If you’re thinking of starting a programming website, there are a few things you should know that I wish I had known before I started mine.
Starting a programming website isn’t easy, but if you have some previous experience it’s possible to get off the ground in as little as three weeks.
This article will walk you through what it takes to run your own successful programming website, including whether starting such a business is right for you and how to start an online business that’ll generate revenue in no time (or maybe not even that long). Read on to learn how to start your own programming website.
| Takeaways |
|---|
| Programming can be challenging, but with dedication and the right mindset, anyone can learn it. |
| Learning programming requires continuous practice and patience. |
| Personal projects and analyzing code written by experienced developers can help you improve your programming skills. |
| There are many free resources available online to help you learn programming, including courses and coding challenges. |
| Important skills for a programmer include problem-solving, logical thinking, attention to detail, and the ability to work with others. |
1. Your First Users Will Be Your Friends And Family
What we didn’t realize is that when you start a new website, you’re starting at 0 users. This means that unless you’ve been lucky enough to create something people want right off the bat (which is rare), your first users will be your friends and family (you know, the ones you asked to use it).
After asking everyone I know and then some to try out our new site, I’ve come up with a list of things they taught me while they were helping me improve it:
- They don’t care how much time or effort you put into building the thing. If it’s confusing or doesn’t work well for them, they’re going to drop it without even trying again.
- They don’t mind being guinea pigs whose only job is giving feedback on how things can be made better!
- They will tell you exactly what’s wrong with what you’re doing because they love and support you and want this thing that means so much to you to succeed!
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2. Those First Users Will Help You Improve
Asking for feedback from your first users is a great way to figure out if you’re going in the right direction. It’s better to find out now that your target audience doesn’t like your idea, rather than after you’ve poured months into building it.
Pitch the idea to one of your friends or family members and ask them what they think of it. If they’re interested, then ask them how they would improve it. Ask them what they would pay for and don’t be afraid to charge them! Don’t be offended if they’re not as excited about it as you are, either. You might have an amazing product but just haven’t found enough people who want it yet.
I heard that a friend was interested in learning how to code so I asked him if he’d like a free account on my platform and invited him over for dinner while we tried it together. He loved the experience and said he’d gladly pay five dollars per month for such a service but he also had some suggestions on how we could improve our landing page by making the sign-up process easier (we added an “I’m new here” button).
3. You Should Build Something You Want To Use Yourself
You should also build something you want to use yourself. If you’re not excited about using it, how do you expect other people to be? For example, when I was first starting out, I built a tool that allows programmers to see what the top programming languages are by category (for example, “What is the most common language for building iOS apps?”). It’s something that I wish existed so I could use it and something that I think other programmers would find useful too.
This approach worked well and allowed me to bootstrap my website without any outside funding or advertising because so many people were using it and getting value from it. The downside of this approach though is that if your idea doesn’t work out (maybe there’s any market for what you’re trying to build), then you’ve wasted time working on an idea that will never pan out (unlike venture-backed startups who can keep trying new ideas until one works).
However, the upside is that if your idea does work, then you already have customers who will pay for it and give feedback on what features they want to be added next!
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4. Build Quickly, Or You’ll Never Get Started
Don’t wait until you’ve perfected every single aspect of your website before putting it out there. One thing that held me back for months was getting all my content up on the site. You should try to get a simple version of your website live as soon as possible. If you’re not a programmer and don’t know where to start, I recommend using WordPress or another CMS (Content Management System) to get your site off the ground quickly.
That may seem counterintuitive because shouldn’t things be perfect BEFORE they go up? Not if you want people to see them! The way I look at it, a finished product is infinitely better than something that’s still sitting in an idea folder somewhere! Once you have a basic version of your website up, you can start making changes and improving it little by little over time.
It’s important to have something to show for your work and actually feel like you’re accomplishing something worthwhile. Even though I already had an idea in mind for what my final product would look like, starting small allowed me to keep learning while creating content that other people could read and learn from.
5. Look For Shortcuts To Speed Up Your Development Cycle
If you want to test your code, you will need to create a lot of content.
So, for example, if you wanted to test out a search feature, you’d need hundreds of posts and pages that contain the text that users may search for.
And, if you are using WordPress on your local machine with MAMP or WAMP; then it can take up to 15 seconds in total just to create one new post or page. (This is because MAMP/WAMP needs time to start up.)
You can get around this by creating a plugin that creates 100 new posts each time it runs. This will skip the load time of MAMP/WAMP and allow you to create all the content needed in one go.
6. Look For Ways To Get A Big Splash Of Traction Quickly
One of the best ways to get your website off the ground is to make a big splash right out of the gate. The more visible you are, the easier it will be to attract new visitors, and hopefully, they’ll be people who are actually interested in what you have to say.
One way to do this is to reach out to influential people in your niche and invite them to contribute a post on your site. If you can get a few well-known industry folks on board, their followers will take notice and start visiting your site as well. This means that there’s potential for exponential growth if you can just connect with influencers who have large audiences.
Although getting popular bloggers involved with your project is one way to gain traction quickly, it’s not always easy for beginners (especially if those people don’t know about you yet). A more approachable option is to create something that gets people talking about your website on their own.
For example, a shocking headline or an outlandish opinion may be enough incentive for someone with thousands of Twitter followers to tweet out a link—which could result in hundreds or even thousands of new visitors flocking over from their feeds.
Remember: if someone sends traffic your way, make sure that you’ve set up some sort of opt-in form so that readers who want updates can leave their email addresses behind when they go!
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7. Don’t Wait Until Everything Is Perfect To Share What You’ve Built So Far
If you wait until everything is perfect to show anyone what you’ve built, your users will never see it. Your users are the best people to help improve the product anyway, so get their feedback early and often. Don’t be afraid of showing them a “half-done” version of your product.
It’ll be better than trying to figure out what might make users happy all by yourself, and it’s likely to lead to surprises and innovations that you hadn’t thought of on your own. This can also save tons of time in building features that nobody ends up using or appreciating, so don’t be scared!
When I launched my first programming website (that still exists today), I didn’t know there were entire communities built around programming for beginners, and I had no idea how much people loved coming together to share their knowledge with each other.
Because of this, the site took off quickly – but if I’d known about those online communities before launching the website, I could have built something more valuable for them sooner. If you’re looking into creating a similar type of website yourself one day, focus on delivering value from Day 1 – even if it’s just giving people an outlet for sharing ideas with each other!
8. Make Something People Want. Find A Pain They Want To Solve, And Solve It For Them
You have to make something people want to use. If you don’t, you’re going to fail. There’s no way around that.
There are a few ways to do this. The first, and most obvious: Create an idea people want, then execute it so well that they can’t help but use it over and over again. If you’re in the business of solving problems, find a big problem that lots of people have and solve it for them (or at least try).
The second, much more difficult way: Don’t just ask your users what they want; put yourself in their shoes and figure out what makes them tick. Go deep on understanding the pain points in their lives, then create a solution that works for them so seamlessly they think they’ve found paradise on earth rather than using yet another piece of software (I’m looking at YOU Slack).
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9. If No One Uses Your Website After 60 Days, They Probably Never Will
By now, you know that there are quite a few obstacles to overcome in order to build a successful website. If despite your best efforts, your site doesn’t get any traction after 60 days, it’s highly likely that it never will. So much time and effort are going into it, and if you can’t get users excited about it within two months of launching the beta version, then most likely they’re just not going to be that excited about it ever.
Instead of continuing with this struggle indefinitely, consider trying something else! You’ve got all these tools at your disposal now: apply them to another project or try a new idea. The world is full of possibilities just make sure you pick one where you’ll have done the research enough ahead of time so that you won’t encounter any major roadblocks along the way
10. Promote Wherever People Are Already Hanging Out Online
Share your content on social media. Social media is a great way to promote your new blog posts, but you should always be promoting and sharing other people’s work, too. Facebook and Twitter are great places to start, but don’t forget about LinkedIn or even Pinterest (if your site has photos).
Share on forums and communities. If there’s an online forum or community for people interested in what you’re writing about, share your blog with them! Just make sure that you add value to the conversation before you link people to your site.
Share on your personal blog. If you have another blog that isn’t related to the programming niche, write a post there as well! For example, if I were starting a new food website tomorrow, I’d definitely write a post about it here since my audience loves hearing entrepreneurial stories like this one.
Get friends to share. Most of us have friends who would be happy to share our content if they only knew they could do so without being annoying—so we just have to ask them! If you really want someone, in particular, to share something with their audience (like an influencer), send them an email letting them know that something is coming up soon that would be perfect for their audience and ask them if they’d be willing to check it out when it’s life—and let them know how much it would mean for you if they did help out by sharing it with their community!
11. The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Site Is Keep Publishing New Content Regularly
As you are getting started, the most important thing is to publish content on a regular basis. You should be publishing new tutorials and articles at least once a week. This will help build a following of loyal readers who will share your website with their friends and colleagues. Regularly publishing content also helps your website rank higher in search engines like Google for the topics you cover on your site.
12. Convert Free Users Into Paid Customers If Possible
Your best customers are the ones who already know and love your product. These people have put their trust in you, and they’re far more likely to continue paying for your product than someone looking at it for the first time.
Do everything you can to convert free users into paid customers. Even if you’re not ready to start selling ads, there are still a ton of ways to monetize your site using a “freemium” model. For example, Codecademy is a website that offers free programming classes; however, it also has a premium section where users can pay for individual courses or access a pro version of the site with extra features like mentorship and further instruction.
Codeacademy doesn’t need to sell ad space on campus, since it’s able to charge enough per user (between $20-$25/month) that its users actually want an ad-free experience!
Think about what kind of payment plans, subscriptions, or add-ons would be right for your audience. Maybe you offer special discounts or just trial periods—whatever it is, you’ll be making money off of an eager customer base instead of hoping someone will find your ads while browsing the web!
13. In The Early Stages You Need Both Technical Skills And Design Skills
When you’re first starting out, it’s tempting to want to tackle everything. Why learn about a simple template when it would be so much cooler to build your website from scratch?
However, there are many things that can go wrong when building your own website:
- Your website might not look as good as you hope it will. This is especially true if you’re not familiar with visual design.
- You might spend a lot of time perfecting the little details of your site (like colors and fonts) and neglect the actual content that makes up the bulk of your site. A pre-made template can solve both these problems by giving you a great-looking site with minimal effort on your part.
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14. Be On Social Media Every Day If Possible
- You need to be on social media every day if possible, but don’t worry if you’re not on Snapchat or Twitter or Pinterest, and Instagram (etc.) all the time as well!
I know people who spend hours and hours in front of their computers posting. I know people who hire a staff to keep them active on social media (and pay them by the tweet). I know people who only post once a month.
Personally, I think it’s best to be somewhere in the middle of those extremes. Find a platform that you like to use personally and then see if there’s any way it can work for your business. Get familiar with the tools available for that platform and customize your look so that it reflects your brand, but don’t forget about the other platforms out there because you’re afraid of missing out on something.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, while my own experience of creating a programming website has had its ups and downs, I hope these 14 things have shown you that it’s possible to do. Whether you are looking to create a programming website for fun or for profit, make sure that you set yourself goals that are reachable, but not too easy. And if it all seems like too much hard work just remember: “with hard work comes great success”!
Further reading
Here are some additional resources that can help you on your coding journey:
- 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Coding: A developer shares 10 important lessons he learned throughout his coding career.
- 10 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Programming: Another developer shares 10 pieces of advice that he wishes he had when starting out in programming.
- How to Learn Programming: A comprehensive guide that covers different approaches and resources for learning programming.
FAQs
What are some essential skills for a programmer?
Some essential skills for a programmer include problem-solving, logical thinking, attention to detail, and ability to work with others.
How can I improve my programming skills?
To improve your programming skills, you can practice regularly, work on personal projects, read and analyze code written by experienced developers, and participate in online communities and forums.
What are some common programming languages?
Some common programming languages include Python, Java, C++, JavaScript, and Ruby.
What are some resources for learning programming for free?
There are many free resources available for learning programming, including online courses, tutorials, and coding challenges. Some popular ones include Codecademy, FreeCodeCamp, and Udacity.
How long does it take to learn programming?
The amount of time it takes to learn programming varies depending on factors such as your prior experience, the complexity of the language you are learning, and your dedication to learning. Some people can become proficient in a few months, while others may take years to master programming.
What Do I Need To Know Before Starting A Programming Website?
Starting a programming website can be an exciting, yet daunting task. There are many aspects of the project that will require you to make decisions, and it’s important to understand which steps you need to take before you get started.
If you don’t have design or coding experience, you will probably want to hire someone who does. If you don’t have a lot of money, you may want to consider using a website builder. This will allow you to create a professional-looking website without having to hire a designer.
You’ll also need to decide whether or not you’ll be adding advertising to your site. If so, then there are some steps you’ll need to take in order to get started with this process.
Finally, if you’re planning on using an e-commerce platform like PayPal or Stripe, then there are some other things that you should know about as well.
Should I Start A Programming Website?
The answer is, of course, yes!
If you want to start a programming website, then you should. There are a few things you may want to consider before you do so:
Do I have time? It’s true that starting a programming website requires a lot of time and energy. You will need to commit yourself fully.
Do I have the money? Starting a programming website can be expensive. You’ll need to factor in costs for web hosting and possibly contracting with someone who has experience building websites. Additionally, if your website is ever sued for something that happens on it, you could be held liable as its owner. Make sure you understand the financial risks involved!
Which Language Should I Learn First?
It depends on the field you want to work in. If you are interested in web development, I recommend starting with HTML and CSS. However, if you are interested in other fields like mobile development or software engineering, Python is a great option.
What Is The Best Way To Learn?
Learning by doing is the best way to learn. It’s not just about reading, writing, and watching lectures. If you’re really going to make something happen, you need to take action.
That’s why we’ve created a platform that teaches you how to code by giving you real world-based projects to work on. You’ll be doing everything from creating your own version of Facebook to building an app that tells you which services are currently down if they go down while you’re programming them.
The best thing about this method is that you can apply what you’ve learned immediately—no waiting around!
How Do I Know When It’s Time To Move On From One Language And Explore Another?
This question comes up often in programming circles because there are so many languages out there! The answer really depends on what your goals are as well as your comfort level with each language. For example, if you’re just starting out, then it may
What Is The Best Programming Language?
Great question! We think it really depends on what you want to do. If you’re interested in web development, you’ll probably want to start with JavaScript or Python. If you’re interested in data science, R or MATLAB are good choices.
But honestly, the best programming language is the one that’s right for you and your goals. There’s no reason to get caught up in whether one option is better than another, just focus on what will help you achieve your goals.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.