my own dilema with making a website., i really need some guidance on this. Options

[creole]

Okay. I'm inspired from sites like 99mockingbirds, outspoken-kate, and swimchick. I like their designs, their website layout, their neatness, and most importantly their generous contribution to the world of graphic designing. They also have personal blogs which I love to read.

The thing is..what can a newbie like me start on a path like this? My intentions of my website would be blogging, frequent graphic designing related posts, and a personal portfolio for photography and digital art. Many of cB members that I know already have sites like the one I want, but it would be really helpful if someone gave me the ropes. Most of these questions can be searched, but I want the members of cB's personal first experience or advice with their website. What hosting is reliable and worth the bang for the buck. (I'd like to know you guys buying policies and how much memory you use or bandwidth, like say, should a beginner like me go all out and buy the highest value of hosting there is?) Does it matter what type of domain I purchase? Should I use .com or .net? What are some good leads to get into web design besides classes, because I have no intentions of wasting an elective in high school. (Trying not to sound ignorant, but my scholarship program wants me to take rigorous academic classes instead) What are the benefits of having a website? How would I get more hits? Please vent out all your info here.


Oh and money isn't an issue for me..but the pricing should be somewhat reasonable.

[Mikeplyts]

^ Wow.

Anyhow, I'd say you should get a nice, cheap host. There are a lot of cheap hosts that give unlimited bandwith and shit like that, which you'll probably want if you're planning on having a blog, graphics, resources, etc. I can't really decide for you which hosting you should go with, but that should give you an idea. And yeah, a beginner like yourself shouldn't go with the most hi-tech, expensive host there is. And even more so, you can have just the same quality and equally big website with an "alright" host compared to a "super" host. The domain extensions usually don't matter, but the most common extension is .com. Sometimes, the .com isn't available for the domain name you want, so you could just use another extension (usually there's a .net available or something). Like, when I was registering my domain, mikeplyts.com was already taken (f*cking advertising sites) so I had to go with mikeplyts.net. Not much of a difference, though, because what really matters is the content.

And speaking of content, you should be organized and try to be as user-friendly as possible. And if you can, try to be user-dynamic too (you know, like neat little Javascript effects and/or clean Flash objects). Also, make sure that you have a well constructed setup that'd be easy to follow (like where everything is positioned, how big/wide an area compared to another one, where you want the most attention, how you want your users' eyes to follow through your website with a breeze, and the like).

As for web design classes, just search online. To learn the basics, you should go to a site like W3 Schools. To get a bit more advanced, try sites like Net Tuts+. There's a ton of sites out there that provide some useful methods and techniques for web design. If you're having trouble with any codes and stuff, you can always try looking it up on Google or something or you can just post here on cB if you need help and usually there will be peeps willing to help you out and give further advice (like me, or Michael (mipadi), Elia (fixtatik), or even that new Randy guy).

Let's see, the benefits of a website are pretty much already set out in front of you. You can have your own blog to write about whatever you want whenever, display content where you want and how you want, make your own layout completely up to how you want it (no templates or anything like that you'd have to go by), and basically, just express your imagination however you'd like (within web standards of course, and if you have enough skills to do so). And as for hits, just make sure you have a kick-ass site and try to get known. You can do this by affiliating with other websites, making link exchanges, getting advertised, putting copyrights/watermarks on your work to show it's yours, place links and credits on your work too, don't jock anything, have a user-friendly setup with decent (or awesome, however you want) content, and be the best you can be at handling things on your site whether they be good or bad.

There's a tonnage of more information I could give and even more that others could give. Just do what you gotta do, bro.

P.S. - Now do I care about this topic? >:|