Consider your resoures when starting your own dot com

The first thing you need to consider when deciding what web business to enter is what resources you have.

Just like buying a house, you don't buy one that you can't maintain or afford.

The truth is, websites can rage from millions of dollars in hardware alone and millions more in software development down to under $3 a month for web hosting. It does not need to be said that the more expensive website has more potential, but the $3 website still can make a load of money.

Many people come to me and would like to be the next myspace or youtube. They think they can for $10 a month and want to know what software youtube uses.

Guys! Those types of sites take many servers and stacks of hard drives in external arrays. The hardware alone will bankrupt most newbie web investors. A basic high end enterprise server runs from about $10,000 to $100,000 just for the main server with very low capcity. As the business grows, you will need to add more and the programing needs to be written in such a manner that you can.

Its all very complicated and expensive. I am not saying you should not attempt something big. But you should not attempt anything that big unless you either have a serious pile of cash you want to lose or you already are an expert and know what you are doing.

I always recomend starting small. Get you feet wet fisrt. Begin to realize what works and what doesn't. You can always expand once you understand the details.

A pageBuzz website can manage a pretty sizable traffic load. So for $10 a month, you can get started without draining your retirement account. But the site is limied in what it can do and does not allow for outside programing to be installed.

So what if you need to install your own program? A system like pageBuzz wont work for you. But can you install your own software? Do you know how to write cgi code? Do you understand programing languages like perl or C? Can you afford to pay $100 an hour to a programer for weeks on end to write programs?

In most cases, you don't or wont.

By using a system that provides the basics you don't have to. Many systems will incude shopping carts, forums, chatrooms, secure logins and other standard web features. Although the programing is normally designed for low levels of traffic, it is still more solid than you could have a programmer build on the first version release.

It is important in your first web venture to work within your means. Don't build more than you can manage or afford.

All in one hosting systems with sitebuilders are a great solution for the beginer. You get all the basics and can build your business one customer at a time.

Its just like building a retail store. You start small and grow into a bigger space as you have a need for it and when the customers support the upsizing.

Don't try to build walmart from the start. Start with one store and build as the demand grows.

It is easy to get into the hype and think the website will be the next big thing. It wont. Big things don't happen by themselves. Sites like youtube spent millions just to be worth thousands. In time, the value was realized and the billion dollar pricetag was achived.

If you started youtube yourself and the bandwidth bill creeps up to the one million dollars a month they were paying before being sold, you better have the money to pay it, or your business is down the drain. In their case they had no income and worked soley from investment capital which was buned up like they were heating the offices with $100 bills.

It's nice to think you could build a billion dollar site and you probably can. But you need to have the resources to get there. If you don't, then don't shoot for the sky. Start with something you can manage and you will be more productive.

As the website produces, you will have more resources to build on. Let it pay the way, don't feed something that could eat you out of house and home.