Site Ideas?

[Loonister]

Alright, so I got 7 bucks to blow and a bunch of space to use so I decided I'm gonna get a new domain name, problem is, I have no idea what kind of site I wanna make, or what the name of the site is gonna be. I'm tired of opening and closing message boards so forums are out of the picture. I just wanna open a site that's original and different from what's out there now. Any ideas? :)

[pro5ject]

Do you want to make any money from this ?
If so then p0rn or sport both are good options.

If you don't want to make money then make a website about you favourite thing other anything to do with computers, or the internet, like fav band, sport, etc. . . .

[Loonister]

I'm only 13, so I'm thinking porn is out of the picture? ;) ... I really don't want to do something that's limited to one subject like a fansite would. Maybe something of some sort of online magazine with a twist would do some good.:)

[pro5ject]

How about a online magazine for your local area, write reviews or get people to write reviews, on restaraunts, cinemas, etc, etc - and have local business's advertise on it for free to start of with, then charge when the site gets big, if it does.

[ppx]

Make a e-zine with basically the latest in gaming, sports and other things that might interest... the world. Add a few advertisements or sell advertising, and if that becomes profitable, put prizes or something.

Obviously this will have a 0.1% of actually working, but its worth a try... :D

[notnamed]

You really should have an idea of what you're going to do before you plan on doing it. Don't make a site because you have money and time, make a site because you have an idea and want to make a site about it.

[Canuckkev]

Hmm...I've got sort of the opposite problem. I have many ideas I would like to develop, but no time.

[Conscript]

pro5ject has the right idea. Actually a damn good one.

It really depends on what your mission is. If you're just making a site for a hobby or for the sake of making a site, then do it about anything, it really doesn't matter. Fansite for a particular genre of movies or games won't tie you down as much as one about a particular movie or game, or a site about UFO's and Aliens (that was my first kind of site when I got started back in 1998-99, and at the time I was in 7th grade).

If you're out to make money, don't bother. A website is not in itself a money making machine, but rather it is a tool that HELPS make money. For example making a site for an already established business.

What kind of business a 13 year old could do? Simple. Lawn mowing over the summer, window cleaning, leaf raking, and snow shoveling over the winter. You could make a website describing what you offer, your prices, and so on. Also include some pictures of you, describe yourself, and possibly even add a guestbook. Basically give it a personal-website feel so that people feel like they kinda know you after they've read it, but also point out visibly and clearly what you offer. Then you could print up flyers featuring your name and your URL and put them on people's front doors around your area and wait for responses.

Of course, get your parents permission before doing something like this and make sure you're not violating any laws (some places might have laws against posting up flyers door to door for example). These are just some ideas though.

But as i've said earlier, if your objective is not to make money but to just have some fun and mess around, then your possibilities are endless. I don't want to get your hopes down but realistically a small-time website probably won't get many visits. During my ReadMyRants.com days I submitted my site to search engines, lists, and exchanged a few links and still didn't get more than 30 or 40 uniques per day, and most of those were returning visitors.

But if you're in it to make money - and be honest to yourself about this - then you'll have to think of a website not as a way to make money but rather as a tool that will help you make money with some other business.

As far as getting a domain, you can't go wrong with your own name. I got my name .com a few years ago and I've been renewing it even though I never really built it into a popular site. One advantage of owning a domain with your name is it'll be easier for people to find/reach you (such as your classmates after graduation for example), and NO SPAM in e-mail (not to mention you can make all the e-mail addresses you want!).

That's the BEST thing about it. Because you can get you@yourname.com e-mail you will not got spam so long as you don't sign up for many services with it. I've found that web-spiders often get your e-mail from your website, so on your site publish an all-purpose e-mail address such as contact@yourname.com or something, but save you@yourname.com for yourself and for your friends and relatives and important internet services (who won't spam you) to e-mail you on and you'll never have to deal with spam.

Sorry for straying a bit off topic, but I'm done now.

[Canuckkev]

To add to what Conscript said, the only websites that can make serious advertising revenue is websites that have staff...people paid to run the site. Sure, it could be just you, but with the amount of time you will need to put into the site, it will be pretty much a job.

[tandoc]

Originally posted by Loonister
I'm only 13, so I'm thinking porn is out of the picture

how so? :confused:

:biggrin2:

[Loonister]

Originally posted by tandoc
how so? :confused:

:biggrin2:

:biggrin2: :p

Forgot to state it in the first post, the site's not gonna be for money-making..just for fun.

[netnexus]

im sort of at the same dillema.. want to start a new site but not sure what to start it on..

[Conscript]

If it's for fun simply pick a topic you can have fun with, something you can write about, and most importantly something that you won't get sick of or bored of very quickly.

Good topic ideas are TV shows. Updating such a site could be easy too because you can just review new episodes as they come out. Another topic idea is a game you like playing or a genre of games (for example FPS's like Half-Life, Vietcong, Unreal or RTS's like StarCraft, C&C, Total Annihilation).

Last but not least is a personal site. Get a .com with your name on it and make a site about yourself.

[notnamed]

A good way to make a site also is to do something in a way you've never seen before. I'm making an abandonware site...not all that common due to the legality issues over it...but it's not the dark colors you'd expect. It's light colored. An unmodified version of this design (http://oswd.org/viewdesign.phtml?id=6&---------/search.php?type=advanced&validtype=any&contrast=any&pricolor=slate&seccolor=any&category=any&x=36&y=12) matter of fact. So pick something you like, but - even if it's so subtle most of your visitors won't pick up on it - make it different. People come back to different sites.

[dre145]

Also try to start something with your friends etc that way you'll at least be getting some help and people already comming to your site and it will be harder for you to get bored of the site.