Website - Getting Started

Where Do I Begin

If you are serious about an affiliate business or a business online, you should develop a website. In the early beginnings of affiliate marketing you could easily advertise your information about a product or service without a website, now it's a slim possibility. With that being said, where do your begin?

The type of website you build will be dependent upon your idea/passion. If you're going to have a lot of content around a specific niche-you have a niche content site. Or maybe, you're looking at becoming an e-commerce store owner-than you'll have an e-commerce site. And for the ambitious, you want an authority site that it constantly relevant and is loved by the search engines. Below is a quick rundown of the types of websites and what you may need to think about, when building the site.

Types of Websites

NICHE CONTENT SITE

A niche content site is based around a theme that was inspired by one's knowledge and passion.

However, some have researched a topic, identified whether is has a wide base of topics and learned about the topic as they were creating their website. This is a more time consuming approach to getting online, but if you like to research than you should consider it.

What is important to the niche website--relevant content. Once you have the content you can add revenue producing advertising; Such as: affiliate programs, Adsense, or other third party advertising services.

AUTHORITY SITE

What is an authority site? An authority site consists of these main characteristics.

Quality, relevant content
Been online for some time (3+ years)
Lots of hard work and planning
A trusted site

An authority site takes a long time to build. But...if that is the direction you want to go with your website, then the planning should start when you are beginning to layout your website design. If you do it well, you'll have the search engines, traffic and advertisers coming to you.

E-COMMERCE

An E-commerce website can give you a presence online, as well as, a ready market, without a brick and mortar building for people to look at your products. However, an e-commerce site does require some standard elements.

1. Storefront should have logos and graphics
2. Links to product details
3. Shopping cart
4. Payment Gateway
5. Quality Customer Service
6. 800-number, contact number, or email contact

I've just skimmed over the basics of what you need to be thinking about when constructing your e-commerce website. Though it may seem simple, don't be fooled-it's not.

Once you have the type of website you want to build, it's time to get a website-which means getting a hosting service.

Web Hosting- What should your minimum requirement be?

You will find that web hosting is every competitive, thus, they come in many price ranges to meet everyone's needs. But there are some minimum requirements that you should consider.

Does it offer customer service 24/7?

Enough bandwidth for increased traffic

Email Accounts -- At least 3, more is definitely better, especially if you want to use autoresponders (More and more are going with unlimited).

Does it supply you with traffic stats?

Does the hosting packages provide room for your site to grow?

Is the price reasonable?

Does the company have a good record of server uptime?

Does it offer a variety of website templates (for those will no HTML experience).

Are the support people fast and helpful and is the support reachable.

For those not experienced with HTML do they offer a WYSIWYG program to get you up and running quickly

For those that have programming experience, is there asp, php capabilities.

Cron jobs- As your business grows, cron capabilities will come in handy. Cron capabilities allows you to schedule procedures automatically on your website

Final Thoughts on Web Hosting

Each person has a different need. Think about your needs now and in the future. Does the service allow expansion, and if you need to expand-is the service affordable.

When you look for a service, look at their capabilities and their limitations. Such As:

If you're planning a big site, or you're wanting to use Flash-make sure how many files they allow you on the account. You don't want to find your website suddenly shut down, with the web hosting service asking for more money to bring your site back on line because you have gone over the maximum limit.
Is the price you are paying a "promo" price? If it is, ask what the regular price is, if it is not listed.
Most people are broad-sided by the cost, or the fact that the web host is not giving them what they expected. Never assume, they are going to offer anything for free. Or naively, assume that certain services are available, just because you seen another web hosting service has those certain services. Best bet is to check their website out. See what they offer, and if you don't see something listed, or you have questions, ASK. For instance, do they offer streaming audio/video on all their different web hosting offerings? Or do they offer streaming audio/video at all? By asking, and leaving nothing to the imagination, you can lessen surprises.
Match your needs to the web host capabilities. What do I mean? If you are going to have a simple HTML website then you can assume you will only make simple demands on the hosting service. However, if you are going to have a more interactive site, with forums, discussion groups, or you get large bursts of traffic, you will need a hosting service that can handle these needs upfront.

Web Hosting Examples

HostGator Web Hosting - HostGator offers three different plans: Baby, Hatchling and Business. Pricing: You can choose: Monthly, 1 year, 2 year, or 3 year. Note: The longer the plan the lower the price.

Cons: Not many extra features, no Web 2.0 features

Pros: Solid web hosting service, with good customer service and competitive pricing.

FatCow Web Hosting. Free Trial , Free Setup, Free Support – All risk free!
- FatCow offers honest, quality customer service. They provide shared web hosting solutions for small to medium business and individuals looking for affordable web hosting services.

Con: For those sites wanting to move their site to FatCow-think again. Though many services offer this to their customers, FatCow does not.

Pro: The pro to using FatCow is, they have great customer service, eco-friendly, and reasonably priced.

Next: Building Your Website Basics
Domains and Subdomains Facts

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