Before I go into this.. I wanted to point something out. I am very blunt and military-like when it comes to work or explaining work stuff.. it's just how my brain operates. I am very artistic, but I use both sides of my brain equally - I have a very technical brain. I code, rewrite programs, manually remove computer viruses - My brain is in computer mode when I'm working on my website or other technical stuff and in a flash, switches to artistic things like modeling, makeup and burlesque. I see colors and numbers equally. I am obsessed with numbers, spelling, organizing, makeup application, hair styles and positioning things precisely. I may be slightly autistic.

P.S. My husband Morat says when it comes to anything work related I become very 'German' LOL!

Starting a website for the first time can be overwhelming! I know there are many social sites out there, so why start a personal site? One simple reason, YOU control the content. You will never login to your site one day to see that the administrator (you) deleted all of your photos or your page. I dealt with this frustrating issue with Facebook last year. My FB fanpage had around 10k fans when FB decided I was an imposter of myself and deleted me. I was reluctant to start another page, yet I was thankful that FB wasn't my only, or main presence online. I built my website in 1996 and since then people have known to go there when they want to find me - and from there they have found the different outlets I participate in. I'm devoted to my website and I feel the partnership with Pinup Girl Style is a much better way to network and to avoid the unpredictability of pouring your hard work into a site like FB only to have them delete you at a whim.

 This is the homepage of my baby, I AM TROUBLE.com
I designed and built my website from scratch, on my own.
 I am knowledgeable in but not limited to: CSS, XHTML/HTML, PHP, ActionScript and Javascript.
I use Wordpress in my Members area but I also use other programs for content management and live videochat.
The advice I give below is to start a simple, personal website - that you own 100%
Stay tuned for another post on how to have a subscription website like mine.

Let me show you how you can start a personal website easily!

I find Wordpress to be veryuser friendly, especially for people that don't know how to code. Don't worry, you will inadvertently learn coding as you become accustomed to working on your own site, over time. There are so many WP templates you can start out with and as you learn new features, your website will grow. You don't need to know coding as you can use plug-ins for different site features. However, you will need to know coding to adjust the template and plug-ins but this is something you will learn over time. Also, if you have a question you could ask me. :-)

1. First, go to http://networksolutions.com and type in different names you would like for a domain name. Look for something easy to spell and remember. Try a few different combinations of words and sleep on it. Wait till the next day or few days to decide, unless you find a really good one - buy it right away! Domain names are cheaper if you pay for several years. I paid 9.99 a year for 10 years for iamtrouble.com. The normal rate is 39.00 a year, I think.
2. Network Solutions also offers hosting and it wouldn't cost much for a starter website, you can upgrade later if you need to.
3. Go to the official Wordpress website and download Wordpress, it's free. You can also have them install it into your server (after you have a hosting company)
4. After Wordpress is installed, search google with different keywords like - Wordpress template fashion - Wordpress template personal blog.. etc. Templates are a great way to start off with because you will start to notice different things you want over time.. you may notice you want the menu to be different, or you want a calendar - you can add them as you go!
5. Many template sites also offer customization of the templates, like changing the, colors, images and graphics. Or you can search online for tutorials to implement specific features to your site.
6. You can connect your website with whatever social media site you belong to through plug-ins. Again, just search online with the keywords relevant to the features you want, including what platform your site is running.

This is a good way to start a paysite as well. My website was 100% free the first few years, it served as a great online portfolio. Over time my site traffic grew and I was using a ton of bandwidth to where I was paying around $500 for hosting fees per month, and on top of the costs of the programs I use and the time and money it takes to produce quality work I had to start charging. At this point I kept the free area and just added a Members area with a monthly subscription fee.

I can go more in depth with how to create a Members/Subscription site at a later date.. I'm about to cook dinner! :-)

If you have any questions please feel free to ask me!

XOXO, Masuimi Max