I decided I wanted to make a personal web site, but unfortunately I lack the know how to make one so I used a free hosting service called webs.com. First off, has anyone used this service and have an opinion good or bad. So far I'm pretty pleased with it, but I still have a lot of work to do. My thought was to use it as a personal "just for fun" web site, but maybe later, thinking years, down the line I could earn a little money with it. I thought it would be pretty satisfied to earn a few dollars for weekend fun. I'm interested to know what people think of the type of content I'm trying to focus on. My goal is armature opinions on current events. I like to talk about controversial issues, but in a mature way. I want to avoid the forum conversation which ultimately turns into a "who can insult the other more" challenge. I included a forum so I would like to keep that as active as possible, but by no means want to take away contributors from other forums. Well, let me know what you think, I'm included the site in my signature. Thanks
looks like you are off to a good start. Now the learning really begins. There is so much to learn about building the back end of websites, and even more after that with getting it picked up by search engines so people can find your page. But learning is part of the fun.
Hiya Tim (that's your name, right?) As Wanderer says, you're off to a good start, as a blogger myself, here are a few of my own suggestions (Anything I say is to help to improve your site, not the opposite): Writing - Your content is good, and that's the first step, but you need to work on layout/formatting. 1) Walls of text aren't pleasing to read, try splitting it up into a few paragraphs (with white space in between). 2) Stick to one colour of text, and preferably not fluorescent blue or green. A grey or black colour would be much more pleasing and easier to read. Forum - Starting a forum on a blog is a good idea, but personally I wouldn't have done it from the beginning. You're very unlikely to get any activity there for a while, if I were in your shoes I'd take it off for now, and promote comments on the posts instead of the forum. Members - Do you need a members area? Again, I don't think this will be used much, but is it just there to let people sign up for the forum? I'm not just saying all that from personal opinion, I've been part of an active blogging forum for a while where reviews are often done, and these are some common things to be said. I'll leave it there for now, and I know I haven't said much 'This is really great' here, but I wanted to cut out the fluff and give you constructive criticism. Whether you take it on board or not - I wish you the best of blogging success About the 'unfortunately I lack the know how to make one', I could help you out, if you're interested. I've had a fair amount of experience with setting up blogs and websites, and you don't need the knowledge of code to do it (mine's fairly limited). I'm not interested in charging you, but if you wanted a self-hosted website with your own domain name and possibly a premium theme, then you'd have some overheads. Anyway, I hope I've provided you with something valuable, if not then give me a shout and I can try to rectify that - Nick
I'll second some of the thoughts on forums. Building forums is very hard work and very time consuming. Even SV, which has been around for 8+ years has swings in member activity. In the past there have been weeks with 100s of posts and 50-100 members posting, other times it can be 15-20 posts a week. so don't get discouraged, but realize that people have to find your page first before they can sign up. And to find it it needs to be indexed in a search engine, or you have to invite people. To be indexed you are going to need good content and a little knowledge of SEO. Building a blog and forum can happened quickly, but for most it is years in the making a lot of work.
Yep, your site is for sure to a good start. Which site do you folks recommend for paid advertisement?
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to be slowly making some changes of the format and adding some content. Its going to take some time just because I don't have much of it. I have added a little more content since I started this post. One thing I am going to avoid is plastering it full of adds. I want it to be fun and desirable to visit, but then maybe have just a couple adds to liven it up a little and maybe yes, i'll admit it....make some money. Since my lack of experince, for now i'm going to rely on word of mouth to bring people in so spread the word please. I would like to start some good conversations.
Adsense and commission junction are the only two that I have found to be useful. I've also used Amazon.
Site is going well, I changed the name, not sure why but the otherone just didn't seem to fit me, You know when something just does not feel right. I changed it in my signature to the new name. I'm having alot of fun with it. I've devoted it to expressing my opinions and views of ideas, but not in some crazy off the wall way. I hope to be able to spread it around to get as many viewers because there are so many life altering topics to be discussed now. I touch on some controversal topics, but I don't want to start any arguments, even the most debatable topics can be discussed without arguements.
Hi Live4it I really like the idea that you have for your website as I am also interested in what is happening in the world around us. Anyway, you asked about what people think of your website and I have a few suggestions that I think would help you: Home page – Every brand has some kind of picture or text style that sets it a part from other brands. This not only allows people to recognise the brand but also helps to make it look good. As they say ‘first impressions count’, and your ‘Home’ page is the first impression that your audience will notice about your website (brand). It would also be nice to see the two banners at the top have hyperlinks to them, so that your audience can click through to their website source if they so wish to do so. This is also true of some of your other pictures on this page. For example, the cycling picture could link to another page for your site, like your blog! About page – Reading this page I know how you feel about not wanting to share pictures of yourself, but for your website to grab peoples attention, it is important to share at least one picture as this would help to make it stand out more if there were a couple of pictures and maybe a video. These could be one of your activities. However this page has a lot of informative content. Blog page – Wow, lots of content here! But don’t forget to incorporate pictures for each of your topics. People love to see pictures as it helps them connect with the valuable content within your blog posts. For example, Pinterest is nothing but pictures, and is becoming very popular with online surfers. You could also have a few videos within some of your blogs too. This will make it stand out more and grab the reader’s attention. And, maybe bring the font size up a little bit too! Forum page – This is a nice touch that when marketed to your audience will serve you well and it also has the potential to become monetized with banner ads. Chronicles page – Very powerful wording here, but again use pictures to help make a point of what you are saying here. Your audience will associate your words to the picture/s. Pictures as they say can speak a thousand words. Overall your website has a lot of potential to not only give value to those following it/you, but it also has the potential for you to monetize. If you would like a recommendation of website building platforms, then my suggestions would be either ‘Mrsite’ or better still ‘Wordpress’. Anyway, I hope you found all of this of interest and I wish you every success in the development of your website . To Your Success :cheers: P.S You are right, the world is changing and it is up to all of us to help bring value to each other in the best positive way we know how. Your website, your brand (you) are part of bringing real important positive change, so thank you for sharing!
If you mean advertising a website, then I would create a Facebook page dedicated to the website in question, then share (back-link) content from the website on your dedicated Facebook page and then advertise that dedicated Facebook page actually on Facebook PPC (pay per click). But remember to research the demographics of people who visit your website for a more targeted Facebook PPC campaign. Try Facebook PPC for a day or even a week (as cheaply as you can) just to see how well the Facebook page works. To Your Success :cheers:
If you have a month then take the time to run through "31 Days to a Better Blog" by Darren Rowse (the guy who runs problogger). Each day takes about an hour (some a little longer), but will have a HUGE impact overall.
It's really something new way of thinking. These days everyone is tired with their routine works, if there will be a website to share fun that would be great.
I like your website. Have you created it by yourself? I also need to create an online store, but I'm not sure I can do it myself. My friend recommended me ux design firms. I'm thinking of contacting them to create an online store for me. Have you heard anything about them? How to choose the right company for this job?
It's quite interesting. If you need any help or want to add something more specific and complex, I can recommend you, one good team of professional developers, they will be happy to help you for sure. See here, for example, if you finally decide to add a store https://eulerr.com/project/cat/web-e-commerce/ . You may see some examples on their portfolio.
You have a good site. Only I would change the navigation on the site a little. If you want to update your design, then I advise you how to save money if you created a site based on Magento, here https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/magento-coupons/mirasvit-coupon.html you will find a discount coupon for the purchase of various applications, extensions and design themes. This will help you make your site more convenient for visitors and make the site more modern.
