Meet with a Web Programer tomarrow.

[BLK85]

Im excited. I finally am going to get my website up and running. I would prefer doing the web site myself but my expertise is Networking not programming. I wish I was better at programing but I have been working with it lately and I cant do a thing with programing.

I guess the reason of my post is to get some advice on what to ask him when I talk to him. I plan on having a website that offers a service with an online store and possibly a forum(dont really know if I should or not). What should I be asking him when I talk to him about it? He is someone I work with at my full time job and a super nice guy. I want to have the site done so that I can make small changes when I need to.

 

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[JesseO]

Way to get the ball rolling! Keep us informed on how it goes. ++

 

[BLK85]

Way to get the ball rolling! Keep us informed on how it goes. ++

I just cant wait. I know it will take a while to start making money but I just cant wait to get this started. I want to eventually not have to work for anyone any more.

 

[Yankees338]

Congrats on getting started and taking action.

Before you meet with him, try to create a vision of what you're looking for in your mind. Are you going to want some sort of logo? A specific color scheme? A specific layout?

Research sites that you envision would be similar to yours, and explore what types of features they offer. Do they have something you can improve and do better?

As with everything else, a plan is key. Knowing what you want and how to get it are crucial.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

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[Yankees338]

I was under the impression that he's not necessarily shopping for programmers now. Being that he's working with his co-worker, I was assuming he was just starting off with his own site now...

 

[MJ DeMarco]

As an absolute, you must see his work. Then contact those companies and verify that he was indeed the author. Ask them the following:

1) Was he easy to work with?
2) Did he understand your project needs?
3) How would you rate his technical competency?
4) How would you rate his efficiency with respect to your deadlines?
5) Would you use him again?

As for the programmer, he should have a solid understanding of languages (PHP/VB.net/ASP.net/CSS/HTML/AJAX/Javascript) as well as DB Administration (SQL/MySQL). Dependent on your application, some additional technical know-how might be warranted (XML/Web Services/SOAP)

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[aptohosting]

After you speak with him, and take down some notes PM me with what he said. I am familiar with alot of the "tricks" and "hidden costs" that he may try and pull to someone without any technical background.

Let me know
Tom C.
www.aptohosting.com

 

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[BLK85]

I talked to him yesterday(Sunday) my Saturday was pretty busy so I didnt get it done then. He was very good with it and wrote down exactly what I wanted as I told him. Hopefully he will get it down the way I see it in my head. I tried to explain it very in depth right down to the colors.

I will be hosting it on his server at his home for now. Im not to worried about it going down. He has a dedicated server just for web pages(3 other ones on it) attached to a UPS.

He said he isnt going to charge me much if anything. I insisted he said we can talk about it later. Im a little worried about it if he may end up costing a lot. I doubt it will though.

Hopefully it will look good, I have faith. His other sites do look good anyway the ones I saw do. I will post links to the sites if I get a ok from the Mods/Admins if anyone cares.

Now the hard part, trying to find vendors willing to do business with me.

 

[aptohosting]

I talked to him yesterday(Sunday) my Saturday was pretty busy so I didnt get it done then. He was very good with it and wrote down exactly what I wanted as I told him. Hopefully he will get it down the way I see it in my head. I tried to explain it very in depth right down to the colors.

I will be hosting it on his server at his home for now. Im not to worried about it going down. He has a dedicated server just for web pages(3 other ones on it) attached to a UPS.

He said he isnt going to charge me much if anything. I insisted he said we can talk about it later. Im a little worried about it if he may end up costing a lot. I doubt it will though.

Hopefully it will look good, I have faith. His other sites do look good anyway the ones I saw do. I will post links to the sites if I get a ok from the Mods/Admins if anyone cares.

Now the hard part, trying to find vendors willing to do business with me.

I will be hosting it on his server at his home for now.

Horrible idea, he will have max a cable/dsl line at his house and your website will load at a crawl. Also I would be very skeptical of him having an uninterrupted power supply out of his house. Normally that would require high end generators that would keep things running. I would just buy a $100 per month dedicated server out of a real data center with an oc3 back bone. Be very weary putting your livelihood/business on a apache box out of some guys house.

Tom
Apto Hosting

 

[Walley]

It shouldn't cost over $10 a month if you begin it assuming you won't get alot of traffic for several months... Once you start getting traffic you can always upgrade to a better server to better serve your customers. There are free programs out there for forums and stores for your website. All you really have to know is how to work with databases a little bit and you should be fine.

 

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[aptohosting]

Good call Walley, I was just saying if he was starting big at a dedicated box he can get one for as cheap as $100 a month. BLK85, PM me and I will get you set up on a shared hosting account, we just got a brand new intel core duo box and you would be the 3rd client on it.

Our rates start as little at $6.95 per month.

Tom C.
www.aptohosting.com

 

[BLK85]

Let me get the site up and figure out if I am going to make any money on this. If I do I will contact you.