Ok, I have a few questions. I m a non-technical guy here, but I would like to set-up a site like www.truecar.com . I wanted to know, what would be the requirements to set something like this up? I know it requires a lot of work and a large part of the business is the online bit of it. In this scenario, would it make sense to bring in a tech partner or hire someone to do the site? More importantly, could anyone tell me how much work it would take to set something like this up? The programming languages that would be best suited, and the preferable database to be used (mysql) ? Also, how much would this approximately cost? I m not sure if this entirely in the right place, but any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Just from the quick look at the homepage the site looks like it was made professionally. If you plan on making a business out of it I would suggest hiring some one if you do not know how. Unless you are up for learning!I am currently trying to learn and am making small steps but getting there. One thing I have learned though is that this forum is not really a place to ask small questions like what I have been asking and what you are asking here. I have made 2 posts and none have got so much as a reply when asking for advice.I wish you luck. ;/
Making the site would be fairly simple. You don't need a permanent partner - you can hire someone to do the site for a one-time fee. The programming behind the site (how to calculate the information) and getting the data you'd need is the tough part, and it's also probably the expensive part. Sit down and figure out exactly how the site is going to work. That will give you what you need to figure out what you need - invoice prices, dealer information, a formula, etc. If you can't "do" the site on paper (do what the site would do if it was up and running), you can't write the site. (Neither can anyone else. You can't write "I know what I want but I don't know how to get it" code.) If I give you a make, model and options, can you give me what I should pay for a given zip code? Do you have the information already? All programs (and a website is a program) are written this way. "Write the program" in English first. HOW are you going to solve the problem? What data do you need to solve it? What algorithms (methods) are you going to use to solve it? The pretty pictures and the site layout will come IF you have a site to write. Write the logic first first - or you'll be spending all your time redoing the site to fix what you forgot when you rushed to make the site - and you'll lose more users when the site isn't doing what it should than you'll gain after you fix it.
There are places around the web (here included) where you can hire freelancers to do the development work for you. You may want to organize all the features of the site and present it to a potential freelancer and get an estimate. A good freelancer can also consult with you and provide suggestions that can save work such as pulling content from feeds, expain the pros/cons etc...
Thanks for the reply guys! Rukbat your reply was especially helpful! So, should I go about writing down how all the different pages would link and how the information will be laid out on each page? Also, from looking at the site, what would you think would be the best way to go about it, in terms of programming languages used and the kind of database to draw all the required info from? Also since the entire platform is online, would it require like a lot of constant work to keep it up to date and improving? I m assuming yes for that one, so in that scenario would it be better to have a tech partner or is that something a full time tech employee can handle? Thanks again!
yes I think you need a tech partner to maintain the site. As you are doing business online, you will need paypal account and money transferred. So, a partner who know programming well can handle the bugs and make improvement from time to time. And also update the website with banners or anythings to attract your target customer!
I think your on the right path Fab. If from anything I have learned that a website and maintaining it is a full time job in itself. If your main offering to the public would be the gathered info about the cars then you could work on gathering the information while a more code savy person could work on the logics on how to get it done.Like Rukbat pointed out though, you don't need to know how to code to be able to think of the algorithms and other useful data you would need to make things like searching possible.Make sure when you do it you have a nice search engine for the site. If I was looking for a site like this the main factor I would be looking at is how fast I can get to what I need and how easy it is.