View Full Version : Help creating my own website
tamtamg
06-06-2008, 06:31 AM
Ok, I'm thinking about creating my own website/blog, but I have no idea what I am doing. Can you guys give me any advice on what I need to do to get this off the ground. So far, all I know is that I have to register a domain, and get hosting for it somehow, but beyond that, I have no idea. I'm assuming godaddy offers this, but I'm not sure what plans to get. If you guys could help me out here in the forums, or if Patrick and VB could do a segmeant about this, it'd be great (a great way to integrate the godaddy sponsorship).
ianenos03
06-06-2008, 09:13 AM
Well, I would recommend having a very clear definition of what you want your site to do before you decide on a course of action. If you're just looking to blog, you don't need a domain. If you want a domain, I'd say use the promo code of your favorite Revision3 show to register a catchy, memorable, descriptive domain at GoDaddy. They've also got some hosting plans that you'll want to consider. For a blog, the Economy Plan should be sufficient. I think they offer WordPress, which is a nice, easy-to-use blogging platform. I'd match the length of my domain registration to the length of the hosting plan. Then, more than anything, you'll just be following instructions. Shouldn't be too difficult.
If a basic blog isn't what you have in mind, let me know what it is you want to do and I can amend my recommendations. But for blogging, I'd say matching domain registration and hosting lengths, WordPress, and why the hell not, sign up for Google AdWords. I've never done anything through them, but I see no reason why GoDaddy can't be your one-stop shop for this thing.
You basically need to decide if you want to go down the hosted option where they do all the technical stuff and you just sign up, or alternatively, organising the hosting yourself and then installing the blogging software. The former is extremely simple but leaves you at the mercy of the provider, whilst the latter gives you more choice but increased headaches from the technical aspects - such as upgrading to the latest versions etc...
jsatt
06-06-2008, 08:52 PM
Ok, I think everyone kind of hitting on this, but we need to know your scope. What are you wanting the site to be? Just a blog or are you going to post media files? I would suggest starting with something cheaper or free if you don't know yet.
I'm cheap so I just use Blogger (http://blogger.com). It gives me my blogging for free and if you know html and css it's easy to make your own templates. You can also setup a domain to it and add Adwords if you want. I also post files to my Google pages site and link them from my Blogger for any media I want to post.
If you don't mind spending a little money, you might check out Wordpress (http://wordpress.com) (don't submit anything to digg) or Typepad (http://typepad.com). Both seem like good options from the reviews I've heard.
My advice to you is, if you truely "have no idea" what you're doing, start cheap, maybe purchase a domain to point to it. Then when you get a better idea what you're doing or gain a following, move on to the more complete hosting and point your domain there.
spiri
06-06-2008, 10:32 PM
If you don't mind spending a little money, you might check out Wordpress (http://wordpress.com) (don't submit anything to digg) or Typepad (http://typepad.com). Both seem like good options from the reviews I've heard.
WordPress.com is free ;)
tm89lee
06-08-2008, 05:58 AM
First of all, you can register yourself to http://blogger.com, from there basically you will get all the essential tools to start a blog and the domain name will have a blogspot.com at the end.
As your site expands, you can opt for a domain name to shorten and get rid of the blogspot.com.... http://godaddy.com offers are quite cheap actually...
To keep track of the visitors to your blog, perhaps you could add some counters, you may google them and you can find a few of them.
All the best bro! :)
jsatt
06-09-2008, 01:33 PM
WordPress.com is free ;)
My misunderstanding, sorry. Still, don't submit anything to digg on it though.
To keep track of the visitors to your blog, perhaps you could add some counters, you may google them and you can find a few of them.
Use Google Analytics (http://google.com/analytics). A lot of great reporting features and no actual counter on the page (that's so 1996).
My misunderstanding, sorry. Still, don't submit anything to digg on it though.
It's fine once you use a page caching plugin, although like any website you'd still need good hosting.