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!

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! :)