[TUT] Thinking of opening a Habbo fansite?

[CJ-real]

Hey,

Like many people, at one time or another, most of us think about opening a Habbo fansite.

Unfortunately, many people do not know the reality behind webdesign, the costs, and how you feel if it is unpopular.

So, I put together this short tutorial on what you should do before you open, and on the first stages of opening your new Habbo fansite.


#1 Choosing what it's for!
Thought of a great name for a website? Well, what if the domain you want is taken - what are you going to put on it?
Choose what you want your Habbo Fansite to be on, if you are unsure, here are a few main categories:

• Radio
• News
• Content
• Images
• Guides
• Rare values
• More than one
• Other

You should choose one before you start. All may cost you something, yet the underlined ones will probably cost you more, and the semi-underlined may cost you if you wish for it to look professional.


#2 Choosing the name!
At this point, some think that the name can come next to last, yet some think is it vital for it to be first, but I think this position is just right.
Here are the reasons:

• You don't want to do content and find you cant get the domain
• You don't want to be re-coding your layout
• You don't want to be paying lots for what you are doing

So. Choose a name which comes into conjunction with the category you have chosen.

#2.5 Some helpful tips
When choosing a domain, you would like to do the following things, in order of priority:

• Make them as short as possible
• Do not use hyphens "-", you can, yet many people find them annoying
• If possible, try to put the whole word "habbo" in the name, not abriviated (not vital)

#3 Choose a hosting company
Number 1 priority is what you want from a hosting company, I have sorted it into different sections:

a). Webspace...
If your fansite going to be space hungry... is there going to be lots of images, and lots of technical scripts? If so you are looking at about 1-2GB.
For a Habbo fansite, unless you are uploading videos and audio, you will NOT need a large amount of webspace, in-fact, 300MB is just nice.

b). Bandwidth...
Are you expecting lots of people to be downloading your files? Are people going to be downloading large images? Then you need about 1-2GB of bandwidth again.

c). cPanel...
Cpanel is massively used, and is expensive. Hosts which are not a reseller charge a lot for them as it is so expensive.
Do you need cpanel?
Normally the answer is no!

d). What are you looking to spend?...
If you are looking to spend quite a bit, then you can look into other things like scripts, radio, and features for your website.
If you are looking for budget plans, then you will need to find a cheap host with the minimum requirements of a Habbo Fansite

e). Email account and SQL databases
You will most likely need SQL for php based scripts, including forums and radio panels. SQL is NEARLY a must!
E-mail accounts are helpful, as people feel more trust when they add [email protected], instead of SomethingRandomMaybeRude********.com. Yet e-mail accounts are not a must.

Top tip: Do research before you buy, don't be drawn into deals, and unlimited/long lasting plans for life.


#4 Choosing a domain and extension
Your domain name should be the name of your Habbo Fansite, and extension .com. If not then get .net, yet if people hear of "YourHabbosite", they automatically go to www.yourhabbosite.com, not any of the other extensions.


#5 Before you buy
How long will it be before you open? Do you already have a template? If you can webdesign, no problem, but if not, you should look into buying/making a template and getting it coded, otherwise you could be paying monthly for hosting, and have no/a tacky website!


# 6 Just opened
This is the important part. Choosing a layout. You will need to get a good template maker/spend lots of time making one.
Why do you need a good template?
Ask anyone... they don't like being on a crappy site!


#7 Before you open to the public

If you are thinking of getting a radio, get it first. If people see a radio site, and there's no radio, their first impression is not to come back. If you have just opened a site, and it's all running perfectly, people will set their first impressions high, and assume it will be like this in the future.


#8 What to include
No forum. A deserted forum prevents users. A popular site will mean a popular forum when it opens. Don't spend a whole day doing that, or spend lots of money buying vBulletin.


#9 Lets get ready
Check, check, and check again. Are their errors with your cutenews template... can you log in? Does the job form work? A site that doesn't work is a site not worth looking at, so make sure it works.


#10 Nearly there!
Have you got good fonts, easy to read content? If not people will go away as soon as they see it!

• No center alignments
• No massive fonts
• No complete bold

And remember... no fuzzy/pixelated images!


#11 2 ticks away!
Have you got an "About us" page. If people don't know what your site is about, they won't explore it. Mainly put it on the homepage, or if not, put it in a link that's somewhere to put it on!


#12 Get staff on the way!
More staff means less work for you and a better fansite, as there are "specialists" in certain things, so hire them when you can if they are good!


YOUR OFF!

A special good luck with your fansite - from CJ


Note: This will not guarantee a massively successful fansite, after this it is up to you to run it in a good way, I should be posting more tutorials though!

Moved by NintendoNews (Forum Moderator) from Website Design: Great tutorial

[Yaesu]

Good tut +rep. Few recommendations:

If you can't design, explore the web market section on this forum. Most of us are good designers (dont ask me, i suck atm lol) and will sell you a good template at a reasonable price (around £10)

Look around for hosting. Is it cheap 4 what you're gonna get? I fully recommend www.crisphosting.net for both hosting and shoutcast because they are both proffesional and affordable. Good luck!

[CJ-real]

Ok i'll ask a mod

[LondonGoons]

Also you should put in there that they shouldn't rip other peoples habbo layouts etc.

[Sunny.]

Lol! ^^

[Mashi]

Cool!................

[OMGitsJordan]

Great guide!
Yeh im making a fansite.
I need someone to be able to use cPanel and stuff. Interested in helping me?