best website instructional book for newbie

olias

Hi,

I am considering as a long term goal setting up a website to generate some income possible through using mainly affiliate marketing or possibly looking at setting up an online store (very much at the initial stages of thinking of ideas).

I am pretty much un-techie as far as computers are concerned - I have only ever used them for surfing, word processing, and storing/viewing music/video/photos etc.

Can someone reccommend a 'websites for dummies' type book to get me started. There are so many of them on the market I don't know where to start looking!

I'm after something really, really basic to get me started. My intention being to set up and run a simple site to start with and get used to everything from aquiring domain names, to hosting, how to increase page ranking, source and add ads and obviously how to actually set up and add to and edit the website (add/change text pictures etc etc.)

I should add that this will only be for me to understand the basics and how things work, together with the jargon, once I feel confident, I would look to pay someone to create or develop a proffesional site for me which I can then administor myself

Any help welcome. Thanks.

Olias

olias

bump...

Anyone?

Olias

Aiadi

I haven't gone into it myself but it was on he last episode of BBC's click and they recommended it highly.

http://www.moonfruit.com/

The BBC's link is here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/8964278.stm

olias

Hi and thanks for replying.

As far as I can make out, the site you mention (and others similar to it) are more designed to enable you to create a website with no skills (just point and click effectively). I am really looking for a book that equally simply, explains the whole workings of a website such as domains, hosting, databases, admin tools, glossary of terms etc etc.

As I stated in my initial post, I am not looking to become a web programmer or developer or become highly technically proficient, I simply want to know what to do, how to achieve what I want, what all the terms mean etc, along the lines of the 'dummies' series of books.

My problem is that for every good review of a book, there is an opposing bad review stating how useless it is. I was just hoping that someone could reccommend one that really is useful. Thanks.

Olias

Hammyman

So you actually need to learn about servers, networking and programming languages.

olias

Do I...? How so?

Olias

johncalvin2

what you need to learn?

Seo, html, php etc ?

steve1980

w w w .w3schools.com

I learnt loads from there.

olias

Ok, I will try and be as clear as I can.

My aim is to end up running an online business, possibly an online store, but more likely some sort of affiliate marketing site. Now in theory I could just approach a website designer or developer and give him a brief and a wad of cash and get in return a functioning site. Given, however, my lack of even the most basic knowledge (see my first post), I need know the basics - don't even really know what the terms are that the last few posts have used!

I do not need to learn programming etc, all I am after at this stage is a basic book that outlines how a website is set up, how menus, search functions etc are integrated into a site, what can and can't be automated etc, a glossary of the terms used, what is meant by hosting, how to obtain a domain, how that domain name impacts on searches, how searches work and how to optimise them etc - like I said, the basics. I then intend to set up a simple site, have a play with different things, get used to how they work, before taking further steps towards hopefully setting up a proper professional business.

What I am asking for is simply a pointer towards a book or books that others can reccommend as a basic start point.

As I have said, I have looked at Amazon and there are literally hundreds of books on the topic. Short of making a random choice and hoping for the best (and probably wasting my money on something inappropriate for my needs), I was hoping someone could steer me to something that they have found was useful.

Thanks

Olias