How to start own car site w/pictures...Need help

[Methodical]

Hello all. I have lots of parts that I want to begin selling. I know I need to place them in Classified section. But what I need here is for someone to point me in the right direction on how to be able to post pictures of the parts and how to get my own car site like some of the fellas here. I need you help.

Thanks
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[Zero Signal]

The first question you need to answer is . . . Are you willing to pay a monthly fee for your own domain (like www.methodical306.com or something), or would you be happy with a free domain that puts popups all over your page?

Secondly, are you only trying to put something up to show people pics of what you are selling, or do you want to use it for all your other stuff too? If it's a one time deal, then just use the free pic hosting sites, otherwise I would go with your own domain like I did. I get awsome service and WAY more than i need through Bluehost.com for $7/month

 

[Methodical]

The first question you need to answer is . . . Are you willing to pay a monthly fee for your own domain (like www.methodical306.com or something), or would you be happy with a free domain that puts popups all over your page?

Secondly, are you only trying to put something up to show people pics of what you are selling, or do you want to use it for all your other stuff too? If it's a one time deal, then just use the free pic hosting sites, otherwise I would go with your own domain like I did. I get awsome service and WAY more than i need through Bluehost.com for $7/month

I think I want all of the above. Thanks for the info. I will check them out

 

[Zero Signal]

Then from there, you want to decide how you want to set up your site. You can write all your own html from scratch, or you can actually download a content management system with a site already put together for you that you can just install on your server space and start using right away. That would be something like http://e107.org/news.php , http://www.mamboserver.com/ , http://www.ektron.com/google.aspx?campaignid=0267&cpid=KNC-0267&gclid=CLiGr6HL9YUCFSk2GAodfkYBmA

You can read reviews on the turnkey systems such as the ones above here http://www.opensourcecms.com/

I used to use e107 so that's my favorite. But since then I ditched it to write my site from scratch.

Also for pic hosting, you can download a gallery to install on your site as well. The would be something like http://coppermine-gallery.net/index.php which you may find that a lot of sites out there use. I have coppermine running right now for all my pic hosting.

 

[final5-0]

Having gone through all that with my little site .........

I can say all that stuff John said makes a lot of sense.

I just used the free option and where you run into issues with those is with limitations of storage and bandwidth.

All the free options have tight rules about size of pic, amount of hard drive space they will give you to store your stuff, and if you have so much traffic that too much bandwidth is used ... your site is shut down for an hour, several hours, or a day.

Grady

 

[zenboy99]

For a site like bluehost.com, how easy is it to make your own page? I know nothing about any of this. Are there step by step instructions for putting a website together?

 

[SVTCobra306]

I use my cardomain account for pictures, and when I really want to sell I use Ebay or the classifieds on the boards...

 

[Methodical]

Hey fellas thanks for the needed info. I will explore those options. I would probably try the free sites first to see how it goes.

Again thanks

 

[final5-0]

For a site like bluehost.com, how easy is it to make your own page? I know nothing about any of this. Are there step by step instructions for putting a website together?

Hey Chad

In no way am I an expert or have the experience like John and some of the others on this site.

but

There are all kinds of help html editor doo hookie applications that allows you to build up a site without having to know html source code.

Just for fun, I built up about 1 page using the code.

Whole lot like using DOS before there was MS Windows as everything is manual and you have to use the code exactly perfect or you ain't gonna get what you want

I ended up using the helper html editor thingie which was one of the tools made available by my provider. IIRC, they called it Page Builder

Just a thought or two from someone who doesn't know much but managed to put together a basic, no frills, site.

I guess I was trying to say if I could do what I did ... you certainly could do the same and most likely ... do things a lot better than I

Grady

 

[mo_dingo]

yeah you don't have to learn html from scratch. but it does help if you need to customize further than the program can take you....

I just started with the basics and went from there.
Scott

 

[Zero Signal]

Basically, you write up your html in a .txt file and name it index.html (if you don't have an editor) then upload the files you are linking to (like pics, files, thumnails etc) and upload the html file then type in your domain name. There is more to it obviously, but in reality, it's very easy to do. Spend a weekend and read this book http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfhtmlcss/ and you'll be stoked and know how to do it. I don't think there is a page builder with bluehost, but don't quote me on that. They do have email systems you can use to set up your own email and stuff, it's pretty awsome.