Topic: Need help starting a website...

[Alieo]

So I came up with that perfect small business idea, and have gotten positive feedback enough to start seeing this thing into fruition! But if I'm going to start a business, I need a website. Can someone tell me what exactly are these web hosting companies like 1&1.com and godaddy.com are? Do they have a simple website editor tool, or do they simply charge you for domain name use?

I'm not proficient in my html... I know basic tags, but I don't want to write a website from raw html; I want it to look attractive to prospective clients. What kind of website editing software would you recommend I use, and is your recommendation an online thing to download or is it something I have to purchase and install? I don't mind spending a few bucks on an editor, but how do you go about publishing it online afterwards?

[-<WillyP>-]

A hosting site at the most basic provides a place for your files and makes them available to the internet. Most hosting providers also provide domain registration, and many today offer site builders, or easy installers of scrips such as Wordpress, SMF, etc. Although, they are usually pretty easy to install even without help from the host. There's a huge variety of free, open source script's on which to run your site, and unless you just need a couple of pages that don't change often that's the best way to go.

If you go with a site builder or script, you probably don't need to learn any HTML, or CSS, though there may be times when it would help.

Do you need a CMS, a forum, or a shopping cart? Or all of the above?

I use Bravenet.com for hosting, and am pretty happy with them. The do offer a website builder, though I would never use such a thing. GoDaddy has a very poor reputation, and 1&1 isn't much better.

If you use a website builder provided by a host, you'll want to use their software. If you decide to learn HTML and CSS and write your own, there are a number of free editors out there, I use Notepad++. Files are then uploaded with via FTP (or SFTP), using software such as WinSCP.

I'd be happy to help get your site up and running, if you would rather not discuss details in public shoot me a pm.

[Alieo]

Thanks for the valuable info, WillyP! I'm thinking all I'll need is a CMS. This business is a service type business, and I'll be accepting cash or credit card payments in person. I just basically need to get a website up to make it Google searchable and the website itself will contain information on the service with a few tabs of selling points and contact information, which I could go ahead and start to author on a word processor in the meantime. I'll go ahead and shoot you a PM with the rest of the details.

[Kaiaatzl]

So I came up with that perfect small business idea, and have gotten positive feedback enough to start seeing this thing into fruition!

Congrats!  I haven't ever really started a business but I am self-employed right now and it's awesome.
Good luck making this work.

[Matthew]

I've not had any issues with GoDaddy...

[-<WillyP>-]

which I could go ahead and start to author on a word processor in the meantime.

Save your work as plain text, no formatting. Better yet, use a plain text editor, such as Notepad++. Any formatting will have to be stripped out when converting to HTML.

[Matthew]

Notepad++ is good. Better if you can get your hands on an actual web dev tool, especially if you're new. Or there are a wide variety of prebuilt packages out there too.

[Scyphi]

Yes, for example, Weebly might just have everything you need for your purposes, and is easy to use. I used it to build my own site, and mine isn't even the most complex you can build with Weebly.

But Weebly is still limited, so by all means, do keep in mind the suggestions WillyP offered, as they sound by far more capable (just more complex to build).

[-<WillyP>-]

The problem with wysiwyg editors is that they usually create tag soup, which makes your site hard to edit and maintain, and may not be good for SEO. I don't know if Weebly is in that category, I never looked into it.

[Scyphi]

It might, I don't know enough about site coding to know for sure. I DO know that Weebly allows you to manually edit the HTML and CSS coding for your site (with some limits of course, depending on the sort of account you have with them) so I suppose you can tweak it to your heart's content if that is an issue. I know rather little about both, but I tinkered a little with it with my own site, and it opened up even more avenues if you knew what you were doing.

Wix is another site builder like Weebly, though as I understand it, it has a few more capabilities than Weebly under its belt. I have not personally used it though, so I can only say what I've heard about it. But according to what people I know who have used it have generally said good things, and a few prefer it over Weebly, so I suppose there's that option too.

Still, you go with what suits you best, and let's face it, in the long run building your own site from the ground up rather than using one of these drag-and-drop website builders is probably the more preferred option. It also just means more work, and potentially more time taken getting it running, and I don't know how soon you ideally you want to set up your business idea, so that's mostly why I'm even throwing out these other options. 

If it's not too much to ask, I've gotten curious; what is your little business idea, Texace?

[-<WillyP>-]

Wix is another, that I have looked at a little more closely than Weebly, and if you go with Wix, your pretty much locked into what Wix allows you to do. No flexibility at all. Nothing wrong with that, if what you want to do fits in that framework. It might work for Texace's purpose quite well. Not sure about the SEO aspect though.

[Alieo]

So I came up with that perfect small business idea, and have gotten positive feedback enough to start seeing this thing into fruition!

Congrats!  I haven't ever really started a business but I am self-employed right now and it's awesome.
Good luck making this work.

Thanks! Sorry, I haven't checked this thread since I've been PMing WillyP. I've also been very busy putting things together. I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell y'all... It's going to be a personal shopping and delivery service. So far I've...
- Named the business
- Designed a rough draft logo
- Obtained a DBA
- Obtained an EIN
- Opened a business account
- Verified that I don't need any permits or licenses from the city's health department.
- Verified that I do not need to charge a sales tax on services as they're paid by me at the time of shopping, and am then reimbursed by customers, so it would be as if they were paying the taxes.

Waiting for:
- TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) on if I need any permits or licenses. My business is so alien to them since no one else is really doing anything else that I'm trying to do. They initially hesitantly told me it may be okay for me to deliver beer under 4% alcoholic content, but wine is classified as a liquor in Texas, so they had me email them a detailed description of my business plan and they'd research it and get back with me on the matter.

What I'm currently working on:
- Content for the website in a word processor (just an outline)
- Registering a domain/ seeking hosting (as per WillyP's advice)... What do y'all think of WordPress CMS? Is it pretty user friendly?

Things left to do:
- Accounting software
- Invoice forms... and other office supply details
- Create flyers
- Create business cards
- Network with mom & pop businesses that I shop at
- Pre-launch consultation with a small business attorney
- Launch!
- GROW!!
- QUIT MY WEEKEND JOB!!!
- HIRE MY FIRST EMPLOYEE(S)!!!!
- INCORPORATE!!!!!

*ahem!* ... one step at a time, of course.

[-<WillyP>-]

Word press is a very popular choice. There are crap-tons of skins and mods for it, generally at reasonable prices. There are also lots of developers willing to provide paid support and coding services if what you want is not already made. Free support is hit or miss, and I have found the community can range from very helpful to having a rather nasty attitude towards non-coders.

For that reason, and the fact that it is feature-bloated, and skins are a mix of PHP and HTML, I never really got into WP. For that matter, you might look into, Drupal, Joomla, etc...

You might look into the hosted version of Word Press. Just set up a free blog and your good to go.
WordPress.com - Get a Free Blog Here

[Matthew]

The problem with making your own website is security. Unless you're certain you can make it secure, you shouldn't try to make your own website if you'll be taking any sort of sensitive user input or passwords.

[Alieo]

The problem with making your own website is security. Unless you're certain you can make it secure, you shouldn't try to make your own website if you'll be taking any sort of sensitive user input or passwords.

Nope. I plan on taking all payments at the door through an Intuit GoPayment system I plug into my phone.