Advice on building own website

SirRichard · Jul 4, 2014

HI Bro Sam and fellow techies,

I'm planning to build a simple website to start my travel related business. I would like to seek advice on the following :

1) Free Stock photos- Are there websites that REALLY provide stock photos for free download? A few that I checked claimed as free but eventually will still ask you to pay for it.

2) What key features/functions are needed for a good website

3) How to make people like and keep checking back to your website?

4) What's the best way to drive more traffic to your website?

Thanks all in advance for reading and providing your advice.

tanwahtiu · Jul 4, 2014

It would be better for you to find a web design company that had experience in handling the travel related biz web hosting.

Even building a simple website requires 6 types of programs to kick off well, not that easy as think of.

You have to know:

1. html5
2. css3
3. javascript
4. php/perl/python
5. sql
6. ftp
7. MS access
8. Schema (new)
9. Swift (new)

then you have to know mobile app

http://www.w3.org/

SirRichard said:
HI Bro Sam and fellow techies,

I'm planning to build a simple website to start my travel related business. I would like to seek advice on the following :

1) Free Stock photos- Are there websites that REALLY provide stock photos for free download? A few that I checked claimed as free but eventually will still ask you to pay for it.

2) What key features/functions are needed for a good website

3) How to make people like and keep checking back to your website?

4) What's the best way to drive more traffic to your website?

Thanks all in advance for reading and providing your advice.

Satyr · Jul 4, 2014

SirRichard said:
HI Bro Sam and fellow techies,

I'm planning to build a simple website to start my travel related business. I would like to seek advice on the following :

1) Free Stock photos- Are there websites that REALLY provide stock photos for free download? A few that I checked claimed as free but eventually will still ask you to pay for it.

2) What key features/functions are needed for a good website

3) How to make people like and keep checking back to your website?

4) What's the best way to drive more traffic to your website?

Thanks all in advance for reading and providing your advice.

Goodness, there are loads of places that allow you to set up your website without any technical knowledge.

Leongsam · Jul 4, 2014

SirRichard said:
HI Bro Sam and fellow techies,

I'm planning to build a simple website to start my travel related business. I would like to seek advice on the following :

1) Free Stock photos- Are there websites that REALLY provide stock photos for free download? A few that I checked claimed as free but eventually will still ask you to pay for it.

2) What key features/functions are needed for a good website

3) How to make people like and keep checking back to your website?

4) What's the best way to drive more traffic to your website?

Thanks all in advance for reading and providing your advice.

Forget about starting from scratch. Use Wordpress, Shopify etc... there are thousands out there with everything preinstalled including stock photos.

To add features, you add plug ins. If you like them, use them. If you don't just uninstall and try something else.

FINAL WORD OF ADVICE forget about FREE. You don't run a business for FREE and neither do others. If you want features that work, they need to be paid for in one way or another. What's wrong with paying for some stock photos which you obviously like since you're using them as part of your scheme to make money.

SirRichard · Jul 4, 2014

Thank you all for your advice.

This is side biz that I'm starting out and therefore trying to keep my initial start up cost low .

Leongsam · Jul 4, 2014

SirRichard said:
Thank you all for your advice.

This is side biz that I'm starting out and therefore trying to keep my initial start up cost low .

I understand that but in order to have a professional appearance to the site, you may need to spend a bit of money up front.

It is no different from setting up a retail store. You cannot start off with a bare floor and unpainted walls. You need a minimum standard of decor for customers to view you as a credible business.

krafty · Jul 4, 2014

i did my business website with html and css, with css you site look more stylish than the conventional websites. besides, there are many scripts readily available on the internet. just browse thru them and find what you need. i also did my own logo design, this logo i am very proud of cos' it got hidden meaning like these corporate logos:

http://wonderfulengineering.com/10-famous-logos-that-have-a-hidden-meaning/

sochi2014 · Jul 4, 2014

SirRichard said:
HI Bro Sam and fellow techies,

I'm planning to build a simple website to start my travel related business. I would like to seek advice on the following :

1) Free Stock photos- Are there websites that REALLY provide stock photos for free download? A few that I checked claimed as free but eventually will still ask you to pay for it.

2) What key features/functions are needed for a good website

3) How to make people like and keep checking back to your website?

4) What's the best way to drive more traffic to your website?

Thanks all in advance for reading and providing your advice.

All these information can be found on the Internet!! Even how to run a successful Web Biz.

Just Google IT!

tanwahtiu · Jul 4, 2014

Wordpress, Shopify and blog is for low activity type websites or just writing articles.

For site requires money transactions, payments, bookings, etc it require more than just simple one, CMS is required to manage security, transactions and frequent changes in contents and much more (fresh and refesh).

Don't anyhow recommend leh!

Your site does not require much CMS, VPN software do just fine.

Leongsam said:
Forget about starting from scratch. Use Wordpress, Shopify etc... there are thousands out there with everything preinstalled including stock photos.

To add features, you add plug ins. If you like them, use them. If you don't just uninstall and try something else.

FINAL WORD OF ADVICE forget about FREE. You don't run a business for FREE and neither do others. If you want features that work, they need to be paid for in one way or another. What's wrong with paying for some stock photos which you obviously like since you're using them as part of your scheme to make money.

tanwahtiu · Jul 4, 2014

clever boy.

If you need input to collect information from users then require to know php/perl/python and knowledge of sql for database and MS Access for full functions.

krafty said:
i did my business website with html and css, with css you site look more stylish than the conventional websites. besides, there are many scripts readily available on the internet. just browse thru them and find what you need. i also did my own logo design, this logo i am very proud of cos' it got hidden meaning like these corporate logos:

http://wonderfulengineering.com/10-famous-logos-that-have-a-hidden-meaning/

Muthukali · Jul 4, 2014

1)Domain name is important, usually plus/minus USD 15 per year.
2)Get Web hosting for USD 0.01 ( usually for 1 month only)
3) get WordPress
4) Tons of tutorials for online e commerce in YouTube.

Just trial and error first until you are comfortable with the setting up. Then can consider long term hosting.

Leongsam · Jul 4, 2014

tanwahtiu said:
Wordpress, Shopify and blog is for low activity type websites or just writing articles.

For site requires money transactions, payments, bookings, etc it require more than just simple one, CMS is required to manage security, transactions and frequent changes in contents and much more (fresh and refesh).

Don't anyhow recommend leh!

Your site does not require much CMS, VPN software do just fine.

I'm surprised at your ignorance. nytimes.com runs on wordpress and it's ranked 130th in the world and viewed by 20 million per month. Wordpress does not limit the size of your site. It's the hosting hardware that is the limiting factor.

There is a wordpress plug in for just about any activity under the sun. My photography site where I sell my photos is on wordpress and uses a skrill plug-in to process transactions. http://dev.pathtoenlightenment.net/...ing_wp_cron=1404469458.7682449817657470703125

No website is going to process their own transactions. They use an API and leave the security of transactions and credit card numbers to the professionals that run the payment processor gateways like 2checkout.com and skrill.com or paypal.

There are shopping cart plugs for wordpress too all easily updated from the plug in control panel. There are even FREE plug ins that work very well eg http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-simple-paypal-shopping-cart-plugin-768

http://www.woothemes.com/ provides fantastic wordpress support and I have purchased many of their products.

With woocommerce http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce/ , you can add a myriad of extensions to customise your website to sell anything under the sun.

http://www.woothemes.com/product-category/woocommerce-extensions/

I have also built shopify sites that process more than $30,000 USD per month and I can't see any reason why the figure could not be 10 times more. There is no limiting factor other than the hosting infrastructure.

I only recommend stuff that I am currently using or have worked with and does a good job

tanwahtiu · Jul 4, 2014

You are a champ and I can give it a try, Thanks for sharing.

How do you deal with database? If you have access to the web host database and then require knowledge of MySQL or MSSql to design the tables from scratch. Then you have queries to retrieve information.

Leongsam said:
I'm surprised at your ignorance. nytimes.com runs on wordpress and it's ranked 130th in the world and viewed by 20 million per month. Wordpress does not limit the size of your site. It's the hosting hardware that is the limiting factor.

There is a wordpress plug in for just about any activity under the sun. My photography site where I sell my photos is on wordpress and uses a skrill plug-in to process transactions. http://dev.pathtoenlightenment.net/...ing_wp_cron=1404469458.7682449817657470703125

No website is going to process their own transactions. They use an API and leave the security of transactions and credit card numbers to the professionals that run the payment processor gateways like 2checkout.com and skrill.com or paypal.

There are shopping cart plugs for wordpress too all easily updated from the plug in control panel. There are even FREE plug ins that work very well eg http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-simple-paypal-shopping-cart-plugin-768

http://www.woothemes.com/ provides fantastic wordpress support and I have purchased many of their products.

With woocommerce http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce/ , you can add a myriad of extensions to customise your website to sell anything under the sun.

http://www.woothemes.com/product-category/woocommerce-extensions/

I have also built shopify sites that process more than $30,000 USD per month and I can't see any reason why the figure could not be 10 times more. There is no limiting factor other than the hosting infrastructure.

I only recommend stuff that I am currently using or have worked with and does a good job

krafty · Jul 5, 2014

no need, just simple company website:

http://www.fortheloveoflaundry.com/

see the above example, it's simple, neat and cool... :cool:

tanwahtiu said:
clever boy.

If you need input to collect information from users then require to know php/perl/python and knowledge of sql for database and MS Access for full functions.

Leongsam · Jul 5, 2014

tanwahtiu said:
You are a champ and I can give it a try, Thanks for sharing.

How do you deal with database? If you have access to the web host database and then require knowledge of MySQL or MSSql to design the tables from scratch. Then you have queries to retrieve information.

You don't need to be an expert on databases. The MySQL database is created by the software. All you need to do is maintain it on a regular basis and fix it if it becomes corrupted.

It's exactly the same with vbulletin. All the posts and threads that are displayed are stored in the database. When you post a message, it goes to the database. The forum runs on two servers. One MySQL server where the database resides and the apache server which runs the vbulletin software.

Database maintenance can be done from the vbulletin admin control panel where you can repair and optimise tables on a periodic basis.

The only time you might need an expert is when a table crashes and the standard repair routine cannot fix it. You then need to go to the next level. I don't do that myself. I subcontract it to someone who is an expert. The cost for this sort of service is typically USD75 per hour.

tanwahtiu · Jul 5, 2014

thanks for sharing.

Any recommendation software to use on apache and vbulletin admin?

Leongsam said:
You don't need to be an expert on databases. The MySQL database is created by the software. All you need to do is maintain it on a regular basis and fix it if it becomes corrupted.

It's exactly the same with vbulletin. All the posts and threads that are displayed are stored in the database. When you post a message, it goes to the database. The forum runs on two servers. One MySQL server where the database resides and the apache server which runs the vbulletin software.

Database maintenance can be done from the vbulletin admin control panel where you can repair and optimise tables on a periodic basis.

The only time you might need an expert is when a table crashes and the standard repair routine cannot fix it. You then need to go to the next level. I don't do that myself. I subcontract it to someone who is an expert. The cost for this sort of services is typically USD75 per hour.

Leongsam · Jul 5, 2014

tanwahtiu said:
thanks for sharing.

Any recommendation software to use on apache and vbulletin admin?

I don't understand your question. Apache is a server application.

This explains what Apache is : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server.

Here's a list of all the options :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_server_software

Vbulletin admin control panel is part of vbulletin. It's specific to the forum.

tanwahtiu · Jul 5, 2014

Yes, Apache is part of the server apps and come in XAMPP, all in one.

https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html

I am any good recommendation of Sql software to manage CMS, Content Management System?

Do you use MS Access to manage your database?

Do you use MYOB or Quickbook to link to your database and tables for accountanting purposes?

Leongsam said:
I don't understand your question. Apache is a server application.

This explains what Apache is : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server.

Here's a list of all the options :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_server_software

Vbulletin admin control panel is part of vbulletin. It's specific to the forum.

Leongsam · Jul 5, 2014

tanwahtiu said:
Yes, Apache is part of the server apps and come in XAMPP, all in one.

https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html

I am any good recommendation of Sql software to manage CMS, Content Management System?

Do you use MS Access to manage your database?

Do you use MYOB or Quickbook to link to your database and tables for accountanting purposes?

I honestly don't understand any of your questions.

SQL is for managing data in relational database. CMS is to create websites. I don't know how SQL can manage CMS? Please explain.

MySQL is free. Why would you want to get involved in MS access which only runs on Windows??

I have never used MYOB or Quickbook. I'm not an accountant.

JuliaScissors · Jul 5, 2014

tanwahtiu said:
Yes, Apache is part of the server apps and come in XAMPP, all in one.

XAMPP is typically used for development or testing environments only.

Presumably you would be using some hosting services, the hosting provider will provide you with Apache install out-of-the-box.
They would also provide the various tools for administering the Apache server.

tanwahtiu said:
I am any good recommendation of Sql software to manage CMS, Content Management System?

Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal themselves are CMSes; they come with their own database schema and web user interfaces are provided for you to manage the contents of your website. You don't need to and should not go onto a SQL level to manage the contents unless you are intimately familiar with the schema.

tanwahtiu said:
Do you use MS Access to manage your database?

Do you use MYOB or Quickbook to link to your database and tables for accountanting purposes?

Sounds like you are looking at your own custom database schema for specific purposes. Though for commerce type of functionality, most of the ecommerce plugins should serve your needs. They are well-tested and supported and typically create additional tables on top of the CMSes' database schema and hence you shouldnt need to design your own database.

The hosting provider will also host the database for you. Tools will be provided for you to export, backup, maintain, etc, the database. You don't need MS Access to connect to the database.

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