Better for Fastlane idea...Forum..Website...Or does it matter?

[Whole Paradigm]

Hello All,

I am debating as to whether or not to start my Fastlane idea in the form of a forum or typical website. For the most part my service will be free and my revenue will be based off of selling add space. Can a Fastlane idea be executed in a forum setting such as this one created by M.J? Is a website a better idea? Or does it matter?

If I start a website, I'll have to code a custom "drop-down" menu that will house around 257 "Country Profiles". This means a website with a minimum of 257 pages (Correct me if I'm wrong). Not so cheap to do.

A forum, will allow me to create the 257 "Country Profiles" with little effort.''

If I need to elaborate any further please let me know...



Thanks for the help/input,


Cory

 

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[Thrive]

It would'nt be that hard to build a 257 page website.
I dont have that much expertise in this but if you build a website it dosent get costly until you get 500+ pages.

 

[Whole Paradigm]

Jacob,

Thank you for the reply. Much appreciated.

 

[Gold777]

A standard website is much more preferred, although a forum may give you more control if you don't have good web developers to help you develop the website. Will this website involve having a community? If not then a definite answer would be to go with the standard website, although that's what I would recommend anyway.

Also, 257 pages would be time consuming but not hard, if you have any questions or need any help with developing the website or designing it feel free to contact me.

 

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[Whole Paradigm]

Gold,

Yes each Country Profile would have a user submission section for all to see and refer to.

 

[fellipe]

have you thought about using wordpress?

 

[Whole Paradigm]

Fellipe,

I have ZERO experience building websites and I fear this may be a huge build. However, yes I did get wordpress and I'm currently learning from the very bottom-up. This is why the forum idea came to me in the first place, because I could have my idea up and running tomorrow in theory (going the forum route)

However, I don't wanna risk not being profitable because of a silly mistake such as choosing a forum instead of website due to my lack of experience in creating sites. Since a website is the best idea, I may be saving up the money and searching for someone to build it for me until I can get a grasp on doing things myself. Then "add-on" to the site personally once I'm capable of doing so.

 

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[Gold777]

Gold,

Yes each Country Profile would have a user submission section for all to see and refer to.

Well, as I said I would personally recommend a standard website, looks a lot more professional and has a better chance of getting users to engage in the website than if they show up to a forum that just has a bunch of sections.

As Fellipe said you may want to look into wordpress for accomplishing that as well.

 

[Whole Paradigm]

Well,

Just got a phone call and after pitching the idea and hearing huge *gasp* from the freelancer, he explained that I'll need a whole team of developers with huge experience in databases. He collected my info and is going to have another company that he knows contact me and schedule a lunch meeting to discuss the project.

Who knows...


Cory

 

[valuegiver]

Learn PHP and code it from scratch. Don't use wordpress.

 

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[kwerner]

Instead of a drop down menu of 257 countries on your main page, why not break it up into 7 continents, which brings the user to a new page for that continent, then click the country. Or do a clickable map of the countries from each continent. It would be a real p.i.t.a. to scroll through 257 listings from a drop down menu.

And geez, you certainly don't need a "team" of developers to do that. One guy that knows PHP & MySQL well enough will do. Not sure where you found your guy, but check the freelance sites if you don't want to learn to code yourself - Elance, Odesk, Freelancer, and coming soon Freelanceful.

 

[Whole Paradigm]

Instead of a drop down menu of 257 countries on your main page, why not break it up into 7 continents, which brings the user to a new page for that continent, then click the country. Or do a clickable map of the countries from each continent. It would be a real p.i.t.a. to scroll through 257 listings from a drop down menu.

And geez, you certainly don't need a "team" of developers to do that. One guy that knows PHP & MySQL well enough will do. Not sure where you found your guy, but check the freelance sites if you don't want to learn to code yourself - Elance, Odesk, Freelancer, and coming soon Freelanceful.

Kwerner,

I'll do that right now and thank you for the suggestion. That would be better you're right. As far as the "team" suggestion: I think he meant for the completion of the total idea. Making a drop-down menu probably isn't too labor intensive but the web service I'm implementing may be. At least, it's being made out to be.

Keep on keeping on I guess...

Thanks again,

Cory

 

[valuegiver]

Forum takes a lot of time. It is not fastlane, but forum software is fastlane.

 

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[GDevDir]

for what its worth, if all of the pages have the same layout, you can do this all via mysql tables and use php to "fill in the blanks" meaning you will only have to make 1 page, and just fill a table full of all of the country info, this will make updating the website alot easier also

this is also something (no matter how poor your website scripting is) you can do yourself.

I managed to learn html, css, php, mysql to an "acceptable" standard within a few weeks in the evenings. So long as you have a logical mind, you shouldn't have a problem with it, esp as there are so many websites and irc channels out there to help you learn/debug etc

 

[SMGrandSlam]

Forums take time, but worth it

Yes building and maintaining a forum takes time, but it only takes a few seconds to set it up...

check out phpbb.com free

 

[SMGrandSlam]

I've set up plenty of phpbb forums....

you also have to watch out for spam...spammers love forums....

 

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[mrhahn]

Forum or website? It really depends on what you're planning to use it for. It's hard to answer that question without knowing more details. Especially how you want the users to interact and use the site.

 

[royemunson]

What is your goal with this site? Why not do both (if you have time b/c yes a forum can be time consuming and a headache if you can't protect it and monitor it properly)? Authority sites do very well in the search engines if you optimize it properly and build quality backlinks. Google is out for blood upping their standards with all the panda updates.

Are you trying to set up a geo-local style site? you mention countries. Why not do a theme directory per location and then link them all together into one hub/home page that overviews the entire process?

And with that you may need to understand directories/mysql to make it work.

Joe

 

[Whole Paradigm]

Thank you all for the suggestions and input. I'll look into it all right now


Cory

 

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