Biz tips...

Hello,
I am starting a business soon, I can't tell ya the name, because thats how my last one got stolen..
but I need some tips on starting it..
I just want to sell software, and make money.
and what should I do about tech support?
its a small one person(me) company.. and I only have 2 phone lines(one for the internet and one for the phone)
so I can't have a tech support phone line,
and if I did, that would be an extra $30 a month, plus I would have to be monitering the phone all the time....

I would also like to know what you guys think about what kind of software I should make.
and the designn of the website...
should i use PHP, or Perl to design the website?
I will probably use PHP, but I want opinions first.

also, what should it look like?
should it be straight, serious, and to the point, or colorful, bright and cheery?

I am targeting developers.

one of the products I have in mind is an editor for VBScript, SQL, Javascript, and HTML.

what kind of website would that look good on?

should i have a uniform type look, like these forums,
or should i have kind of an all-different kind look,
like about.com
where different things look different,
like the front page looks different then the "verify you are 21" page(thats for adult content.. but I would never do that), and that looks different than the catagory page, etc etc.


I need all the help I can get,
even if I didn't mention it here, please say something if you have any tips.

If your tip helps out *A LOT* I will mention your name in the credits section of my website...

which brings me too....

whta kind of content should i have?
should i have like

News
Products
Credits
support
downloads

which is very organized, or should it be like hot spots through out the pages that lead you to the place you wan't to go...
I myself like it catagorized and organized, but I am sure there are somepoeple who like it all messy..


Thanks alot,
PS, sorry for the horrible spelling, but its getting late, I am tired, and my family keeps telling me to go to bed, and i have to hurry up.....

Cya! and thanks!

[Sophtware]

What i think would make your site "attractive" would be to have something like the microsoft.com sight...that little picture of a person and how it is faded into the site is killer...well i think it looks cool anyway, plus you can
look at borlands web site... for the outlook of the page..

And about the site


News
Products
Credits
support
downloads

You should add all those.


If your gonna make a site..why not make it a good one eh?

About the idea for what kind of site it could be...
i know this idea has been done over and over again..but why not make a programmingers site with flare?

Something that everyone would have a reason to go to it,
like add a section on the site that scans a persons comp for viruses,Internet vulnerabilites, stuff like that,
then also have a section for movies and buying stuff, you get my drift am sure.

It would be like a programmers site on crack...lol


I know this sounds like alot for it being a "one man" operation
but am sure you can recruit some people here to assit you.



Just my Thoughts though.



See ya.


"Running right now in Sophtware version 1 right now"

[Edneeis]

I don't mean to be negative but you should probably focus on your product before you worry about stuff like what the website looks like to sell it on. What good will the website be if the product is no good or not ready yet. Don't give up your dreams just focus more on what it will take to make it happen. As for Tech support just do email tech support.

Ok,
another topic:

What kind of products should I make?


the one I listed is probably going to be my main focus for right now,
but I need some back ups, incase I get bored with that!

I know I should be thinking of programs, but I have been trying to think of them for weeks.... actually months... :(


BUT, I still need a basic "look" for my website, because if all goes well I should be registering it on friday...(my birthday), and I will need a template to sit there, perhaps previews of what the pages will look like.



If your tip helps out *A LOT* I will mention your name in the credits section of my website...


Hell, if it helps that much, I'll try to give you a pop email box too ;)
seriously..
you will be
yourname@v....com
not telling the rest of it, because I already got my last one "stolen"....


Sophtware;
Thanks for the tips. If I do decide to make my site like that, I will definatly give you credit(and a pop-email box. :D)
you can never have too many email adress's ;)


Thanks,
Dennis

To the Top ye bastard!!!!

[Cybrg641]

I would make your website in Flash. It can easily be used for e-commerce, has low bandwidth, and can look very professional. I wouldn't make it very flashy or with lots of colors. Maybe choose 2 or 3 colors and stick to them. Make it as professional as possible and spend a lot of time on it. I am making a programming site in Flash which will take me about 2 or 3 months to complete. Don't just throw it together in a week or so. If you do not want to make it in Flash, I would suggest going to www.networksolutions.com. They have EXTREMELY professional looking samples that you can get some ideas from.

To see what kind of programs you should make, do some market research. Put yourself in the customers shoes and see if you would buy it if it was offered. You can get some good ideas from www.download.com. See which programs are popular and get downloaded a lot. I would also suggest making your products BEFORE you start up your business. Maybe 2 or 3 to start along with some freeware.

DON'T GIVE UP!!!! Your business won't be successful if you start slacking off. Do everything you can to get your business heard. Put ads in your local newspaper, spread the word around school, etc. Even though your business is about making software, you probably will be coding about 10% of the time or less. It takes a lot of planning and determination to make a commercial application. Take it slow and don't rush.

hmmmm....this is all I can think of right at this moment, but please don't hesitate to ICQ me if you still need help with things :).

Thanks :)

Any more tips???????

Thanks...
Dennis

[S@NSIS]

Hi Dennis,

No offense but....

the one I listed is probably going to be my main focus for right now,
but I need some back ups, incase I get bored with that!


if you are going to get bored with your main program then I suggest you ought to reconsider what you are doing.
I work for a company that develops software (mainly backend internet based) and, yes, we get bored with some of the stuff that has to be done but you have to persist with it! You can't just give up and say 'oh, I want to do something else'!

Keep in there and do what you gotta do whether it's boring or not.

I know I haven't helped any but I just wanted to share this advice! ;)

Good luck with whatever you do

Shaun

I know i can't give up!
I mean if I get bored, I can put the project aside, and work on another one... then work on the other one later...

I eventually finish all of my programs!

but sometimes it takes a while :(

Ok, after about 2 weeks of bugging my dad, he will finally let me register my domain......

Keep the tips coming :D

[Edited by denniswrenn on 10-04-2000 at 11:59 AM]

<!--To the top!-->

Keep the website sharp, don't make it too wide and hard to understand. Also I'd suggest signing up for some kind of a paying banner-ad company (eg. AllAdvantage). Making money instantly will keep you motivated to go on. Another cool service is Radiate.com (http://www.radiate.com/) (used to be called Aureate). It lets you put ads in your program, and you also get paid for each click.
The good things are that if the users use your shareware, you make money from the ads, then you can add an option to remove the ads on registration, this will motivate people to register and you'll get money.
Hehe...
But first, you must have something planned. Create an app or two (be sure to debug them goooood), make sure everything's ready, and only then launch your website. Users don't like to see "Under Construction" signs, and if they go to your website and find practically no content, they will lose interest in you, and get the wrong first impression.

To the top!

I Hope I helped.
Good luck!
Scorp

[Edited by Sc0rp on 10-04-2000 at 12:37 PM]

Thanks for the tips...
I know users don't like constant under construction signs,
but my website should be running by december at the latest,
I will update it constantly..
And the reason I know I will update that site, is I am making it in PHP... Not one single *.htm/l page.... all *.php :D and I love writing PHP, using plain HTML gets really boring and tedious after a while.... because with HTML you have to write a common header/footer over and over and over and over and over again, with PHP, just put it in a function, then put that into a file, and use the require() function to put it at the top of every file, then just do something like this


<?
require("php/functions.php");
showheader("title");
?>
page content here
<?
showfooter();
?>


and thats alot better then

<html>
<head>
<title>mytitle</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1><b>header</b></h1>
stuff here
<b>
really long footer
more footer
more and more
</b>
</body>
</html>


<ahem>

Damn, everytime I talk about my website, i get involved in talking about how much I love PHP.. :D


But,
Thanks to everybody here,
and Keep `em coming :D

Dennis

I like to work with classes.. Like Java-Servlets... :)

Its not that hard.. You can realy do anything with it. To run those servlets you have to have a MySQL
server with Apache server and Jakarta-Tomcat. Those things RULES!!!!... :) :)

I have never worked with java servlets.. so I don't know how good or bad they are... I am sure they are pretty good... but I'll stick with something i know.... (PHP) :)