Design a site or buy one?

ebay or diy?

[saxonella]

I am looking to buy or design a website (as I know absolutely nothing about web design, I think buying is probably best) any ideas.

How on earth do you go about advertising with Google, Yahoo etc..?

God am I mad, don't know what I'm doing, but I am determined to do it anyway.

Any ideas, help? Pleeeaase

Thanks

[peterdaly]

What is your modivation for "getting a website"? Keeping up with the Jones? (My friend has a web site, I want one too!) Advertising for a business? Actually being the business, like information for sale? "Front" for a hard goods ecommerce business, selling stuff you then ship? Self service for a current labor intensive business task? Just want to learn about the Internet? Want to start an online community around your hobby? Want to start an online community around your business? Want to help out a local non-profit? Want to start a grass roots campaign about something? Have information you are just dying to share? Read some popular blog and thought, "hey, I can do that!"? You heard money comes easy on the internet and just want in? I could go on...

There are all sorts of reasons to "get a website", and there are more options than just to buy a "site" on ebay or do it yourself. One of those two options may fit you, or something else entirely.

Without going too much into specifics what is your relevent background, what are your real goals, and what do you plan to use your site for?

Edit: I almost forgot, Welcome to WebMasterWorld!

[wheel]

Welcome to webmasterworld.

Don't bother with ebay. Register a domain name, then do some searches for 'website templates'. There's a million designs out there you can download for very little money. I'm sure you can find a nice design for <$50. Domain registration (your www.yourcompany.com) should be about $10. And you'll need web hosting which is likely to be around $25 per month, thought that varies (and price is not an indication of quality with hosting).

For advertising on Google and Yahoo, start with Google IMO, then move to Yahoo once you know what you're doing. Google is a bit easier to setup and is a bit more forgiving.

To start your advert campaign do two things:
- go to adwords.google.com and dig around until you find the FAQ. Read it carefully three times. The Google FAQ should tell you everything you're going to need to know.
- read the adwords section here. Spend 3-5 days reading posts spanning back as far back as you can bear. (this is what I do when investigating something new here).

That's the poor person's guide to websites. If you're more concerned about your time and fast results, hire a professional. For that, head down to the commercial section of this forum and post.