Idea: starting a website.

So the best ideas tend to hit you all at once. Tonight at work, while on my lunch break I had a freakin' Vegas strip sized light bulb go off in my head, and it involves opening a niche website.

Basically, short of buying a "Websites for Dummies" kind of book, how does one go about starting and operating a website? I know they are pretty much a business, technically considered a sort of e-commerce, although I don't plan on selling items per se from this place.

Anyone here got any recommendations on where to begin?

I used to build and develop sites as an actual licensed business. In the last two years the freemium site builders (such as 1and1) have pushed almost all of us out of the market. You use a big company like them to buy the name and use their free software (which is stupid easy to use) to setup the site. Extra features or ad free costs a little $.

I have had two to promote my business. The first was cheap and put together by a computer tecchie and the new improved was over 6 times the price and put together by a business development company. And worth every penny. You get what you pay for.

My web site costs $99/year and has more than enough space that I'd never use it all. The software is totally easy to use and they've since created numerous tools to help people market better. My web site Homestead web site I created it back when they first started and it was free. The $99/yr has become an unnecessary drain and I'm letting it lapse this year (it's something I did for fun, not for commerce) but I have no complaint whatsoever with the hosting company. They provide tracking info so you can see the number of daily hits and where they come from along with a lot of other statistics. It's all I've ever used so can't debate it's merits vs other sites.

This thread has my interest as I had a similar light bulb a while back. I want to ad another question that would potentially add to the OP rather than threadjack.

How do you incorporate the website with a mobile one and with an app for a smartphone? I've never USED a smartphone app, so I'd have no clue, but these days for commerce, it seems to matter.

I put up a site for our business on Yahoo. I'd never done a site before, but it was very simple with their templates. I know a pro would have done a much better job, and when we get to that point I'll contact someone for help, but this allowed me to get a site up ASAP for cheap.

Edit: it's gossetts.com for reference.

I have a small website for my personal amusement. The software available today makes it much easier to do than it was 15 years ago.

Well, this website would be the business. So I guess it's more of a blog, although blog posts wouldn't be it's primary function. What I was looking for was a place that I could update when I need, not expect some web guy to update it when he gets around to it.

I told SWMBO that it would cost me around $100 a year, then she said "Honey, I love you, but no."

THE STORY OF MY LIFE!!!

BoostedBrandon wrote: Well, this website would be the business. So I guess it's more of a blog, although blog posts wouldn't be it's primary function. What I was looking for was a place that I could update when I need, not expect some web guy to update it when he gets around to it. I told SWMBO that it would cost me around $100 a year, then she said "Honey, I love you, but no." THE STORY OF MY LIFE!!!

For a user updatable website you are looking for a content management system. Most web hosting you would get for $8-10/mo comes with an automatic installer for Joomla, Wordpress or Drupal. This is the sort of package that you are looking for and google can answer the differences between them on their strength at fulfilling your requirements.

Joomla is what I have used most because it is easy to get up, running and set up a store. If I needed more blog - Wordpress. They are all arcane and have a bit of a learning curve but there is plenty of forum help and a few books written on the subject to get you competent.

As far as the missus... you did that wrong. You don't tell her until after it's up and running. Then you say "I did all that for only $0.27 per day!"

My website is mainly for me showing off the things I do, and references and resources for my students.

http://www.gwellwood.com

My first version was done in WordPerfect HTML editor.

Then re-done in Netscape Composer.

Then, because I am a control freak, I learned HTML code and did it all in Notepad.

Now, since there are SO MANY pages to update with wee changes, I made the switch to WordPress.

Beware the meanie WordPress hackers out there. There are security plugins that work well, and backup the site frequently.

Google ads pay for most of the site costs.