Newbie:Wind beneath my wings

[jtism08]

Lisa and the Babblettes:

I am a high school administrator looking to retire earlier through e-commerce. Have been involved with ebay for years but would like to take it a step further.

I plan to build a site myself and become educated in the process to maximize my returns.

Thank You! Your site has given me the motivation needed to get started. I purchased my url this weekend! All help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks Again!
Jtism08

[lisa]

Hi there and welcome to the forums! What are your plans for your site? What topic?

[ssmorgan]

Hello Jtism08,

Welcome to Website Babble. Looking forward to babbling with you.

Sherif

[Rob]

Originally Posted by ssmorgan

Looking forward to babbling with you.

Lol, that sounds odd in the same sentence

Welcome to the forums buddy enjoy your stay!

[jtism08]

My first site will cater to helping parents promote their own high schoolers (student -athletes) in pursuing scholarships. I want to provide Q&A forums while offering support through contacts that I have with the NCAA Clearinghouse and College Board. I will take this opportunity to help those I service while perfecting the process at the same time. After gaining the much needed experience I will focus on my second site and generating revenue.

Which software do you recommend for starters? (audio/video capable too)

Thanks!!!

[ssmorgan]

jtism08,

I have a few questions:

1) When you say a Q&A forum, do you mean like an online forum (such as WebsiteBabble.com) or did you mean it as an avenue or method by which parents can get their questions answered?

2) Are you doing this purely online? or will you contact coaches and ultimately the student-athlete's parents and refer them to your site?

3) As for a software, it depends on how much you can/would like to spend. In WebsiteBabble, I hear good reviews about Dreamweaver, but I think it's about $300. There are also less expensive alternatives (e.g. CoffeeCup.com offers different softwares for $50), and there are also free alternatives. Other members in the forum may be more qualified to help you with determining the best software the fits your needs. As for audio/video capability, I could be wrong, but I think that any software you pick should allow you to integrate audio/video.

4) Are you doing this website because you see a need for it among the parents of student-athletes? or is it to solely learn how to do websites?

5) The second website (through which you want to generate revenue)... is it related at all to the first one?

I know my questions may seem random or irrelevant, but I have good reasons for asking them

Sherif

[Rob]

Dreamweaver CS3 and MS Expression Web your two competitors you need to look at both are good at different things, Expression web for the beginners or CSS designer, Dreamweaver for the intermediate whos had some experience and could take out what Dreamweaver and its features have to offer.

I like your idea of Q/A but do you really need a forum for this, maybe you could have an email service and then create an FAQ from what people have asked you.

I also like the fact you are going to create a site to learn all the stuff about making money creating the site and then perfecting your work with a new site to maximise earnings and use what u've learnt through your previous projects. Are you planning on using affiliates such as Google Adsense or Fastclick or anything like that?

[Mister_C]

Welcome jtism08, You will get a lot of information and knowledge in here.

Rob, tell us more about Google AdSense @ FastClick.

Many Thanks!

[jtism08]

Babblettes:

I like the idea of offering Q&A through email but would like to provide a online forum as well. I can see two moms sharing initial information within the forum but later communicating via email as their information becomes more personal then both returning only to share how beneficial the experience was.

I communicate with a number of big name coaches (not to name drop but) Spurrier, Shannon, Leavitt, Meyer and Bowden/Fischer etc. However, my interest for this site will be self promotion for the best of the rest which will eventually include all sports for young men and women.

I will use relationships with mothers of students who have received athletic scholarships for Q&A as well as unbiased professionals directly related to the process.

This site interests me most because I chose education to assist families by strengthening communities through education. The technology never tires but I will. At some point I see the project running on its own. Once thorough processes are in place I can devote more time to improving the concept.

If a line of revenue reveals itself then I will take advantage of the obvious win/win situation.

Sherif- There is a major need out there to provide parents the necessary understanding in order to assist in making an informed decision about receiving scholarships. As for the second site?!?!? I plan to put my energy into this one but record ideas about my second during this process.

Thank you all for responding. I feel like I should be sending checks somewhere.

John

[ssmorgan]

That's great.

It sounds like there is a major need, you have contacts, great ideas, and you're clearly very passionate about it.

In the process of creating this website, I am sure you will learn some valuable experiences that will help you tremendously whenever you pursue your second revenue-generating website.

And remember, if you come across questions and issues, feel free to post them in the relevant sections of this forum... that's what we're here for, so

I am excited you're on board with us.

Umm... Oh yeah, and as for the checks, please address all of them to me (I will send you my address in a PM) and I will make sure everyone gets his/her share... just kidding, of course!

Sherif

[Rob]

Sounds like you have lots of contacts through being a school administrative. I like how you are going to talk from personal experience in your site its a very effective method and makes you sound a lot more valid.

If you have a close relationship with the school your traffic could be easily given to you on a plate by word-of-mouth advertising even local posters or just generally explaining your sites when chatting to the regular parent, getting a substantiate foothold like that would surely put you up for a good ranking on that topic.

You might want to do a little keyword research see what student moms are really searching for on google and what problems they search for so you can directly address them.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Good luck!

[Sabir]

Hi, This post is very informative, however I would like some specific information. If someone can help me then please send me a private message. Best Regards,

[jtism08]

Rob-

I will review cs3 tomorrow. Not sure if purchasing a template is the route i'll go to save time. Getting a little impatient because I see my site but do not have the expertise to bring it to fruition! Thanks!

JT

[Mister_C]

Hello JT,

I can see you are very passionate about helping people online and take the advantage of it through internet.

So, What is the outcome for your newly website?

Those comments given by websitebabble.com members is truly informative and sincere. I don't have much time on the interNet but reading through this forum I believed is a short-cut towards your successness (you said fruiting..LOL, when is the harvesting date?).

Your sincere thought about helping people online have my vote and full support. Please remember to drop some of your IDEA and ADVANCE QUESTION at "Brainstorming forum" created by Lisa. [Thanks again Lisa]

Go JT!

Sincerely,