Hi guys,

 

I'm a complete novice and need some advice. I have an idea for a price comparison site and as I can't afford to have it built I have to do it myself.

 

So, which software do you recommend and why? How do I go about getting the required info from other websites for my results page? Or would that be in the software? Am I going to need storage for all this info? Do I need permission from websites to extract the info in the first place?

 

I'm sorry if I sound like a complete idiot but I've got to start somewhere.

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Google does a pretty good job on price comparison now, and i think that is a dying feature online because of google!

But if you are doing a service type comparison such as broadband or other type utility bills then you might be onto something!

 

I'n terms of software I don't think there is any set software out there to do what you want to do exactly and you will need to alot of development, it is going to be a long project and very demanding.

 

 

what features are you after?

There is no software out there to make the kind of site your require (otherwise there would be thousands out there)

 

You will have to learn HTML/CSS to build the layout of your site, after you have learnt the basics of that you will need to learn a server side language, something like PHP along with SQL. With these skills you can then start to look into making the comparison site.

 

There is software out there that will aid you on your way like IDEs such as brackets, notepad++, Dreamweaver etc ...

It would be initially a service type comparison with the option of clicking through to book if required. There would only ever be a maximum of five options in the results page but once you've chosen your option it would then give you more detailed info.

 

I want a similar set up to booking.com where a client can book something, receive confirmation and then sort out the finances with the provider.

 

Now, as far as learning HTML/CSS and PHP and SQL is concerned, is this something I can pick up easily or do I have to take a course?

It would be initially a service type comparison with the option of clicking through to book if required. There would only ever be a maximum of five options in the results page but once you've chosen your option it would then give you more detailed info.

 

I want a similar set up to booking.com where a client can book something, receive confirmation and then sort out the finances with the provider.

 

Now, as far as learning HTML/CSS and PHP and SQL is concerned, is this something I can pick up easily or do I have to take a course?

 

What is your background? do you have any programming knowledge? it didn't take me long to pick up the languages to understand what is going on, But it takes years to master and i think the project you are undertaking might initially seem simple in your head but when you go to write it will become quite complex and very inflexible if this is your first project,

Although the initial language is easy to learn you will struggle with programming logic, such as when to implement loops object methods functions etc....

 

I would suggest having someone with some programming knowledge to help you build it...

 

What is your background? do you have any programming knowledge? it didn't take me long to pick up the languages to understand what is going on, But it takes years to master and i think the project you are undertaking might initially seem simple in your head but when you go to write it will become quite complex and very inflexible if this is your first project,

Although the initial language is easy to learn you will struggle with programming logic, such as when to implement loops object methods functions etc....

 

I would suggest having someone with some programming knowledge to help you build it...

Yeah I think you may be right. I haven't much programming knowledge at all. I'm under no illusion how complex this will be but at the same time I'm not afraid of a challenge, however, I'm also realistic and help is something I will need in abundance and I will also have to learn about all things concerning my site if I am to have run it successfully with complete control.

Yeah I think you may be right. I haven't much programming knowledge at all. I'm under no illusion how complex this will be but at the same time I'm not afraid of a challenge, however, I'm also realistic and help is something I will need in abundance and I will also have to learn about all things concerning my site if I am to have run it successfully with complete control.

 

I find sometimes writing it all out exactly what you want the site to achieve and what really helps is drawing your scenarios you want the user to go through. So flow diagrams really help, it will save you a lot of wasted development time, because i have done it myself where i have forgotten about important checks so i had to go back add it in, things just get messy.

 

I guess it is better to learn on a real project as you go along because the motivation is there, and you just have to stick with it, it will be really hard at the beginning.

Well I use price tapestry for my comparison projects, there's also a range of responsive templates available from here. It's not the cheapest software but well worth the money imo. You don't really need any programming knowledge and it's all very well supported.

Edited September 1, 201412 yr by rambo

Google does a pretty good job on price comparison now, and i think that is a dying feature online because of google!

But if you are doing a service type comparison such as broadband or other type utility bills then you might be onto something!

 

I'n terms of software I don't think there is any set software out there to do what you want to do exactly and you will need to alot of development, it is going to be a long project and very demanding.

 

 

what features are you after?

 

Google are trying to do everything, it is ridiculous but they did provide me cheapest insurance quotes, sadly!

 

You would also need to try partner with the people who you are comparing with and check out their API

Kudos on giving it a go bud. Um, I would say plot out what information you want to have and arrange how you will get it. For example booking.com offer feeds for affiliates but that said if you batter them with requests on their api then they would get a bit miffed.

 

When planning things to consider;

 

1. Since you are requesting (or at worst scraping) content from around the web you don't want to do this all the time; you will need to look at what information you cache and how often you pull data. Also look into Cron jobs; scheduled tasks you can run during the website quite hours.
2. Plan your site structure, especially paths! With any site that could grown indefinitely (e.g. more categories etc) then you need to plan an adaptive structure. E.g If you could end up with loads of categories then maybe grouping them like say Argos do with their 'Garden & Outdoors' which would then break down into say 'Furniture', 'Sheds' and 'Pools'. The devil is in the detail and out of control pages can bomb a website in the search engine.
3. Search engines, generally they don't like comparison sites as most are made up of content from other sources, often some comparison sites end up with maybe 3% total content unique to them. You will need to map a way of value added content that is unique to you.

Just a few points I that sprung to mind, good luck

This feature was in discussion for a while with the XenReviews project which I am a licensed member of. I am not sure of XenForo + XenReviews overreaches the scope of your idea and XR is still in beta but it might be something that is worth checking out.