A Web Site--What's Needed?

[KeithBVaughn]

To the Group,

Once again asking for help & insight from some of the more experienced members here. As Planets of Peril gets ready for release, I know a website is mandatory. It looks like I'll be able to get one for $10 per month without popups and other annoyances. I'll be limited to 5 pages, so I have to smart about what I put up there.

The primary purpose of the website will be to get potential purchasers to buy the game from RPGNow & Lulu. So the whole website is a sales tool. Now here's the question: What do I need to put on those 5 pages ot accomplish this?

Introduction-?
Exerpts from text-?
Graphics from game, cover?
Character sheets, maps, forms in PDF format-?
Free Adventure or two-?

What's missing or would you deem most effective?

Thanks in Advance,
Keith

[David Artman]

First advice: get the hell away from that host provider. GoDaddy gives me 2GB and umpty-some GB of traffic (downloads) for $3 a month. Domain Registration (i.e. your own URL) is, like, $2 a year.

Your list is good so far--have you looked at the sites of other, established games, traditional or indie? For example, Don't Rest Your Head?

You are missing some solid sales-support elements, though:
* Forums to discuss the game or ask questions
* Maybe a wiki, for folks to exchange and share setting material (or whatever is "tweakable" in your game)
* Reviewer or actual play quotes (get permission, of course!)
* A blog, to post news or future planned projects (can do this within the forum, too, if it's easier for you--hardly any functional difference, if your blog software permits comments)
* And, of course, all that stuff will support RSS feeds (if you use good, supported software)

Forum and wiki software installation on your server is usually a snap (at least it is at GoDaddy). You will want to research and compare software to find what suits you best (for me, it's Simple Machine Forums and Twiki or MediaWiki--see GLASS in sig for the former).
HTH;
David

[WRYoung]

I second the advice on hosting given above. If you do go with godaddy, make sure you buy your domain and hosting at the same time to get the domain for around $2 the first year. If you don't the domain will be 9 or 10.

You should have a contact and about you page. The more familiar the potential customer thinks they are with you, the more likely they will buy.

How are you going to drive traffic to the site? Start considering this now instead of after you are live.

[Clay]

I'm looking for somebody to split a server with me (for software product rather than an RPG).  I posted about it over at http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=25437.0.  To split the server would cost more than you are currently paying ($15), but without the restrictions that you have right now and with all of the hard technical stuff already taken care of, including product sales, blogging and contact pages.

WRYoung is right, too, you want the ability to export RSS feeds.  I generate a lot of my traffic via RSS.  Fortunately the software I'm using produces that for free.

[Nathan]

I'd back up what these guys have said, although be careful about all the interactivity stuff.

It is definitely great, but at first, it's going to be rather quiet on those discussion forums and in that wiki. Having no discussion forum is actually better than having a discussion forum with 3 posts. So, you might start with one sort of interactive feature (forums, blog, wiki) and focus on populating it and keeping it strong before you go all out.

If you want a webhost that is a little more homegrown, I offer $30/year webhosting (1 Gb space, unlimited stuff like databases, domains, emails, etc., webdav support, easy to install scripts) at http://www.rpgshelf.com/. I host some indie game designers, and I can help you get anything setup personally.

Good luck!

[KeithBVaughn]

Thanks everyone, the advice is greatly appreciated. I'll be using it in the months to come as Planets of Peril is finished. If there is anything else you can think of or new information please add it to this thread.

Keith