question about how to build this website....

What you could do is create a membership site...

Offer a free 7 day trial...

And then offer a rebill for $X/month or $x/year...

You would upload the forum/vbulletin, etc. script in your members folder, which is password protected and would require the user to enter in a login and password.

The membership site script that I would use is PHP Paysite...pretty expensive but I like the ease and use of it.

I may be wrong but that is how I would go about doing it...

Just make sure your index.html file is accessible to the public in case you have people like me that want to view ads, not necessarily place them.

Oh, and make sure you have a hyperlink on the index.html file for members to login to change their ad, upload audio, edit profile, etc...

Hope this helps.

Pavon

So-- if I did it that way, would people who weren't members be able to view the ads? Because that's a key to making the project work.

Aloha Rebecca

I agree with Pavon that this model is similar to a membership site, and that membership management software (along with a forum or perhaps a wiki script) will be required. However I doubt that you'll be able to put it all together without at least a little custom scripting.

It actually doesn't sound to difficult - your paid users could edit their advertisements and you would store the results in a MySQL database. The front page (which would not be password protected) could simply query the database and display the advertisements.

I would build the site with Joomla or WordPress, both have a selection of membership components or plugins that would satisfy the membership and billing requirements with "off the shelf" software. Then you'd implement some custom code, probably with PHP but Joomla also has a few other options like Facile Forms that could make designing the MySQL database component easier.

By building on a well-supported platform like Joomla or WordPress you'll make maintenance and future upgrades a lot easier - and as a bonus you'll have access to thousands of open source templates and themes that will really decrease the time it takes to put it all together.

If you need any more information or require some custom coding I'd be happy to help.

Best of luck with your project...

Bill

You can actually do this *relatively* easy with Joomla and a free extension called Sobi2 (its a directory)

Sigsiu.NET - Your IT Specialist - Home

I just made a site with these 2 tools

Chicago Public Relations Firm, PR Company Counselor, Chicago Media Relations, Management and Promotions

(its live, so don't post any listings )

Thanks for the suggestions! Would all the above options be automated... meaning after doing the work to build them and get them up, would I have to do anything to keep the website going?

Rebecca

Well, once you have a website, there is always maintenance....

What pay processors allow you to do the above? I usually use paypal-- can you set an autobill on paypal?

Thanks