Starting a Website

[brittanyjaleesa]

Looking to start a website and need to know what service to purchase one from that will have varied templates for me to work with that I can truly manipulate how my site will look to how I want it. As opposed to having my business fit the site, I want the site to fit my business. I was thinking about yahoo? Is this the best way to go?

[zoobie]

Hi there!

There are so many ways to start building your site. There are many things to consider like in the preparation or develop your product.

-How are you going to package your content?
-What people will need to be involved in the content creation?
-How will you package your product?
-What parts of this process can you outsource?
-What parts can’t you outsource?
-Where do you want to hire your workers from?
-Turning your idea from concept to a product!
1.Website Work
2.Product Research
3.Forming Your Outline
4.Create The Content
5.Package The Content
6.Fulfill The Content

These are not complete though. Under the things I've mentioned, there are a lot to do. Best of luck!

[Lydiany]

Hey- If you need any help with graphic design, drop me a line at ReDefine_Design@hotmail.com. You can check out my work at www.redefinedesignstudios.com.

[gambit]

Yahoo is a good start.

[wully00]

I guess I would say it depends on your budget.

They're are many companies that offer "turnkey solutions" to a website: Design, hosting, e-commerce... the works. This is great if your on a budget and don't want to pay someone to program or design.

Michael

[sniping4dummies]

If you want this done and you want it done right, you're going to need to contact a professional. You can get a logo from logoworks for around $400 (although I think they may have gotten an email about a promo). I'd say once you get your concept stuff start there, then look for a design company.

Find someone with a great portfolio, and call their clients. Make sure they have happy clients. Don't spend any money unless you think there is a VERY good chance you will see a return, as shown by the measureables any competent agency should create.

Anyways, the jist of what I'm saying is that you need to spend (starting) at a few thousand dollars if you want to have a real online business. Otherwise, unless you know as much about the web as Tom from my space, you should just hold off until you have either more money or no social life ; ).

[Time Defenders]

Yahoo! Small Business has some templates that you can work with (rearrange, etc.). They are listed by industry type. You can always do this until you have enough money to pay a professional.

[SimpleGlobalCash]

Hey Brittany, keep in mind also the part of choosing a hosting company.

This is my advice:

One of the most important factors in choosing a website
host is the customer service you receive once you’ve signed up.

There are many technical issues that can come up once you have your
own website, and if you don’t have a truly dedicated hosting company
to support you and help you resolve these issues when necessary, you
could, quite simply, lose your business.

Trust me, I’ve seen many thriving online businesses fall apart because they chose the wrong hosting company. When hosting is cheap, there is a reason for it.
With website hosting, you get exactly what you pay for and you should
never compromise when it comes to who to host your website with.
Good Luck to you Brittany.

This is a great hosting company:
http://www.host4profit.com/cgi-bin/home.cgi?95709

[danbu1]

buiBase can do what you are talking about and more. As we develop more modules you can just turn it on and use it. As for the designs. We use pre installed opensource designs and allow each member tune their own design or create their own. try it here: demo.buibase.com

[crackah]

I do it all.

Give me a pm of your details and i can give you a professional site, and anything you need.

[radreality]

from your post it sounded like you wanted control over the design of the website and you just want to use a company that offers an easy content manager where you can edit anything on the site at any time you want.

If that is the case, most of these replies are telling you about more complicated services where you are paying someone else to do the work for you.

I've always liked Homestead. They offer a free 30 day trial (if you signup through the link that is at the bottom of Self Help & Success Forum) for you to get to know their software and get a site up, then its only $5/month after that for everything, and if you want a unique domain name (which you probably do) its only about $10/month for everything you need.

______________________________
Robert Falk
Business Developer / Investor
Self Help & Success Forum

[beyond]

What is your level of experience with computers? Do you have time to learn about content management systems (CMS)?

If you were to invest a couple hours a day, a few days a week, you could learn a great CMS called Joomla (joomla.com) within a couple of months.

Making websites is far easier, automated, than just a few years ago. Now days you don't have to know hard html/php coding to make great website. If you have enough discipline and time to learn, in as little as a month or 2 you can be knowledgeable enough to make YOUR OWN dynamic website....the way you want it.

Obviously this isn't for everyone, as your situation may not allow for the requirements (time). But when you think of the $400-$800 you will spend on just getting a website designed alone ...add hosting and maintenance...it's a solution that you would be wise to at least consider.

PM me on yahoo if you have any questions.

Beyond

[George]

If you are thinking about doing your own work on the website, then you may want to just consider registering for a hosting account and configuring everything yourself, that way there is less cost involved.

You could even purchase templates from various websites that sell templates, or some hosting companies also provide free templates for you as well.

Hope that helps.

[beyond]

If you are thinking about doing your own work on the website, then you may want to just consider registering for a hosting account and configuring everything yourself, that way there is less cost involved.

You could even purchase templates from various websites that sell templates, or some hosting companies also provide free templates for you as well.

Hope that helps.

Yes, good advice. There is somewhat of a learning curve, but there really is great support online for learning how. Aside from that it's rewarding to learn the skills you WILL need if you are serious about any type of online business.

Why pay other people what will amount to thousands of dollars when you have the capacity to learn to do it yourself. MUCH more rewarding and it keeps the money in your pocket.

There are tons of free html/flash templates out there, but I prefer using Joomla for development.

[Josh Has Fun]

Hey brittanyjaleesa,

Honestly, you would do yourself a major injustice if you missed the opportunity, from the very beginning, to align yourself with an internet mastermind.

It so happens that the man who created an ebook "Make Your Site Sell" that took the internet by storm back in 2000-2002, a man by the name of Ken Evoy, happened to develop a website retail system that incorporated his awesome sales process into the mix.

He now has, from just raw and objective net searching and looking at the facts, more value packed into one system than you would ever want to pay the techy and support companies for separately.

Here is his site: http://buildit.sitesell.com/main/tools.html

The key, here, though is this: sitesell.com teaches you an extremely-effective business model, ie develop content with the system and build your OWN business, and it gives you a highly-stable, very up to date platform on which you can build.

Most hosting companies are there only to host your site; they leave the marketing, sales copy, content, search engine optimization and submission, design, etc up to YOU.

You have to ask and answer some questions for yourself....is it better for me to start out with an extremely stable company and learn the WHYs to the different facets...build my site with a killer system, start making money...and then dabble with the HOWs of the technical realm? or, is it better for me to jump into a hosting situation, probably not earn much while I try to learn, and hope for the best outcome?

To specifically answer your question...sitesell.com has templates, and you can definitely fashion your site to your business. Most hosting places give you pretty rinky-dink templates that you really wouldn't use; and depending on what your objective with your site is, sometimes too heavy of a graphic design slant will interfere with your site's ability to sell.

The best thing about the link up there is that Ken's site educates you on what things are important, what aspects of a hosting/website package you should have, etc. I recommend the site to you for that reason alone.