I'm getting a headache from this. Help!

Tyger · #1 (**permalink**) 08-27-2007, 02:23 PM

I'm just trying to read and figure out how to do all this stuff and that to make a great website, and I'm getting a headache and a lot of questions. So, I'm asking you guys.

Alright so me and a good friend of mine have decided to make a site together. We want to make it a community rather than just information website, the topic, yeah it's gaming more to the point it's ds wifi gameing. I realize this is a generic subject with a lot of competition, but we really want to go for it because it's something we're both really interested in and put time into.

A background story so you can get where I'm coming from. Alright I'm new to all of this and we met on a website clan/community called Team Chaos. The problem was it was only a forum, and the leader never did anything on the site. It was generic and a half completed site, but then we were both made admins a short while after the site was made. There were so many problems with the site and we couldn't do much because the leader restricted our abilities on the site, and went even further so that we didn't have much ability to do anything. With all that in the way we managed to keep the site going and get 100+ members for about a year. Unfortunatly you can't stop a sinking ship, so now we've decided to make our own website and do it right this time to not fail like Team Chaos.

That said, I'm a little lost on how to begin. We're not trying to make money off the site, but we are using google's adsense program to fund a better site. I have around $100 to start it up, but need help on figureing out the basics.

I was thinking of using powweb and we aren't making the forums first, in order not to fail. Basically I ramble a lot and to give you a gist of everything. We need help and advice, I'm the one that knows codeing and we both really want it to work and will put effort into it.

webdev · #2 (**permalink**) 08-27-2007, 05:46 PM

Tyger, i like you your enthusiasms.

Before you jump into buying site hosting or dish out money to put a community site, step back for a minute and on a piece of paper and write down answer to these few questions

what you want your site to be?
What do you want to present in your site?
What kind of people you want interested in your site? Think about their needs and interest as well (not just yours).
What do you want your site to reflect?
How do you want your site to look like a year from now?

Once you answer these question, it will help you figure out if you really want a custom coded application or a pre-made forum application and or something else?

If you help me answer those few question i may be able to recommend scripts that might accomplish what your looking for and might save you coding time.

PosterBoy · #3 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 12:38 PM

When you say 'community site' are you going to make a forum? There's a lot of good free forum software packages out there that you can install and run.

webmaster · #4 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 02:39 PM

Hey Tyger!

I think you are on a great way of building a very successful site!

I suggest you create a plan like webdev suggested. Without a good and exact plan you guys will have problems in a while. It is cool that you are in a team of two, since you can encourage each other and it will be funnier and more productive.

As I can see from your post - your strength is being able to create and maintain a community - and this could be your most important competitive advantage over similar websites. Even if you are not starting a forum at first, make sure you add interactivity to your site. It could be a comment box, chat room or anything that will give your visitors something that your competitors don`t have.

If your long-term plan is to create a forum, than you must create some kind of informational website to promote your forum, since most forums develop very slowly at the beginning. Another way of promoting your site is on other forums, or related, non-competitive websites.

But hear me now: no matter what topic exactly you choose - in order you and your friend want to succeed you need to satisfy your visitors needs - so thats where your community-building abilities come in. You need to offer them something that others do not provide. It is not so hard to figure - see the best forums and sites you use, and try to see what do they have that attracts you. Than take that and make it a step better, provide something unique, that is hard to copy.

As far as technology is concerned - for starters you will be doing ok with a 10 bucks domain name and shared hosting account. 100 bucks will do for 1 year. That is for informational site and a small forum. I suggest you get yourself an opensource forum and tweak it - since you know a bit coding it shouldn't be a problem.

I am using hostgator because it is really solid and it is much faster when it comes to advanced scripting compared to powweb. I can tell you more about my experience with them if you need it. Powweb is good for static pages, but when it comes to dynamic sites, i feel more secure with hostgator (located at planet.com).

But when the forum grows it will need more and more resources and eventually shared hosting will not handle it. You will have to buy dedicated or semi-dedicated hosting account and that costs money. I can see from your post that your main intention is not to make money - that is very good, since you will focus on your visitors, but you also need to pay the hosting company.

So thinking long term- when the forum grows, and if you are determined, it will grow, you will either need to pay it out of your pocket, or monetize your site. I suggest the second option and with proper use of adsense or affiliate programs you could earn enough to pay the costs or make some money with it.

Work Hard and Don`t forget to have fun along the way!

Theresa · #5 (**permalink**) 08-31-2007, 06:35 PM

You've got the right attitude for success! Start brainstorming article ideas for your site, then add a bit each day to the ideas you like. Before you know the pages will flow.

Before you choose your web host, it's a good idea to know what kind forum you want to use and what it will require in terms of a database, PHP, that sort of thing. Then make sure the web host you choose can support it.

Another thing to do before you commit to a web host is spend some time on their support forums. You can really get a sense of how responsive they are to their members and you can also see what sorts of problems, if any, members are having with the type of software you plan to use.

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