Website advice and tips needed.

[Proven]

A friend and I have an idea for a Website and would like to get some info on how to get started. The site would be Forums based just like this site although it would be completely non-car related. I know nothing about how to make or service a website so this is where I have some Qs.

I have done some research of course. I know there is sites that sell Template's to where you buy the Template, download it, plug your information in, and apparently go online. I've searched and yet to find the perfect template yet alone a Company that sells them that seems legit or trustworthy.

What I know (correct me if I'm wrong)

-Get a Domain name
-Get the site made
-Get a Hosting service like Hostmonster.com
-Then either learn how to or find someone to service the site

Now some qs. And a request for tips

-Host monster, anyone familiar with them? Any good?
-Anyone know of a good site for forum-based templates?
-Anyone have experience servicing a forums based website and how difficult is it?

If someone could give me a direct route to take with information on how to go about it I would highly appreciate it!!!!

[timp]

Forum websites are tough to run, mostly because you have to get people to come... most people will see a new forum and realize it only has a couple members and won't join because they think it would be a waste of time and not helpful to them if the place has only a few members... If you have a fresh idea that nobody else seems to have, it could be hit-or-miss really.

I don't have experience with forum templates at all... I do know that if all you're interested in doing is a forum, then you could get a free one, but then again, it's even harder to get people to come to a forum with a long web address, and which looks like just any kid threw it together.

Before we put our website on our own forum, we were hosted by godaddy.com. Pretty decent, you can work on your website straight from theirs if you don't want to mess with FTP (or you can use FTP too, whichever works for you)... the problem with them is that if you go for the lower packages, you'll have an ad banner at the top.

If you need help putting a basic website together, I'll gladly give you a hand, it's been a hobby of mine for years... I generally don't like to get too complicated and am much better with HTML than I am PHP, though I know a bit about both...

[Scapegoat]

godaddy rocks, the banner ads are only there when you are using the free hosting... the free hosting won't give you enough bandwidth to run a forum for long. The basic package from them is like $6/ a month and should be more than you need to get started. You can always upgrade when more people show up.

They also offer software that you can download directly to your site and have work within 10-15 minutes. When you download web software to run on your website you are generally left creating a database as well, then plugging that information into the software, etc.

You better have a damn good idea for a forum though, there are so many out there it is next to pointless starting another one unless you can immediately draw in enough of a crowd to make it useful to others.

I just took over as "webmaster" for the home brew club I joined a couple months back. This means I'm in charge of the forum as well as the website. The forum will end up being a "success" right away due to the fact that there are club members wanting to use one as it is. So I've already got a user base... which is the hardest part to get for a new forum.

[grimm]

research on what a good domain name is for what your site will be.
research vbulletin software... You can probably figure it out. and don't absolutely need some one to run it, if you are smart enough and have the time. this secretary for a company i know started her own needle point forum or some thing and asked if she got stuck if i would help, sh figured it all out on her own. So if she can I'm pretty sure you could.
research forum hosting. find a good solution that will fit that amount of traffic you expect, as well as leaving enough room for growth.

buy your domain thru godaddy.com. But only your domain, I would not recommend adding any add-ons there as you proceed to checkout, you get a lot of those add-ons free with a hosting package thru startlogic. I prefer startlogic for hosting, their service is excellent as well, and they have very affordable packages. Both of those places also have great customer service, which is key.

sidenote:
recently my domain expired, and I had purchased it thru google... it took over a week to get a response. thats a week with no site up. thats un-imaginably horrible!!!

[Proven]

Thanks for the advice guys. Trust me I've thought of millions of forum ideas and this one is the only one thats sticking in my head. I do have local support from a fair amount of people. Im not to worried about getting people that would help by signing up and keeping things active.

Thanks again, I will keep all your info in mind. If I need the help offered above trust me youll hear from me.

Bob