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Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Budget Sites from the Ground-up!
By goodedesign @ 3:15 PM :: 1603 Views :: 0 Comments

Working on a web site can be a daunting task when approached from the "it has to be done & done right & done right NOW" thinking. However, we (http://www.goode-design.net) generally help folks start sites differently.

What to consider when doing a site:
If you're not ready to begin a web site at this moment (or don't have content ready for a web site), use these basic steps to begin

Start a facebook page.
As Justin pointed out, you will want it to be associated with a username (Example: http://www.facebook.com/goodedesigninc). Here you will generate some buzz about your business and draw attention & awareness to your brand.
Start a twitter account.
Using Twitter as the lowest common denominator, you will want your status updates to be no more than 140 characters long for the most part for ANY of your social media. Keeping to this max will allow your updates to be compatible within all your social media fronts.
Start a Blog!
The hidden power of the Blog is difficult to quantify... especially when you don't have a site, yet. Using a blog will allow you to generate content that will later be purposed & used throughout your site. You can begin your about us, FAQ, service descriptions, product descriptions, etc. all in your blog. Once your site is ready to be developed, you can simply harvest the pre-written text (edit as needed) and push it into your site.
Get onto YouTube (& Vimeo possibly)
This will allow you to post great video content. With Youtube/vimeo, you embed the videos into your blog (and later, your site) to create an information-rich site.
LinkedIn & other social networks
There are tons of social networks. Use these to your advantage & post back your ideas!
Hootsuite - Link them together!
Using Hootsuite & a little web magic, you'll be able to link the various social areas together. Hootsuite is simple to use (seriously... it is easier than the baby steps.) and it will allow you to post your status updates to facebook, fb pages, twitter, linkedin, etc.
Your site (when present)
You can also link your Twitter, facebook & other social sites into your site. Depending on the back end Content Management system (we prefer DotNetNuke) you can also manage a ton of other content rich portions such as newsletters, list serve email blasts, user accounts, forms, forums & blogs.

Choosing a Site Content Management System
Depending on how your site is used, you will choose among various Content Management Systems (CMS). The back end of many content managers tries to emulate Microsoft Word's functions. The downside to most of these WYSIWYG editors is that it posts some "junk code" into the site.

WordPress
The most popular for smaller sites is WordPress. It is an excellent & versatile system that allows the owner to manage the pages & site with ease. WordPress has a large following & is often courted among designers with simple, stylish & sleek designs called "skins." Custom skin designers are easy to find and it has a good selection of components & modules to extend the functions of the CMS. WordPress doesn't have as large a following among what are known as "serious" developers. Consequently, the amount of components available to extend the functions are limited to those who develop specifically for WP sites. Unless newer developments have changed, WordPress has limited levels of administrator/contributors. We like to think of WordPress as a juiced-up blog. Still, a highly capable CMS in its own right!

Joomla
Based in PHP, Joomla has a rich history that spans several years & a name change (i.e. Mambo). Among the more popular CMS services, it is also well received among designers. Though in recent months, WordPress has made some significant moves toward Joomla, Joomla has more components & developers among the Web Dev community. Joomla is a great resource if you're going to be developing various kinds of content that needs to be managed by a small (1-3 people) group. Joomla has broader functions and is more versatile for a full site application.

DotNetNuke (aka DNN)
Backed by Microsoft & developed on the .Net platform, DotNetNuke is one of the most broadly accepted full-site Content Management Systems. DNN has a broad marketplace of components called Modules which allows you to extend the functions of your site to nearly limitless capabilities. DotNetNuke also allows you to grant users various user roles to grant users various levels of access to information. By using the varying user roles & levels of access, you're able to restrict users based on subscription status, or allow some users the rights to edit parts of a page, entire pages, sections of the site or the entire site depending on your needs.

If you'd like more information & ideas, please feel free to give a call: 704-969-4391.

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