I want to create a website but I am CLUELESS!

I don't know how to design it, promote it, or what my budget should be.

[natasha]

I've had this idea for a website for almost a year now, and I think that it would have a lot of potential to be popular, but I have no idea how to go about starting. I know the very very basic stuff such as having to buy a domain name and pay for hosting and all that, but I don't know how to actually get it to be the way I want it to be.

I know that there are some sites out there that let you create your own web by following simple steps and not knowing HTML, but that just won't cut it for the one I have in mind. I want people to be able to upload pictures, music, and writing onto the site. I also want people to have their own profiles and for others to be able to comment on those profiles. I also need a search engine on the site. It sounds like I'm describing Myspace, but that's not really what my site is about, however yeah, a lot of the functions on myspace are what I need.

Do you guys think I should hire a designer? I have no idea how to build a site like that at all.

I was also researching website promotion, and I would definitely like to have my site included in Yahoo, Google, and AskJeeves, but it looks really expensive to have it up on there. Their pay-per-click method sounds like it could be very pricey. I mean if a ton of people click on the link, I'm going to be majorly screwed.

What advice do you guys have?

[maximillianos]

Well you are in the right place for starters. I for one wish I had knew about this forum before starting my site 10 years ago.

If I were you, I would continue to read up on as much as you can here about the following topics:

1. Content management systems - might be your best bet to get a highly functional site up affordably.

2. Community Building - there is so much to learn about designing and building a successful online community beyond just having a great site. You need to be prepared to manage the masses if they come.

3. Marketing - SEO and other fundamentals are crucial to your success, but you should also learn about all the various marketing techniques available to get your new site rolling.

4. Read, read and read some more all the success and failure stories on this board. Be prepared to log many months if not years of hard work for free ( ie- no revenue ) if you truly want it to be a success.

[jimbeetle]

I am CLUELESS!

As we all once were ;-).

I can't add much to maximillianos's excellent comments except to reiterate that you are in the right place. Be sure to check out the forums index [webmasterworld.com] to see the breadth of subjects we cover. And as you "read, read and read," be sure to note any questions you might have. If ever in any doubt the folks over in the New to Web Development forum [webmasterworld.com] will always be there to point you in the right direction.

Oh, and by the way, welcome to Webmaster World, natasha.

[lorax]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld!
If you want to make money on this website then you should hire it out - but make sure you're comfortable with who you hire to do it. Since it is your first website then I suggest you approach the project as a whole in phases - phase one is to learn the ropes a bit before diving into ecommerce or affiliate stuff. Just learn about hosting, email, and (of course) designing and building your website. Which actually sounds easier than it is.

Pieces you want to get an good handle on before you move onto phase 2:

1) theme pyramids [webmasterworld.com]
2) link theme pyramid [webmasterworld.com]
3) Successful Site in 12 months alone [webmasterworld.com]

Once you master these, and get some experience with analytics (try using Google Analytics - you'll need a Google account but they have many helpful tools for webmasters too) then you can begin to move onto the more complex items. IMHO of course!

[natasha]

My site wouldn't really be selling anything, so I'd try to make money from ads and stuff like that. I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm in a hurry, because I start college next year, and I'd like to start this year on it since it would take so much time to get this project up and running.

[vincevincevince]

Unfortunately, the complexity of your site means that you either need to know exactly what you are doing, or have a serious budget to pay a company who knows what they are doing.

If the idea is as hot as you say, I think the most promising route for you is to put together a business plan and find some investors. Make sure that at least one of your major investors already has experience investing for the web.

[steakaphagus]

Hi Natasha,
Can't add too much more to the excellent advice already given, except to give my own experience - I had a 'good idea' two years ago for a site, but no experience of web building at all. I looked into hiring someone to do the work, but the major stumbling block for me was realising that the initial cost is minor compared to how much it would cost to keep the site up. Also, if you know nothing of website development, then you would need to turn to the company every time you wanted to change even minor items.
I used Dreamweaver, and bought books....lots of books. Best starter for me was 'Beginning Dreamweaver' by Brown, Spaanjaars and Marks. This teaches you how to get a good basic site up and running and will lead you into the basics.
Another book I would recommend is the Ultimate Website Promotion Handbook by Chris Standring - it's quite basic, but will help you set the site up correctly from day 1 from an SEO point of view.
Once you have the basics, you can then hire someone to help you with the complex bits (which your site will be). This way your costs are reduced and you will probably have learned how to upkeep the site yourself.
Most importantly, set yourself a realistic budget and be honest about how much money you might make. If your site is going to end up costing a couple of hundred to get up and running, then no probs. If it is going to take $10,000, then a business plan is needed as it could prove to be an expensive hobby!
Having said all that, you may have the next MySpace or Facebook! There are plenty of sites that started as hobbies and quickly exploded. Wish you the best of luck, and keep us posted on your progress!

[Lorel]

Beware of Content management systems because their default is to set up pages with numbers or something like page1, page 2, etc. You also need unique titles and descriptions on every page using your most important keywords for those pages. Also avoid javascript for links and frames. Not paying attention to the above is the most common reason for not ranking well.

Most of the sites I've redesigned were build with CMS or WYSIWYG programs that never went anywhere on the internet because the designer didn't research SEO before designing the site.

Also getting into search engines won't do anything for ranking--you need to submit to other websites or directories. I don't even bother with search engines anymore. Just getting one link on a popular site will get you into all the search engines.

[londrum]

there's something to be said for just getting stuck in and doing it. with a site like you're describing -- an ambitious site for a newbie -- you could easily sit around for six months reading all the stuff you think need to know and still not have it anywhere near functioning.

just get in there and do it, that's my advice. sure, you will mess up a few things on the way, but that is part of learning... but you will also introduce a load of new things and better elements after realising that the design you drew on paper didn't cut the mustard in real life.

if you want to go down the hiring a designer route then it pays to have some knowledge of website design yourself. if you give it a go for six months to a year, and then decide that you still want to fork out for a designer, then you will get a lot more out of him and have more constructive ideas after trying to build something yourself.