registered a domain?how do i get started with the website?

Answers to this question are all over the map.... I started a web business in 1998. Here are some thoughts:

1. You are starting a business, but so far you mention only that you have registered a domain name. Is the domain name registered in the company's name? Does the company exist yet? Do you have a partnership agreement or articles of incorporation? Have you registered the company in the state or country in which you intend to conduct your business? All of these steps should probably come before launching the website, if you are forming a business.

2. If the domain name is unique, have you developed a logo for the domain? Have you filed a trademark request with the patent and trademark office? The logo usually comes before launching the site, and the trademark request comes after you use the brand mark for commercial purposes. Having a trademark will help you protect your rights to the domain that you have registered.

3. Lock your domain registration so that it cannot be transfered to someone else.

4. Now you are ready to get started on the website :)

5. Are you going to develop the website yourselves, or have someone build it for you? Do you have a start up budget? Do you have a monthly budget? Has anyone on your team ever done any programming? You need to decide whether to build it yourselves, or enlist help.

6. If you business is going to be some sort of specialized webs service, you are going to need to either program the site yourselves, or pay someone to develop a custom site.

7. If you are building an e-commerce site, or your website will be used to drive off line sales, then you can probably use one of the many off-the-shelf solutions - e.g. many hosting companies offer website building software, and there are other companies that will build a site for you based on your selection from a template. Some of the best known sites for building a site yourself are Web.com, 1and1.com, and godaddy.com. One company that I know of that will build a site for you at reasonable cost is Websitepros.com. I know that they have an agreement with Microsoft to build websites for Microsoft customers.

8. Don't be afraid to ask your hosting company and/or web site development agency to kick in some bonuses - like a few free pages on top of whatever their fixed plan is, or a discounted monthly fee. They are out their to gain your business, and you deserve there utmost attention and their best available prices.

9. Break a leg!... starting a business is most of all, a very fun and interesting experience!

Think of what you will do with your domain. After that, estimate the bandwidth and web space that you will be using. Find a good web hosting service which suits your needs, then start building the site.

It's a big advantage if you guys know how to code HTML and at least one server side language, but if not, there are WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors out there for free.

Those editors will help you make a website easily.

If you do not like the hassle of manually updating every page each time you have to add something, try using CMS (content management systems) like Joomla and Drupal. Those are free open-source CMS.

If you'd like to start a blog, I recommend WordPress as your blogging platform. It's easy to use and it's very flexible.

Since you already have a domain you need a good webhost to host your domain on.. please stay away from free webhosting because free webhosting servers are known to go down often .. Some of the best places to get a host at his bluehost & monsterhost.. (they are both owned by the same company.)

For making a website I highly recommend Joomla.. You can make some really nice and professional websites with it and it's free . You can even use Joomla for a online store.. Just do a search for "Joomla" and read up about it..

It's very easy to install and most decent webhost ( like bluehost & monsterhost) already have it in there php data base & all you have to do is easily install it..It's awesome!

You and your friends will need to decide on the contents of the website and start working on it. Once all parties agree on the contents, upload it on th web.