I am just beginning. I know my niche market - I have some ideas how to get started.
However, I need to create a website. In the past for antoher project I have built free website (using tripod) but I know that I get what I pay for.
Where do you recommend I look for a user friendly cost efficeint website?
Rob
Hi Rob,
Although everyone here is giving you excellent advice, I think it might be worth it to invest in a simple but exciting custom-made website. By custom-made I mean that you hire a designer who knows web coding and possibly Adobe Flash. Adobe Dreamweaver is the industry standard program for web design and cold fusion for the backend/database. A good Web Designer should have at least one of these programs. The overall cost of the project should be anywhere from $1000.00-$2,000.00 to have a truly professional look. Even if you come across someone who can design (since you know your niche market) you may need to 'rough sketch' a site (even if it's on a napkin) and show it to that designer/coder. Most of the major sites on the internet were designed with content, appearance, and user-friendliness in mind and it would be in your best interest to follow suit. With the custom-made site you can add specific content in order to raise your ranking in search engines and develop further SEO techniques. I don’t think the ‘web-in-a-can’ packages have that ability. Hope this helps.
I can understand if you have the money and patience to pay someone to do a site for you that it could work out. Who wants to spend $2000 dollars to get started online? Not me. You can get a free 'Niche' Search Engine and be a member of GDI and use the software sitebuilder for $10 a month and then promote these programs to bring you RESIDUAL INCOME!
You can start a FREE blog and you could also start a free Squidoo Lens and have some google juice.
OK, as I said earlier. These are all excellent suggestions. I'm just saying that when you invest in something and you want to attract a certain caliber of persons, a professional site that is set apart from the others will definitely ring well with your viewing audience. The reason why we, as internet consumers, flock to Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Wikipedia is because they are original, tastefully designed, and easy to recognize. Sometimes it's NOT worth it to get a Deal. I know you wouldn't wear a suit for $49.95 on a job interview.
IMHO going to a professionally designed site is going to attract a better audience rather than to be blended in with 'Black Hat' sites or sites that are out of a cookie cutter. Pardon me if I offended you, Sir.
OK, as I said earlier. These are all excellent suggestions. I'm just saying that when you invest in something and you want to attract a certain caliber of persons, a professional site that is set apart from the others will definitely ring well with your viewing audience. The reason why we, as internet consumers, flock to Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Wikipedia is because they are original, tastefully designed, and easy to recognize. Sometimes it's NOT worth it to get a Deal. I know you wouldn't wear a suit for $49.95 on a job interview.
IMHO going to a professionally designed site is going to attract a better audience rather than to be blended in with 'Black Hat' sites or sites that are out of a cookie cutter. Pardon me if I offended you, Sir.
Thanks FDC. I think that's the route I am going to take. Even being a graphic designer, sometimes having a template cuts back on design time. And will allow me to focus more on my content which I have been researching for weeks now. So tough but worth the reward.
Rob, by all means do what's best for you. What I said was just an opinion, not a hard solid rule. This is an industry where practically anything goes. I've lost count to the number of times someone requested to promote salacious material to my company. The funny thing is we try our best to set a standard of what good advertising material should be and are constantly being offered Non-Family related offers. As silly as this sounds a friend told me once that you should NEVER do anything that you would not want to show your parents. I'm using this point as an example of what you want to project on your site via a combination of content and appearance.
Anyway, I digress, I'm sure that for starting out the templates are indeed an economical suggestion. I was just applying my own experience since we have had success with a custom site.
I thought I would jump in here and add a few things because of the replies that have been made.
The information being given can be helpful to some people who might read it. However much of it is being directed to, and is for the benefit of robficiur, who started this thread. He made his post almost 2 years ago, on December 1, 2006. That was the only post he has ever made.
Since almost 2 years have passed since he made his post, he has probably made some type of a decision by now.
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