Watch me develop my new site, step-by-step!

Introduction
Hey guys, I'm starting a new website and I'm going to be posting in this thread about the development of it. I'll be covering all my SEO, outsourcing, problems, and ideas.
The reason I chose to do it on DigitalPoint as opposed to a blog is because I am looking for feedback. People will read and reply to a thread, but not many people will take the extra effort to click the link to the blog, read the whole blog, make an account, and leave a comment.

The Site
I want to make a website about MMORPG Exploits. So I thought of domain name ideas and settled on the named, ExploitGamer.com. Then I researched the topic a bit and found that most MMORPG exploit websites are PR1 - PR4 forums that charge for membership. Well, I got my scary pranks blog to PR4 in 4 months of doing not much, so it shouldn't be hard to rank up their with the other forums.

Goal
I want a medium-large community of members on the forums + nice revenue.

Plan
Create forums, Create attractive theme, get backlinks, post content myself to get the board started. Advertisements come in later when I have a small community.

=----------------------------------------------=
First Post:
1. Picking the forum software
After browsing DP, I found OvBB; a simple bulletin board that looks like VB. This is what I chose.

2. Creating a skin
On the OvBB forums I found a theme maker who charges $5 for themes. I saw his website and he was good. I emailed him and he had the theme done in less than a day. It was spectacular and I paid him $30.00 for it.

3. Getting Hosting
I chose WebHostingBuzz since they're very cheap and offer 1TB of bandwidth for $36/year. I use them for all my sites and have never had any problems before expect for the time they suspended my account for hosting a proxy. I created a new account and quickly uploaded all the files and setup my forum.

4. Getting Backlinks
I searched for mmorpg directories to submit to and found a couple. I submitted to Jayde, since I saw some similiar websites submitted there. I'm going to fill out the add-link form for LeetLinks when I have some spare time.

5. ACCOUNT SUSPENDED
WebHostingBuzz suspended my account. Why? I don't know, but I filed a support ticket to find out why. I'm guessing it has to do with them thinking my website is about hacking when really it's to provide ways for gamers to progress faster and easier by offering tricks, cheats, and guides.

That's all for now, I'll post when my site is back up. If nobody cares, I'll try and keep posting just so I can keep myself sane.

 

Nice post. It's fun to see how othyers go about setting up a website. I'll keep reading it

 

Interesting post, I will be back for an update.

 

Good luck with your endeavor! I'll be sure to check back to see how things are going.

 

Post #2
1. Reactivating my account
Turns out that 2Checkout had put my older on hold since I had several orders in the past that didn't go through. I called, confirmed it, and they reinstated the transaction. Webhostingbuzz got the word and they reactivated my account. This whole process took about 2 and a half hours.

2. Back to the site:
I made a thumbnail, hoping images will spice up this thread a bit more.

If you wanna checkout the site, the working link is in my profile.

3. To-Do List

• Join online games and find people who would be interested in the site/posting.
• Submit backlink applications to various directories.
• Post on gaming forums (not spam though).

4. Feedback / Questions List

• Should I change the forum's link color?
• Do I need a frontpage?

 

There are a variety of reasons your account was terminated (just guessing)

- You had previously been terminated.
- They mistakenly assumbed it was about hacking as it was called "exploit"

or

worse yet, it could have been or was becoming popular. At $36 a year, it wouldn't surprise me for a low end hosting company to shut down any website that maybe taking up too much traffic, dispite what they claim. I've seen it with many hosting providers.

Hope this helps.

 

Very interesting, I will keep checking on this.

 

I registered at your forum with the username "King Justice". I'm totally into MMORPGs.

I will be keeping my eye on this thread.

 

Should be a good read. I'll definitely enjoy watching. Good luck!

 

nice... i'll keep watching your development.. goodluck.
Its also a good guide for newbies to follow the ideas on how you develop your site.

 

Thanks for the encouraging comments everyone, it really helps.
Also, thanks EGS for signing up!

​

Post #3:
1. Wow, what a content spree!
So I ran all around the web trying to find resources and articles I could paste as new threads in order to start filling the forum up, providing content, and invoking discussion. I decided to start with World of Warcraft exploits because I had briefly tried it before and it's the most popular MMORPG currently. Although I don't like WoW too much, most of my audience does.
I found several websites with juicy resources which I copied and gave credit + backlinks. I was worried they would get mad, but hey- I'm providing them with backlinks and distributing their articles, so it seems okay to me.

2. More, More, and More Content
Tomorrow I'm going to be scavenging the web for more WoW resources before starting on another game category. I play Vanguard currently, so writing about that shouldn't be hard.

3. Affiliate #1!
I created an affiliate account with IGE. They sell gold and powerleveling services for MMORPGs and I can get paid for hits I refer to them or sales. I probably won't read much into it or implement the ads until I have a bigger community.

4. Questions
My questions from Post #2 still stand; if anyone wants to provide advice on those also.

• Should I add more forums? As a general rule you shouldn't have lot's of forums when you don't have alot of members; I've made that mistake before...but for my type of website adding more forums may attract more users and different audiences.. Maybe if I add an Final Fantasy XI and Guild Wars forum, I will see more visitors?

 

Personally I think this is just a advertisement for his site.... ( apparently it works because people are doing many of these and people are watching them! ***Thinks about doing one...*** LOL! )

 

No it's not. If I wanted to profit from this I would create a developer blog for the site and smack ads all over it; but that's not my goal. If I wanted to advertise on forums, I would do it on an MMORPG forum; not on an SEO forum. This is just for people to see what I'm thinking and maybe help me when I'm not thinking right

 

i gave you a red for that insensitive comment.

OP wants to track his progress online. he is looking for motivation rather than advertisement. by exposing his plans to public, he has more incentive to work on his site. i laud his determination.

 

Awesome posts! I play Vanguard also, amazing game! Checked out your site and signed up too! Looking forward to more posts!

 

ermm.. my advice is to go with a real reliable hosting that don't simply ban people, like host gator and so on.

 

Nice thread, good luck!

 

I think the color scheme is fine IMHO. The header
to the left of your logo seems bare. Do you plan
on adding some banners of something in that space?

 

Is it okay with them though? Maybe you should ask!

 

I think it is...I'm not posting them on my blog as my own articles; they're forum posts..Meaning they could be from anywhere