Need some advice :)

[Chaser]

Here we go..! I had an idea for a neat website concept, I wont unviel what im looking at doing but its something i'm sure a lot of gamers would be interested in visiting not only for gaming news and ect but out of shear boredom, It's something i've seen done, sort of, but not very well.

I ask simply because I have extremely limited web design knowledge (took a web design class in highschool but that was 5 years ago.) I'm not sure how much it would cost to hire someone to build a functional site for me with members signups and forums / ect.. the forums part I could handle since most forums are fairly easy to actually build and link to the site.

Does anyone know how I would actually go about getting a website into design / the kind of money I can be expecting to shell out for advertising, domain hosting, web designer, and any other costs I may be unaware of?

Any feedback would be great, and if the site ever goes into the works i'll be sure to let the jett community know about it first.

[[Jett]-OMEGA]

Our buddy [Jett]-Pauper just so happens to be into the website design business. Talk to him and he can give you a realistic dollar amount you will have to bring to the table to make what you want happen. For the more advanced uber web coding you can talk to [Jett]-XgrinderX, though he has a large back log. There are others that have the capability to do what you want around here but many are poor on the long term follow through.

In the end you have to look at this idea as a 2nd job. If you don't treat it as such you won't get anything from it.

[Chaser]

Yea I realize that anything I do (at least for the first little while) will require me to run pretty much two jobs, I can only imagine what it would take since I ran a guild (much like this one but smaller) when I started wow, and even with only 50 active members it took unbelievable amounts of time, I just hope the starting amount isn't out of my "willing to lose if things dont work" range. :) Thanks for the help omegi

[[Jett]-Willow]

I am a working LAMP(Linux Apache MySql PHP) developer as is... RollingRock... we do alot of work together.

As for budget.................
$10 for domain
$10 or so a month for hosting
Advertising will vary based on what kind of advertising you do.... figure anywhere from $50 a month up to whatever you want to spend.

Web Design is cheap.... I as well as many others can spit out a layout in a few days, or less, and that can run you anywhere from $75 for a ready made template up to whatever you want to pay. Generally speaking a custom layout will run you $150 - $300 depending on what you want done.

Where the costs add up is in custom coding. Many US based coders charge $45/hr and up, you can look for Indians or Pakistanians who will do it for $10 - $20 an hour, but the communication is lacking.

If you want to talk more about it, I'd definetly be interested in doing some work. PM me with what you're looking for if you'd like, and we can talk more.

[[Jett]-RollingRock]

wow thanks for the snub omega

as willow says there are many factors that can go into the cost based on what exactly you want to do. if it's something that's complex and yuo don't want to do it yourself then it will cost you. however if you just have a sweet idea for a website's content and don't really need anything fancy then it doesn't have to be too bad.

[Chaser]

Rock im going to send you the same PM that i sent willow just now if I can find it, its pretty detailed as to what im wanting to do.

[[Jett]-Pauper]

Rock im going to send you the same PM that i sent willow just now if I can find it, its pretty detailed as to what im wanting to do.

Stay with them homie, they are cheaper than me. My site builds come with Content Manangement built in so you can change your own content quickly and easily, but it will cost you a little bit more than there prices. Then again if you want a site built and running smoothly in 10 business day that you can mange afterwards, you can contact me. www.visualwebdesigns.net.

[[Jett]-RollingRock]

why would we be cheaper?

[[Jett]-Pauper]

-RollingRock;1684']why would we be cheaper?
Because our base price is $500 just to start for a 4-5 page site ;)

[[Jett]-RollingRock]

depending on the complexity level of the backend used to do whatever someone wanted that number would be well on the light side.

granted if someone just wanted a simple and for the most part static site with a simple CMS to do stuff with it would not take very long and of course woudn't be near that number. hell a case of beer would probably be payment enough. :D

[Chaser]

Pauper, is there any more information I can get from you, if you would like I can forward you my web idea and see if you can give me a quote. I have a coder and ect but he can manage it for me after its made.

Basically i'm not opposed to dropping decent amounts of money as long as the site is fully functional for what I want and need.

[Chaser]

Alright everyone, a little update....

I got the site domain, and its hosted currently. I've already spoken with several developers about my idea and all including one of the microsoft community managers were excited with the idea and wanted to see it followed through with.

The site is http://www.betagamers.net

It has only been under construction for a few days but we have our forums and ect waiting to go.

What I do need is someone who may be better than myself with macromedia or photoshop to throw me together a decent border with buttons, links, logo, and a banner.

Anyone here who would be willing to take some time to throw me something together post here or email me at Chase@betagamers.net

[Kallell]

How does your site compare to betaleaks and betawatcher?

[Chaser]

First off.. I did see both of those sites when doing my research. Even after spending hours looking they were pretty much the only two sites doing what I wanted to do.

That being said both sites want to do the same thing I wanted to do. I figured out of the millions of gamers out there having only 2 competitors to begin with were pretty freaking good odds.

Now to answer your question kall. Betaleaks is an incredibly ugly site, its hard to follow, it doesnt provide a clean interface at all and it appears to be poorly managed. My site (hopefully) will be much cleaner, much easier to follow, and provide calenders and news posts to alert people of upcoming betas.

Betawatchers I feel didn't do the type of research that I did, they "want to get beta keys that they themselves can distribute." Honestly, that was the same idea I pitched to willow but upon contacting developers of several small companies as well as a one or two major ones, I found that all of these companies were extremely hesistant to hand out keys to sites like this simply because they want to control the EULA and hold users to their contracts. Non -disclosure agreements make betawatchers idea virtually impossible.

When I found that out my idea shifted to more of a news site for gaming much like gamespy, ign, ect.. with exception of betas will be the main priority instead of actual releases.

Going into this head first I have come to realize that between these two sites (there may be more out there but they were so hard to find its not even worth mentioning) I have almost no competition as long as I do this right, and do it professionally.

I hope that answered your question buddy.