It may surprise people to hear that hundreds of small media outlets in the U.S. still do not have a companion Web site.

This became apparent when several media people recently said that they want to launch a Web site but can’t because of resistance from above or a lack of money. In other words, cheap is the only way to get it done.

In fact, a small newspaper, magazine, TV station or radio station can build a companion site for the cost of about one lunch a month — two lunches if it’s fast food. It will be an independent site with its own address and advertising. Here is how to do it:

- Sign up for a site host for $6-8 a month. Numerous options are available and can be found through online search.

- Start with a simple content management system such as WordPress, which is free, easy to use and simple to maintain. Many hosts will have the ability to install it automatically with a little help from you. Numerous free designs are available as well.

- If you don’t have one yet, buy a Web address for about $10 from a company such as GoDaddy.com.

- Spend two weeks putting up static content such as features, about us, etc. Start posting something each day, even if it is just copied and pasted from your word processor.

- Sign up for Google AdSense and paste the advertising code on your WordPress template.

- Once you have the rhythm down for content production, go live but don’t tell the public quite yet. Get used to the idea of a live site, tweak it, get people to look at it and fine tune the site based on their feedback.
Once you are satisfied with the progress, start promoting it via your TV station, radio station, newspaper, magazine, etc.

All of the above is remarkably simple to do. The only hard costs will be a total of less than $100 a year. The amount of time can be less than a half hour a day if the content already exists and is copied and pasted onto the site.

The above project will give any small media business or independent writer/publisher an easy and inexpensive step into the online business. The resulting skills and experience will build a foundation for a larger, more robust online presence when the time and funds are available.