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dkdubb
Member
Joined: 10 Mar 2008
Posts: 6
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2008 11:09
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I have been thinking long and hard about starting something from home, and my brain is now thinking about my own website. I am an avid sports fan... Would starting my own website that is based around sports be a good idea?
A couple of questions I have though...
1. What's the best way to go about starting our own website? I would like to do it my way, but I have never designed or built a website before. Obviously I don't know how to do all the html stuff that goes along with building a website.
2. What would be the best way to go about promoting the site to get viewers?
3. How would I go about getting people to advertise on my site?
4. If I got news or updates from other sites, what are the laws/guidelines I must follow to go about putting that information on my site?
Any help on this is greatly appreciated.
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Marktech
Member
Joined: 8 Jan 2008
Posts: 219
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2008 14:10
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Hi dkdubb,
Here are a few places you can get started with free websites, just do a google search on:
Lycos tripod
googlepages
You can also build mini-pages with free services like:
Squidoo
Weebly
HubPages
If you are just starting out, then you might check out building a mini-page to get you feet wet. Squidoo, for example is very powerful, if you do a little work and spread the word about your Squidoo site, (or lens, as it's called), you can get a lot of visitors. I have eight lenses and in total they get 100's of visitors per day.
Hope that helps some.
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Aspire
Member
Joined: 24 Mar 2008
Posts: 101
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2008 17:20 · Edited by: Aspire
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Hi dkdubb,
Great advice above for starting - use the services of many of the on-line web page development sites to get a feel for what you want.
These are usually set up with a WYSIWYG principle (What You See Is What You Get). This is very helpful and allows you to drag & drop different sections if the page - No need to understand the html stuff.
The problems with this is ownership. When you design a page and make it available to the world it will have an address something like http://www.(yourname).(theirname).com
You may wish to have only your own name in the address - in this case you need to buy a domain name. These are pretty cheap and one of the best places I have found to get them is www.godaddy.com The shorter - the better - people need to be able to remember it.
You will then need to have the domain hosted (godaddy can do this as well)
When I started exploring webpage design, I used the WYSIWYG sites, but I wanted only my own name in the address so I started to learn more.
I purchased Dreamweaver - a great program for webpage design. I then downloaded some of the free webpage templates and practised changing them to suit my needs. After a while you end up learning how to start designing them from scratch. It is like anything - if you have not done it before it will be difficult. When you have been doing it for a while it becomes easier.
I am not a professional web designer, these guys write and design pages in html code - I could never do this. With Dreamweaver WYSIWYG process, it automatically writes the code for you - pretty cool.
I have only done 4 sites, and these have been for charity - have a look if you like:
http://www.beenpcyc.org.au
http://www.beenpcyc.org.au/GSFW/ind ex2.htm (notice the long address for the gsfw sub site)
http://www.redlandspcyc.org.au
http://www.bfm.net.au
Good luck.
Paul
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happywife
Joined: 14 Aug 2007
Posts: 1010
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2008 18:23
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Hi dkdubb,
If you are serious about building a website as a business rather than a hobby, it is very important that you get it right. If you don't, you can very easily end up with a site that "looks nice" but no one ever visits unless you pay for it. 
It isn't extremely difficult to do, but it is "tricky" if you don't know the what and the how. I had NO experience on web building or anything else, but I found a site building program that literally takes you step by step through the whole process in a very easy to understand way. They also provide the domain, hosting, and tools along with a great forum for support on top of their regular support.
Anyway, I've built three websites with them as they always overdeliver and are well worth the price to do it right. I don't have to pay for any traffic because the search engines send it to me for free. That's really what you want for the best success.
Let me know if you are interested in more details.
All the best,
Angie
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Aspire
Member
Joined: 24 Mar 2008
Posts: 101
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2008 18:40
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happywife: it is very important that you get it right
Good advice Angie - I was looking at it from a design aspect only
Paul
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happywife
Joined: 14 Aug 2007
Posts: 1010
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2008 23:38
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Aspire: I was looking at it from a design aspect only
Yes, I realize that. You know way more about that side of things than I do but the trouble is a lot of people don't realize how useless the design is, in reality, if you don't build according to a particular underlying pattern.
Angie
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happywife
Joined: 14 Aug 2007
Posts: 1010
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# Posted: 5 Apr 2008 00:42
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dkdubb: I am an avid sports fan... Would starting my own website that is based around sports be a good idea?
Definitely do-able, but sports is far too broad - you'd really need to narrow it down to a particular sport, or maybe even more narrow to a particular team or a particular aspect of a particular sport. (I'm not much of a sports person, but you get the idea, I hope).
When you do keyword research, you will be able to determine the demand for a niche and how much competition there is.
dkdubb: 1. What's the best way to go about starting our own website? I would like to do it my way, but I have never designed or built a website before. Obviously I don't know how to do all the html stuff that goes along with building a website.
I already answered this one in my previous post. I just realized that I hadn't answered the rest, hence this post.
dkdubb: 2. What would be the best way to go about promoting the site to get viewers?
Once you've built a site properly you'll get traffic from the search engines, but it will increase as you learn to get links back to your site from other sources. For instance, you can answer questions at YahooAnswers related to your niche topic and leave a link in the source box. You can post in sports forums and leave a link in your signature. You can submit articles to article directories and have a link in the source box, etc. There are a lot of different techniques for getting quality back links.
When you have a site that is built right based on keyword research and with good content and quality backlinks you will automatically get free traffic.
dkdubb: 3. How would I go about getting people to advertise on my site?
There are different forms of advertising you could use. Adsense is popular and very simple to implement. You can also use other types of similar ads.
You can join affiliate programs which allow you to put links to other companies that sell related products and then earn a commission on the sales generated through your site.
That's just a couple types of advertising to give you a general idea.
dkdubb: 4. If I got news or updates from other sites, what are the laws/guidelines I must follow to go about putting that information on my site?
Quite a few people use RSS feed to have updated news and information on their sites from other sites. As long as you have it set up linking back to the source, it's a win-win. You get the additional content and the other source gets the links. They provide that as a resource because it is to their advantage.
Well, hope that more fully answers your questions and gives you a general idea of how your ideas would work.
Blessings,
Angie
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tommykrank
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Joined: 10 Jun 2009
Posts: 15
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2009 00:29
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dkdubb, i suggest you consider affiliate marketing. If you're just starting off that is. It can be done free and would put you on a great learning curve.
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getagrip
Joined: 20 Feb 2006
Posts: 1695
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2009 00:52
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You can download free web design software at NVU.com, and you can get free web design templates at OWSD.org. You might also want to check out Weebly.com - that will make the process really easy!
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VictoriaNTC
Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 452
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2009 13:28
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As you all know, I am a Weebly lover too!
Nothing could be easier...yet!
Victoria
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