Help With Starting Website

[chalaceyyy]

I have an idea for a particular website that I feel will be helpful to the young generation, but I have very minimal experiance with creating a website, marketing, etc. I created a couple of websites when I was younger, but I used basic html with creating it.

Basically I need advice on how exactly I should go about with starting this website. I realize that I will most likely have to teach myself most of the info I need to know in developing this website and I am very willing do so. I would really appreciate anyones input..as far as advice, criticism, resources, etc.

Thank you in advance!

[ApplianceJunk]

Hi,

Sounds like what I was looking at doing last summer, but for a different topic.

I already had my .com name registered at godaddy.com so I went there to look at hosting.

Hosting was cheap, very cheap so I decided to get some hosting for a month so I could play around with it.

After I got hosting godaddy.com had things I could have them install for me for free.
One of them was SFM.

Simple Machines Forum — SMF in short — is a free, professional grade software package that allows you to set up your own online community within minutes.

SMF has awesome support.

Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

[chalaceyyy]

Thanks for the reply!! I do know about registering for a domain and finding a host...but do you have any other info as far as developing the website..do you know of any resourceful links? Also do you have any info about the legal aspects of creating a website, etc. Again thank you for the info..it is appreciated!!!

[Sarre]

I built my fathers website for his photography company Sarre & Co.
It is a terrific website, but there is not enough traffic flow. Unfortunately i don't have any knowledge with Optimization.
Optimization is key. It is basically the wording you use on your website to have your site on first page search engines.
My father paid $2000 to have his site properly optimized, which isn't a huge amount really if your website is in the first 5 searches in google.

Either teach yourself about meta tags and optimization when building your website, or hire help.

If you need help creating and designing the website, i use Dreamweaver.

[tazman9r]

I would revisit your website idea and see if a CMS would help you out. I use e107, plus a few very targeted scripts. Hotscripts is an excellent source for free scripts, and you may just find a free one that supports what you want you site to do.

I am also self taught, and still learning. The best advice I could give is don't be afraid of getting to know the code as much as possible. Anything is possible, it is all in the code. Stay away from changing ANYTHING on a CSS page, everytime I do it I lock up the script and it doesn't work. If you already have at least basic HTML knowledge, you are WAY ahead. Just stick with that for now to get started, and go from there. Oh, and PHP is good to understand as well.

Good Luck! Hope that helps.

[chalaceyyy]

i was aware of optimizing..but i didnt know the correct term so thanks!!! and thanks for the info on scripts..the replies are appreciated!!

[chalaceyyy]

and sorry 4 putting this topic in this category....i did it by mistake... shoulda put it in gen. internet!! oopsss

[Finandom]

Hi Chalaceyyy, why don't you hire someone to build the site for you? If you have some extra money, you can hire a freelancer to setup a good web site for you according to your needs fast. So you can save up your time and concentrate on marketing. You can start by learning and applying the marketing tactics you can find from forum or other site.

[JKB Clothing]

I have a really good friend who makes professional websites. He just graduated from the Art Institute of Ft lauderdale. He is starting out small and knows everything about creating websites. Since he is not established yet, his prices are inexpensive. Let me know if you would like his contact information.

[rogercbryan]

The first step to creating a website has nothing to do with programming. You need to map out a flow sheet of what you want the site to do and what information you want it to contain. You then need to develop the content in order to draw out how you want your site to appear. If you try to go straight into designing the site you’ll end up wasting time with sections that wont work, that wont flow together or that you wont like. Take a day or two to draw your site out. Once you’ve done that it will be easier to talk to people about make the site a reality.

[veikoh]

I would recommend to post your project to eLance.

[Woodcs82]

Google is your best friend when it comes to research! Participate in all of the forums also.

If you do need someone to do some Design,Development,Hosting or Marketing, We can provide that at Web Site Design, Development and Marketing/SEO by RTDesignGroup

A lot of my personal learning from when i was younger until now is attributed toward google. If you don't know something, ask google. 9.9999/10 it will be there.

[webgal]

Actually, you start with defining your target market in detail.
Free Target Market document

Then you define a marketing strategy. You do this before buying or getting website building tools because different tools fit different jobs.

[keyeraines]

Actually, you start with defining your target market in detail.
Free Target Market document

Then you define a marketing strategy. You do this before buying or getting website building tools because different tools fit different jobs.

I think you make a good point here. All too often WE start online businesses and really haven't defined our mission and what our ultimate goal is. Once you understand where you are going you can definitely began to outline a plan on how to get there. Some else mentioned research on Google. Google is my best friend by far. I absolutely love it. I am self taught and found many of my resources on Google.

Also, webgal love your site.

[CiD743]

Joomla might be a good place to start also. Joomla is an open source CMS that is pretty easy to use. A lot of people make free tamplates for it too. Another thing to do to help learn how to build websites is to work backwards. Find a free template and take it a apart. Look at the </div> tags and the settings to figure out whats actually going on.