First time Website Idea.. Need some tips guys.

I'd start it off with the DOCTYPE declaration if it were me.

It's not uncommon at all for people to have an idea and fall in love with it as they dream about their newly found wealth.

The real starting point is this: What do others in the market feel about it? How you feel doesn't count because you are not a prospect.

What's important is whether enough potential buyers will trade their cash for your idea (or solution).

You should find that out before you move forward. What I'm suggesting is that you sit on your idea long enough to validate it with market research. Throwing up a web site is not the answer. Instead, find out if enough people are clamoring for your solution so that you can have a profitable business. It's something you will only find through some effort regardless of how "convinced" you are about this idea.

The very best to you,

Steve

If you have the budget now to hire a designer, then do it now. Why wait?

And you can't let worrying about copycats stop you. They will copy you. Everybody copies successful websites. You just have to keep working hard at what you're doing because most copy cats are super lazy.

Is there a market? Usually successful businesses work with an already successful model. For example, Facebook did a better job at a social site than others (AOL, MySpace) in the past. Twitter took texting and harnessed it to a simple interface.

If it is really unlike anything else you will need to build the market and demand. You have no comparative business to piggy back on: "Like facebook without the ads" or "Like Twitter with longer sentences".



That depends a lot on what features you want, what platform it is built on, server operating system, etc.

If it is just a website it may be relatively simple to try a "proof of concept".

If it is more involved and needs to track session state and info then you would be looking at developing a custom solution.


You can. It really depends on the type of site and business you are building.

If it is useful but not polished people may forgive.

If it is "under construction" and not useful people will leave and it will be difficult to entice them back.


The first person on the scene gets crushed opening the market. Once the first person has been crushed the 2nd and 3rd wave businesses make a go.

Who would want to be the first person on the Scene?

You haven't described your idea enough to know if it can be protected.

For example, MySpace could not protect its model from being "stolen" by facebook because there is nothing proprietary about building a website where people can create a profile and communicate with other users.

Facebook has probably trademarked the "Like" button but they can't patent the business model.

You don't give many details but most start-ups are seeking millions from venture capital to start research and development and work on a "proof of concept"..


It is hard to tell if you are describing a website or a complete business. You switch between talking about web design and protecting your idea from other businesses.

Your business description and plan are too vague to offer any concrete suggestions.

Most of the time, ideas by themselves are worthless, it's execution that counts. So pay attention to your own business and make sure that you can do better than your competitors.

Hi if you need help let me know

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries could be a worthwile reading for you, especially the parts about Minimum Viable Product and market validation.

You should test your market first and validate your idea before investing in a web designer.

I would do a 10 tips, or tip to ----. people like to read tips, make sure it is something people would want to read about

hello mfracek,

I just want to know what the best way to go about creating the website is? - start with putting all the details you can think of into a scratch design, then pass the design to the designer and the designer will turn it into an actual template design (I will offer it to you for FREE). Then after you are 100% sure of the design, the development phase would follow then. On the development phase, you are going to check for the functionality and movements/effects you cant for your website. Other details like SEO will also be performed during development phase.

Also how do I prevent other people from being able to copy my idea and create their own version? In other words how can I make sure I take advantage of being the first person on the scene? - you can't but you can. i mean you can't prevent other from copying your idea but you can always make sure yours will stand out through proper and constant update.

How much does web design usually cost anyway? -it depends on the kind of website you want. Tell me more about the details and I will be happy to give you an idea.

Listen I haven't read what others are telling you bud, but I've been doing work online full time since 2000, Please god do NOT start off with a crummy or crappy design. Get you a NDA agreement ( Non Discloser agreement ) Build the site very well, you NEVER ever want to lose any possible customers.

Do a tons and I MEAN a TON of research on your Idea, everyone that comes to me says almost the same thing as you have stated, I have the NEXT big thing. Hell maybe you do maybe you don't but please before anything do your homework and research the hell out of what you think will be the next big thing.

good luck and may the INTERNET gods be with you.