Hello fello earners,

I have recently joined the forum and can't seem to pry myself away from it so far! There is so much great information here that has enabled me to take the plunge into the world of web development and focus on creating a viable source of income.

As i have little experience in web design- html proficient, and virtually no experience in the other necessary parts that go in to running a successful website, except that i am great with pc servicing and networking, this whole dream of being a successful web owner has been just that.... a dream.

The more i read on this forum the more excited i get about the opportunities out there and the closer i get to realising the dream.

Today i registered my first 2 domain names: yodrift.com and kiwidrift.com

These sites will be developed into a one stop shop for drift car racing/heavily modified performance vehicle enthusiasts; offering member profiles, forums, information and tutorials, media share, auction and classifieds.

the first domain will be marketed as a brand and aimed at the global audience, where as the kiwidrift site will naturally be aimed at the local nz audience. Each site will link with the other.

I chose these names for the following reasons:
- they are short and easy to remember
- they carry the dot com at the end
- each word in the domain has relatively high search traffic and related search traffic
- they are related to drifting!

My plans are to really work on building a large online community and creating a house-name brand amongst this niche market

Most competitor sites currently do not offer everything my sites will, and are mainly aimed at the professional racing side. The area i want to focus on makes up 80% of the drifting world.... the guys who just have a passion for their cars and want to go out and drift, or race on the roads, do burnouts... etc..

I am now registering for adsense, as it appears to be the best choice so far, however, i intend to source advertising revenues from companies related to the performance car market to purchase space on my sites. i like the personal touch when dealing with business affiliates so it makes sense to me to manage my own advertising revenues as well as the adsense option. I also think it is more lucrative in the long run.

Anyways, not really sure why i posted this... i guess i'm just congratulating myself for actually registering the domains..... i would be interested to hear your initial views, or any suggestions you would have for me, given that i'm a newbie and the odds are grossly stacked against me.

Just quit my job to focus on this. definately not the best start, but as soon as i got the bug, it started taking over my whole thought space, and couldn't concentrate on anything but.

look forward to your opinions.

Originally Posted by s0d

Just quit my job to focus on this. definately not the best start, but as soon as i got the bug, it started taking over my whole thought space, and couldn't concentrate on anything but.

Well then, you had better get moving QUICKLY.

These things can take a long time to get going; I hope you have 18 months of living expenses in the bank.

Have you chosen a CMS yet, or will you code your site from scratch?

You might also want to install a forum package, such as vBulletin with the vBSEO extensions.

You will probably want to spend most of your time in the beginning building content. You're going to need lots and lots of content before your sites are ready to promote.

Welcome to the blender. :thumbup:

Interesting story and this must be a very exciting time for you. Will brought out some key points and I think you will really need to hangout in the online community forum as well as other areas around here. Best wishes!

Thank you both for your posts.

Money will no doubt be tight, but i have government funding for my living costs whilst i get the business up and running.... NZ governments good like that, and I have several potential investors umming and aahhing over my business plan at the moment (which includes a wage for me under development costings)

I'm using LAMP combination for this and probably all future projects as i'm a keen open-sourcer, and i want to keep the TCO as low as it goes.

As for the forum, I have looked at vBulletin and must say it seems the way to go. After all practically everyone else uses it so it has that familiarity aspect which i'm sure my users will appreciate.

It is going to be a long hard road without doubt but with the information at my fingertips and professionals like yourselves offering advice and encouragement, i am sure i can pull this off.

you can count on me being here for a long time yet! I'm hooked.

Cheers again.

It looks good but I wouldn't have recomended starting a forum as your first site. If you are into drifting a lot maybe try a content site with some drifting related articles. Since you are making a forum it would help if you know a lot of people in the drifting community well enough to get them to sign up.

The best of luck with your project ~John

Originally Posted by johniman7

It looks good but I wouldn't have recomended starting a forum as your first site. If you are into drifting a lot maybe try a content site with some drifting related articles. Since you are making a forum it would help if you know a lot of people in the drifting community well enough to get them to sign up.

The best of luck with your project ~John

I have to agree. Starting a forum is tough. Especially if its your first time. It requires so much time and effort that many people quit. A good start is to write articles or a blog on your topic, get people to comment regularly. Then, once you have a following, open up our forums to "Discuss this article".

I remember when I quit my job to work online. It was scary. Best thing I ever did though.