website design and programmers....

Aren't there enough Myspace and Facebook clones out there already? What's you site going to offer that makes you different/better than these?

FWIW, you'll probably end up spending well over $2000 paying somebody to set up and maintain a site like that for you.

waaaaaaay more than $2000 for a site like that, you are dealing with alot more than web 'design' and front end content there is alot of database work with something like that which will get more expensive than a typical front end design for something like a small business.

What is it you are trying to accomplish and like said above why can't you handle this type of thing with the other social networking sites out there?

If you want someone to actually build something like that from the ground up, I'd guess you're looking at $10k, minimum. And there's no way you're going to get the know-how, starting from scratch, to do it yourself in a reasonable time frame.

Your basic, run of the mill site with no programming back end runs into the multiple thousands pretty quickly. Start including custom databases and especially if you want to be streaming video, and it's going to get expensive in a hurry.

There are a thousand social networking and forum sites out there. Unless you're trying to start a business (in which case investing $10k or more is just peanuts), use a pre-existing service.

I'm a systems designer/software developer. I would be willing to consult for some large sums of cash

I'll donate a logo:

I concur with the above statements. I do what your wanting for a living (the design part). 10k is actually a modest figure.

It's not even worth it at all. There's A LOT more to it than the layout and graphics. Why do you want to do this? To make a profit as a business. If you aren't doing any of it yourself, I don't see how you'd make much, if any money.

Promotion of the site will be the most important step. You can have the best site out there, but if no one knows about it....good luck

<edit> Why is this in the downhill area?

zmtber said:

the website would be forum like and allow people to build portfolios which may include pictures, music clips, and video clips along with a system of uploading documents and a P.M. system.

Click to expand...

http://www.vbulletin.com/features.php

http://www.phpbb.com/about/features/

$10k to spend on a complex DB like that from scratch?

Lol. Especially given there likely won't be any return on that investment. The only way you could get any decent engineers or designers to work for you is to give them hunks of your company (<3 JH), and you have to have an original idea for that to happen.

Gimme 2k and I'll build you a nice Dreamweavy front end...

Seriously dude, $10k for what you're asking is a very tiny small amount. You might be able to find some kids at your high school you probably would refuse to associate with that would do it for $10k...and it would suck. Badly.

this should be interesting...

Just out of curiosity, if this is to be a business, is RM the best place to start?

check out dirtclowns.com - I can build something like that?

I used to be way into learning all about internet marketing and this is what the non corporate guys that make a lot of money do to get their work done cheap.

...I don't really use it because I've found it takes a lot more work to make any money with complex websites... at least for me. Maybe you'll have more luck.

Anyways...

You find a similar website and use Camtasia screen recording software to point around and talk about what you want.

Post it on elance.com, people bid on the job, you put the money in escrow, using escrow.com (most of the other escrow sites are scams) than let them do the job and only pay when you're satisfied.

There are different levels of work... obviously the more expensive guys will do a better job. ...but still, since people from around the world are bidding on the job, you'll most likely get it done for much cheaper than if you were to just hire someone you knew.

Oh and also be very specific. Never let it the programmer decide what's best. They have no idea what you're trying to do.

zmtber said:

I have investors
<snip>
we are most likely looking at a budget between 5-10k until we get the site up a running.

Click to expand...

Please be aware of a key word in that post, minimum. That means that it's highly variable on the complexity of it, the skills of the programmer and the fees that the designer/programmer charges... which are going to be different for each and every guy, and cheaper isn't usually better.

If 10k is the absolute outside of your budget, I'd say you need to either find more investors (wait, by investors, do you mean a bunch of your friends are emptying their savings accounts? I hope you guys have thought this through and aren't going to just pour a bunch of money into a black hole) or you need to start looking into pre-built solutions.

Why don't you just buy the vBulletin software and start with that?

PS. telling me to do it myself is not possible I don't know where to begin and I rather pay someone to do it than spend $2000+ buying dreamweaver and photoshop and classes.

Why isn't it possible to do it yourself. I had no idea how to build a website so I just google everything and read how to do it.
I still have very little experience in web design, so I am constantly googling, asking questions on forums, etc.

Downhill Mike
Whiteface Mountain Bike Park
www.downhillmike.com
Size does matter!

guru.com, rentacoder.com, or as mentioned elance.com

this thread is making my eyes hurt...Im sorry but if you are thinking of starting up something like this it needs you need some IT project planning skill not a bunch of guys on RM. Many of us know this because we are in the biz.

Arn't you like 16? You have managed to get "investors" to give you over 10k?

Do your inverstors go by the name of Mom and Dad?

If I had someone willing to dump 10k into some kids making a website, I might have to wake up.

ThePriceSeliger said:

Arn't you like 16? You have managed to get "investors" to give you over 10k?

Do your inverstors go by the name of Mom and Dad?

If I had someone willing to dump 10k into some kids making a website, I might have to wake up.

Click to expand...

With that kind of thinking, sites like Digg, Youtube, Reddit, MySpace would not be here. All those sites were created by 18-22 year old kids.

Digg - monthly revenue=250,000+
Reddit - monthly revenue=100,000+
YouTube sold for 1.5 billion
MySpace sold for 580 million

Ya, kids now a days, they don't know anything.

Ya never know where the next big idea may come from.

As I sated earlier though, to create a site from scratch that zmtber wants, is gonna be more in the neighborhood of 30k to 60k. It takes $ to make $, which is what most people seem to not grasp when it comes to the interweb.

And ya, this thread belongs in the Lounge.

Squasher said:

With that kind of thinking, sites like Digg, Youtube, Reddit, MySpace would not be here. All those sites were created by 18-22 year old kids.

Digg - monthly revenue=250,000+
Reddit - monthly revenue=100,000+
YouTube sold for 1.5 billion
MySpace sold for 580 million

Ya, kids now a days, they don't know anything.

Ya never know where the next big idea may come from.

As I sated earlier though, to create a site from scratch that zmtber wants, is gonna be more in the neighborhood of 30k to 60k. It takes $ to make $, which is what most people seem to not grasp when it comes to the interweb.

And ya, this thread belongs in the Lounge.

Click to expand...

'Cept they were all created by kids who knew what the hell they were doing in relation to web design and engineering. :huh:

blue said:

'Cept they were all created by kids who knew what the hell they were doing in relation to web design and engineering. :huh:

Click to expand...

We all have to start somewhere though. And 16 is as good as age as any.