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Creating a content based website

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

SSimz

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So I've been debating if I should make a progress thread for this but figured the information should be helpful to anyone looking to create a content based website or website in general. While this may not be the best fastlane idea (in terms of entry); My main priority is to provide visitors of the website with information of value. And for myself to learn about the process in regards creating and marketing a website.

Best case scenario: The website becomes popular and I will have a chance to monetize it.

Worst Case scenario: No one really visits the website, but I will have at least gain valuable experience, as well as an appreciation for taking action.

Either scenario is a win win in my opinion. So here goes...
 
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Jøə

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So I've been debating if I should make a progress thread for this but figured the information should be helpful to anyone looking to create a content based website or website in general. While this may not be the best fastlane idea (in terms of entry); My main priority is to provide visitors with information of value and learning the process behind creating and marketing a website.

Best case scenario: The website becomes popular and I will have a chance to monetize it.

Worst Case scenario: No one really visits the website, but I will have at least gain the experience behind creating a website as well as an appreciation for taking action.

Either scenario is a win win in my opinion. So here goes...

Is the website idea something you came up with or are you using SEO analysis? If SEO, what tools are you using?
 

piesandak47

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My main priority is to provide visitors with information of value and learning the process behind creating and marketing a website.

Do you have ANY real life experience in creating and marketing websites?
 
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SSimz

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SSimz

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*** Overview of the Day ***

Pretty much spent most of the day drinking energy drinks and brainstorming different domain names that would relate to my target audience. After multiple trails I was able to finally obtain a domain name.

Next up was finding a company that offered hosting. Spent about an hour doing some research and comparing different web hosting packages offered by the different companies. Eventually went with Hostgator since they seemed to provide the best value for money in my opinion.

Lessons learned:
1. Having had multiple potential domain names rejected makes you realize that failure is a part of every process (no matter how big or small), but once you're determined to do something failure doesn't affect you as much as you think it does.

2. It's better to drink coffee rather than energy drinks. Guess I won't be sleeping tonight.
 

piesandak47

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No experience here, this is all new to me

So...you have absolutely zero knowledge and experience when it comes to creating and marketing a website and you want to create a site and position yourself as an authority when it comes to creating and marketing websites.

Please tell me you see the massive problem in this.
 

SSimz

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So...you have absolutely zero knowledge and experience when it comes to creating and marketing a website and you want to create a site and position yourself as an authority when it comes to creating and marketing websites.

Please tell me you see the massive problem in this.

Never said I wanted to establish myself as some form of authority. Like I said before my main priority is learning the process behind creating and marketing a website.
 
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SSimz

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*** Overview of the day ***

Did some research deciding which tool to use to help create the website and decided to go with Wordpress. Wordpress is very beginner friendly and doesn't require any knowledge of coding.

Spent the rest of the day getting familiar some basic functionality of wordpress and was able to select a theme for the website
 

MMatt

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Why not create a content based website in another niche and document your learning experience on this separate website kind of like Neil Patel and Pat Flynn. Check out their blogs for gold if you haven't yet.
 

Gymjunkie

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Why do people need this website that teaches how to start and market websites? There are already thousands of them and it has winners like Pat Flynn, Neil Patel, etc.

You're better of just starting a site in some niche and providing actual value.

Newbie teaching other people anything is insane. You know that yourself. MJ can write a book and teach business because he's done it.
 
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SSimz

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My apologies for any sort of misunderstanding my first post has caused (I should've done a better job at proofreading). The content of the website I am creating is not targeting individuals looking for information on how to create and market a website. Rather the content will be targeting college students (I myself being one) and providing them with information that would be beneficial to them throughout their college life.

The main purpose of this thread is to document the process behind me creating the website and the things I will learn as a result from marketing the website in at attempt to increase it's traffic.
 
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Instead of spending a bunch of time creating a website...why don't you put together a great product of something people have been known to buy and study copywriting and marketing so you can sell it
 

Jøə

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The website came up as an idea


No experience here, this is all new to me

Have you considered doing SEO analysis to see if your keywords are generating a lot of traffic already? Or to get info about any possible competition? If you're making a website dedicated to giving kids a better college experience, it might be a good idea to see if people are already looking for that type of resource on the internet. Marketing your website would be easier if you already know whether or not there's a market for that niche. Then you would want to see how difficult it would be to rank on Google vs. other sites.
 
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SSimz

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Instead of spending a bunch of time creating a website...why don't you put together a great product of something people have been known to buy and study copywriting and marketing so you can sell it

Hi HugoMoreno I decided to go with creating a website because this was the only idea I came up with at the time and decided to act on it. I usually have a habit of analyzing things to much rather than taking a plunge; so I figured just jumping into this would help break that habit.

Have you considered doing SEO analysis to see if your keywords are generating a lot of traffic already? Or to get info about any possible competition? If you're making a website dedicated to giving kids a better college experience, it might be a good idea to see if people are already looking for that type of resource on the internet. Marketing your website would be easier if you already know whether or not there's a market for that niche. Then you would want to see how difficult it would be to rank on Google vs. other sites.

Really appreciate the suggestion, I'll definitely take some time and do some SEO analysis
 

SSimz

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*** Overview of the Day ****

Didn't really accomplish much today. Spent most of the time sketching some potential layouts for the website and learning some more basic functionalities on the WordPress admin page
 

SSimz

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SSimz

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So I came across this checklist a few days ago and thought it would be helpful for anyone looking to make improvements to their homepage/landing page.
http://unbounce.com/landing-pages/checklist/

Also thought I would share some stats about my website for the month (I am using AWstats).

While I know this number isn't exactly an accurate representation of number of visitors to my site, it still exceeded my monthly visitor expectation.
2h4c18y.jpg


Overall this month has been a great learning experience, and I'm looking forward to more of the same next month.
 
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Kingmaker

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It's good that you are learning, but have you asked yourself if it's not just fear of failure in sales disguised? And by sales, I mean providing enough value to someone that they are willing to open their wallets.

For example, Why don't you find a product aimed at college students and then write the 'content' as your marketing copy around it? Guaranteed you will learn much faster when you have real customers, too.

P.S. If you have absolutely no clue what to sell, read/click on every ad you encounter as a college student, and just rip an idea you like. Add value to it or better marketing, and there you are.
 

Digamma

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I'm working on something similar in another niche.
I'm surprised at the hate this is getting in this thread. People seem to prefer a shitty product thrown together to building an online brand.
Hilarity.
 

healthstatus

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People seem to prefer a shitty product thrown together to building an online brand.
Hilarity.
Nobody on this thread is advocating a shitty product. You should have a product that provides real value, by doing that, it gives you the ability to buy traffic and turn a profit much quicker than counting on your 100 unique visitors a month to generate you any cash flow. How does a few hundred or even a few thousand visitors a month that read some content build your brand? To what end?
 
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Wizard

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I think most people commenting thought the OP was creating a content based website on how to create a content based website but he never actually outted his niche.

Anyway OP, keep on trucking. It's not a bad idea to have a monetization strategy in mind from the beginning (like The King mentioned).
 

SSimz

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Thanks for the recommendation and tips everyone but my main purpose isn't necessarily wanting to make a profit from this website (it would be nice lol) but more so to learn about the process behind creating it and helping out college students with the information I post on it.

In the future I will probably look into creating a product, but I just wanted to focus on this idea for now and see where it goes.
 

Kevin Peter

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So I've been debating if I should make a progress thread for this but figured the information should be helpful to anyone looking to create a content based website or website in general. While this may not be the best fastlane idea (in terms of entry); My main priority is to provide visitors of the website with information of value. And for myself to learn about the process in regards creating and marketing a website.

Best case scenario: The website becomes popular and I will have a chance to monetize it.

Worst Case scenario: No one really visits the website, but I will have at least gain valuable experience, as well as an appreciation for taking action.

Either scenario is a win win in my opinion. So here goes...



I need to build an website now, for a cloud based product start-up. As content is the king, and to survive the competition we need good content. Chance to monetize in this scenario would be only when a goal conversion happens and we tend to sign up a deal, where-in the sales cycle is anywhere between 3 - 6 months. All I need to do is drive in unique visitors.
 
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healthstatus

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Thanks for the recommendation and tips everyone but my main purpose isn't necessarily wanting to make a profit from this website (it would be nice lol) but more so to learn about the process behind creating it and helping out college students with the information I post on it.

In the future I will probably look into creating a product, but I just wanted to focus on this idea for now and see where it goes.
Look, the mechanics of picking a host,setting up wordpress, and finding a template and installing it is no harder than the powerpoint or evernote presentation you had to do in high school. You are learning nothing from this experience. Your market, is more on Facebook and Twitter, so if you just want to do helpful info, I would put up a Facebook page, put your helpful tidbits there and tweet about it, then once you have a following, THEN build out a website with a sales funnel and product at the end.
 

SSimz

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Thanks for the tips healthstatus, I never really thought about focusing more about posting the information to my facebook page rather than focusing on the minor details of the website, but I'll definitely give it a try.
 

SSimz

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Hate to bump an old thread but I figured there is a lesson in here for someone so it was worth sharing.

As it turns out this content website hasn't been a success due to a key important principle that has been stated many many many times here on the forums. That being to follow the commandment of NEED.

Over these past few months rather than focusing on fulfilling some need or providing some value for my visitors; I ended up spending time and money trying to design the world's "best mobile friendly and aesthetically pleasing" website which had no valuable content whatsoever.

Therefore for anyone who find themselves in a similar situation, learn to appreciate taking the right kind of action and at least execute an idea that follows the essential commandment of NEED.
 
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Designz23

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Hate to bump an old thread but I figured there is a lesson in here for someone so it was worth sharing.

As it turns out this content website hasn't been a success due to a key important principle that has been stated many many many times here on the forums. That being to follow the commandment of NEED.

Over these past few months rather than focusing on fulfilling some need or providing some value for my visitors; I ended up spending time and money trying to design the world's "best mobile friendly and aesthetically pleasing" website which had no valuable content whatsoever.

Therefore for anyone who find themselves in a similar situation, learn to appreciate taking the right kind of action and at least execute an idea that follows the essential commandment of NEED.

"Content is King". Create as much as you can, or hire a pro to write it for you. I write thousands of words for my clients with good results. Install the latest Wordpress SEO plugins with your site. Create a few links. Then study the site's analytics to determine how many people stay on the site for a decent amount of time. Google now uses this information to rank your website. I hope this helps.
 

oimate

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Without wanting to hijack this thread- i was wondering are there any wordpress experts here? I am looking to create a website with an interactive calender so users can post events that are occuring in the local area-To do this i'd like an interactive map so ppl can click into their own county and see whats happening locally.

Any ideas welcomed
 

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