I want to start an online business, I need all the help I can get pls?

Question

Hi all, I would love to start an on-line bizzo, I want to create it from scratch, by myself as much as possible. My experience in web site stuff is minimal, I understand the concept of coding and such but have no experience at all. In this biz I need to learn how to web program, web design and understand html and all the other things I am more than likely missing. Is there any good free websites to help me learn how to create a website, web programing and all that? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Um, what kind of  business? There's so much to go into, but I'm not sure what your business is... so, basics: Make sure it's legal where you live, think about how you're going to be paid (paypal.com)... keep taxes in mind also.

Make sure you have a good selling point, whatever you plan to do has to be able to draw an audience/customers; the web is a huge place after all, pretty much everything has been done. You should google 'Free tips to starting an online business' or something similar for more information.

Also plan for advertising costs... or for free solutions to start with, hunt for similar sites to yours and see if they'd be willing to slap a link up on their page to yours if you'll do the same for them. Free banner exchanges are good, webrings too.

As for coding:

If you're new to all types of coding, the basics is the best place to start I think. There's so much more out there beyond HTML, but honestly, knowing HTML first makes it easier to learn the others.... at least it did for me. I tried jumping into other things first and couldn't get it.

Could have just been me though; everyone learns in his/her own way.

I recommend Lisa Explains It All:

http://lissaexplains.com/

Start in the HTML learning area and work your way up. After that check out http://www.w3schools.com for more.

Lisa's site is for kids, but it gives a great intro to using HTML

I guess you could skip HTML and go right to the XHTML codes to learn, as XHTML is basically just a cleaned up version of HTML, but it's always best to start at the beginning so you truly understand.

After XHTML move on to CSS, and then PHP. After learning the first two you should definitely be able to understand how coding works enough to be able to choose what you wanna learn next, but I personally recommend going for PHP next. Just my opinion.

For web designing you'll also need a graphics program; Photoshop is the best, it has tons of options, but it costs a lot. For free solutions check out these programs:

Paint.NET:

http://www.download.com/Paint-NET/3000-2...

Pixia 3.3 (it supports Photoshop plug-ins):

http://www.download.com/Pixia/3000-2192_...

GIMP:

http://www.download.com/GIMP/3000-2192_4...

Serif's Photo Plus & DrawPlus software can be found here:

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/

Out of all those I use Paint.NET and Serif the most, but many people swear by the others... so you'll have to test these for yourself.

For a free animations program there's Beneton Movie GIF:

http://www.download.com/Beneton-Movie-GI...

Also be on the lookout for 'free royalty free stock photos, icons, fonts, brushes, and vector images' - they come in handy when making new logo's and other graphics.

Here's two good sites for stock photos:

http://www.imageafter.com

http://www.morguefile.com

Answer 2

Ok if your want the basics, the simplest way is to use google,

the type of text you would want in the search would include beginner html tutorial, also you can type something like "code html website tutorial", html tutorial, how to build a site tutorial.

a good website that you may find useful though is...

http://www.w3schools.com/

you can learn alot there.

If you will sell online use paypal and use ebay as a starting point by linking your site to ebay and site to paypal.

good luck

Answer 3

You need domain and webhosting to make a website. Hostmonster webhosting is the best one since they offer unlimited bandwidth , free domain and $75 credits to advertise your website with the google & yahoo search engines for free  with their webhosting

http://www.hostmonster.com/track/hostmon...

Answer 4

first of all what sort of business but that can wait

you have hit on a key html is a must but majority for sites now require much more(server code) for example php \.net or java all 3 of these are completly free to download and .net and java have very good ide's integrated development envroments meaning coding is a lot easier since the software helps you

i would advice on .net since its the format i know most about altho java and php are also very good

a ide can be downloaded from

http://www.microsoft.com/express/downloa...

visual web developer

and toutrials can be found in many places there are video toutrials which really help since you can see exacly what to do

.net allows you to write in both c# and vb.net c# i prefer but the one you pick is up to u

http://www.asp.net/LEARN/videos/

there is a video guide to .net its pretty much complete it covers nearly every thing

php

if you do choice php

http://www.php.net/downloads.php

theres the site with all the downloads on and documentation

http://www.php.net/manual/en/

java

has a very good ide called netbeans which allows you to create websites in

http://www.netbeans.org/

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the reason i pick these 3 is the fact they are not compatible with each other (apart from apletes in java) where as things such as java script,css , flash and so on can be integrated with all of them

html is the bases of nearly all sites its used not as a language as such more as a document postioner for places things you want such as pictures links so on

http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/

you may want to mix for example a lot of sites are writen in asp.net but have a lot of flash objects on them which makes the site look a lot nicer and gives a more interactive feel instead of a static page however for buisness usally plain and bland is the best thing to go with since it runs on any pc

puttin things such as flash on your site could limit the amount of people that can few it since it requires a seprate install of flash and altho flash works on every os there still quite a few people that has not got it installed same with java not server code but aplets if you have java aplets on your page 1s again people may not be able to view them since you have to install java to view these and systems do not always come with it preinstalled altho its simple to install some of your market might not

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to business

ok first of all please be aware most business fail this is due to a number of reasons

1

the internet is extreamly huge you make a website how are people gonna know about it ,  advertsing costs money serious money

2

many people say u require a unique selling point this is rubbish whats the diffrence between sainsburys and tescos nothing but both work but you do need a way of making people come to you this can be a usp , or cheaper than the rivals , or somthing of that nature such as deliverys  

2.1 make sure you accept all forms of payment to help your market , paypal or world pay is good

3

is what your doing able to be done on a national \ international scale have you got contracts in place to get the product to the consumer for example if your selling items using post can be expensive and take a long time but its not worth sign a contract with a delivery company untill you have a lot of orders

4 legal

are there laws around your products not just in the country \state your in but the country \state you rent your server from and the people you deliver to

tax

i wont go in to it but tax is a big issue

insurance

depending on where the site is run and what it sells you may do

alot of things to think about

i hope this helps

Answer 5

As you may know a domain name is just a name, not a real website. If you are going to create your website: 1- Buy a domain name. To get a domain name, you have to pay an annual fee to a registrar for the right to use that name. 2- Buy a web hosting service to provide your online space and enable you to get your website online at your purchased domain name.

If you want to start your business website I recommend purchase your domain and hosting together. In this way it is possible to get your domain for free. Some hosting services offer this gift today. They also offer "Free Site Builder" that helps you build your web pages without difficulty if you are not skilled in using any website creating program. (WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get). Some of these companies also offer hundreds of various customizable templates.

Take a look at: http://www.threehosts.com/business There you can reach the three reputable companies that are leaders in the E-commerce web hosting industry.

You can also refer to the following links to get useful information regarding your question:

http://www.goldpuma.com

http://www.goldpuma.com/answers.html

If you’re going to start your ecommerce website with GoldPuma, you must select their Deluxe Web Hosting Package (Not economy package which is suitable for personal websites). You can take a look at their “Marketing Tools” menu to get useful information regarding their ecommerce products.

Hope this helps.