Anyone ever started their own website?

[arthur06]

I was thinking of starting a website as kind of a hobby. I don't want to get rich or sell it. I just want something to dink around on and learn about building one.

Where do you start?

How cost effective is it?

I know you can go to a site like godaddy for this kind of stuff, is that wise?

Thanks for any help.

 

[crazelion]

I Done mind for free use tripod as host. I did my HTML code in notepad.

Here is my site:

http://lplionclub.tripod.com/Lions/index.html .

I have not much too mine at all. But I am thinking about doing a site on ways to make money on the internet for free.

Cost zero for my site

Learn to code HTML code in notepad

Use graphics program to create banners and graphics

I did my old school code HTML

or you can do easy way and use a HTML editor to build the site for you. There are plenty of resources on the net for free to build a site for free.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

I had a website for a few years and I used Go Daddy and it cost about $150 A YEAR. If you don't know how to build a website from scratch using HTML code, then going through Go Daddy with their web builder is a fool proof way to do it.

 

[mom2brina]

If you want to give it a try, but not spend anything, then I suggest you look at webs.com or even wordpress.com. Those are two great options that don't require knowing any kind of code at all.

 

[worm761]

We just started our site last month. We are working on getting content on it and a logo made for us. We went with GoDaddy since the blogger sites and others that are free own your content. We wish to own our own content so we paid the site hosting fees. We own the domain now. No intentions to sell it. It is a cooking site. There isn't much on but you can check us out at : http://2friendscooking.com/

 

[SarahKate]

You really don't have to have any formal web design knowledge to create websites anymore. I have a small business and use WordPress as my platform.

With Wordpress you can have a free website OR you can purchase a domain name and have it on the WordPress platform. WP had originally started out for bloggers but you can tweak it and make it look like a regular website. There are TONS of free templates that you can use, many of which are customizable so you can make it your own. I highly recommend this.

Maybe you could start out with one of WP's free sites at first and then buy a website name if you want to get more serious.

There are tons of places where you can buy a website name and host it. GoDaddy is just one of them. The cost can be anywhere from $5 and up per year. I think I pay about $20 a year for my website name.

Then you have to host your site on someone's server. Many places where you buy your website have hosting abilities too, including GoDaddy. For my purposes I really didn't ALL of the things they offered. I just needed something simple and EASY to manage. I heard about a company called Laughing Squid and that's who I go through - small company out of San Francisco. They're easy to work with and got my site up pretty quickly. Have never ever had a problem with it, and I think I've had them as my host for about 2 years. It costs $6 a month.

So, $72 a year for hosting and about $20 a year for the web site name. Less than $100 a year isn't too shabby for a website!

 

[arthur06]

I searched for "best hosting companies" on google. ipage came up as the #1 rated host, granted that was just one sites opinion. Any reviews on them? It says its $3.50 per month right now, which is fine with me.

 

[phoenixphantom]

I design websites for small businesses. dobsondesign dot com I also highly recommend word press, you can use a free theme and if you want to get more creative, you can make changes to the CSS which you can learn by simple tutorials. Like another poster said you can choose to host on their site which has various limitation, or you can buy your own domain name and pay a webhost up to $20 per month in hosting fees. There are tones out there, I like bluehost, they have a simple installation of wordpress and will walk you through it to get it installed. They also have 1 button bakup which is grat for the newbie, because you will make mistakes as you learn, I highly recommend that if you go this route, take carefull notes of everything that you change in CSS and all the plugins that you install. Plugins are added features, like a calendar, SEO, shopping cart, facebook apps and such that are already designed for you, you just select them, install them and sometimes you have a bit of configuring to do, but most have really good simple instructions.

I just did this site, cookingspotlight dot com and had it up and running in about 2 days, it is a custom design and I have been doing web design for a number of years, but I am self taught. So if you can read and follow simple directions there is a ton of help out there. Remember to look on youtube for tutorials. Good luck!

 

[gk90]

Google is offering free website hosting now:
https://sites.google.com/?pli=1

 

[DizzyFORDisney]

I PM'd you some info. Good Luck!

 

[abcboys]

I am currently working as a church secretary and they want me to take over the website. Unfortuately I have no freakin clue how to do it and there seems to be nobody there that can show me. The website is www.mtceum.org They use godaddy for the name and wordpress for it also. I wasn't building it from scratch obviously but never having done this I tried to figure it out on my own and literally wanted to scratch my eyeballs out after a while cause I had no clue. It hasn't been updated in several months. Is there somewhere easy I can go to learn this. Do I need to erase everything and go from scratch?? I have no idea how to upload newsletters, calendars, anything!! Is there an easier way to do this???

 

[arthur06]

If I wanted to make the site "www.disneylover.com" (assuming its available), can I do that? Or does Disney own rights to that and I could get into trouble for making it.

I noticed that many of the unofficial/unauthorized Disney sites do NOT contain the word Disney.

Thanks

 

[DizzyFORDisney]

If I wanted to make the site "www.disneylover.com" (assuming its available), can I do that? Or does Disney own rights to that and I could get into trouble for making it.

I noticed that many of the unofficial/unauthorized Disney sites do NOT contain the word Disney.

Thanks

I stayed away from using any 'disney' word in my name. Better safe than sorry. They could do a cease and desist at any time.....

 

[arthur06]

I stayed away from using any 'disney' word in my name. Better safe than sorry. They could do a cease and desist at any time.....

Could I use the word "mickey" and just not use the word mouse?

example: mickeylover.com

 

[DizzyFORDisney]

Could I use the word "mickey" and just not use the word mouse?

example: mickeylover.com

A lot of the tools out there will help shape you name/niche on keywords/traffic/etc. and of course availability.....

 

[arthur06]

A lot of the tools out there will help shape you name/niche on keywords/traffic/etc. and of course availability.....

I sent you a PM, thanks

 

[DisCookie]

I am currently working as a church secretary and they want me to take over the website. Unfortuately I have no freakin clue how to do it and there seems to be nobody there that can show me. The website is www.mtceum.org They use godaddy for the name and wordpress for it also. I wasn't building it from scratch obviously but never having done this I tried to figure it out on my own and literally wanted to scratch my eyeballs out after a while cause I had no clue. It hasn't been updated in several months. Is there somewhere easy I can go to learn this. Do I need to erase everything and go from scratch?? I have no idea how to upload newsletters, calendars, anything!! Is there an easier way to do this???

WordPress is pretty friendly to use, especially since it is already installed and in place. They have quite a bit of documentation on their site here http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page to help you get started.

Edit: I took a look at the site again and it appears the calendar is with Google, so you would have to edit that there...
The newsletter is just a link to an uploaded document, so if you have that document, you should be able to upload it in WordPress http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Image_and_File_Attachments then make a link to it...

 

[abcboys]

WordPress is pretty friendly to use, especially since it is already installed and in place. They have quite a bit of documentation on their site here http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page to help you get started.

Edit: I took a look at the site again and it appears the calendar is with Google, so you would have to edit that there...
The newsletter is just a link to an uploaded document, so if you have that document, you should be able to upload it in WordPress http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Image_and_File_Attachments then make a link to it...

Thanks, but I must be a complete idiot! I have no idea what any of that means, or how to do it. I know its supposed to be user friendly but I guess I need someone to talk to me like I'm 5 before I'll understand it!

 

[qv09vvp]

HI - I am in the process of doing this with some help from my hubby. He setup Bluehost Portal for hosting & then I've got wordpress for building the site.

Its been kind of fun to do. I did it because we are DVC and are taking about 15 family members on a trip of a lifetime & its just way to much information to share on email/text etc. This way they can all go to the website & get their information.

Good luck!

 

[_19disnA]

To create a website not even the most difficult part here. Get some traffic on your website is another difficult task.

I agree. Are you planning to post content/blogs/recipes/pictures/videos that you want others to see? Are you trying to sell something? Do you want it to be interactive where others can posts things? I would first try to figure out the intended use since likely the different website creation tools are more suited for one application then another. If you launch a website and no one ever looks at it since they have no idea it exists not sure what you have accomplished. If I was trying to run a business and have ongoing sales, I would be more inclined to use Amazon or some existing platform since they already have traffic coming to their site and have setup how to handle billing/etc. Ebay seems to be used for a lot of one-time sales so that is another option. I am sure there are hundreds of others many of which are organized around what exactly is being sold.