Websites - where do I start?

So for a good year now I've been using Myspace as my main website but I just can't see it as being "professional" enough to get a job with. I was wondering if anyone had any tips and suggestions on how to make a website.

I know nothing at all when it comes to websites other than a few of the training videos I saw at 3Dbuzz.com
I would prefer a free website with minimal advertisement banners and yet it must be reliable.

So, where do I start?

SonicOrbStudios wrote:

I would prefer a free website with minimal advertisement banners and yet it must be reliable.

So, where do I start?

Free websites get paid for by the advertisements. So free and minimal are hard to impossiable to find. Throw on-top reliable and well, lets just say if you find one of these please share it, because you have found the gold at the end of the rainbow.

Now from what I am getting is you want to use this website as some-what of a resume. Getting clients or a working position with in an established company.

If this is the case, cutting edges to save a couple of dollars will only hurt what your trying to do. You do not wear jeans to a job interview, you do not print your resume out on recycled brown paper, and your online video portfolio should be handled in the same manor.

Now after saying all that, I am not saying you have to get a $1000 suit either over your pair of jeans. Find out what kind of budget you can afford for this site. Many sites offer hosting under $10 a month. They have site builders that require little or no programming experence at all. The 2 things that you are going to need is storage space and streaming video. So look for a package that offers high storage and bandwith monthly. You do not need an e-com solutions since your not selling anything.

Now another option is getting your own hosting site and having a site built for you and your needs. A one-time fee to set up the page and all the code and you maintain it. This is not a bad option at all. Maintance is very simple and once in place all you should have to do is upload your pic/video and link them.

Working for years at Microsoft, I can tell you one thing about a website they can make you look 10x bigger and better than you are, or well, flip it around you can look down right bad.

When you get ready to make the move and have a clearer picture of the direction you want to go, post it here and I will throw you a couple of bones.

David

Thanks for the info David. The personal hosting site option sounds like a great way to go or my setup. Yes I am looking to use it somewhat as a resume and to get a job somewhere. I host most of my work on YouTube and Vimeo so if needed, I could link from that to get the video onto my website.

Sounds like putting at least some kind of payment in would be a wise choice. I dont know about you, but I dont really enjoy going to websites covered with ads. Putting in some money to get rid of most of those ads is good to do.

Any more info on the personal hosting setup would be great.

Thanks again

This is a very nice host that allows unlimited file storage and transfer. All for just 6.95 a month. You get your own domain for your website. So it could look like
(www.SonicOrbStudios.com) if that is avialble also includes email accounts like (david@SonicOrbStudios.com) All making you look very professional.

http://www.bluehost.com/tell_me_more.html

This is a Studio template for the website. Right now they have a sale going on, and for 59$ you can get any of there over 3000+ site templates.

http://www.dreamtemplate.com/index.php?action=detail&catID=25&productID=3882

Take a look and check it out. 59 for the temp and 6.95 for the first month. So for a set-up of under 70$ and then less than 7$ a month moving forward.

If you have any question ask away after you get a chance to look it over.

David

Dave you ever get a plan put together for a website yet? If not I wanted to put my 2 sense in. Before I get started so this does not sound like I am spamming or trying to market to you I have my own web hosting service through another company that I manage and have for years. The reason why I say this is because if a budget is a problem for you I have control over cutting you a deal. I use my own hosting for all my 5 or 6 sites plus others and have been doing this for 10 years, well I would not sell something I myself did not use.

Your biggest investment with this is going to be a template. Since it appears you are saying you have no major experience in building your own look you are going to need a template (which can be modified) to really get your own pro look. If there is anyway I can help you out I would be glad to give you the link to my hosting service and some templates to look over. I will install the template for you for free and do some basic editing if you like. Also I'll show you some sites I have built and manage along with ones I am currently building. Just pm me if you want any details. Again I am not trying to throw my stuff on you its just I have been doing this 10 years or a bit over and I know the ins and outs.

Now, which ever way you go with try to avoid web hosting like yahoo, tripod, etc. These are big names on the internet world so people expect big things from them when hosting.. You wont get it though. It is the equivalent of buying a camera where everything is on auto rather than having manual control. Now while this sounds nice to be on auto when having a website you are going to run into things time and time again that you simply are not able to do. I have heard overall good things about the blue host that was mentioned above but I am told their customer support is under par.

As you know I am trying to do my own video thing right now too.. I have already got started with a website (just started) because I know how to do that. Now the site is not finished and much of nothing will make sense at the moment but take a look at ToxicTank DOT Com. Thats is just the mere beginning of my video site. Its going to have star ratings, comments, user log in, and tons more when I am done. Just remember if you decide to get your own respectable website together accept a learning process. Now that will be relieved with good customer support ticket system for some host. I can give your Sonic Orb Studios a presence but you will have to learn how to update your website when you want new material added to it (Not too tough) . Just for the very basic editing you would be ok far as adding new text. It would be good to learn basic html techniques so when you are looking at this page of source code you will know what code is identifying an image or text effects. Now when it comes to uploading new videos to your website. You can make that easy too just by pasting your youtube code they give you into your website. If you want your videos to be independently hosted on your server (which loads faster) then I can help you with that too. A big learning curve if you tackle this on your own so please know I am happy to answer questions. Just let me know man. Sorry for the long post.