and to help you out from which i have foudn quite hard still.
find the following.
server setup ...whats needed for your start and main aims
server costs and maintaince for the above.
hosting , even though you can get hosted these days for less than £1, look the hosting company up and read reviews, and that goes for the server company aswell, the last thign you want is for the server your business is on to be doen like 50% of the time.
shop aroudn with the prices and reviews see whats what and compare.
look aroudn other sites, and i wouldnt stick to just shop/auction sites as thats the first mistake i made, look at any site , and if your looking for say a flash content site and animation look at say movie and gamer sites. see how they operate and note down what you like and dont like and note the site down for later reffrence.
try to find out what thoe sites are made from , what software etc is used, and see if you can ask how long it took an what the ball mount was for the setup.
and the hardest thing i have foudn at present is trying to get finacial help, why? well you need details of why you need finaical help so therfore you need100% of the above details to expalin what the costs are, and when you are lieterally unable to come up with anyting, you have no chance of a deal.
and like with ajsquare, i spent near 4 months trying tog aina quote from their superb breathtaking services they supply, yet took them that long to give me justa quote which ive been told by some is extremely high amount ie 6.7k gbp