Building a 'professional' website

[Frozenguy]

My girlfriend and I are building a website for service she has envisioned which I think is going to be rather lucrative.

I have never built a website or programed in HTML/CSS/Java but that has never stopped me from jumping head first into something.

I have already started playing with the program brackets and building a cool website with password inputs and formatting but it, as expected this early in learning, looks like a 5 year old learning to write.

My girlfriend and I are clashing because she wants to offer partnership to some guy that studied this in college and has made a good reputation for himself at only 23 years old. I'm impressed with his work and credentials but he wouldn't actually work, just guide us through the process. It's worth only a consultation fee but she wants to make him partner. I think it's ludicrous when he wont be doing much, to give him partner.
However, he works for a website based company right now and can't leave them for no pay, and even has some legal/ethical loop holes when it comes to consultation.

I tell her we can do this on our own. Build a prototype and bring it to investors and get funding. She wants THE website built by the time we go to investors, in case they don't want to invest. I say why need the investors if you have the website already!!


Does anyone here know or will try to convince me one way or another that I can build this with my girlfriend in several months if it is what we focus on day and night.

I studied aerospace engineering but was exposed to lots of programming so I think I should be able to do it.

Anyone start up a website with no money/investors? What kind of start did you have and when did you get investors?

[msternin]

You go to investors with a solid business plan. A working or semi-working prototype is good, but investors want to understand your business model and how they are going to get an ROI (return on investment). You are at a stage where a prospective investor or angel investor doesn't care about your color scheme, quality of your HTML code, JavaScript, etc... It's all about a solid plan. A good investor knows that with a solid plan, you can outsource the DEV work.

[stilly]

In MY experience it takes a different kind of animal to make a pro site once you get past a certain point.

That is MY main problem. I have so many ideas and things flying around in my head that everything is an intersection for me. Do I want THIS or THAT or THIS or THAT and it really kills me and my speed.

My suggestion, start on paper or a white board, and work through things that way, then start it up on the computer and try to stay focused.

If you find that you are starting to get overwhelmed with choices, maybe it is time to let the other guy start up or offer suggestion at which road to take.

I know the feeling, I get the feeling, I have that same feeling, Why let someone ELSE do it when I can do it myself. So then look for a book that talks about good web design or solid web design strategies. It may give you some perspective or angle that you did not see before and then you will have better direction.

Honestly I have never though that you needed investors for a website. You either have one or you do not. The website drives customers to YOU, but really it is just a vending machine on the internet selling whatever you put on it. If your Search Engine Optimization sucks, your traffic will be slow, if your SEO is good then it will be slow and then pick up after a day or two. But really anyone can make a website. How fancy and complicated/busy you make it is up to you.

[Frozenguy]

You go to investors with a solid business plan. A working or semi-working prototype is good, but investors want to understand your business model and how they are going to get an ROI (return on investment). You are at a stage where a prospective investor or angel investor doesn't care about your color scheme, quality of your HTML code, JavaScript, etc... It's all about a solid plan. A good investor knows that with a solid plan, you can outsource the DEV work.

I've been working a business plan on the side too. She is so gung ho about having a website ready. She read what happened to SitterCity.com when that venture capatilist firm ran with their idea and created Care.com with 10's of millions of dollars at their finger tips.
I'm starting on that plan with how and why this will make money, where it will make money, when it will make money...

In MY experience it takes a different kind of animal to make a pro site once you get past a certain point.

That is MY main problem. I have so many ideas and things flying around in my head that everything is an intersection for me. Do I want THIS or THAT or THIS or THAT and it really kills me and my speed.

My suggestion, start on paper or a white board, and work through things that way, then start it up on the computer and try to stay focused.

If you find that you are starting to get overwhelmed with choices, maybe it is time to let the other guy start up or offer suggestion at which road to take.

I know the feeling, I get the feeling, I have that same feeling, Why let someone ELSE do it when I can do it myself. So then look for a book that talks about good web design or solid web design strategies. It may give you some perspective or angle that you did not see before and then you will have better direction.

Honestly I have never though that you needed investors for a website. You either have one or you do not. The website drives customers to YOU, but really it is just a vending machine on the internet selling whatever you put on it. If your Search Engine Optimization sucks, your traffic will be slow, if your SEO is good then it will be slow and then pick up after a day or two. But really anyone can make a website. How fancy and complicated/busy you make it is up to you.

Good stuff, nice tips thanks. I think that's sound advice as to how to approach the technical side of this. I have improved immensely in the last 48 hours and I'm getting pretty excited. Thinking of getting my own personal site up and going.

The white board is an excellent idea and we're picking one up today. It really seems to become an art to the science when it comes to making a really nice flowing website that is easy on the eyes/mind but stimulating and effective.

[ExtremeX]

To build on what stilly said about white boarding... if you are serious you will end up needing to use a tool like Microsoft Visio, its absolutely a must when it comes to process and flow charting...

Its very powerful... I used it when collaborating and communicating workflow with our customers and employees. Also with our web developers when we were asking them to make a custom web application for a partner company.

[Frozenguy]

Visio huh? The only thought I had about flow management was using Core9 from Vitech but I'm not sure I would be able to adapt it efficiently. Visio looks like it hits the spot, thanks. I'll definitely start playing around with that.
You're right, we'll definitely need effective data flow management.

[msternin]

I've been working a business plan on the side too. She is so gung ho about having a website ready. She read what happened to SitterCity.com when that venture capatilist firm ran with their idea and created Care.com with 10's of millions of dollars at their finger tips.
I'm starting on that plan with how and why this will make money, where it will make money, when it will make money...

I'm not familiar with the particulars of that deal, but I've yet to have an experience with a VC that will sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) before talking to you about your own idea.

Without divulging your idea why is it that you feel you need to give up, what will amount to sizable equity, for funding? Are you that strapped for cash? Many people often think they need to run out in search of funding when it's often not need at that stage of the game or without a full understanding of what you are getting into. I'm sure you could seek out some "angel investors" and give up a fraction of the equity a VC or an incubator will take, if that were even necessary. Otherwise get your idea going and blossom your idea and get some subscribers/customers/etc... and see where it goes. The company I co-founded (in January '03 and retired from in March of '13) started with each co-founder making the necessary capital contributions when required. Other than that, we never sought VC money. Several years in, well after we were cash positive, did a VC approach us because THEY had a void in their technology portfolio. About three years after we did a deal with them, another VC approached us in a similar circumstance.

A VC can and often will take a controlling interest in an organization and set themselves up with positions on the board of directors to be able to out vote you to serve their own interest, which is pure and simple - EXIT STRATEGY. Their goal is to get their money back at an "X" multiplier. They'll do that by either grooming the company for a sale (partial or whole) or take the company public and cash in on their stock, which is generally going to be most if not all of the "preferred" stock. Which means they get paid on a liquidation event before you do. The net result is they could be the only ones making "real" money.

[msternin]

Visio huh? The only thought I had about flow management was using Core9 from Vitech but I'm not sure I would be able to adapt it efficiently. Visio looks like it hits the spot, thanks. I'll definitely start playing around with that.
You're right, we'll definitely need effective data flow management.

Stop focusing on "Fancy Shmancy" stuff that doesn't really matter right now. Regular ol' paper, pens, pencils, dry erase, etc... will do the trick. I'm sure it goes without saying that some electronic tools will be helpful if not indispensable. Things such as word processing and spreadsheet software. Don't get wrapped up around Google Docs versus Microsoft products, etc... you'll be wasting time that could be spent analyzing your market place, barriers to entry, coding, etc...real business stuff that is technology or product independent.

Focus on what will drive your BUSINESS. At this point, research, analysis and the development of your product or service will. You can always put the "lipstick on the pig" later.

[ocabj]

Building a good commercial website isn't easy.

Things you need to know:

1. UI
2. Databases
3. Secure Programming
4. Efficient Programming
5. Performance/Load Balancing/Scaling

Whatever framework you decide to use, make sure you template out your operatiging environment / stack for easy rebuild and redeployment.

Try Pivotal Tracker for project management. It's heavily oriented towards development using the concept of "user stories."

[spyde12]

Go with a hosting provider like network solutions and buy some consultation hours from their professionals. You'll be able to setup a domain, email accounts and a website after your order.

I would also recommend getting a website builder program. You just do the layout on a simple user interface, based on your designs and you can simply publish it directly to your domain. No need to worry about html. Obviously, css, html9, java knowledge will come in handy, but you can make it all fancy after you've done a proof of concept. PM if you have questions and good luck!

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

[socky]

Depending on how involved you want to be in the process, there's a couple of different things you can do.

Learn to make amazing web sites and apps yourself in a matter of 3-4 months at most (depending on how well you soak everything up) by going through free online material available to anyone, some examples of this would be sites like:
http://www.codecademy.com and http://www.freecodecamp.com or MOOCs such as MIT's http://www.edx.org or http://www.coursera.org

These are really amazing and get you up and running really quickly by focusing on building stuff instead of getting lost in theory.
You can also take courses from MIT, Harvard, Stanford etc on those MOOC websites I mentioned at your own pace and without paying a single dime and they will teach you all the basics you need.
A good course, for example, on EdX would be 'Software as a Service' something (I forget the exact name), it teaches you how to make web apps in Ruby on Rails. You have to do assignments, quizzes, everything.

You could also use the simplest approach by going through sites such as http://www.themeforest.net and picking out a template that you like and customizing it.
Themeforest has templates for Content Management Systems like WordPress, as well as pure HTML/CSS templates.
Taking WordPress as an example, it is a very flexible platform and once you have the basics down for HTML/CSS and some PHP, you can pretty much edit those templates to make them look like what you have in mind very easily. It also already comes with Content and User Management built in, so you dont have to worry about setting up authentication systems or messing around a lot with databases and tables

Lastly, you can outsource the design portion to a third party by using services like http://www.odesk.com or http://www.fiverr.com
Once the design is completed and you atleast having a working shell, a minimum viable product, you can perhaps look into hiring a developer or get VC funded etc etc

Also take a look at Trello, Asana and other Kanban software if you would like to setup some sort of a project mangement thing going. These Sofware as a Service(s) will help you in setting up case stories that can be worked on in sprints.
These all offer a free tier of service.
For wireframing or creating mocks, please take a look at Balsamiq. It is specifically made for creating rapid protoypes of websites/web apps and mobile apps. You can also use Coggle to create a 'Mind Map' sort of thing for all possible things that your web app will do or services/pages it will have. This really helps clearing the picture up and creating something solid. It also helps you in coming up with all sorts of 'Whys', 'Whats' and Wheres'.

There are also really cheap or free hosting providers available for setting up an initial website.
This again depends on what sort of approach you take, if you go the route of creating your own web app using a language/framework such as Ruby on Rails or JavaScript and NodeJS, you can look into signing up for Amazon's Free Tier of their AWS service or Heroku's free 'Hobby' level service.

If you take the approach of setting up a WordPress or some other Content Mangagement System website, you can get very good hosting for $5 a month at DigitalOcean. Really simple and easy to set up. You can also use the Amazon's AWS service for this too, just sign up for 1 year of free service.

I hope this helps and gives you some ideas.

Once again, it is absolutely doable by your own self in a manner of 3-4 months as long as you don't lose focus and keep at it and costs next to nothing if you do your research and spend wisely. Once the money starts coming in, you can always upgrade to a better tier of provider, service etc. And hey, if it doesn't work out, you would've earned a valuable new skill and easily get a 80+K job if something were to go awry in your current industry.