Forum Moderators: mack
I must admit, I have been lurking for a while. I have a dilemna and I am hoping some of the experienced webmasters can help me. I would like to be extremely successful on the internet.
I have tried many things..... Ebay, Blogging,Amazon, affiliates... I do not know how to build a website. I do have a few great ideas for content rich sites. I just don't know what direction to go in. I have even bought ebooks about creating a clickbank book, etc. Even made a couple of dollars putting affiliate links on craigslist. But.....
I don't want to scam anyone. I just want to provide useful information and get paid in the process. I have really good ideas. Ideally, I want to EVENTUALLY travel the world with my work (laptop) in my bag.
I am extremely willing to work hard. I am just so lost. I have read Brett's post about 12 monts to website success and others. Most of the time I don't know what most of the lingo means.
I am a fast learner. I would rather not rely on someone else to create my site or submit it to SEs for me. I want to be self sufficient.
How should I get started in Web Development. What is the best book/website to learn how to build a website. I know you've heard this before but can someone please outline the steps in laymans terms?
I would appreciate it more than you know. I have a little girl, and this would not be a get rich quick scheme. If it takes a year, fine by me. I am so inspired by this website and want to be a part. Just point me in the right direction PLEASE! LOL
All the lingo gets confusing for a newbie.
Much appreciated,
Thank you,
The first step you've already taken - you have the desire. However, as you've discovered, desire will only get you a few bucks through adsense.
You say "I just want to provide useful information and get paid in the process". What is useful information? What can you provide that I couldn't get from Google? Why should I pay YOU to do something that I could do easily enough?
You said you have good ideas? How good are they? Are people willing to pay you to hear them?
You say you don't know how to build websites, but isn't the web about, well, websites? It seems to me, based on what you said, that learning how to build a simple website, might be a good first step.
I might not have been the right person for your first response. I don't like to coddle people and tell them everything will be fine if you follow Brett's post. Everything will be fine if you start learning and doing NOW and work you a** off for the next 5 years.
Because, whatever content you decide to deliver, whatever great ideas you have, you are starting a business. It will take you five years to actually learn what it is that you are doing. So start NOW.
Do you know how to handle money? Bookeeping? Marketing? Sales?
The best teacher is not a book, not a website, but a good scrape on the knee. Start running, fall down a few times, and you'll learn how not to fall (or get sick of falling all the time).
Again, I'm glad you have desire. But it's the WORK that will turn your ideas into cash.
I started with a pretty basic concept for my web business. At conferences, people see my product and will say, "I thought about doing that," or "I could do that too". I always reply, "Yes, you thought about it, and yes you probably could do it too - I didn't invent any new technology." But the difference was I did it, and they were still talking it about it.
You said you have good ideas? How good are they? Are people willing to pay you to hear them?
You say you don't know how to build websites, but isn't the web about, well, websites? It seems to me, based on what you said, that learning how to build a simple website, might be a good first step.
I might not have been the right person for your first response. I don't like to coddle people and tell them everything will be fine if you follow Brett's post. Everything will be fine if you start learning and doing NOW and work you a** off for the next 5 years.
Because, whatever content you decide to deliver, whatever great ideas you have, you are starting a business. It will take you five years to actually learn what it is that you are doing. So start NOW.
Do you know how to handle money? Bookeeping? Marketing? Sales?
The best teacher is not a book, not a website, but a good scrape on the knee. Start running, fall down a few times, and you'll learn how not to fall (or get sick of falling all the time).
Again, I'm glad you have desire. But it's the WORK that will turn your ideas into cash.
I started with a pretty basic concept for my web business. At conferences, people see my product and will say, "I thought about doing that," or "I could do that too". I always reply, "Yes, you thought about it, and yes you probably could do it too - I didn't invent any new technology." But the difference was I did it, and they were still talking it about it.
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Thanks for your response. I am willing to do the work. You said that the first step would be learning how to build a simple website. Got it.
I think people would definitely be willing to read my content. I think my ideas are excellent. And yes, I do believe that people would be willing to pay for them.
So, the first step is learning how to build a simple website. You said the best teacher is not a book or a website. But for a newbie learning how to build a website for the first time... Can you point me in the direction of a really good resource to learn?
Thanks,
P
Have you considered starting with a blog on one of the existing free blog sites? It doesn't get much easier than that: the site is already set up. You sign up, and start typing in your information. If you have good information to provide, a blog might be the best way to easily start providing it. Later, when you decide to make your own website, you can copy the content from the blog to your own pages. (Definitely save your articles before putting them in the blog, though, since that may make it easier later, and ALWAYS keep backups!).
You might also look around for free web hosting sites. These aren't appropriate for a business, but for getting started, several of them have web-generating template software thingies that you can use to quickly create a site without a lot of knowledge. Usually such hosts have extensive directions about how to do stuff.
Personally, I haven't had much luck learning from a book: generally, I have a book for reference, but I learn by looking at stuff and trying to figure out how they did it, then looking at the book to see why what they did worked. However, Case Western Reserve University has an "Introduction to HTML" tutorial that may prove a nice start for the very, very basics. (I liked it.) Also, a Google search for "Beginner HTML tutorial" or "how to make a web page" will likely come up with a few winners.
Take a trip to your local library, and leaf through some of the books there. Look for things with "HTML," "Web," etc. I've found that the "for Dummies" books are sometimes quite good. Leaf through a few of them until you find one that seems like it will work for you, then check it out, or buy it. There are thousands of books, but only you can determine which is the best for you.
Honestly, though, pick something, like a blog or a free webhost and go that direction. You can change it later -- heck, you can change it tomorrow if it doesn't work out -- but I've found that sometimes the hardest part is just starting and actually *doing* something online. Once you're past that, you start adding to your repertoire and it doesn't seem so indimidating after awhile.
JK
For my very first web site I looked at the source code of a web site, and copied and pasted everything into my editor. Then I started changing things until I was happy. Along the way I started searching until I found the references I needed to help me understand some basic HTML. I'm happy to report that years later that site is still out there.
Can you point me in the direction of a really good resource to learn?Here ya go.. a really good resource [webmasterworld.com]
As it's been pointed out, unless you come up with something unique, be prepared to spend some significant time learning how to make the money you want to make on the web. I've been at this business of webmastering for just a couple of years, and have discovered much more than I originally anticipated.
Good luck.
As other have said, welcome to WebmasterWorld.
Having the desire is certainly very important. It is also very possible to develop a very successful site without having to even design a website. In days gone by (the good old days) it used to be the case that each page was hand grafted and the design and development process was slow.
Now it is very easy to make use of a content management system (cms) to assist with the day to day running of a website. This allows you do what you desire, write content.
The 2 main options I see for you are to use a CMS or be prepared to learn and experiment with html/css until you become proficient. This may actually be the better way because you are not overly reliant on third parts applications or scripts. You will also develop a much deeper understanding of the underlying web technologies.
Mack.
[w3schools.com...]
Thanks a million guys!
1.) I found dummie-books useful, as they start at zero and are written in a very understandable way; supplement your basic knowledge from the dummie books with forums and self-html. WW is a great resource for specific questions.
2.) To check how good your ideas are: do some marketing research; identify your competitors, check how much content you could provide with how much effort and look up how much interest there is for your topic.
Good luck!
