Creating websites

I am far from an expert with site building or anything to do with the web, so anything I write here should be understood that it comes from a newbie also. I built my sites using Microsoft Frontpage because it is the only way I know how. I have built three sites in my life, with the first one about 3 years ago. The first one is still up but it sucks and has nothing to do with gambling. My first affiliate site has been up about a month now and it took me two weeks to build. It is nothing fancy, but I believe a large part of my target market would prefer easy to read usefull information instead of banners and flash crap. The third site took me about two days to build because some of the content is similar to the second. It actually looks cleaner to me than the second.

My point is. I don’t think you should get caught up in having the best looking site, you should focus on having the most usefull site. Does that make sense?

I’m not sure what you mean when you are talking about getting information. I highly reccomend starting with programs who have a representitive who posts here on CAP because you can often get quick information if you need it.

Hope this helps a little.

Having someone skilled design a template for you is not expensive and considering how much time you likely spend on getting it right it’s downright cheap.

I like to concentrate on content. I do have definite ideas about design but have someone else put them to practice.

I agree with your views about content and that alone is a challenge since the industry is constantly in flux and so is your content site.

Just putting up some game rules isn’t all that hot for content anymore – everyone has those. Unique content is most valuable.

Hello to everyone !
This is my first post, i have been lurking for a while, and this thread caught my eye. The idea that simplicity is better is something that I subscribe to ( though i wasnt sure if i was thinking correctly)
I became a sub for partypoker through a friend of mine and things have just kind of progressed from there. I decided i was going to use my affiliate status as an excuse to learn to create webpages… I would build an affiliate page as an experiment.

I went through the gammit of WYSIWYG editors and fell back to FrontPage because it seemed to have the shortest learning curve. It really is simple to use. From having ZERO experinece in web development i have become somewhat proficient in the basics of FP. Anyway, my most recent incarnation is up at…http://www.gotbonus.com. The page just recently got a PR of 3 from google, (it was 0). I think that has something to do wiht the linking i have been working on.
ANYWAY, my idea was…Provide as much relevant information in as little space as possible, and make it appear trustworthy. I looked around at many, many sites and the one thing that i found irritating was that the sheer volume of banners and distracting links made the page less appealing. I designed mine to be different.( i hope).

Now, the next step…a co-worker is a Professioanl PHP Nuke Platinum developer and has me convinced that i need to start converting over, thats the next step, we shall see.

I am pleased to become a part of this forum, there are volumes of information that i am sure i will find useful( including critiques of my site…please).
This began as an experiment that i am beginning to see as a very luctrative business if approached correctly.

Thanks for the input.
Regardless, i will probablly put up an experimental site on another URL just to see what happens with PHP nuke platinum( i am told there is a difference as oppossed to “plain” php nuke). I wont chnage the current site.