My First dot com: Idea to Implementation pt2

In my last post I went through my thought processes for my first online business venture. Now I’m going to speak about my implementation process. I wont bore you with any in depth programming and technical details, but rather give you information on the tools I used to implement my website. I will also give you information on viable alternatives to what I used so you can weigh your options and choose wisely.

Web Development

My first dot com has a social networking theme to it. After doing research on similar sites I noted the basic services I should provide along with the back end needed to support such services. Being a software developer myself and a web enthusiast it wasn’t too hard for me to identify what was needed. A basic point of view for a web application, involves a front end and a back end. The front end is what the user sees and interacts with. This is the nice layout and information on your website, well presented to the user. The back end usually involves a database filled with the information you are presenting. We use a programming language or scripting language to communicate between our front end and back end as described in this post.

Programming Language of choice:

My programming language of choice was ruby using the ruby on rails framework. For those of you who may have never heard of ruby before, just check out those two links in the previous sentence for a nice introduction. Although I recommend ruby and ruby on rails for anyone, the persons just starting out would have a nice time with it. It has a much more gradual learning curve for easy and quick development. Additionally ruby and ruby on rails are..FREEEEE. Yes folks, ruby and ruby on rails are open source languages and frameworks respectively. Of course one can argue any language is free and available for use, but not all the tools available to aid in the development are free in most cases. Full Story →

My First Dot Com: Idea to Implementation

My first entrepreneurial endeavour has been a website. It was fairly easy for me to come to this decision mainly because I’ve always loved web development and design, so I had a natural bias toward an online business venture.

Why do a website?

I based my decision on the criteria below:

• Something that I had a passionate interest in, so that as I worked on it I would be having fun.
• Needed a business that required very little start up capital. Being a new graduate, lots of money isn’t something I have at my disposal.
• Utilize my skills. I am fairly good at software and not too shabby in design as well

With all these in mind and the motivation I felt from the success of so many other online businesses to date I decided to try my luck at a website for my business venture, my first dot com.

Choosing a topic for the website

This is a very important step. I’ve read in many blogs about the importance of doing something that you are genuinely interested in. I have to agree with this belief. I wrote a list of things I like to do while I am online or on the computer along with the relevant websites associated with each item on the list. An example list is as follows:

1. news - digg.com, slashdot.com
2. blogs - shoemoney.com, smallfishbigmoney.com
3. misc - facebook.com
4. web and graphic design - tutorialized.com, braineak.com

A quick look at the online trends and a social networking site seemed like the way to go. In the end I chose a simple yet interesting topic and decided to take the social networking approach.

Check out the competition

Everyone says it and I will repeat it, don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Now that I had decided on a website and a concept behind it, I paid numerous visits to as many sites that were similar to the one I intended on developing. My belief is that if these sites are operational and successful then for mine to even stand a chance it must at least match the look and basic services of these sites. Turn your competition into your comrade, by looking for what is missing in their sites and making a list to incorporate it into yours. This will help to get users interested if you offer something that is lacking in the other options.

That’s it for the idea portion of my first dot com adventure. It all boiled down to three steps

1. choosing to do a website in the first place based on my current income and skills
2. choosing a topic that interests me and that I am passionate about
3. Learning from the big guys that have already established themselves

In my next post I will talk about my implementation experiences. Thanks for reading.

Developing Eyes

Hi and welcome to Developing Eyes. The concept of this blog is to show my journey into the world of entrepreneurship. I am interested in areas of software development and engineering, online marketing, affiliate marketing and many more.

I intend to share my experiences with you, the reader so they can hopefully answer any questions you may have about starting your own business, whether it be online or not. Hope you enjoy my posts and comment frequently and we can develop our eyes together.