According to Microsoft, “In today’s business word having a website is as important as having business card”.

So here is what they are offering:

Microsoft offering you a free domain and free web hosting as a part of their Office Live small Businesses campaign.

When you sign up you will get:

• A free web site
• Free web hosting with start of 500MB space
• Free website design, professional and easy to handle, tools
• Site traffic reporting for free
• A contact manager from Microsoft to increase your business/sales
• Business branded emails

Additional affordable features are also available if you need this plan for relatively bigger businesses. Free hosting is available for first year and then you need to pay a reasonable fee of $15 per year. There is absolutely no fee for those who have registered for this service before 11 Feb 09 J

Currently service is available in English, French, German and Japanese i.e. in countries Canada, U.K., U.S France, Germany and Japan. Coming soon for rest of the world.

I think this is an incredible offer for small businesses to set up their online presence with the help of professional service from Microsoft.

Hmm.. First good business decision from Microsoft to compete with Google ;-)

Head to the Microsoft Live small businesses Sign Up Page OR if you any doubts then here a FAQ page.