[pfeffer]

Always got ideas running through my brain about innovations that can make me some passive $$$. An idea came to me today, and I think this one is the jackpot.

Not really interested in revealing to much, but it would be a website sort of like textsfromlastnight.com combined with twitter.

Has anyone started a successful website? How does the process go? What steps would I need to take to start? What information should I know?

[thegmanifesto]

If you have a good idea, partner up with someone that knows the answers to those questions.

If you are asking them, it's not worth it to figure out for yourself.

[Icarus]

I do not want to crush your dreams, but if money is your goal and you have the skills to build a website and do some web programming, then you might be better off selling your services to someone who has dreams and money. Selling hope has always been the best business...

If you do not have the skills to build a website, then you might be better off doing some more blue-collar kind of work, though it is not as "sexy". I know PhD's in London who make some $150K a year working at investment banks. I also know plumbers in London who make more than that, and they have no boss, they have flexible schedules, plenty of customers, and (thanks to Ryanair) they can spend a few days in Poland or Latvia once in a while to try the local talent. Who do you think has a happier life?

This web hysteria is like beating a dead horse. Some people do indeed make a lot of money out of it, but we see only the winners, and do not see the 10,000s that fail. It may be more rational to make $100 now than to play the Google Ads roulette for a 50% chance of making $200 at some uncertain instant in the possibly not-so-near future.

[Kitsune]

The process is completely different depending on what your site needs to do.

I get this all the time when people see the quotes I give them for custom e-commerce stores. They'll say things like "But a webstore is only a webpage where you can buy something on it!"

etc.

textsfromlastnight is basically (on first glance) a blog where people submit stuff. You could do that really cheaply.
Twitter is a massive undertaking with hundreds of programmers and millions in venture capital. You'll be hard pressed to get anything like that going unless you live in the right place and know the right people.

Your mix between the two could range from the really easy to the nigh-on impossible. With no real knowledge or experience, I could only suggest getting some knowledge or experience first.