Tips For A New Website Owner?

[sharkhead7854]

Well I have a free mini site on webs.com here or here because my account on youtube has gotten moderately popular (over 8.2k subscribers). Right after telling people on YouTube about the site through a video, almost 40 people joined so I know this can be big. I'm making a site dedicated to helping people draw and having a community to share artwork, kind of like the purpose of the 405th mixed with Deviantart.com lol.
After I get enough members I want to get a paid subscription for the site to make it my own and be able to REALLY customize it. Can anyone give advise to a new site owner? Any at all would be appreciated, whether it be on web designing, or how to manage the site, and everything in between.

 

[CommanderFluffy]

hows it going... wel from my experience working on at leist 40 sites and forums webs was originally free webs if i remeber correctly. they are a good site to go out and do things if you have no cash. but setting up anything paid myst go to them in some way.. all the ads on your site wil be theirs and you see no cash from it.

sure the site will be sucess full if you keep your members/readers comming back wanting more... so videos and regular updates are key. atleist a weekly update or a really active forum. if you want to see money come out of the venture move to a fully dedicated site with your own hosting. add advertisements and paid member sections and the list can go on from their.

also note. if on webs.com you are a subdomain so if they skim over your site and dont like what you did or are planning on doing they will start to delete things or suspend your account and the game is over for you.

sorry if im being a bit blunt and harsh but you dont own a website till you buy a domain and your own hosting. yup i said it BUY your own stuff... till then nothing on any fre site is ever yours in the firstplace.

 

[sharkhead7854]

Oh I know, the point of the topic is for advice when I DO own a website. Right now I don't, it's only a free account with ads all over it. But when I get enough members I WILL be owning a domain.

After I get enough members I want to get a paid subscription for the site ---->to make it my own<----

And I will be posting plenty of new videos, along with my moderating team. Also, Google Adsense will be on my site. I won't be paying anything for the domain already because of Adsense on my YouTube account. I make more than enough on YouTube to host my own site, so I'll own a site AND make profit (plus whatever comes in from google on the site itself).
Don't apologize for being blunt/harsh, that's the way I need to hear things if I'm going to be able to handle an entire site.

 

[CommanderFluffy]

well then thats all good to hear!

now onto the stuff i left out.

when you start a full site people get their domain and hsoting. and what not but the other thing alot of people forget is the design and what application you are going to use on thier sites.

for example 405th.com is run on 2 systems. the front page is wordpress blogging format and the forum system is a paid system called invison boards... all good eh?

well the team here on the 405th includeing the designer for the 405h front page vexona she has done a wonderfull job skinning the systems to make them have a 405th feel.

for websites that i use i costomize and template a system called joomla witch is free then i use a forum system called vbulliten. both can be meshed together to have the same members work on two fronts. you can also add an ecomerce store and much more. alot of times people need a little extra help with moderation and staff. if something doesnt go rite or an arguement hapens you cant just kick them off the moderating team. unless they start useing power they have unjustly so keep your trust in them.

and now i had something else i was going to say but i have completely forgot it now. ill post it later if i forget. but it sounds like you are planning your website experience very well from start to completion.

 

[sharkhead7854]

Thanks for the insight, I'll be sure to check out those systems!
For templates someone has suggested a program called "DreamWeaver", any input on that?

 

[CommanderFluffy]

ahh adobe dreamweaver is a web codeing program that can help with templates, html, php, and css. some websites use it but it doesnt make the websites for you. its just a really fansy notepad html coder with colors and dropdowns when your codeing. its very usefull i use it for codeing html and php.