Thinking about starting a website

[Elishi]

Hi folks, I'm thinking about starting a website for myself about simple living. Relatively new to the whole concept, so I thought it might be fun to chart my experiences as I go. And maybe a good place to post up helpful blogs/sites (right here for example), as well as guest posts from other people talking about the subject.

Are there many other sites like this I should be aware of?

Also, I'm unsure of where to host the site, I was thinking about something like http://website.1and1.com/free-website-builder as it seems pretty reliable, but I haven't heard much about it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :)

[catherine]

Elishi,

There are many simple living blogs--some of us have our own blogs, and a few are on the topic of simple living. Just Goggle "simple living blogs" and you'll find plenty. Also, keep in mind that there are different angles: You have frugality sites, homesteading sites, minimalism sites, spiritual simplicity sites, etc.

I use Wordpress for my blogs, as do many, many bloggers. It has expanded its capabilities over the years to also enable general website creation. I would definitely start by blogging on a very flexible, user-friendly site like Wordpress because that's the most fluid way to find your voice.

Good luck with it!

[Elishi]

Hi Catherine. Thanks for getting back to me, you've given me loads of reading here, which is a very good thing :) I'd like to be able to use it as a place to gather as much of this kind of thing in one place (giving credit and linking to the original source obviously), something to keep me busy and be of use to people starting out in this lifestyle.

A friend just recommended Wordpress to me now as well, so that's a good sign that it's worth looking into. Thanks so much for your help.

[ljevtich]

I use 1and1.com (http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=6538198) as my host for my website. They are very good and have been very good for the last 13 years. No down time.

I have had our website for 8 years about being frugal while full-timing in an RV. I started showing my expenses in 2007 and have kept it up ever since. I am planning on showing some of our passive income (I think in October) to explain that things can be done to get you more money through a website. But I have been doing this for a while.

You can get a package with the 1 and 1 site to ultimately decide to use wordpress or other systems and then graduate to a real website if you decide to later.

I would suggest writing it out first on paper or sketching your website out online first before you begin. Get an idea of what you want to post, your navigation, how often you will write, and do you want to put ads on there to get some residual income. Have a plan and then go from there.

Good Luck!

[Elishi]

Hi Laura, nice to hear from someone who uses 1&1! The Wordpress package caught my eye as well. And I agree, I have to sketch everything down first, only way I can get it out of my head and visualize it properly.

[ljevtich]

Yes! Totally! I am going back in time, looking at my old website and making massive changes to it. But in a way, it is totally fun to see what we were thinking 4 or 5 years ago. And the pictures, oh my god, we have tons. Have fun. If you have any questions post on here, I'll subscribe to the thread.