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Shelling out for a pro site... Now or later?

by nellterry
6 replies
Hey Warriors,

Quick question. I've been working on stuff for my niche site in between my writing work, and I'm saving up for a professionally designed website with a forum included. The site is currently a WordPress blog (with my own domain hosted on HostGator). I plan on putting an Aweber opt-in form on the front page once I have more of my content on the site (not much there yet).

I got a quote from a professional web designer for $1200. Should I use the money I've saved and shell out for this?? Or should I just go forward with my site as-is and keep adding great content, add the opt-in form, and start building my list now, then buy the pro site after I'm turning a profit? I want it to look great, and I want to add a forum, but I'm a writer, not a web designer, so....

Advice appreciated!

Thanks
#niche site #pro #shelling #site #web design #website
  • Profile picture of the author wfhblueprints
    Originally Posted by nellterry View Post

    Hey Warriors,

    Quick question. I've been working on stuff for my niche site in between my writing work, and I'm saving up for a professionally designed website with a forum included. The site is currently a WordPress blog (with my own domain hosted on HostGator). I plan on putting an Aweber opt-in form on the front page once I have more of my content on the site (not much there yet).

    I got a quote from a professional web designer for $1200. Should I use the money I've saved and shell out for this?? Or should I just go forward with my site as-is and keep adding great content, add the opt-in form, and start building my list now, then buy the pro site after I'm turning a profit? I want it to look great, and I want to add a forum, but I'm a writer, not a web designer, so....

    Advice appreciated!

    Thanks
    Hey Nell!

    Personally I wouldn't shell out for a "Professional webdesigner".

    I don't know exactly what you want but there are some damn sexy looking wordpress themes available and I am certain that if there is nothing you like you can get a theme and forum installed and made for way less than $1200 if you outsource the project to something like odesk or guru.com.

    Hope this helps...

    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author Augie Johnston
    DO NOT SPEND THAT MONEY! Do not....period Here is what I recommend.

    Since you have a WP site allready it is super easy to add a forum and whatever else you need using plugins and stuff. As far as the appearance. Just google some new themes. I am 100% positive you can find one you like. Just youtube how to install it if you dont know how.

    For the forum:
    Just spend some time learning and you can do it all yourself with wordpress. I know 0 PHP and HTML and I have a wordpress blog with social netowrk, paid membership, forum, and more. Just use and google plugins for your needs.

    Augie
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  • Profile picture of the author YasirYar
    I agree one hundred percent with Chris. Trust me, there is a LOT you can do with 1200 dollars. You can make Wordpress look very fancy for a mere fraction of the cost. There are thousands of freelancers available on vWorker.com: How work gets done. Guaranteed! and www.odesk.com to do that for you at minimal rates, and the people with good ratings on these sites do a great job.

    This new webpage sounds like an unnecessary spending of a large amount of money and I wouldn't recommend it, specially if you are not making a profit on it at the moment. Focus on making more money from the site first and if you feel it really has the potential to take off, then consider such a big project.

    Best of luck either way
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    • Profile picture of the author nellterry
      Thanks so much for your replies. I've looked around online for Wordpress themes before, but I've seen on Warrior Forum that many can be buggy or contain viruses... Any tips for the best places to find themes that are easy to use and manipulate without knowing much code? I've looked at StudioPress and a couple of others, but it seems like you would need to know web design to make them look good. Anyone have experience with this?
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      • Profile picture of the author YasirYar
        Originally Posted by nellterry View Post

        Thanks so much for your replies. I've looked around online for Wordpress themes before, but I've seen on Warrior Forum that many can be buggy or contain viruses... Any tips for the best places to find themes that are easy to use and manipulate without knowing much code? I've looked at StudioPress and a couple of others, but it seems like you would need to know web design to make them look good. Anyone have experience with this?
        StudioPress is a good place to find great themes. You're right, if you have no idea at all about web development, you should not attempt to do this on your own. You can outsource it for a tiny amount to a competent person across the world through any outsourcing marketplace. A lot of guys on these sites are professionals who have done hundreds of customizations
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  • Profile picture of the author pdrs
    What do you hope to gain by spending $1200?

    Personally I don't see any benefit to spending that kind of money. Installing a forum for free is VERY easy - just google phpBB and you can have a forum up and running in minutes. If you want to do some membership stuff you can add s2member as a wordpress plugin (again free) and it does a great job of basic membership stuff.

    Want a more polished look? Buy thesis or a million other great looking themes out there (try themeforest). $1200 is quite a bit of dough and there is no way I'd spend it all on one website unless I knew that it was going to provide a great ROI.
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