I would like to build a forum site about our pets. I realize this is a nitch market, but know that others lover their dog, cat, bird, reptile, fish, etc, just as much as I do.
Not trying to compete! I just want someplace where us pet owners can post about our pets and not bore everyone. I believe that I have been a pet owner for all types of creatures and would like a website.
How do I create a forum, like this one, but different topic, animals. I want pet owners and people that love those of the wild.
Can I do this? If so, how do I set up a forum for animal lovers? I don't want to join. I want to own the site where us animal freaks can talk, ask questions, sorting out pets, like reptile to birds, to a dog. Personally, I adore animal stories from other owners and think a site like this is a good thing for animal lovers.
SPBoards.com provides a basic message board service for free. You can divide your message board into categories and whatnot.
The address they give you won't be pretty, which is what you'll want a domain name for. (This is where Upnames, or my pick, NameSecure comes in) Make sure URL redirection is included with the domain registration price.
I should point out that simply opening a forum doesn't guarantee visitors will show up overnight. You'll have to put some effort into promoting it.
Posts: 1003 | Location: Fox Valley, Second Life | Registered: 06-03-02
Originally posted by DorianGreyed: And if your forum get really big, it gets really expensive. Oy, does it get expensive.
Well, you could always strip the images, javascript, tables, css, and everything else pretty. Then you'd have bandwidth down to a manageable level. But wait... then you'd have usenet!
Posts: 1003 | Location: Fox Valley, Second Life | Registered: 06-03-02
Apparently this is a bad idea for me. I would like to have a site all about our pets. I adore animals, but no one tells me the 'how too' and just how expensive?
Why can't I be computer stupid, but have a site all about animals, from our cat down to a barn yard animal, like pigs. I hear that farmers hate pigs and they will try to eat you.
I want a site about animals. Give me the cost and how to! Let me make up my mind about it. I know there are others that adore animals, just as I do.
Well, Infopop (the same company that hosts Herport) costs about $21 a month. Why not email them or go to their site and ask about it?
KK might create you a site if you ask him. He charges a reasonable amount, if he agrees to do make it for you. You COULD do a little research through your yellow pages and find webmasters who make and host websites for you.
There are many ways to host a community, it has to start with what you yourself are wanting to do and how you want the site to evolve.
I found quite a few websites that can point you in the right direction.
Build a Website. This site has some good information that provides good basic instruction:
quote:
Introduction to Building a Website Websites pop-up from web servers like wildflowers in a field. Some are stick around for years, but most of them wither away by the time the season passes. You can build a website to be about your favorite hobby, family or your company. No matter what the reason or what it's about a large amount of time will be needed to build it.
Things You Need A Computer (Duh!) A text editor An internet connection A FTP program A Graphics program Money Time
Coding and Programming HTML is the foundation on which most websites are built on. No matter which programming language you end up learning in you'll need to know some HTML sooner than later. I wrote a few HTML tutorials to teach anyone who wanted to learn basic HTML. I'm also working on a few CSS tutorials. CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, is used to change the way a web page is displayed by a browser. CGI, PHP, JavaScript and ASP are programming languages that can be written into scripts to do things that you wouldn't be able to do in pure HTML. Guest books, forums, shout boxes, image rollovers and many more things are written in those languages. If you want to learn any of those languages you should go to your local library or book store and get a book on the one you want to learn.
Web Hosting At the same time you’re playing around with HTML you should be looking for a web host and a domain registrar. If you need help to find a web host read the Choosing a web host article I put up. I really don’t recommend using a free host unless you’re just using it to play around with stuff. Your website will look so much better if you just shell out like around $100 a YEAR to pay for web hosting and a domain name. It would only cost like $8.33 a month which is like buying one CD or getting a couple cups of coffee from StarBucks.
Promoting Most webmasters submit their websites to Google and expect people to come. It just doesn't work that way. If you need help read a few of the Getting Visitors articles on this website.
Conclusion It will take weeks if not months for you to get a good website up and running. Free web hosting is bad. You'll need to learn HTML and getting visitors is harder than you think.
WHAT'S ON THIS WEB SITE This web site is made up of 8 modules - seven are instructional and contain both articles and tutorials where module 8 wraps things up with a few tid-bits. Here is the list of lessons: Basic web concepts Building a web page Building a web site Introduction to CSS CSS tutorial Advanced HTML Introduction to JavaScript / programming Misc. topics related to web design
This last link has an annoying but oddly fascinating animation that might appeal to you about how to create a website:
One word of warning about Eve Community (formerly Infopop). If your site becomes as popular as AnswerPool you can add a 0 (at least) to that $21 per month charge. That is the reason that we are reluctantly going to have to prune threads here.
Apart from that, I must add that the controls etc are fairly easy to understand and work.
Wow! Thanks for the info! This isn't quite as simple as I thought. I have serious doubts that a site for animal lovers would get as large as AP, but this sounds like it could be quite expensive and a lot more work than I thought.
I'm going to have to give this info a serious look. I'm not sure how successful an animal site would be for pet owners. I haven't found a site that isn't a bit extreme that is just for your average person, not a professional breeder or hooked up with a known 'save the rainforest' type of community.
If you don't mind giving me an opinion, how successful do you think a pet owner site would be for average people who love their dog, cat, bird, fish, ect.?
How about making a website off one of the many Portal sites these are mostly free to set up and they come with templates to "build" a page The other way of making a forum in to construct a Blog Page (similar method to build) but it is a forum of sorts Have to give it a bit of thought how to make it work (I have a homepage not a Blog)Looks quite good and I have added some small things fom elsewhere such as a webcounter .But the company I got it from spammed me silly Thats on my mailing block list that the down side of it
Ps Have a look at MSN groups(off MSN Explorer) Pace~Ace and some others have forum sites here and they are free and are well made http://groups.msn.com/
Posts: 13521 | Location: 6 miles west of Wigan UK | Registered: 06-05-02
You know, WF, I am not sure what your definition of "successful" is when it comes right down to it.
I am a member of a dog site (it is a casual type site) that appears successful, but since I have no idea where you want to go with your idea, I can't really answer your question. If you want to see this example, look at this format and see what you think.
Sher
Posts: 9142 | Location: PA, USA | Registered: 06-05-02
Again, I thank anyone who will give me information of how to start a new site, which includes you Bedstor! Sher helped out a lot with my decision, like think before progressing.So did Karrow, telling me how much a site may cost me.
Our new pup or horrible reptile of my daughter's is often a difficult challenge to owners. I want a site that is for us average people, not freaks of a particular breed or animal, just people who love their pets.
I know of MSN Groups. Are any of them really successful, with members who want to participate? You have to do a MSN search just to find these groups.
My Lab died. I bought a pup. People are used to their well trained dog and are often confused as a 'new parent' how to deal with a puppy of demanding breed. We forget how hard it was to train our loved dog.
I joined a MSN group of Boxers. I had a tough pup to deal with. I had no idea a Boxer was so demanding. I suggested that this breed definitely could be mean and never met a nice boxer. I already did the research and know. that a Boxer is not a recommend for 'first time dog owners' and know, for fact, this definitely can be an aggressive breed if not trained right. It is also suggested professional training for a Boxer.
All I wanted to know is how to deal with the challenge of training my dog right. These idiots acted like I must be insane for calling the breed potentially aggressive. I got no advice and was told that people like me were the reason for 'rescue dogs'.
My beautiful Boxer is four years old. I just tried common sense when training her, knowing aggression potential. I got no help from the MSN Boxer groups at all, except for the fact that I'm too stupid to own a dog.
I don't want this type of site that will actually go there when you have questions about your dog's training. Boxer specific groups told me I wasn't the right owner for this breed. They even went as far to say that I am the type of owner that is a foundation for 'breed rescue'.
The MSN Boxer group was so wrong. You wouldn't believe how many people come to my house and meet my dog in the car that want a Boxer because of my well trained, but a bit spoiled, dog's behavior. She is fun, non-aggressive, and well behaved. I know the dog and how much effort I put into her training. She was a tough one! The MSN Boxer site did not help me with my pup, just said I wasn't good enough to own this breed.
This is my motivation to start a site just for average people that love their pet. Do you think a site like this can actually work? Just your average pet owner that loves animals not to be insulted or told they shouldn't own a particular animal, as unfit for asking questions. The fact that you ask means you care about your pets.
It could work if you had a way to find your target audience.
That is the problem in the nutshell.
How to FIND your target audience.
In fact, that is the problem with ALL websites... how to get the RIGHT subscribers. If you fugure THAT one out, then you could, potentially, be a GREAT DEAL more wealthy than simply owning a pet-advice website.
Posts: 9142 | Location: PA, USA | Registered: 06-05-02
Thats on my mailing block list that the down side of it
