#396097 - 08/30/06 02:20 PM
Starting a $100/day website ...
|
SilverSiR2
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 04/10/02
Posts: 12624
|
So you want to start a website that generates a little extra income on the side, if you're lucky it'll be your main source of revenue. It's fairly easy if you have a good idea and are willing to put some time and energy into it.
This thread will be a the story of New Urbanite, http://www.newurbanite.com, from conception, to launch, to traffic generation, to money making. On the way, hopefully some of you can learn how to generate money off your own blog. The reason for starting a blog because I think it's the easiest type of website to start, there's not a steep learning curve and typically it generates more Adsense money than forums.
Disclaimer: It is fairly easy to make money off the internet but you will need to work for it. Like everything else in life, nothing is given to you. To make money off the internet you're going to have to work very hard the first few months, learn how to read/write some html/css, learn how search engines work, and just put in the time. So don't bother going ahead if you're not willing to put in the work.
To get started here’s what you’ll need, there’s also tons of other literature about this part on the internet so Google is your friend.
1. Idea: This is the most crucial and difficult part to starting. You’ll want to start something you are familiar with so you have at least some sort of credibility. Second it shouldn’t be too ‘big’ of an idea, find a niche, ie Cell phones (too large) --> Palm Treos (niche). Third, make sure that there’s already not an abundance of that type of websites but you’ll be surprise copy-cat websites still can make some decent coin. So it’s really your call, if you think you can make a better website than the more established ones then go right ahead, it didn’t stop Google after all. Fourth, it should be something you enjoy like LaCarman can start a conspiracy blog.
2. Get your computer ready: You’re going to need to have the proper tools to start a website. Here’s my list:
- Browsers, download them all (IE, Firefox, Opera, etc) so you can see how your site renders in each particular website.
- FTP, this program is used to upload website to your host. I use WinSCP on Windows and Transmit on Mac. Other popular Windows ones are WS_FTP and CuteFTP.
- Adobe Photoshop, to edit photos. Ted Nugent can help you here.
- Dreamweaver, a program that lets you easily edit websites in WYSIWYG. Refer to Ted Nugent.
- TextPad, favorite text editor for Windows.
- Winzip, many of the web scripts you download will be zipped so make sure to have this program to unzip it.
3. Domain name: This will be your .com address on the internet so make sure it’s a great one. Few things that make a domain great are it’s to remember, easy to type, short, and does not use any numbers. Today it’s much harder to finding a good domain, lots of people are hording these so it may take a little while. You can check the availability of your domain at http://www.checkdomain.com
When you find a good domain name that is available you’re going to need to purchase it. I always go with GoDaddy, it’s like $14 or something a year. http://www.godaddy.com
4. Find a host: A host is pretty much a server connected to the internet that will serve up your website. Tons of hosts out there, I started with midphase.com which was decent during my time. Other popular ones that I know but have no experience with are 1and1.com and dreamhost.com. Remember the cheapest is not always the best. You need to find one that gives you a decent amount of bandwidth, hard drive space, and cgi-access, and preferably ssh access aswell. Look to spend about $10-$20 a month on one. Also I don't like the deals were they offer you a 'free' domain name because then the domains will be registered under the hosting company and you'll essentially be locked with them until they transfer the domain to your name. Usually for more money than you would have paid in the first place if you went through GoDaddy.
5. Wordpress: After you get your hosting and domain setup you will need to download a blogging script, the days were you manually edit html pages yourself is long gone. WP is the most popular blogging script out there and I highly recommend it, it’s easy to install and has plenty of public plugins and themes so you can easily customize the look of your website. http://www.wordpress.org
I'm going to end it here for now, feel free to ask questions if something is not too clear.
Edited by SilverSiR2 (08/30/06 02:45 PM)
_________________________
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#396102 - 08/30/06 02:52 PM
Re: Starting a $100/day website ...
|
Bo Mook
The Mooks of Haztard
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 12/12/99
Posts: 75348
Loc: county
|
jesus, dreamweaver is $400!
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#396105 - 08/31/06 12:03 PM
Re: Starting a $100/day website ...
|
SilverSiR2
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 04/10/02
Posts: 12624
|
Just wanted to add a few things about starting your own blog because I got a few PMs about it.
1. When you're starting your own blog do it on something that you are familiar with and can contribute something useful to the world. The net is already littered with junk and spam with people trying to get rich quick that I don't want to contribute to it.
Yes you can make money with junk websites but it won't last trust me. I had a adult website when I was younger that was full of bad links and popups that I wouldn't even visit it myself. I made good coin off it for a 15-17 year old, enough to buy myself a new car but it didn't last. If you have a quality site, people will keep on coming back and the cash will keep on flowing. Don't fall prey to the quick buck.
2. Cost is pretty minimal to upstart, can be as low as $50 to get a presence on the internet. Your only real cost are the domain name and hosting. Everything else like Wordpress is pretty much free.
3. Choose a topic you're familiar with, don't do it because Adsense pays a lot of money per click. If you can't contribute anything useful then why would a surfer want to visit your site? In the long run it is much better to build a quality site than a bunch of smaller scam blogs. So be creative, you can do a Maddox type blog where you rant about BS and if you're funny enough people will visit. Other possibilities are politics, tv shows, finance, sports, computers, gadgets etc ... Just do a topic where there's enough news or content that you can write about it daily.
_________________________
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#396108 - 09/01/06 01:45 PM
Re: Starting a $100/day website ...
|
SilverSiR2
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 04/10/02
Posts: 12624
|
Installing Wordpress
After you get your domain and hosting up you’re going to need to install the Wordpress software. This is the software that will allow you to ‘blog’ easily so you do not have to worry about editing your own html pages by hand. Download the zip file to your computer, unzip the file, and then connect to your host and upload the file.
Newbs may have a hard time figuring out initially but the instructions with the zip file are pretty clear so I’m not going to go into depth about it.
Customizing Your Website’s Look
The default Wordpress theme is pretty nice, but the problem is everyone will have it. You want to stand out from other blogging sites, a well design site will not only help you do this but will also create the ‘image’ for your website. The guy that spams Wampoon.com is a good example of this, his design works for him and it reinforces the website subject matter. Plus a nice design site leaves a lasting impression and surfers are usually more likely to return.
The problem here is that not everyone knows php/html/css to design their own customize theme for their website. It also doesn’t make sense for someone new to pay a couple thousand for one professionally made. So there’s a few options you have
1. Use the default theme and hope your site generates money so you can have one professionally done later on.
2. Download one of the hundreds available free themes for Wordpress. The beauty of Wordpress is the community support, there are tons of themes and mods available for everyone. But the problem is that a lot of the free themes are junk and the nice ones are already being used by hundreds of other blogging sites.
3. Pay someone to rip an existing site and customize the logo and stuff for you. This is a much cheaper way to get your own ‘customized’ look, you can pay some dude in Pakistan to easily do it for you for like $100-$200 on places like rentacoder.com. But there’s obviously a moral dilemma when it comes to doing such thing.
Few things about Design
1. Keep things simple. Design a website that you enjoy looking at and reading everyday. If your site is too cluttered with advertisements and is just plain ugly you wouldn’t read it yourself, then how do you expect other people will.
2. Design with advertising space in mind but not for advertising. Your website shouldn’t be all about making money, it should be of some use or you’re not going to have any repeat visitors or word of mouth. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t generate income from your website but when initially starting a site it should not be your number one priority. Remember visitors = dollars, so build a website that people will want to visit and share to others. The cash flow will follow ...
For New Urbanite, I'm not even going to bother posting ads until I hammer down the look and feel of my blog. I want to guage my traffic levels first and figure out what works and what doesn't.
http://www.newurbanite.com - still not launched.
The next few days I'm going to post how I'm going to start building traffic from scratch for a brand new site.
_________________________
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#396109 - 09/01/06 03:02 PM
Re: Starting a $100/day website ...
|
deucessi
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 08/10/02
Posts: 12439
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
|
Quote:
Yeah they are but I wouldn't really recommend them. Just buy a domain with them and then transfer it over to your other hosting company.
crap.. read your post to late....
but anyway... i've purchase my domain name.. and hosting from godaddy...
i've installed wordpress.... but its not set up as my "main" page.... i have to go to
"www.mypage.com/wordpress" for me to view it... how can i "build" a main page.... they are linux based btw.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#396116 - 12/03/06 05:16 PM
Re: Starting a $100/day website ...
|
HndaSIguy
Major Member
Registered: 07/06/03
Posts: 1451
Loc: Fort Bragg, NC
|
I am also very curious on the ted nugent style of aquiring dreamweaver. I managed to pick up photoshop form a friend but can someone "assist" me whith dreamweaver?
_________________________
Zac
http://www.newconsoles.com All the latest info from PS3, 360 and Wii.
06 HRP SI # 1827 Purchased 4 Feb 06
HFP Aero Kit and 18's
Eibach Sportlines
DC Sports Header and Exhuast
AIM-HndaSIguy
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
