A website is a necessity for a small business; really for any business. To enhance credibility, marketing reach, and customer satisfaction, nothing beats having a professional website.

"One of my small business clients, MooseTwinkleCards.com, came to me when their webmaster skipped town. He had been taking longer and longer to make website changes and then finally he just took off," says Paula Pierce, owner of HostingCT.com.

Charlene Bodero, the owner of the online shop, was at her wits end just trying to get all her products (hand made greeting cards) onto the website. She had an agreement with the original developer that he'd design the site, get it started, and teach her how to maintain it. But it didn't quite happen that way.

When the designer finally became incommunicado, Charlene hired HostingCT to finish the job. "I quickly saw that the site was badly cobbled together and didn't work properly. The shipping charges didn't even calculate correctly," said Pierce.

HostingCT maintained the site by adding new card designs and categories of cards to the site, but it really needed a complete makeover. "To keep Charlene's costs down, we just did the bare minimum to get the site up and running," but we both knew that it needed an overhaul - not just for looks, but for functionality, and for easy maintenance.

"I discussed the situation with John Waiveris of Invisible Gold and described how Charlene found herself in a losing battle trying to learn to update the site when it was such a mess," said Pierce. "He agreed to donate his Invisible Gold easy-editing software and I agreed to donate my time to make the site right."

Now Charlene can easily add her newest card designs to the site in just a few mouse clicks. "I can't believe how easy it is. When I think of the hours I spent adding a few cards in the old system, I am so thankful to Paula and John for their help. I can add 20 new cards to the site now in the time it took me to add 4 or 5 to the old site," says Charlene.

Why did Pierce and Waiveris offer their time and services free of charge? "It was just the right thing to do," says Pierce. She can't stand to see a small business suffer with bad website development. Waiveris chimed in, "It's not their fault that they get sucked in by unscrupulous designers and can't find their way out of the situation."

While Hosting CT and Invisible Gold do not provide free services every day, they are launching a new program to streamline their donations. The two companies are accepting nominations from the public for a deserving small business or non-profit organization to receive a free website or redesign. If you know of a small business or non-profit organization that is structurally and financially sound but has not had the funds to devote to a website or has been the victim of a shady website designer, you can nominate them for a free website.

To nominate a business or organization, fill out the form and read the rules at either www.hostingct.com or www.invisiblegold.com. Nominations will be accepted through October 31st.

An unbiased third party, from the Windsor Chamber of Commerce will choose the recipient from all nominations by November 1st.

? Copyright 2009 Hosting Connecticut, LLC is a soup-to-nuts website development and design company located in Windsor. For more information call 860-683-4201 or visit their website at www.HostingCT.com