Hi guys, good afternoon. I have decided to just jump right in. I have been thinking about what I wanted to do, and thought perhaps I could just start y creating a website first. Yes, I will be pretty much winging it. What I wanted to do was get my own .com, and start a sort of... social website? I know some may say its unwise to just jump right in like that, but theres a method to my madness. I wanted to jump right in with a .com, to perhaps motive me into taking action. If I have it right in front of me, I know ideas will just fly out. Please forgive if there is anything like this on the forums, I am kind of excited here and wanted to just come out and ask, get some advice on how to go about it. I am not looking for anyone to hold my hand, just give me your thoughts on my , em, unoriginal idea. Hopefully some will see where I am going with this. I trust I'll get some constructive criticism, which I'd e more than willing to take. To e honest, this is the first website I have seen where people do not trash one another. You seem to lack to typical internet trolls. Oh and I have just $15.00 to spend on the domain. I looked at GoDaddy, and could not decide. Haha, noobs huh? Thanks a lot guys for the support.
Wow, I'm a jerk. Sorry about that guys. OK, so maybe Host Gator is the way to go. All I have to do is find the best deal for around $15.00, which is what I have on my prepaid card. But the overall idea, does it sound foolish? Just starting another social-based website? If I put that right. Like I said previously, its all I can think of to do. I'd really like to at least get something started, maybe I'll get inspired. I do NOT intend to just start this and quit. Even if its just a couple hours a day I can spend on. Any thoughts are appreciated.
Define social website please. Many here have forums or blogs. If you mean a new facebook, forget it. Yes, just do it and I see you found the hosting threads. For anyone else, use the search box to find threads like: http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/web-design-8/your-favorite-web-hosting-company-844-11.html
Well, I'm not sure how else to describe it. I'm not expecting something to blow up like a Facebook, but I'd never say never. There's always a start to such sites. I have a friend who has a website, with forums, and it has several millions members. A large portion are paying members. He grew so big that he has since opened several stores in New York. And he started not knowing what to do, he just found the right connections. All I want to start with is a forum. I have no idea how I'll even begin it, but I will. As for hosting, I went with lockernerd.co.uk. Man, lol I am terrible at this. But hey, I am learning. It is exciting though, messing around trying to figure everything out. I figure, not giving up yet, something is bound to happen. *knock on wood*. Hope I do not sound arrogant, I am anything but. Despite what my gf might say. Oh and when I first started looking at prices, I was under the impression I could get decent hosting real cheap. I spent the last of any spending money I had, lol its pathetic.. a lousy $20. Well, its not all gone. I got the dot com for 1 year, at just over $6.00. God, it stinks being broke. Guess I will just keep looking for a paid hosting for what I have left. If thats possible.. Eh, yeah.. its probably better to go with paid, right? Or perhaps stick with free until I get comfy? Thanks for responding, Just.
I guess my suggestion would be to start with a specific type of visitor in mind - rather than the whole world. Even Facebook didn't start out targeting the world. It was targeting college students at specific colleges and grew from there. If you are going to start a forum or other social type site, think about who your visitors will be. This forum is targeting people who are interested in working from home. Robincarolina has a dating/relationship type forum. I've seen forums for people on specific diets, people with a specific health concern, people who love a specific breed of dog, etc. Once you identify the "group of people" you are wanting to draw into your forum/site, you'll be able to go from there to find and engage those people. I think you'll probably need around $100 for the domain and basic hosting for a year if memory serves me correctly. Maybe you can sell something you've got laying around in a closet or shovel some snow or do a couple of odd jobs or something to get the balance of what you need to get yourself started. All the best to you! Blessings, Angie
haiden It will take a while to get a good following. I think Angie Nailed it when she said to start with a specific visitor in mind. Figure out who your initial target audience is going to be and go with it. This site in itself has a lot of us with the same intrests. If you set it up the right keywords to attract the audience you are aiming for, and have a good placement of google adsense. Your site could litterally pay for itself within the first month and start making pretty decent money after a few months. The big thing is not to get frustrated when you lack visitors to your site. It takes a while for the webcrawlers to pick up on you.
Thanks for the replies! Yeah... Ive got just 204 visitors since Dec. 16th, lol. It's been a good learning experience, though. I've got a basic understanding of how keywords work, etc. Learning the whole... long tail keyword? thing. I've got a friend who is very good with all this. As for frustration, nah. I'm being somewhat realistic about all this. It does take tons of work, I know. But hey, challenge is something we need in order to push ourselves. Also, I've got a lot of work to do, as far as organizing. My mind is a bit, should I say, sloppy? Too much going on in there, which I love/hate. Grr. Too much to say, just got to work on organizing my head, first. I'm doing some experimentation.
s.o.a.b. ! lol, nah its OK i didnt pay much, just about $10 for a year, not bad Id say. thanks for the tip! Ill pass it on to friends.
Man, HostGator customer service is awesome. Used the live chat thing, and this Andrew guy was very helpful (Not to mention extremely patient). I gave him as many "stars" as possible, and left a very good review (It , not he, literally told me in a small message that it would directly effect his pay, is that not odd?) He had me try to connect to my site via , what appeared to be, a proxy site. Now something I do not get: If my server name is different in two different locations, cannot connect to it using the regular url... yet I can using a proxy site, it worked..... what gives? I thought perhaps I needed to flush my DNS, and he recommended it also. Have yet to try it, few other things to take care of. I still would like to know why. It has not been but a few 5 hours or so since I switched the name servers to hostgator. I mean if that is the case.. how does this explain connecting to the site via a proxy?? : Lol, I am losing it. OMG IT IS UP IT IS ... that sounded , never mind. Its up though. It looks like crap though, Ive got to get in there and sort it out. Ugh, my gf is going to hate me lol.
haiden: Ugh, my gf is going to hate me lol. Yup, we've probably all experienced that till the money comes in. You're married to your website now. haiden: flush my DNS Yes and no, your ISP is the one who has the wrong DNS info, hence the proxy server. Flushing your DNS is simple, just google it for step by step instructions. It can take 24-48 hours for the rest of the world to catch up to changes.
I use name.com for domain registration and linode.com for webhosting. But linode is only for people who want root access to linux machines. name.com is excellent for all users.
Hostgator is excellent. As already mentioned, their customer service is excellent. Are you planning a regular, static type website or a blog?
I have all my domains with Godaddy and hosting with three providers. One of which is knownhost. I am satisfied with their service and support.
You're right , HostGator is awesome. GoDaddy is pro-SOPA last time I've heard (They might be pro ACTA or whatever the new one is). Its better off not supporting something which wants you back on the couch, just consuming rather than producing (for that reason it sounds odd that a hosting company would like censorship so much but I obviously didn't do my homework on any of this.) CPanel is awesome, pretty user friendly too. And HostGator is also pretty cheap, good user interface all around. GoDaddy should be in the ugly website contest. OK, sounds like you've come along way since you started this thread. If you started "just another social media website" I'd recommend making it stand out in some unique way.... But it sounds like starting a forum would suit you well (since 'social media' should include forums in its category - lots of interaction). HG makes it easy to start blogs and forums although I didn't test out the forums part of it.
