After 3 month of designing, programming, researching, advertising and dealing with legal issues, I finally finished my newest project, RITBook. It’s a textbook trading site exclusively for Rochester Institute of Technology students. From the day it was released, it’s been a great success, and I’m really excited about how it’s doing. There is now over hundreds of books on the website, and I’m getting lots of positive feedback about the website. Alot of people are really interested in the site, and they’re helping me promote it. Hopefully it’s going to take off!
I’ve decided to compile a few tips to starting a website. Hopefully it’ll either help people out or just be interesting to read.
The Idea & Brainstorming
- Develop an idea that is unique. If your idea has already been created by other people, is your ability level higher than the competition? Do you have better ideas then the competition?
- Decide on a solid purpose of your site.
The Design
- A beautiful site will attract people. Though functionality is more important, who wants to use a poorly designed site?
- Inspiration. Search for design inspiration. I strongly suggest the following links for inspiration:
- Choose a beautiful color scheme. I strongly suggest the following links for color inspiration:
- Stay Simple. You don’t want to overwhelm your users.
- Consider your audience.
The Development
- The way I sometimes program is think “Here’s my idea, now how do I make it work?” Then you research.
- Bring users around your site. Don’t just rely on your menu, add things like “Looking for this? Click here.”
The Release
- BETA TESTERS ARE KEY. Before releasing your site, have people beta test it. Have “angry” beta testers try to do everything to “screw up” your site.
- Advertise! Put advertisements everywhere.
- Track where your visitors are coming from. This will show you the best advertising medium.