When the Loudoun County Democratic Committee wanted to launch a magazine for members this year, party leaders figured it made little sense to call their local printer. As a tiny organization in one of the region's smallest suburban counties, the committee knew it couldn't scrounge up enough subscribers to meet expenses.

So the group turned to the Internet.

Joining a virtual stampede by Washington area residents to stake claims in cyberspace, the Loudoun Democrats spent several late nights creating a home page on the graphically oriented World Wide Web. Even though only a handful of county residents visit it each week, the page has regular updates on local political happenings, connections to national Democratic Web sites, fancy graphics and a live -- but generally silent -- "chat room."

Across the region, residents, community groups, governments and entrepreneurs increasingly are using the Web, a global computer network, as a tool to reach people in their own back yards. Local Web services vary widely, from bowling league statistics and a photo gallery of adoptable pets to "E-mail the County Executive" pages in Montgomery and Howard counties. One enterprising Alexandria man even launched a guide to local sex services called "Decadent City Online."

By the end of May, there were more than 500 Web sites geared specifically to Washington area residents, according to a Washington Post survey based on several Internet search tools. The survey turned up thousands of other Web sites based in the area that are aimed at national and global audiences.

The study showed that local governments in every county and city in the region have launched or started work on official Web sites. Commercial businesses have created more than a dozen community guides with such names as WebColumbia and Prince William County Web, offering information about local shopping, entertainment and civic activities. Other Web sites are run by local nonprofit groups, schools, recreational clubs, entertainment venues, sports teams, restaurants and small businesses, all targeted at Washington area residents.

"We didn't produce this page to impress some guy from Idaho," said David Whitmer, an Ashburn resident who designed the Loudoun Democrats' Web site. "We did it so people in Loudoun County would see us and see what we're up to."

Much has been written about the Web's global reach and relatively low cost of publishing, which has triggered an explosion of Web construction in the last year by large companies and organizations seeking a worldwide audience. Less attention has focused on how local groups are using the same vast network to touch neighbors.

"On the whole, people are becoming more interested in local communication," said Paul A.M. Baker, a research fellow at George Mason University who studies community-based computer networks.

"When you first start playing with the Internet, the fact [that] you can reach out and touch a computer in Finland is amazing, but after three or four times, the novelty wears off. . . . It's things like having the local library and your child's school go on-line that are the big draw."

The Washington area is home to one of the largest -- and fastest-growing -- clusters of Web sites in the world, Internet analysts said. The area had 12,861 domain names, or addresses, on the Internet as of last week, an increase of almost 100 percent over six months, according to Imperative!, a Pittsburgh Internet consulting company.

The District alone had almost 2,500 registered domain names by mid-June, ranking it ninth in the nation among cities. New York and San Francisco were the top two.

The burst of local Web-building mirrors the relatively high proportion of people in the Washington area who are on-line. About 13 percent of area residents have access to the Web at work or at home, compared with an estimated 5 percent who have such access nationally, according to a study conducted in November by Significance Research, a firm that studies Internet usage.

Still, with barely one in 10 local residents traveling the Web, who is visiting the local sites? Hardly anyone, according to many of the people who manage the sites. The Loudoun Democrats are typical, with fewer than 3,000 guests this year, although they said the page has recruited 10 new party members. In Howard County, the visitor counter on the Board of Elections page displayed a scant 24 users from March to May.

Such statistics haven't discouraged local Web page designers, who are focused on predictions that the number of people wired to the Internet worldwide will grow from nearly 10 million now to about 150 million by 2000.

"Sure, we wish we more people would pull up our page," Whitmer said. "But we realize that we're not targeting a huge audience."

A personal home page requires only a few hours of programming and the monthly cost of an Internet connection, which can be as little as $15. Government and corporate sites, by contrast, can involve hundreds of pages and cost thousands of dollars a year.

Local sites range from the amazingly useful and amusing to the thoroughly banal. Some have sound, video and sophisticated graphics. Others allow users to troll through government databases or watch videotapes of traffic on the Capital Beltway.

Because "hypertext" links allow users to move among Web sites by clicking on underlined text with a mouse, it's relatively easy to tour Washington area sites. Travelers might start at Maryland's splashy Electronic Capital, where they can view photos of the state's 10 most-wanted child-support offenders or compare rates for automobile and homeowners' insurance. Clicking on a series of links might lead to the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, where an electronic playbill lists the summer performers, or to Chevy Chase Cars, where visitors can search the dealership's used-car inventory and obtain price quotes via e-mail.

Some of the most impressive local sites are built by individuals. Arlington resident Tom Howder, for example, has created a page with hundreds of maps of the Washington area -- everything from satellite images to seating charts and historical renderings of government facilities, stadiums and airports.

Despite the myriad local sites, Internet experts say the Washington area is still a long way from having a "virtual" community where residents can pay taxes, participate in public meetings or order pizza on-line. Although some sites are interactive, offering message boards and electronic feedback, most are simply one-way roads off the information superhighway leading to reams of information.

"There's a lot of boring stuff out there," said Daniel C. Galloway Jr., who directs the Virginia government Web site and has been encouraging state agency heads to provide more interactive services. "If we don't keep things fresh and exciting, we'll lose our audience."

Galloway and others said the biggest reason that few businesses and government agencies allow people to pay bills or buy products on-line is that Internet communications still are not considered secure. But experts predict software advances -- and the distribution of better programs -- in the next few years will allow people to feel comfortable that thieves won't intercept credit card or other payment information transmitted over the Web.

For now, government officials and entrepreneurs are building Web service in the belief that it will pay off when the audience grows and the technology glitches are eased.

"We think it will lead to less calls and requests for information," said Nanette Butterworth, the coordinator of the state-run Maryland's Electronic Capital. "We're hoping it will save us money down the line."

What follows is a selective guide to Washington Web sites, spotlighting interesting or typical sites in popular categories. The list was compiled based on hundreds of hours spent clicking on Web links and entering names such as "Prince William" and "Maryland" into commercial search engines, which are computer programs that automatically scan millions of Web pages. The guide does not include all local Web sites or attempt to rank them in any way.

Staff writer Dan Beyers contributed to this report