Anyone willing to help me learn?

[Darcey86]

I have been wanting to get into the online thing for about 6 or 7 years now. I've wanted something that I could make money with, not trying to get rich overnight or anything like that, but something that I could start small and grow with and then maybe later on down the road it be something bigger.

My end goal is to have a website, with a forum, and a place for people to post items for sale (they would have to pay a small fee to list items). I've been writing down ideas in a notebook as far as what categories to include in the forum etc, and possible domain names.

But the problem is I have no idea where to start. I don't have a lot of money to pay someone to create this for me, and I don't have any "computer" experience as far as knowing how to code or to drive traffic and all that.

I've been searching online for a while now, and I think I end up even more lost lol. I don't know what host to choose, web builders, or anything!!

So if anyone has any advice it'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[chrishirst]

My end goal is to have a website, with a forum, and a place for people to post items for sale (they would have to pay a small fee to list items)

Been done many, many times already and given that you have zero budget and zero experience it is not a great place to start.

 

[ronaldroe]

Been done many, many times already and given that you have zero budget and zero experience it is not a great place to start.

That's true, but it never hurts to have something to drive toward.

Darcey, the big thing here is that you have a long way to go before you'll be ready to build something like this. I've been at this for a long time now, and I'm not sure I'd be willing to go that deep. That isn't to say you shouldn't. If you can stick to it, you could make this happen. Start here: http://codecademy.com

Go through at least the Web Developer Skills track and the HTML, CSS, JavaScript tracks. Then, pick a backend language (you'll know what that means by that time) and go through that track. Then, practice...a lot. While you're practicing, keep your project in mind. Create a folder on your computer where that project will go. Build little pieces of it from time to time, but don't work on it exclusively. You may find that the project changes wildly as you learn new skills and discover new ways of doing things.

 

[TanjaSznuk]

It looks like a serious undertaking and without at least some coding knowledge and scarce finances it is even more challenging. As ronaldroe wrote you need to get a smattering of web developer skills to work on your project and proceed with it ahead. It reminds me of starting my own website with zero knowledge and no money. But I did it somehow. Of course my project was much easier. I made myself an express wordpress course plus plugins training and was able to build my website from scratch with photo galleries, 100% SEO-friendly.

__________________
Tanja Sznuk
http://www.bizdb.co.uk/company/9-yards-creative-limited-06029345/

 

[Edge]

Start here: http://codecademy.com

Good call - I hadn't seen that one AND we just got someone in on placement and I was thinking what the heck can I give him to do and lo and behold there are some perfect projects on that site for him!

 

[breno]

That's true, but it never hurts to have something to drive toward.

Darcey, the big thing here is that you have a long way to go before you'll be ready to build something like this. I've been at this for a long time now, and I'm not sure I'd be willing to go that deep. That isn't to say you shouldn't. If you can stick to it, you could make this happen. Start here: http://codecademy.com

Go through at least the Web Developer Skills track and the HTML, CSS, JavaScript tracks. Then, pick a backend language (you'll know what that means by that time) and go through that track. Then, practice...a lot. While you're practicing, keep your project in mind. Create a folder on your computer where that project will go. Build little pieces of it from time to time, but don't work on it exclusively. You may find that the project changes wildly as you learn new skills and discover new ways of doing things.

As a self learner and endlessly searching for structured free courses etc. (also articles, tutorials and blogs) I found codeacademy to be an awesome resource for getting a hold of the basics of html/css. Though everyone learns differently, I highly recommend starting there.

Also getting yourself on Twitter and connecting with other developers is also great, I resisted doing that for ages because i'm not into all that social media crap but I'm glad I got on there for just connecting with designers and developers. Get yourself Hexchat and connect to the #css or #html5 channels, whenever you get stuck there's usually always someone there to help, don't be discouraged by the rooms quietness more of the time, there are people there lol

 

[krymson]

The other issue that you're going to have to look at besides what's been stated above is that, like chrishirst has already stated, that has been done many many MANY times. 99.9% of them fail. Why? Marketing and that it's the same thing 20 million other people have attempted. What makes yours different? '

I would't do it as a way to make money but as a way to learn a new skill set. http://codeacademy.com is a great place to lean with practical hands on experience. If you're serious and have some spare change the shell out, go to Udemy.com or Lynda.com and get some really great video tutorials with practice files. You'll gain inspiration for other ideas that just might be a bit more manageable.

 

[breno]

The other issue that you're going to have to look at besides what's been stated above is that, like chrishirst has already stated, that has been done many many MANY times. 99.9% of them fail. Why? Marketing and that it's the same thing 20 million other people have attempted. What makes yours different? '

I would't do it as a way to make money but as a way to learn a new skill set. http://codeacademy.com is a great place to lean with practical hands on experience. If you're serious and have some spare change the shell out, go to Udemy.com or Lynda.com and get some really great video tutorials with practice files. You'll gain inspiration for other ideas that just might be a bit more manageable.

Plus not the mention that they are wanting to be handling other peoples money and have no idea what you are doing as yet, that's just asking for trouble...