Starting a New Web Page - Possibly Profitable down the road?

[Crown Royal]

Hey all-

I have had an idea for a website/blog for a while now. I want to do it just for fun, to see if I can get a readership. It would be sort of a how-to that can be constantly updated with new ideas, and has lots of opportunity to expand.

I want to do it in my free time, but I see how it could possibly become something later down the road and even make money, if things fall correctly. However, I have no experience in things like this. Are there resources for starting webpages like this, and idea on how to get a readership, advertise, and offset these costs?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[theogt]

For starting a blog:

https://www.blogger.com/start

 

[Crown Royal]

For starting a blog:

https://www.blogger.com/start

Yeah - I've used that. I was thinking about getting my own URL though. I have a blogspot for an online journal I keep.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Pop up ads.....lots of them

 

[Crown Royal]

Pop up ads.....lots of them

Do they pay you to put spyware on your website?

 

[theogt]

Yeah - I've used that. I was thinking about getting my own URL though. I have a blogspot for an online journal I keep.

You can host your own URL through any number of companies. I believe Blogspot has an option where you can feed your Blogspot site into any URL.

 

[HTownCowboysFan]

First you need to secure a URL and then buy hosting. You can run adds -- such as Google Adsense, etc., but with most, you have to build a readership that gets you several thousand visits per month.

 

[Crown Royal]

First you need to secure a URL and then buy hosting. You can run adds -- such as Google Adsense, etc., but with most, you have to build a readership that gets you several thousand visits per month.

Thanks. I am looking at all kinds of ads such as Adsense. The startup costs don't look to be too huge, so any kind of offset will help. If it gets to be too much of a financial burden and I have no readers, I can just take it down. If it gets to be too much of a financial burden but I have lots of readers, then I can always accept donations (but that is waaaay down the road).

What concerns me is any legal ramifications in accepting donations or anything like that. If say, in a year or two, I have to up my costs for a better server, or even purchase my own server for higher traffic/bandwidth, and need to take donations, do I need to report them to the government?

What if donations end up covering the cost of the site and some, thus turning a profit? I have then created a service and possibly a business. At what point do I need to be concerned with reporting and stuff? I understand that is extraordinarily unlikely, but I have done some testing on this idea at random places and have been surprised at the very positive reception.

 

[ROMOSAPIEN9]

It would be sort of a how-to that can be constantly updated with new ideas.

How to what?

 

[DallasCowpoke]

Hey all-

I have had an idea for a website/blog for a while now. I want to do it just for fun, to see if I can get a readership. It would be sort of a how-to that can be constantly updated with new ideas, and has lots of opportunity to expand.

I want to do it in my free time, but I see how it could possibly become something later down the road and even make money, if things fall correctly. However, I have no experience in things like this. Are there resources for starting webpages like this, and idea on how to get a readership, advertise, and offset these costs?

Any help would be appreciated!

Umm, I'm no expert, but I'm kinda sensing a bit of a problem here in your basic business plan.


:

 

[CF74]

Two really good sites:

godaddy.com

http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/default.asp

 

[HTownCowboysFan]

Try namesecure.com

FYI, my ads come via Adsense and Burst Media -- they handle all of them.