable development, regular new versions
Negative:
takes time to learn how to do this and that..

Movable Type 4

www.movabletype.com
Also a blogging platform, but again you can use your imagination and turn it into perfect business site. And yeah, it's not an open source, it's a piece of software "free for personal use".
Installation is easy enough, a graphic installer with step by step things to click and enter.
Positive:
free to download,
free site designs,
many plugins and extensions,
growing support community,
built in flexible SEF option,
stable development, regular new versions
Negative:
some SEO features hard to get working,
kinda in 'beta' phase, some things don't work as expected until you find what and where must be configured.

MODx and Plone

(www.modxcms.com)
(www.plone.org)
These two are worth trying.
ModEX is going to be a hit if the development continues and community keeps involving. The best feature it has it is easy editing mode of any content via AJAX interface.

Plone is a monster that has many features. The adding of new content like pages and articles was very easy and intuitive. The main reason you should not start with this software is
that it requires a lot of resources from hosting machine (in other words, you need dedicated hosting to run it the best possible way).


Well, i hope this gives you some ideas where to start and it definitely shows you that you can start e-business only with 20 bucks - 10 for the domain, and 10 for the hosting!

P.S. there are some more good website building systems, sorry if i've forgotten something important, remind me in comments!

As i can see from stats of my site, the single page "Movable Type 4 installation step by step with screenshots" attracts most of my visitors.

Well, i'm glad my story of Movable Type 4 installation helps you folks! As you write some comments about how and why, i try to answer, but not always i know how to help you, sorry for that ;)

Keep experimenting with CMS systems, and you'll find the perfect one for you!

Download Pligg and try it, if you want to build your own site like Digg.com!

Pligg is an open source content management system (CMS), that has regular updates and strong community with forums full of help, tutorials and Pligg templates.

You must register, to download Pligg - just go to Pligg.com forum, register, and check out forum tread with links to latest stable Pligg releases.

After you make your digg-like site, you can also promote it on Pligg forums here! :)

Here they are in my post couple days ago (looks like my visitors find it is what they were looking for):

Movable Type 4 installation step by step with screenshots

Any feedback will be appreciated, let me know if you need anything else to know abut MT4 installation.

Cheers,
Nakamura.

Quick instructions how to install Movable Type 4 publishing platform - step by step with screenshots!

The new and cool blog system is out - Movable Type 4, and i'm giving you short and clear instructions how to install that thingee. It's easy, trust me!

OK, here's what you do in order to get your MT4 blog up and running:

1. Server data
2. Download
3. Unzip
4. Upload
5. Chmod
6. Install
7. Configure
8. Log in ;)

1. Before you start,

Log into your hosting accound (your server admin panel) and create a new SQL database, copy database name, database username, database username password (and in some cases, if the 'database server' is not 'localhost' write it down too, as far as i know GoDaddy service has this issue). You will need that data to enter later installing you blog. Don't know how to get this data? Huh, ask a guru to help you, for example some geek-friend or e-mail your hosting provider, they will help.

2. Download Movable Type 4,

And make sure you've got the latest stable version of MT4, go to official website www.movabletype.com, go to "Download/Buy", click "Free Personal License" and choose the operating system you have (tar.gz for non-Windows folks, zip for Bill Gates fans) and select language you want your new shiny blog to be (i guess it's English). Don't forget to check the "I accept ..." bla bla (oh, you can read it to..). Now save that file to your computer.

3. Unzip that file,

It's about 11 mb in size when unzipped. That's OK, most of 'normal' hosting providers give you way more space than you'll ever need.
I suggest to use WinRar as a software for unzipping - it's quick and intuitive. Then you'll have a folder full of CGI files and other folders - this is the stuff you will upload to your hosting.

4. Now upload files

that are in this folder (something like "MT-4.0-en"). I use FileZilla for fast and easy FTP uploads, it's really cool soft! It supports drag-and-drop function, just log into your hosting server (the root directory "yoursite.com" or any other new directory, let's say "yoursite.com.com/blog/" ), select all files on you computer and drag'em over to server. If you don't have a broadband internet at home, it will take time to upload them eleven megabytes, so go and make some tea with cookies, would you.

5. Now chmod them files,

As you can read in the MT4 installation 'readme' file. Don't panic, 'chmod' is nothing else than just selecting files and changing properties.
You might have some problems with changing the properties of files if you server is in Pentagon or some place else where admin has put more than paranoia into security settings. If so - get in touch with your hosting provider and ask for instructions or permissions.

6. It's time to install,

Now enter you address where you uploaded files into your browser ("yoursite.com" or "yoursite.com/blog/" or whatever you did), it will bring up screen like this:


Wait some 5 or 10 seconds and it will automatically reload it to start your installation:


Now it will check is everything OK with your sever settings:


Now enter server data you have already (you have it, do you?..), and click 'test connection':


Wow, you did it, everything's OK with database, now proceed:


Now it asks for mail configuration, no problemo! Choose "sendmail" and enter YOURS e-mail so you can test if it works. Click 'send test email' and check you inbox. Now continue installation:




You're almost done. Configuration file is created and click 'continue':

7. Here you must create

your login data. You're the admin, so enter whatever you want to. Just make sure you dont misspell e-mail and remember password:


In next step you enter basic info about your blog. Name, URL - choose directory where you uploaded MT4 files, like "yoursite.com.com/blog/" (or leave only "yoursite.com" if you have no separate blog directory (delete the last part "/my-first-blog/" if it automatically shows up in URL and Publishing Path forms). You may also choose time zone. Now click "Finish install", click it!!


Something smart like this will show up:


And then it will tell you that installation is complete and you're done!

8. Now you can log in

By clicking 'sign in...", it will take you to admin area and here's where you start to explore Movable Type 4 blogging platform Movable Type admin dashboard is accessible anywhere by entering this URL - "www.yoursite.com/mt.cgi") .
Browse around, change some settings, check out cool templates it has by default, it's yours, play!

I've been using WordPress for a while, so i got curious about MT4 - is it worth to try it? Yes, it is. Is it better than WordPress? No, i'd say they're equal.

WordPress seems to have more plugins and templates, as a result of that big open source community that is involved in making of this blog platform. On the other hand, Movable Type 4 comes with some handy features already out-of-the-box, whereas on WordPress you have to install them as separate plug-ins.

You can get some bits of information about Movable Type 4 Beta here too.

Cheers,
Nakamura.

P.S. if the lazy monkey inside my head will not take over, i might post some more Movable Type 4 tips and tricks, feel free to bookmark me!