Update on the $1K / 30-day Web Site Challenge

Day 3 of my challenge to launch a full-featured publication web site in under 30 days and $1000. The feedback to the challenge has been surprising … most feedback on any post I’ve had to date! And some great suggestions. Thus far I’ve tested out a number of systems and am beginning to narrow down my selections. Here’s what I’m leaning toward right now:

• Platform: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) – This was a pretty easy decision. The most robust tools are open source and based on the LAMP architecture.
• Host: Webmasters.com – I’ve chosen Webmasters.com as my hosting provider. Simple setup, great admin tools, and a shared server environment is only $9.95 per month. As my needs scale and droves of people start coming to my site, I can move up to a larger environment, dedicated server, or even a clustered system. There’s a lot of companies like this, but I’ve worked with these guys before and they’ve been pretty reliable.
• Base CMS: Drupal – I’ve been impressed with the easy of installation of Drupal along with the setup, available add-ons, etc. I think this will form the core of my new site to help me manage static pages (with a full text editor) as well as articles and other functions. Thanks for the suggestion, Nik.
• Discussion Forum: vBulletin – Although Drupal has a forum, vBulletin is still the absolute best out there hands down in my opinion. Tons of features and administrative options and lots of add-ons. Plus I can integrate the user registration and database between Drupal and vBulletin. Single user database / registration … nice!
• Event Calendar: Easy PHP Calendar – Again, Drupal has an event calendar, but it’s not what I really want. Costs a few bucks, but Easy PHP Calendar does EXACTLY what I want it to and looks like I want it to with virutally no modification.
• Vertical Search: Google Co-op - Paul Conley suggested that I use Google Co-op. Coincidentally, the day before he suggested that, I had actually setup a co-op for an eMedia Web Vertical Search. Right on, Paul! You can try the vertical search here, but I will actually integrate the search into my site. Not quite sure how I’ll do this yet. BTW, I’ve invited Paul, Prescott Shibles, Jason Brown, and Chad Phelps to be contributors to the vertical search. We want this to be the best vertical search around for online media.
• Analytics: Google Analytics – Google acquired Urchin and has made it freely available. Google Analytics is a very solid web metrics application that doesn’t cost a dime. Not quite as good as HBX or Omniture, but still pretty doggone robust with excellent reports, eCommerce tracking, and even management of multiple sites. This is the way to go for my needs (and the needs of many publishers, IMHO).

Well, that’s all for now. BTW, I’ve posted a countdown clock for the challenge on my home page. The pressure’s on!