KevinsWither
Well-known member
I was hoping to build a website so that I can show people about the invertebrate hobby. Any good websites to recommend? I will also be doing a small online store along with blogging about invertebrates.
Website for mantids
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@KevinsWither By websites I assume you are asking for web hosting servies (that host your website) correct? That depends on if you are looking for a free or paid service, and paid of course is much better obviously with options/control/support.
The most common free ones are Blogger (Google) or Wordpress.com. For a actual web hosting most require ads and/or pop-ups, posting in their forums, or other tricks or flat-out scams in several cases - after all it costs them money. The old standards were AOL sites, Tripod, Angelfire, Geocities, etc but all are but gone here in the US. Others I've used in the past (but no longer know anything about) were Awardspace, ByteHost, Bravenet, HelioHost, and several others that are no longer free or even around.
For a updated list of free hosts take a look at Free-Webhosts.com. It is one of the few sites online that isn't anything more than paid scam site for some service, as most reviews online are just paid sites promoting their service in the disguise of a review/list site.
Paid hosting will give you much more space, much morebandwidth, custom email, domain hosting, countless services like PHP/databases/etc., custom error pages, installer programs, panel access, ftp service, and so much more - not to mention support that actually responds and helps.
The two biggest that I know of from personal use is NameCheap.com and GoDaddy.com.
My dad (ironically enough) prefers GoDaddy, and has used their services for many years without issue. As with most hosts he buys his domain names with them and his web hosting services as well. They tend to be more expensive I find and all the small additional services many hosts provide cost extra there, but he claims it is the best service he has used online. We both have had hosting through the years since the late 90's (and he's operated/setup many online websites for businesses he's worked for in the past) so I have to give him credit that he should know.
Personally though I find NameCheap.com has the best deals, and if I ran into issues they respond and have the problem fixed (if it's on their end) in 2 hours last time up to 24 hours at most, usually much less. Also if you buy your domain name with them they give you free Whois guard service (to hide your personal address/phone number/etc).
Both though offer various hosting package deals depending on your needs/web traffic. Also at times they have specials or coupons, so better deals can be often had.
Of course anyone who has paid hosting often recommends their service provider, and I've heard of many though the years and even local services. For example one in my area in nearby Bloomington, IN was BlueMarble (but the local phone company bought them out). They use to host nearly all the brick and mortar retail stores in that city, and was a internet provider as well, so companies would get deals for all the services combined. At the time they were the best around, and had the fastest internet access - I come from the BBS days and a 2400 baud modem in the late 80s so I've seen many things through the years.
So all in all if your doing paid hosting compare services and see which one is right for you. Few tend to be bad, in that regard if they offer free hosting those hosts tend to be the ones that are the most unprofessional (troublesome) and are the ones to avoid paying for their service.
The most common free ones are Blogger (Google) or Wordpress.com. For a actual web hosting most require ads and/or pop-ups, posting in their forums, or other tricks or flat-out scams in several cases - after all it costs them money. The old standards were AOL sites, Tripod, Angelfire, Geocities, etc but all are but gone here in the US. Others I've used in the past (but no longer know anything about) were Awardspace, ByteHost, Bravenet, HelioHost, and several others that are no longer free or even around.
For a updated list of free hosts take a look at Free-Webhosts.com. It is one of the few sites online that isn't anything more than paid scam site for some service, as most reviews online are just paid sites promoting their service in the disguise of a review/list site.
Paid hosting will give you much more space, much morebandwidth, custom email, domain hosting, countless services like PHP/databases/etc., custom error pages, installer programs, panel access, ftp service, and so much more - not to mention support that actually responds and helps.
The two biggest that I know of from personal use is NameCheap.com and GoDaddy.com.My dad (ironically enough) prefers GoDaddy, and has used their services for many years without issue. As with most hosts he buys his domain names with them and his web hosting services as well. They tend to be more expensive I find and all the small additional services many hosts provide cost extra there, but he claims it is the best service he has used online. We both have had hosting through the years since the late 90's (and he's operated/setup many online websites for businesses he's worked for in the past) so I have to give him credit that he should know.
Personally though I find NameCheap.com has the best deals, and if I ran into issues they respond and have the problem fixed (if it's on their end) in 2 hours last time up to 24 hours at most, usually much less. Also if you buy your domain name with them they give you free Whois guard service (to hide your personal address/phone number/etc).
Both though offer various hosting package deals depending on your needs/web traffic. Also at times they have specials or coupons, so better deals can be often had.
Of course anyone who has paid hosting often recommends their service provider, and I've heard of many though the years and even local services. For example one in my area in nearby Bloomington, IN was BlueMarble (but the local phone company bought them out). They use to host nearly all the brick and mortar retail stores in that city, and was a internet provider as well, so companies would get deals for all the services combined. At the time they were the best around, and had the fastest internet access - I come from the BBS days and a 2400 baud modem in the late 80s so I've seen many things through the years.
So all in all if your doing paid hosting compare services and see which one is right for you. Few tend to be bad, in that regard if they offer free hosting those hosts tend to be the ones that are the most unprofessional (troublesome) and are the ones to avoid paying for their service.
KevinsWither
Well-known member
I was hoping to get enough clicks or revenue on my planned site to cover the costs of running it.
@KevinsWither Well... it seems my response was as usual much more involved than needed as evident by the single sentence response, and so will my last follow-up.
What you want then is a free website, as there are no real hosting companies that will allow you to use their services for free until you get enough paid ad revenue (takes hundreds or thousands of daily unique visitors to see any money (a feat in itself for more general blogs that can take many years, and impossible for exotic pets as there are so few keepers), and most such ad services are a joke to actually pay - read their agreements or reviews to see) or from your online sales (which can take years to establish yourself in the communities) so you can pay the hosts if at all.
I assume by "clicks" you are talking about paid ad revenue, and most such services require that your site be online for 6 months to several years and active with many daily visitors before they will consider you even as a candidate for their ad services, and even more visitors and time online (blog age of at least 1 to 2 years) with typically near daily posts (they will check) is required if you are a blog. Of course the ad scam sites won't have such requirements and will allow you to show their ad content for free, but are near impossible to get any payment from, and have the loop holes in their user agreements to back it up.
Look at this way too, how many companies/sites do you actually buy from that has annoying random ads plastered on their site or even have the awful pop-ups? I bet few if any, as most people will not bother with such a site and feel it is unprofessional and will not trust it fearing they will be ripped off and scammed, and 99% of the time they would be right.
The options are simply a free website, or paid hosting, there is no middle ground. If you choose paid, most require at least a year of service fees in advance (although some various software systems like a shopping cart system, payment gateway for credit cards, and such can be a initial setup fee and billed monthly).
So find yourself a free host service, or one of the free blog sites and just use PayPal buy-it-now buttons to sell whatever it is. In truth you are better off worrying about your blog content and articles to attract a fan base/traffic before you should even consider selling anything if you choose that path. Do some research about building a personal/company brand and you will see what I am talking about.
Then if you ever get somewhere you can get paid services and systems then you can upgrade "somewhat". I say that as if you do not have a set domain name at least from the start, your customers and especially web traffic "clicks" will not follow you to your new site and you basically restart unless you develop a strong brand.
Of course it's said it takes money to make money, and is true especially in websites/hosts/software/etc. if you plan to sell anything to people so that they do not think your site is a fly-by-night operation.
Best of luck.
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KevinsWither
Well-known member
I decided that I'll start with a free website to try to build up on content. As my main priority is to give out good quality about the invertebrate hobby (and some other stuff). And hopefully find one with a paypal button.
any shopping cart cost a percentage or plain cost, none r free, paypal is available for free, they take a % of each sale when u get it.
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KevinsWither
Well-known member
I think I'll just stick to paypal. Or something along the lines of e-commerence. Now, the one problem I have been having with websites (I built one when I was in 4th grade, but it was about everything in general) is that sometimes there seems to be no one visiting them. Now I decided to choose blogspot and now I have to find a unique name.
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I guess I'll bite again... lol.
That is due to lack of SEO page optimization (search engines) meta data/keywords/words you use in your titles and posts/articles themsevles/etc., advertising (social feeds (with Facebook and Twitter the largest but other feeds help too), word of mouth, paid advertising, etc), your site's name even (if it is about bugs it should have the word in the name), and many other factors. If no one can find it, no one will ever know about it.
It requires much time and effort to get yourself out there as mentioned previously if done right. Even a single aspect of such work needed is often done by various businesses that specialize in such things (such as SEO work) for large sites. You can yourself do it, however it will require you to learn many things and apply them to your site for the best chance - again already mentioned in one of my previous posts.
I know with my current project, a new site I am working on, I am not publicly mentioning it or anything yet as I am still building and coding/customizing everything the design/themes/software (PHP/CSS/Javascript/etc) a ton of hours already; however, just from search engines alone that found it already I am averaging a dozen or so unique visitors daily the last few weeks (and there is little on my site yet).
KevinsWither
Well-known member
Now I am definitely into putting in a good amount of work. And probably update said website every few days with new content.
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That's great and will help, but for a truly successful website you will have to spend the same amount of time (or more) promoting your site as you do writing for it.
That is a common issue overlooked by many beginner's, and can apply to more established sites too to attract new/more customers. Eventually you may hit a promoting wall as this is a limited exotic hobby, but I imagine that will take a long while to see the diminishing returns happen.As mentioned you will need to read/understand/apply SEO principles to what you do write (perhaps even using the Flesch reading ease plugin), besides search engine ranking/scoring this will reflect on how your content comes across to your readers. Likely learn some photography skills (and get some basic equipment if needed) to show photos in your content, and how to properly edit/improve them such as color levels/exposure/sharpening/proper cropping/etc. Then of course advertise your site by listing updates on your social networks, or if your serious setup business/company profiles for it too.
The biggest thing to take from it all is though is work on your personal/company branding. See here for what I talking about, the site is just one of the first from Google that seems to be what I trying to convey to you. The thing is it may take years to get somewhere, but if you keep at it you will get there, and in the meantime you will be working on your goal.
KevinsWither
Well-known member
Of course. I knew this hobby (and plenty of others) I have were not just obsessions. I have aspergers and I was interested in mantids and other invertabrates since I was in second grade. Yeah I'll probably take a really long time for that to happen. The site (and probably for me making several other ones) will grow and develop with me like the hobby will grow. I did not know promoting it would be another thing I have to do. Now I just have to find places to promote my site. I can start with Facebook and Instagram but I don't really have a lot of followers/ "internet friends". Hmm I have plenty of nice ideas for new projects so that could be another thing I could do.
Sorry if i put this out but will my site potentially be seen by usda officials and knock down my door for ... I may get from the USA?
Sorry if i put this out but will my site potentially be seen by usda officials and knock down my door for ... I may get from the USA?
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Sorry to hear you have Asperger, but it sounds like you don't let it get in the way.
Indeed promotion is a big part of any site, and where most of the time can easily be spent. Just don't forget in the process if your site suffers from a lack of updates (new material) no matter how much promoting is done it will be of little use as people will want new content too. Along with a Facebook profile/page you can advertise on the various groups you belong to and such as well. Just don't do it annoying and follow the rules when you do it, as negative promotion can be more damaging than no promotion.
A random knock on your door from a USDA/US Fish & Wildlife/etc. agent is indeed a true issue that can very unlikely arise, as it has been known to happen with various hobby keepers although rarely. In reality unless you are selling specimens on the CITES list (especially prohibited items), US prohibited specimens such as live walking sticks, selling internationally, doing any importing/exporting without permits, or drawing attention in your articles of such related activities that would likely eventually get their attention; otherwise you shouldn't have any issues.
It seems if anyone has ran into issues it tends to be from selling prohibited live specimens at insect/reptile/etc expo's and events, or getting caught importing specimens without permits/properly filing the package(s). Those tend to be the two biggest things that can attract attention and problems.
KevinsWither
Well-known member
I'd probably only sell in the US. Too much hassle with international shipping. What are the US prohibited specimens? I know stick insects are one, which I'm not doing. What if they are already in the US hobby? Would they still knock down the door? How about when I'm moving and I take my specimens with me? Crossing interstate borders to move for say to a college that allows pet insects?
And with the Aspergers part (totally unrelated) i'll probably do another separate post about that at another time.
With importation of specimens from international places, that is probably very unlikely in the near future or even ever unless I find like a new species of Arizona mantis or native insect that I happen to propagate and even then I probably wouldn't bother to import unless I had like a pile of cash on me.
Now comes with the necessity of photographing. Could my IPhone 6s camera work? Or will I need something better than that?
And with the Aspergers part (totally unrelated) i'll probably do another separate post about that at another time.
With importation of specimens from international places, that is probably very unlikely in the near future or even ever unless I find like a new species of Arizona mantis or native insect that I happen to propagate and even then I probably wouldn't bother to import unless I had like a pile of cash on me.
Now comes with the necessity of photographing. Could my IPhone 6s camera work? Or will I need something better than that?
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Regarding the laws and what things to avoid I will not pretend to fully understand that multiply complex aspect.
I can say that besides the federal level of laws, many states also have various laws too. For example the Dubia roach can not be shipped to Florida (and various other things as well). In a past hobby I kept African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis), while legal in my state they are illegal in many surrounding states so it made it very difficult to get the species (as pet stores could no longer carry them as shipping trucks could not pass through the states with them). So you will have to search for the laws yourself for each thing you want to sell. I'm afraid I do not know a quick or easy way to find out what will cause problems, as it can widely vary even by states.
In the same regard many shipping services like USPS, FedEx, and UPS all have various specimens they will not ship living. See the recent thread here about that.
If such a species is already in the US hobby or not makes no difference to the laws, it is still illegal. For example some in the US keep prohibited species of walking sticks and there are some sellers even online in the US as well.
Well US native insects wouldn't be imported if they are already in the US. Not sure what that is about really.
Sure an iPhone could very well be your primarily camera if you can easily transfer your photos to your computer. I've heard of some serious photographers even using iPhones in different instances; although, it will never compare to a DSLR or such (but neither does the price tag if you already have a iPhone). With the camera out of the way you may still need some proper lighting (macro ring light or such), macro lens kit for your iPhone for close-ups, decent photo software, and of course develop at least a basic knowledge of photography and how to get the best from it for your needs.
KevinsWither
Well-known member
I think as long as I don't do anything dumb and not release anything out into the wild (dumb thing to do obviously) I should be fine.
Not sure how that relates to selling various specimens online to the US, as previously discussed; however, best of luck.
KevinsWither
Well-known member
What I mean by not doing anything dumb is like selling or even attempting to obtain any stick insects (obviously, though there is a really slight chance it could change), or advertising them straight out loud (like via newspaper ad). Now I just have to find a good name for my site.Not sure how that relates to selling various specimens online to the US, as previously discussed; however, best of luck.
