How to Create Your Own Game Web Site
Making a successful game site is a multi-step process that will take work. But with time, patience and some smart development, a thriving game community can be created. Additionally, establishing relations with publishers and other entities in the industry is a feat that can be achieved by working the phones and spiking your traffic.
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Instructions
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Register a domain name that represents the name of your website (see Resources). There are many services online that allow you to register a .com name for $10 or less. You will also want to find a hosting solution for your website. Your game site cannot exist on the Internet without server space. Use a friend's server or search for a free hosting solution on the internet. For example, some web software companies provide free hosting, such as DevHub (see Resources).
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Start with news. A cornerstone to any good games website is to feature news stories from around the industry. While you can list writer openings on job boards such as ProBlogger.com, many writers are willing to volunteer for free for the sake of their resume. Designate a News Director to lead your team of news writers. The News Director will delegate news writing responsibility and keep everything organized, taking a lot of responsibility off the site editor. Often, it is best to promote the News Director from among the best of your team of writers.
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Review the hottest games for your site. Reviews are perhaps the most crucial component of a new games site. Unlike duplicate news stories, game industry fans will read multiple reviews from different sites on the same title, so traffic can be generated from reviews even by smaller sites.
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Establish press relations with major game publishers. Each game publisher has a PR company to go through. For instance, Nintendo's is Golin-Harris. Edelman represents Microsoft. Relations with these companies are important because they can garner you exclusive news, or more likely, free games to review, which puts less of a monetary burden on you and your site.
Contact a PR company representative either by phone or email, and keep at them until relations are solidified. Be sure to have traffic numbers from your site on hand. If your phone calls are not returned, attempt going to a game publisher's website (whether that be Capcom or Electronic Arts) and registering through its press link. Either a "Contact Us" or "Press Center" link is available on many of these sites, and although this won't result in free reviewable games, you will be able to start receiving press releases directly from these companies.
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Build up a community around your site. If nothing else, you will absolutely need a forum for your games website. One of the most full-featured forums is vBulletin, although free forums are available by using phpBB or Simple Machines Forum software, for example. Important features to look for are the ability to upload avatars (profile images), signatures for the bottom of each user post and HTML options within posts.
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