So you’re starting a business and need a web site.  Great!  What next?  Here’s a step by step guide.

1. Pick a domain name.  Don’t worry if your exact domain name isn’t available.  Come up with something close and then let the search engines handle the details.  For example, if widgets.com is taken, try widgetshq.com or ewidgets.com.  Most domain registrars will help you with this process. DomainsOnIce.com can help you register your domain and this article will help you understand the current state of .com domain names.

2.  Pick a web host.  You shouldn’t need to spend more than $200 on hosting a year when you first start out.  If you think you will because of future volume, start with the cheap host and upgrade when you’re ready.  Your host should support PHP and MySQL.  Most will automatically.  FastWebUpdates.com hosts client web sites starting at just $149 per year.

3.  Install a free content management system.  Why do you need a system?  You’ll want to keep your site fresh and interesting so visitors come back on a regular basis.  A content management system makes this easy.  We recommend WordPress.  WordPress started life as blogging software, and it does that well, but it has some pretty sophisticated features that make it useful outside of the blogging world as well.  A decent content management system lets you add content without knowing a lot of code.  By the way, this site is powered by WordPress and so are our other sites.

4. Customize your look and feel to match your offline image.  You’ll want to coordinate the colors and logos on your site with any business cards or stationary you have.  Most content management systems provide you with a templating system that make this process relatively easy.  This part requires code, so you’ll probably want to contact a web site design company to help you out.  Try FastWebUpdates.com at 888-627-8888.

5. Trick out your new site with features that help you interact with visitors and other sites.  For example, you can use Flckr to manage your images and FeedBurner to track your subscribers.  WordPress plugins make this process quick and easy.  There are plugs designed to help with most previously custom issues like event calendars and contact forms.

That’s it.  Now all you need to do is add your content and you’re good to go.

FastWebUpdates.com has recently helped Clay Cafe of Lubbock and Clay Cafe of Visalia create WordPress driven web sites that integrate seamlessly with Flckr and other services.

Overview

Let’s say you have a current site that you want to add file storage functionality to. Everything is already password protected and you just want a place for each user to store some files online. Once files are online, users should be able to manage them using a browser. This includes download, delete and update. Additionally, you would like users to be able to “preview” a document in their browser without having to download it.

Our Experience

We’ve worked with this in a couple of situations, both with PHP and Java/WebWork. It’s pretty straightforward as long as you think out the details ahead of time.

Additional Requirements

• You’ll likely want to have an upload progress meter.
• Most PHP installations have a hard upload limit of 2mb. If you want to handle files larger than that, you’ll need to make arrangements with your host.
• You’ll need to allow for files of the same name, even if they’re from the same user. In other words, the name the user gives the file and the name that you store it under on your host will have to be independent.
• Will you let your customers store in multiple directories or just a single directory? Any limit on the number of directories?
• File type limitations. You should decide ahead of time what files you will allow people to upload. If you want people to be able to upload anything, consider using ZIP files.
• The ability to preview a document without downloading will require some sort of server based file processing. For example, you could extract raw text from a file for the preview, create an image based on a print preview or turn it into a PDF (while it downloads–everyone has the plug in in their browser).
• Do you want to add additional viewing rights? For example, could User A upload a file that should the be visible to User B? Or is there always a strict wall between the two?

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There are lots of ways to skin this particular cat. Here’s how we tackled it on one recent project.

Workflow

The general workflow is simple: the prospective wholesaler applies, the administrator approves or denies them and then approved wholesalers can place orders at the reduced price.

Script Flow

The first step is for wholesalers to register as a wholesaler. This form would need to include all standard fields (name, address, phone, etc) as well as their resale ID. Although they are registered, they are not yet approved.

Once registered, the system should send an alert to the site administrator indicating they have a new wholesaler to manage.

Using a management script in an HTTP-AUTH protected directory, the administrator reviews each application. A single click approves the wholesaler, another click sends them a password. (These are two clicks for a reason–it could be combined into one.)

The wholesaler then authenticates themselves on the site. If they forgot their password, they can request that the server send it to them.

The order page is just another PayPal or Mal’s-E shopping page.

The administrator can disable users if necessary and can add, modify or delete them through an administrator screen.