How to Create a Website for Teens
Targeting a teen audience with a website is not always easy, and there are a number of variables to consider, ranging from topical issues to gender-specific focus. All the same, with a strong outline ahead of time and some community rich features, a teen website can really take off.
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Instructions
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Create a domain name and find server space for your new teen website. Create your desired name of choice and register it with a prominent domain registration service such as GoDaddy for at least a year-although you can save some money by registering for a two-year term. Also, your site must be hosted on a server. Some domain name registration services also offer hosting programs for an additional cost, but a dedicated private server for your website is always the most secure way to go.
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Consider what teens find most attractive in the news, or most interesting. Some good starting points are Hollywood gossip, popular television shows, and coverage of music groups (look to the Billboard charts for some guidance). This will be affected by your decision to either target girls or guys. Fashion and celebrity gossip are stronger points of emphasis for girls, while the guys will appreciate more emphasis on the electronics sector and sports. If you do wish to target one group over the other, just ensure you have your bases covered. Sites like Perezhilton.com are popular for a reason with women, but outside of gossip, many girls love to read about beauty tips and popular television dramas and soap operas. Many teenage boys, on the other hand, not only have their eyes on collegiate and professional sports (particularly football and basketball), but consumer electronics as well, ranging from computers to smart phone news.
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Add in a comments and rating system for your articles. Younger users are internet savvy and highly accustomed to Web 2.0 features, and are likely to utilize such features that include ratings as well as link sharing services such as Digg. A rating system for articles and links to Digg and other social sites will push your content and provide you exposure, and give your active teens more things to do on your site.
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Add a forum to your site. You will want to keep your teen readers coming back for more than just news. A forum where they can create their own topics and discuss your site will help propel page impressions up higher and help with your ad revenue. Popular forum solutions such as vBulletin can be added for a cost, but forums such as phpBB also offer solid forum solutions for free.
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Create a highlight system for your website. Highlights are graphics that directly link to special, featured content on your website. These should be situated at the top of the web site so that they are the first thing your teen visitors see. Highlight graphics should be changed on a regular basis.
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Add images into all your news and posts. Teens have a short attention span. Inserting images into your news posts at regular intervals helps to break up the text and retain viewer attention.
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