How do you find people to help make a website?

authenticjobs.com

Is there any FREE way to do this, or do I have to go around board to board?

Are you asking how to hire a web design company or are you expecting volunteers to do this?

Sorry for my inability to make coherent thoughts :-D Lots of days of no sleep.

I am looking for volunteers, with pay if the venture becomes profitable.

Then what you want is a business partner, and you find that by meeting people who know things about website design and finding one who cares about the idea as much as you do.

The problem you’re up against is that anyone who’s good enough to do a professional job on your website for free is good enough to get paid for doing a professional job on someone else’s website. So you need to find a personal connection with someone who has the skills you need and who cares about what you’re working on—a partnership.

As a freelance web designer, I lol at people looking for free help. It takes a lot more work than you might surmise.

cwilbur is right on the money: Unless you can find a person who takes a personal interest in your venture, professionals aren’t going to spend time on something that isn’t profitable to them.

Are you willing to share your idea with people that probably won’t help?

I have seen this a lot of times. People want volunteers with the chance of making money but they are unwilling to share the idea until they get a commitment. Nobody in their right mind would commit to anything without knowing the details. But the person with the idea doesn’t want to share the idea because then it is easily stolen. And the person that now knows the idea has the skill set to implement it.

It is a double edge sword.

No necessarily, johnpowell. If TylerM fleshes out his idea enough to demonstrate it to someone else, I would think that he should have enough there to demonstrate intellectual property ownership.

@Vinifera7

I’m really doubting that you could sue over it. There are hundreds of clones of Digg. Well, you could sue, but you wouldn’t win. I can’t think of a single site that doesn’t have clones of it or is a clone.

But I am afraid we are straying. We don’t even know if they are willing to share the idea.

hang out at web design communities that specialize in freelance web designers, or find a friend of yours to help you

I can’t, however, say that I would design for strangers for free, with the “prospect” of business…

Capable designers and programmers generally don’t work on spec.

You might be best off learning how to do it yourself the hard way.

How do the majority of the big websites get started (Digg, Facebook, CNET)? Do they get funding from big corporations or are they mainly joint ventures with a business partner or two? From what I’ve read it seems that they are college students that get together and things go from there.

It’s a combination of things, but most sites you’ve heard of now are either started by someone who can do the work, or they hire someone for a simplified “1.0” version of the idea to see if it really is a money maker.

I read somewhere that digg was started by hiring a developer for $1800 (maybe it was $1200?) to do a super simple version of the site. Facebook I believe was developed by the people who started it in college, CNET I have no idea but for some reason I thought was part of a larger news organization.

If you have an idea you believe in, and it’s purely a website that is needed to get it kicked off, then really you could probably find someone with the skills and advice you need to do a basic, get the job done well, nicely designed, website for $2,000 – $5,000. Which compared to other business types, is a tiny tiny amount. As mentioned, if someone believes in your idea as much as you do, then maybe part of that could be equity in the company.

Is that first version going to have absolutely everything you’re dreaming of? Probably not, but the focus is on executing the core of your idea well enough to see if it strikes a cord with your audience. Give them a good experience, get the word out, and you’ll have a good feel for whether your idea fills a niche.

In all honesty, a lot of people have great ideas for websites, just like a lot of people have great ideas for restaurants or bars. In both cases the actual skill of starting a business is in executing the idea in a way people will enjoy or find useful. The idea is unfortunately overrated. No one expects to set up a bar, a sporting goods store, or even a lemonade stand for free, somehow the web is the only place where the no-money-down business is rumored to exist.

The good news is that a website can be started for a tiny percentage of what you would need to even get the doors open for a restaurant or bar, you just have to be willing to either learn to do the work well, or hire someone who can.

Good luck with your venture and let us know if we can help.

But really. The stuff you need to know is easily learned. PHP, MySQL, Javascript, HTML, and CSS are all you need to know to made damn near anything. It isn’t really that hard. Coming up with a good design is the hard part.

The funny thing is I have the design part down. The implementation of the server side code with my design is that hard part. Though I think I’ll figure this out now.

From an agency perspective, what you’re asking for is for someone who doesn’t know you, to give you at least $3,000 – $5,000 worth of billable time for free.

The fact that you think you have the design part down will make the experience harder and less enjoyable for the person you’re asking to do something for free, not easier.

@TylerM back to one of your earlier comments: “it seems that [the founders of the big websites] are college students that get together and things go from there.”

That’s true to an extent. Facebook was initially built from a handful of students working together. The thing is, it’s not just a random group of students that one person brings together to do work. Typically it’s an idea created and fleshed out in detail among a group of friends who have certain skill sets. But for this to work, each member of the group must have had significant input and significant contributions to the project. Since you seem to already have an idea and a design, bringing in your friends would seem like you’re just using them to accomplish your goals. Because of that, you need to hire someone.

Man you guys need to write a book about this :) This is why I love Fluther.