own website is it necessary

I have both websites and blogs. It's a good Idea to have both as they can support each other. Most of my money comes from my blog though and I hope to make over $7000 this year. My blog at http://www.blogsire.com/myblog/ shows how it is done.

It can be a lot of fun. I'd add that it's also something you might need to know how to do at some point, whatever business you decide to start. Think of the website as a showroom, contact zone, and a place to work on ideas. You can play around with the site, and come up with a look, and an idea of how it will look to others. As a marketing device a website has a lot going for it, and most of the US websites are pretty cheap and come with a lot of space and free email, etc. Business proposals really depend on how much time and effort you want to spend on it. Might be better to set up a website as extra income, rather than primary, and then see if you can dovetail the two. Remember you can link your website to anything, and that most businesses benefit from extra outlets and exposure. ****DO NOT, for your own peace of mind, create any access to personal or business accounts through the website until you're sure you know what you're doing and are happy with the security arrangements, and know how it all works. (This is the sort of thing you can worry about after you've done it. Took me forever to find what I wanted, and it just turned out to be a basic account.)

if you do a search engine you can look up the word BLOG there is alot of free sites where you can start one.

For me there are lots of advantages of owning a website, you can join lots of business to start with online and you have many options depends on what fits your needs.