The Internet Isn't Just For Billionaires...

By Denson Kelley
Posted Saturday, September 11, 2004

Every day my newspaper has a headline about the latest Silicon Valley insider to earn a billion bucks on the Internet. While Amazon.com is worth more than the US steel industry and Microsoft again tops the list as the world's most valuable company, we all need to remember the Web holds huge opportunity for the rest of us.

While you could make the case that TV has spread families apart, the Internet is bringing family members together in myriad ways.

Email has rapidly become the most important tool for families since the invention of the telephone. A huge portion of the billion email messages that circle our globe each day are from family members, separated by distance, who now talk each day thanks to the Internet.

Now days grandparents don't need to wait a week to get photos of their grandchild's birthday. Photos can be scanned and up on a family website within minutes.

Families also make the most of online chat and bulletin boards. A simple chat room can be the family get-together spot. Mom can check in with the kids from work. Aunt Sally can post her suggestion on which week the annual reunion should be this year.

Your own spot on the Web can also be the basis for a family business. Thousands of people have used their home computers to earn a few hundred extra dollars a month. Many have turned their part-time business into a full-time career yielding profits many times higher than their previous jobs.

This fact recently came out in Washington's discussion on Internet taxation. States and officials were forced to recognize many of the dollars flowing through Internet lines are going to benefit working families earning an income from their websites.

Building your own website doesn't need to be a complicated thing. New browser-based design systems let you design your site without special programs or knowledge. You simply type in your words, click where you want your pictures to go, and instruct the system to update your site.

Perhaps more important, studies show families who encourage their children to get on the Internet have kids who excel. This is particularly true for girls who sometimes get left behind by school math and science programs.

Make the Internet your family communication center. With the new simple and cheap technology you don't have to be a computer nerd to make the Web's riches your own.

About the Author:
Denson Kelley specializes in helping families get their own websites. See his easy step-by-step system at (http://www.skynary.com/denson) For those interested in owning a home-based business, he can show you how to profit from the 70,000 new people who get on the Net each day. Reach Denson at mailto:DeKelAssoc@aol.com.