Starting a Internet Business

[chaunna]

for getting started.. you can use joomla... its a free content management system...
there are loads of professionally designed templates that can be customized

as far as hosting theres a YE member offering free hosting (for some reason name is
slipping my mind at the moment) its in the sig links so look around.. supposedly theres no advertising on ur site when u host with them.

I also know that godaddy is like 5 bucks a month... you can move up to bigger hosting
providers when your more successful later on...

hope this helps
chaunna

[NewEntrepreneur]

There's just so much to consider in building a website!

I just searched in GoDaddy, and I think that a deluxe plan 12month would suite me best for now.
When I press the add to cart button, it shows me a LOT of offers and additional features. Are these features important? Which features should I choose? And after I create my website, is it automatically added to google search?

PS: I did more research, and I found a web host called HostMonster. Its really cheap with lots and lots of functions. Anyone had experiences with HostMonster? Reviews? Comments?
Thanks
Jim

[Starlor]

Hey Dude,

First off, it's AWESOME that you're thinking big. Vision is what separates the good from the great.

What I'll tell you though, from personal experience, is that you're serious about building this website, you're better off choosing a few areas to focus on, rather than trying to do it all yourself.

Think about it like this. There's only so many hours in the day, and there's only so many things you can be REALLY good at.

So you're asking questions about web design, search engine marketing (and no your site doesn't show up in google search once it's hosted), other areas of internet marketing, general business strategy.

ALL those things INDIVIDUALLY take a lot of time to learn, and YEARS to master (and with both marketing and design, there's always changes to stay on top of). So if you do everything yourself, you can get OK at all these things, but just due to the limited number of hours in the day, you probably won't be GREAT at any of them.

So wouldn't a better strategy be to focus on one or a couple of areas of expertise (say, business strategy and marketing), so that you can become GREAT at those...and HIRE someone else who already has expertise to handle the other areas (say, web design).

Like even if you have to work a job or something to save up to hire a web designer, not having to do the design yourself will allow you that much more time each day to focus on the bigger picture stuff (like what direction you want to take the site in, how best to promote it, etc.)

Not only will that be a LOT easier on you, but you'll probably end up with a better overall product in the end.

Think about that. And best of luck, whatever you decide.

[NewEntrepreneur]

How much exactly does a web designer cost? And what do you mean that my website won't be showing up on google?

[Starlor]

How much a web designer costs can vary depending on the scope of your project. Generally, the way it works is you'd contact them (either directly or by placing an ad on somewhere like elance.com) letting them know what you're looking for, and they'll supply you with a quote of how much they anticipate it to cost. Obviously always make sure you see examples of past work they've done, so you know what level of quality to expect.

Before you even contact a designer, you need to make sure you're clear on EXACTLY what it is you're looking for him to build.

**Key thing to think about** Some of the most popular sites around (Google, Myspace, Youtube, Craigslist, Ebay, Yahoo, etc.), while they do make a ton of money....weren't CREATED in order to make a lot of money. All of those sites provide a service to people.

The sites that are REALLY successful got that way because they provide a SERVICE to people. If you want your site to be successful, that's the blueprint you want to follow. Have you decided what service you're going to provide?

As far as your site showing up in Google, what I meant was that getting your domain hosted just means that if somebody types in your domain, they'll get a webpage displayed, either your website (if you've uploaded it to a web server) or a temporary page provided by your hosting company. For your site to show up in Google searches, your site either has to be indexed by Google, have links to other sites, or have a paid listing in Google Adwords (my knowledge is kinda fuzzy on this, so that may not be 100% accurate, but that's the jist of it).

The main thing you'll want to do at this point is research. Like I said, there's a LOT of stuff to learn when trying to build a successful business. And while you can't master every single aspect of it, doing your research early will help you come up with the best plan possible.

Best,

-Starlor