What made you finish what you started?

Lobito · #1 (**permalink**) 05-19-2008, 01:18 PM

I'm kinda new here sooo...hi every1 n' stuff ^^

So this is it...

I tried to make a website several times before, i had some good ideas for example...

I tried to create a website about "Final Fantasy"...one about those flash games and flash animations you play around the net..one about motivating people to acheive their goals (yeah im one of those stange people who likes to help others...just like you ^^)

But i always lack of motivation... when i get started i have tons of ideas, tons of motivation, i manage to get a free template because i only know a tiny bit of CSS and HTML...and then everything dissapears..

I lost motivations i start lacking of ideas...one of the things that always makes me give up is that i don't know how to properly attract people to my website, because what i want is just not "another final fantasy site" what i want is something new..inovator...and im always kinda affraid of failing after the work is done...

Any advices? did you felt this lack of motivation too? =/ lol =/

THX in advance folks

--Lobito

lisa · #2 (**permalink**) 05-19-2008, 03:29 PM

This happens to me all the time. I'll get an idea for a new site, think of a catchy domain name, register it and then after a day or two I lose interest. Usually this happens when I choose topics that I am not as passionate about as I first thought I was. So now I make myself write an outline when I have a new idea and if I can't fill up the outline with enough ideas, I chunk it and go back to square one.

I'm working on a new site now that I hope to launch in a couple of weeks and it passed the outline test so we'll see what happens.

Kerry · #3 (**permalink**) 05-19-2008, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisa

I'm working on a new site now that I hope to launch in a couple of weeks and it passed the outline test so we'll see what happens.

Yay! A new site! Can't Wait!!!
Best of Luck, Lisa

James · #4 (**permalink**) 05-19-2008, 08:33 PM

Lobito

You have to have a real commitment to a subject to devote enough time to it to make a really successful site. Perhaps you just haven't really found anything you care about enough to really work on for a while.

But it is also possible that you are avoiding something—like the potential for failure. You mention it yourself and worry about whether people will come to the site.

You may have heard about it before, but if not let me tell you a story about Thomas Edison. When someone asked him how he could keep on trying to make a light bulb when he failed something like 10,000 times before succeeding, he said, "I never failed! I knew I could get it to work. I just had to eliminate a lot of the things that didn't work first."

No one succeeds unless they are willing to consider "failing" to be part of success. As a sign I had in my office a long time ago said, "FAIL FORWARD!"

lisa · #5 (**permalink**) 05-19-2008, 09:47 PM

James you make a good point about fear of failure. I don't know if this is Lobito's case but I have several friends and family members who are all stuck at the beginning because they are so worried that their sites won't do well. Or they have all these hesitations for one reason or another. And I can tell you from experience that you definitely can't be afraid of that. To be honest I've had more failed sites than successful ones but I used those failures as a learning lesson.

It's funny because you read about all these successful webmasters who are making millions but you don't read much about where they went wrong in the beginning.

Lobito · #6 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 01:06 PM

well yeah that's exactly what i was talking about...

It's not about devotion, I really like...ok i LOVE final fantasy...everybody who play's the frikin game ends up caught by it's role and stuff, and I am NOT an exception...

What frigtens me is that it WILL fail!

Cause it probably will, i never made a website and host it for good, i always got stuck before i upload them

My fear is that my best idea will fail just because i have no experience...then all my other projects will fail too because my best one didn't succeed.

That's basicly it, and damn i loved that Thomas Edison thought! xD

But really don't like the idea of "Starting from below", well thomas didn't, he build what he wanted, he acheived the exact same goal he started 10000 times before, damn i love the guy xD

One of my other concers is that people will get dissapointed while seeing the website, i get dissapointed myself when i see other FF websites, and more important, will it be important or just one more?

Cmon lets face this...we love lisa and we never even seen her xD that's because we know she's one of us and that she loves what she does, but i don't know if my visitors will think the same lol

Did you wrote your website based on your experience and personal opinion or did you get information from outer sources?

One of my fears is that i get dissapointed with my work after it is all done, did you guys acheive the goal you wanted? was it rewarding to see that people loved you and your website?

lisa · #7 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 02:20 PM

Darren Rowse wrote a blog post about this recently. I'll have to dig it up and post it here. But it was brilliant. It basically talked about the psychology behind why people don't succeed online. One point he made was that people often compare themselves to other Webmasters... which is the wrong approach.

Remember, you're not building this site for everyone on Web to love. You're building it for a certain audience. You can't please everyone so just focus on pleasing the people you know your site is for. Do you know how many hate emails I get from programmers telling me my information on 2create is too simple and there's no way I'm making a living online with a site like mine? Happens all the time.

That stuff used to rattle me but I learned that even though my site isn't for everyone, I know who my audience is and if I can provide useful info that pleases them then that's all that matters. That's why it's so important to choose something you love. I write all my content from my experience and I think that's super important because your connection to the topic shines through.

If you have someone else write your content for you or you get your articles from another source and then cite them then you have no originality, no voice. Your site never gets the chance to develop its own personality so you become just another site on the Web. Yes, I get ideas from other sites but I enjoy putting my own spin on various topics.

There is always going to be someone as passionate about Final Fantasy as you and will appreciate your content. Write for them. Don't worry if it's not considered the top website on Final Fantasy. Do you think my site is the best my niche? Far from it! But it appeals to a specific audience and that's all I worry about. And at the end of the day, I am pleased with the results.

And let me just play devil's advocate for a sec. What if you do build your site and it does fail. OK, so what? Would you give up? Hopefully not. You'd take what you learned from it and re-work it until you come up with a winning combination.

What drove me to keep at this was my love for writing and helping people. Yes, it sucked when I created sites that didn't do what I'd hoped but as I continued to try new things I learned what I did wrong. You can't be afraid to fail. What's most disappointing is if you never try. So much of success is about attitude. You can do it Lobito!

lisa · #8 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 02:30 PM

Found the posts. Even though it's about blogging, you can still apply the info to building a website. Article 2 is especially relevant for this discussion but I posted both since it was a 2-part article...

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2...ority-complex/
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2...ority-complex/

Lobito · #9 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 02:49 PM

G-r-e-a-t!

That 2nd article sure will help a lot of people...cause to be honest, what we think is something like: "how am i going to turn my website as famous as that?"

Hate-email just proves that you moved the crowd i guess, appealing 100% is never a good thing because it just means that they had seen it somewhere else right? =/

Originality works and i love it ^^

Ok i guess i'm going to read those posts when i run out of motivation ^^

Another question, this time particullary to Lisa (yeah i know you hear "this one is for Lisa" all the time but....whatever ^^)

Why did you create 2createawebsite.com? was your main aspiration to get some revenue? or did you just think about it later?

Anyways, i know that paid resourses are always better but i'm starting from scratch here, i know nothing about making money online and i can't even risk to lose the money i bet on this thing, did you guys had problems when trying to make money online?

regards

lisa · #10 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 04:48 PM

The original goal of 2create was definitely to make money but my inspiration at the time was the fact there weren't a lot of comprehensive sites out there on how to build a website. Of course there are gazillions of them now but I think being one of the first definitely helped a lot. 1stsitefree.com was one of the best and most thorough in my opinion and I wanted to take it a step further than that author. (I still can't figure out why this guy never monetized that site. It used to rank #1 for almost everything!)

Yes, there were lots of smaller sites on how to register a domain and web hosting comparison sites, etc. but I didn't see any that told the story from an author's point of view, using their own experiences, personality, etc.

To be honest, the original goal of 2create was to promote LinkSky's web hosting program and Site Build It! (even though I didn't own SBI! at the time... shame shame.

) At the time LinkSky had one of the highest affiliate payouts for web hosting. (I think it was $60 or $70 bucks and I was their customer at the time.) That's when I learned the importance of recommending products that you own. I quickly began getting sales and I was LinkSky's top affiliate up until the day I moved to Powweb.

Then as I continued to learn new things I just kept building 2create and adding more affiliate programs. In 2003, AdSense launched and it was a dream for people who already had traffic because that meant instant money. Then I bought Site Build It! and started promoting them, the list goes on... 2create sort of just evolved... slowly but surely.

Squibbit · #11 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 05:02 PM

Inspiration is all over the internet, I know from personal experience some people just start out with big ideas that they can't fulfill.

Nothing stops you from learning, of course, but the problem with starting your own website with very little knowledge is your vision. You have amazing ideas and amazing prospects, all the tools to do as you wish, but inevitably.. less knowledge than you need.

The fantastic thing is all about learning, though. I started off with Photoshop.. one day I was looking at my cellphone, thinking I needed a new skin for Winamp.. and it was just my inspiration, I took it a day at a time and it was frustrating for the most part, I ended up enlisting a fair amount of help.. but I learned from it and now, I can do it myself!

I guess my point is (paraphrasing works wonders!

) learn to walk before you can run

Lobito · #12 (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 12:41 PM

well hell with it, i'm starting the website! =)

Right now i'm working on the part i love the most, the design =)

I made some good work with the header already and i used a simple template from a website...

But i'm trying to make it as original as possible =)

Well the problems are starting to show up lol...i don't have the skills to make exactly what i want in dreamweaver, nor anyone who helps me so i'll just do whatever i can to finish it my way

This one is going forward, of yes it is I guarantee ^^ thx for the support eheh i can count on you guys if any major problems shows up so everything is just fine =D

Anyways, I'll keep informing you guys about the project, in a matter fact, i already have a question...not a problem but...still a question lol

what do you think? www.zell-dincht.com or www.zelldincht.com?

lisa · #13 (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 01:03 PM

Yup... we're here for ya!

I like the one without the hyphen.

jimmy79 · #14 (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 04:56 PM

hey Man, I think that you may just be overwhelmed with some many ideas right now that are making you think that you will never get it done.

I think that you just have to get started!

You don't have to get it right the first time, You just have to get it up and running.

we all want to do something cool and neat, but it takes patience

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