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Help! I want to get a website built

by Entreprenette
10 replies
Hi all, I am a newbie and have spent the last 6 weeks teaching myself the basics of how to get a web page live, squeeze pages, downloads, ebooks, videos, autoresponders etc etc. My squeeze page should be live by the end of this week, so I'm very excited!


I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I want to get a membership site built with a forum etc. From what I've learned about building sites so far (the basics), it is my belief that the design element and basic content is quite easy. The bits I don't understand are the membership element, the forum side of it and e-commerce (needed later, not yet).


I have posted this as a job on elance and have had various bids come back for anywhere between $250 - $500, but I was reading a blog last night and the guy I was reading about said he got his from membergate which is $3995. Firstly right now I don't have $3995 to spend. Not even close, but I'm wondering why the bids I've had back are so cheap.


I've written a full brief and the bids contain all the elements I want and their example sites look good, but it's very difficult to know which ones to go with and whether they are going to do a decent job.


So friends, am I worrying unnecessarily, for $500 should I just go for it with one of them and see how I go? Have any of you guys had websites built for less that $750 (about my top budget on this at the moment) and if so have you got suppliers you recommend?


P.S It's a wordpress based site I'm looking at. What's your opinion wordpress or joomla?


Thanks in anticipation of your help and advice - a brand new warrior forum user!


Jo
#built #website
  • Profile picture of the author im666
    It's a bit difficult getting a grip on exactly what you're after, but if all you want is a wordpress site and a forum, you can do it all yourself in under an hour with very little necessary skill.

    Just get some cheap PHP hosting space with Fantastico! installed.

    You can install Wordpress/Joomla and a forum virtually with the click of a button.

    These days it's generally far cheaper to simply use an existing package than have someone build you something from scratch.

    And imo Wordpress is far preferrable to Joomla, especially if you're a newbie.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mao Flynn
    If you are an absolute newbie then the best 'point and click' software I use for instant site creation is Instant Site Launcher

    If its membership site you are looking for then the Butterfly Marketing Script which is not being given away for FREE is well worth your consideration.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mao Flynn
    My apologies an error in my previous email, Butterfly Marketing Software is worth $2000 but it is now being given away for FREE
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  • Profile picture of the author Underground SEO
    I would completely agree with "Mao Flynn" and "theimdude", buy the wso or better still get the butterfly marketing script. Personally I would avoid those freelancer websites due to numerous scammers frequenting them. That wso would probably be a good place to start, but honestly do not spend $750, save that for advertising or whatever else you want, you can achieve what you want so much cheaper with the above options.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    You could build a very nice Wordpress membership blog with WishList Member plugin. I use it and it's a dynamite membership plugin for Wordpress. That's not a forum solution ... just the solution I like.
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  • Profile picture of the author LivingCovers
    I'm trying my hands out on Joomla and this platform is so awesome that it has all the components (membership club, forums...etc) on one spot and with matching themes too. I love JOOMLA!
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by LivingCovers View Post

      I'm trying my hands out on Joomla and this platform is so awesome that it has all the components (membership club, forums...etc) on one spot and with matching themes too. I love JOOMLA!
      I love Joomla also. Kind of a higher learning curve for many people though. I gave up building Joomla sites for flipping because the support issues were a bear. People wanting me to teach them Joomla from the ground up, just to be able to administer the site.
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      • Profile picture of the author PaulBaranowski
        Hey Jo:-)

        Let me tell you'd take a greater benefit from people in here if you'd copied the full job you posted onto eLance. That way,we'd see all the features you need and could at least roughly estimate what would be a fair price.

        Otherwise,I'll approach your question from my perspective as someone who happened to build/order/broker lots of website.
        I would not say "don't spend xxxx amount of $$$ on a website".
        Nor would i say "build it yourself and save the money".
        Why? Because what someone can do in 1 day,can take a month for another.
        So,depending on your skills,how fast you need to have a website built,
        whether you plan it as a money-maker or,say,just a hobby-driven and how
        pro-looking you want it to look - i'd choose a different route.

        Here's my lowdown:
        - Option 1: You're a newbie and need to have a great website built quickly? Outsource it. Why? Because there's nothing more frustrating than spending
        weeks and weeks on a website,screw up the dates and rest unsatisfied with the results.
        How to make sure you're in good hands on,say,eLance?Check the feedback/reviews/earnings.If someone's got lots of money earned with a 95-100% positive feedback,you can bet they do a great job.
        -Option 2: Need a simple blog with a membership option and have some time/patience/a bit of money to invest? Buy yourself a Wordpress plugin
        like Memberwing or WishListMember and build a blog by yourself - both plugins are user-friendly,but expect to pay from $90 to $170(or so) for a single site license,or if you plan to set up more membership site in future,go for a multi-site license for $297(or so).
        -Option 3: Wanna do the same thing as option 2 fast and rather spend your time on creating content/marketing/promoting? Outsource the website.
        - Option 4: You're a newbie that needs an quality e-commerce site,
        don't even think of doing it yourself,unless you're sadomasochist:-) - outsource it.

        To boil it down to a simple formula:

        need "quality+speed" - outsource
        have "time+natural talent" - do it yourself
        have "time" but can't get the site done within 30 days - stop before you've wasted your life off and outsource it!

        Hope it helps you a bit.

        Cheers
        Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author Entreprenette
    Thanks to everyone for their advice. It's been massively helpful!

    I have downloaded the source code for butterfly marketing and had a good look around Mike Filsaime's site and I'm really quite excited about having a go at building my own site, but that saying, I'm not a teccie in any way shape or form and the bid I've had from a company on elance is superb and their feedback is also superb.

    I am however keen to learn a bit more about the technical aspects as I want to understand the language, but I am without doubt a marketer through and through.

    So based on your advice, I'm going to hire the company to build my membership site as it will be up and running in 2 weeks and I'll be happy. In my spare time I'm going to start building my own in butterfly marketing just to get to grips with how it all works, but I won't be under any pressure so it will make the experience more enjoyable. Thirdly, I'm going to spend the bulk of my time learning marketing strategies to drive traffic to my site.

    Win, win, win!

    Thanks so much for your help, it's really clarified things for me!



    Jo
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