Forum Moderators: mack
I have been thinking of creating a good content website.. at least for my own leisure and earn money while at it.. I saw you people were having a really really huge website out there. I was just wondering, what do I need to get started? I should be going on the same track as many of you that are affiliates.
Do I need to learn PHP?.. Do I need Content management system?
Right now, I am able to do the designing part on my own and could create pages in html. The problem that I'm worried about is when the site gets large and it started to get hard to keep it in control.
About the idea.. I was thinking of doing on Computer stuffs... Originally I planned to do on a Various topics... but I find it difficult to just keep up all of them. So the solution was to just go for one category, at least for the time being.
Would that work? I mean for people to keep coming back onto my website..
About affiliate programs.. I think I should pick on Adsense later on when my site is established.. would that be a good choice? Maybe add in a few other things like pay per lead or sale..
To wrap up the things... I'm just worried about managing the content and stuff. Please help and give some insight and enlighten me as I'm quite new to this.
Right now you are at the crucial time where you need to decide how to proceed. Should you use plain html pages or go with a CMS system.
As you mentioned writing a site in PHP may also be an solution.
If you go with a plain HTML static site the big problem arises when you want to make a layout change. With PHP you can usually overcome this to a large extent by using includes. You have a page header and a page footer that you "include" This will allow you to make pretty large layout changes without having to edit each page one at a time.
A CMS system takes it to the next level by allowing you to change pretty much every part of the desgn and layout. It also gives you a lot more control over the site and allows you to administer it from pretty much anywhere you have web access.
I think it all comes down to how large you want your site to be. If you're talking about 20-100 pages then a static site is an option so long as you plan it well from the start. Beyond that I would recommend looking into some form of CMS.
Mack.
[edited by: mack at 8:01 pm (utc) on June 9, 2005]
[edit reason] No url's please ;-) [/edit]
mack laid out some good basics. The site I manage was started as plain html. Then I came along and started learning php. Now the site is a big mix of both. From a management point of view it would all be nicer if I could manage each page from a CMS. But the site is not unmanagable as it is today.. just takes more time and due diligence. I guess I'm trying to say that you have enough knowledge to get started and you can grow into something else. One alternative would be to wait until you've mastered a cms system, or PHP, or whatever. But how long will you wait? And what if you discover something else down the road that you don't even know about today? Keep waiting? If I knew 18 months ago what I know today my site would be managed differently today. Maybe in another 18 months I can bring it all under a unified management system.
One thing is certain. You are right in considering how to manage your site as it grows. Add some basic templating skills to your toolbox to get started. An aside is that SE's like natural growth in a domain and what's more natural than applying new skills to new, and old pages?
Best of luck and let us know how it works out.
joeyfranklin - Welcome to WebmasterWorld
CMS = Content Management System.
<add>
I didn't address your affiliate questions.. for a pretty good reason. Maybe someone else remembers what it was like to be a new affiliate.
</add>
Suggestion: do enough research to decide the CMS tool you'd eventually like to use, and make sure you understand the directory structure it uses and the URLs it would generate. Set up your hand-built pages to use the same directory structure and naming conventions. Then your URLs could remain stable if you finally decide to start using a CMS.
well... is there any suggestion for me to start off with affiliate programs as well?
