Starting A Site

Have you seen lots of graphic sites and wanted one of your own? Well, here's some help on starting your own site.

Pick a decent name.
Nobody wants to come to Sparkly Pink Fairy Bunny Designs, and if they do I don't want to know them. Pick something that's respectable, dignified and cool-sounding. You may think Purple Glitter Explosion sounds mysterious and great now, but in about two weeks, you'll be kicking yourself. Pick something that sounds reputable. It doesn't have to sound artsy, but pick a name that sounds okay. I would limit it to two words. You can use site name generators, but I wouldn't, because they usually give really randomised names.

Get a host.
Free hosts are convenient and, well, free, but there isn't a lot of street cred that comes with freewebs.com/yoursite. That being said, for starting out sites becoming part of a Freewebs, Bravenet, Angelfire etc. community can provide you with affiliates and online friends that are going through similar stages in their design to you. You can get domain masks, such as Free Domain, where I get mine, which can change yours to a .vze.com, .co.nr, .co.cc etc. url. It is both easier to remember and better looking. But what beats it all is sub/domain. If you are a starting out site, I would not buy a domain. First, it's money. Second, you don't know how long you're going to have your domain. I had a site for three years before I moved to a domain, but after a year I moved back to subdomain anyway. Domains aren't for everyone, and subdomains can be awesome - they have all the freedom of a free host, plus FTP and a real person hosting you that you can make friends with. Domains and Subdomains are also a lot easier to find on search engines, so you might end up with more hits - but just remember, usually to be hosted you need some prior experience, so free hosts can be well worthwhile.

Make A Layout.
Sure, it's not essential to your site, but trust me, if a site has an ugly layout, no amount of content is going to stop me from clicking that X. Your layout tells people so much about your site from the first few seconds of visiting your site, that even though it shouldn't be so important, I would spend time making a layout that you are proud of. Your layout conveys, in the first few instants:

The name of your site
The style of your site (cute, artistic, etc.)
Your graphic level ability (blinkies, free falling, etc.)
What you like (pink, black, skulls, trees, etc.)
What kind of site you are (blog, graphic resource, etc.)
Whether or not you use free layouts from other sites

Do you really want to be giving people the wrong idea about all these things, just because you couldn't be bothered to make a proper layout? I'll answer that for you: no. Also, avoid copying layouts. If people find out you stole their layout idea, you're in a lot of trouble. I'm talking walls of shame, blacklists, hate mail and getting your site removed altogether. Copying is just boring. Following trends (such as using heaps of brushes and colour bubbles) is also boring and just not cool. Take the time to make something you're proud of. Not to mention that it might annoy the hell out of you to visit your site and see a layout you hate.

Make Some Decent Content.
When I come to a site, the first thing I do is look at the layout, then I'll browse the content page. If the only thing on there is Icons, I won't like you. Icons are the simplest, most useless thing to make. Out of 10 sites I visit, I will probably use icon/s from 1, and usually it will only be 1 icon. Compare that to the 9 out of those 10 sites that will have a billion icons that are the same photo moved up and down, with a colour bubble here and there. It looks lame and you'll get no respect if all you have is icons. Try making something people will actually use, like;

Brushes
PSDs
Fonts
Textures
Emoticons

Before you're about to upload your thirtieth Myspace layout, think to yourself: would I use this? Would I use a blend that's just three photos with erased backgrounds? Would I use a PSD where I could cut out the single-colour background myself in two seconds? Would I use a scribble of a squashed banana? If you have actually made any of this junk, the answer is no. Look at what you have downloaded from other sites and they will probably fit into the five up there. Not trying to dis your seventy thousand Myspace photo album covers, but nobody wants them. If you take my advice and make some decent content, you'll find people will use your stuff more.

Blog, Dammit!

Sure, a kick-ass layout will get you the benefit of the doubt, a mile-long content page full of stuff your user will definitely use will get you a return visit, but if you have interesting, funny and insightful blogs, I guarantee that person will want to read your next one. You can make anything into a funny story, and who doesn't want to read a funny story? It's not hard, and it's also a great way to promote new content and to keep in touch with affiliates and visitors in general.

And just so you know, you need to blog consistently - consistently often and consistently worth reading. Nobody will care if after three months of deadness you come with a blog that reads "soz guyz bt i hv all thez examzzz & im sooooooooo sooper stressd!!!! i wont blog for 18 more months bt thn ill have lots of stuff for u!" you will get no sympathy. Let's make a list of all the ways that blog has failed:

Didn't use proper English (trust me, chatspeak belongs nowhere)
Didn't blog in three months (or add ANY content whatsoever)
Didn't add any content IN the blog
Used that lazy ass "exams & schoolwork" excuse instead of keeping up with their commitment (their site)
Promised to not even try to do anything for a year and a half

If you use that stupid "so stressed with school" excuse, you will only get fake sympathetic responses and eventually your hits will die. If you've made a commitment to your site, see it through, and blog often with stuff worth blogging about. That being said, don't blog ALL the time, or your visitors will have no time to comment. If you want to mention a new piece of content or something, you can easily use edits or post scripts and keep your blog instead of writing a whole new post (though I would limit it to 2 or 3 edits). One of my best online friends is only that way because her blog was so funny that I had to comment, and now we regularly comment each other.

Enough About You.
There are only a few reasons I would look at someone's "about me" section in their sidebar - to figure out if they're a guy or a girl, how old they are (usually when trying to figure out how to react a blog), where they are from (again usually in relation to a blog) or if I didn't get their name. I hate it when people have mile-long "about me" segments in the sidebar. Who cares if you have twelve dogs that you heart? People who click on the "More?" link, that's who. People only want minimal information, if any at all, on your sidebar. Keep it to your name, maybe your age, a couple of your likes and dislikes, maybe where you are from and a link to a page where you can write all the self-indulgent crap you want. If people really want to know, they can look there, okay?

And a note about photos: keep it small (50x100px max) and when you're uploading, think: would my parents approve of this? Because if they don't want to see it, chances are your visitors (unless they're pervs) don't either.

Affiliates
If you're lucky, affiliate applications will magically appear in your inbox every day. That is if you have a very easy-to-find site that has a link to an affiliate application (whether in instruction or form form) and has lots of good content. It's far more likely, however, that you have to find your affiliates on your own. Remember, a few tips: Aim at your level or a little higher, look for people that you think you will like, and online friends make the best affiliates. Get to know them a little before you apply, and never, EVER apply just for hits. Don't do it.

A note about affiliate applications: Remember that everyone who applies admires your site, admires you and wants to be your friend. They plucked up the courage to ask you to be affiliates and even though they might not be right up to your level, they could be nice people that only need a little help to improve, so be nice about it. I know I am too nice, but it is a huge compliment for someone to apply to be your affiliate, so think about that before you send them a big fat "NO >:P".

Getting Hits
I have actually written a tutorial on getting hits, so I won't go into much detail here. Click there if you want to know more. Basically you'll get more hits by spreading the word about your site: advertising yourself all over the web in order to get your (site) name heard.

Maintaining A Site Worth Visiting
Don't let things die on your site, if you want to keep visitors coming back. Keep making new content all the time (stuff that people will use, not bulk uploads of junk) and people will keep checking back for your new stuff. Update your layout every now and then to keep your site looking fresh. Blog once or twice a week to talk about what's been happening to you, what you think, what you've updated and to make people laugh. Have affiliate cleanouts to make sure you don't have dead links. Just keep the site alive and you'll find yourself having a lot of fun.

I hope this tutorial has helped you. If you have started a site or improved your existing site using this tutorial, tell me, because I would love to see sites that have used my tutorials.