Web Wealth

 With a bit of life in the economy, this could be the time to start that business you've been considering. There's more to it than meets the eye, so check out these sites for practical advice.

Take it to SXSW. Entrepreneur.com serves a buffet of tips for anyone thinking about starting a business, including how to make a splash with your interactive business at the sprawling South by Southwest (otherwise known as SXSW), an annual cultural event set for March in Austin, Texas. That's where Twitter got noticed in 2007, by the way. There's a step-by-step here on how to create a profitable business idea, another article essentially warning of the hard work it takes to get a business going, a video on becoming carbon-neutral, success stories, and more advice.

http://bit.ly/ykeLut

Plan your work. How do you write a business plan, finance your business, or hire your first employee? The U.S. Small Business Administration addresses those and many other issues at a website on starting a start-up. A link on the left of the page will help answer the question, "Is entrepreneurship for you?" There's also specific advice for women starting businesses.

http://1.usa.gov/wnJifa

Pay the government. Of course, win or lose, the tax man stands by to see that he gets his due. Here, the Internal Revenue Service provides a checklist for starting a business. If you're going to hire anybody, you'll need an IRS employer identification number. You have to pick a tax year - calendar, fiscal, or short - and you've got to decide on the accounting method you'll use.

http://1.usa.gov/yPhppI

The IRS gives some more general guidance on starting businesses here:

http://1.usa.gov/wVygYL

Get networking. LinkedIn, the business-networking site, can get you started with some contacts for spreading word of your enterprise, and it has many "groups" aimed at specific industries and careers. Among them is this one for entrepreneurs. Ongoing discussions include one on how to get cheap online advertising. Others are about financing, being a CEO, and how to use LinkedIn to build a business.

http://linkd.in/wV1eee

Contact staff writer Reid Kanaley at 215-854-5114, rkanaley@phillynews.com, or @ReidKan on Twitter.