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| Thread ID: 84278 | 2007-10-31 03:45:00 | Web site for community group | jcr1 (893) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 606840 | 2007-10-31 03:45:00 | I have been asked to take a lead role in developing a web site for a community organisation I'm involved with. This organisation relies heavily on tourism for it's income i.e. its an attraction. So, it needs to have a web presence that will attract people. I have sounded out some professionals (design & programming), to do the job and yes, there is a budget that should give us a reasonable professional job. But, consensus has decreed that the job should be done by a local youth group, as a fund raising measure for them, however, we must be satisfied with what they produce before we stump up with any payment for them. I do have reservations about this but I'm prepared to see what the outcome would be. One of the committee members has suggested something really simple to start with that can be built on as time goes on. Is this a good idea? I can see pitfalls with this kind of thinking. My idea, is for something good, straight off, that's not going to turn people away. At the last meeting I also wanted to get a domain name sorted out straight away, with the benefits that accrue e.g. e-mail etc. But I met with some opposition to this "why spend anything until we get our web site". Methinks that some members might have eyes on the budget for their own pet projects and this is the downfall of a community attraction, run by a committee, it can tend to be a hobbyist's indulgence. They lose sight of the big picture. I'm the only appointee, the rest of the committee are elected, and I get frustrated at times. But that's all bye-the-bye as the two questions I have are; Is a compromise job going to do any good (I don't think so) and should we quite quickly be getting the domain name side of it sorted out (I think we should). |
jcr1 (893) | ||
| 606841 | 2007-10-31 03:57:00 | What sort of local youth group? Unless they are the local geek-r-us youth group or computer science/graphic design students, you could end up with something far less than desirable. They could always submit some design plans to the committee which will give you some idea of what you could expect. I also agree, a poorly designed website is a big turn off for visitors. If it is an eye-sore to start with, "growing" it later will not help. Extra functionality can of course be added later, but ugly is ugly. |
Jen (38) | ||
| 606842 | 2007-10-31 04:42:00 | Chances are that any website that is a compromise would just be scraped at a later stage when it comes to "building on it". Crap code is crap code and realistically it would probably require a rewrite to make it desirable. Like Jen said unless your local youth group are a pack of geeks chances are the end product will be a load of crap. Any muppet can open up frontpage chances are you could do something as good as the youth group. |
Pete O'Neil (6584) | ||
| 606843 | 2007-10-31 04:44:00 | Depends how large and commercial you want your web site to be - i.e. simplicity. If you want to start a simple web (no heavily or easily customised html, xhtml, etc coding, addons such as email and survey forms, newsletters, "widgets", components, slideshows, rss feed, etc) then google page creator (www.google.com), see this review (www.thesitewizard.com); or google blogspot (www.blogger.com)may be OK. You need to create a google g mail account. All are free, but includes their names as a subdomain. Millions have started from this approach (and remained, due in part to profitability through google adsense advertising, subscription rates, group contributors, etc). But if you want things (it seems in ur post), to be more professional, then get ur own domain name and a good web host. Then perhaps either download a free wisywig html web editor (the web host may provide one), or buy something like dreamweaver, and others. Or maybe be prepared to pay a web designer/programmer for ur specific requirements. Possibly more difficult is to promote ur web site online, which requires time and "seo" (search engine optimization (www.sitepoint.com/)) techniques, google optimization (https:), and perhaps subscribe to blogs/web sites that relate to web site optimization such as this one (www.doshdosh.com/) and perhaps this (http:) (Popular blogs on articles on optimization, viral content, seo, etc). Also get ideas from any possible competitor sites. Many people, such as myself link their blog site to their main web site, through social and blog networks (myspace, del.icio.us, stumbleupon, feedburner, feedblitz, technorati, digg this, subscription blogs, etc)... |
kahawai chaser (3545) | ||
| 606844 | 2007-10-31 04:47:00 | You could run a competition, saying the group which is judged the best by the committee (and meets certain criteria x, y, and z) will "win" the money which you were going to pay someone to do it. In any case, I'd echo the suggestions that you go for a professional firm - there are a lot of people running around claiming to be "website designers" or "website developers" who don't actually know what they're doing. There are very few who will do a job up to a standard that would be sufficient for something which is intended to generate significant income. In terms of domain names etc, get that secured down asap before it's snatched by someone else. It's only $30 (for a .nz domain), so isn't a significant spend. |
somebody (208) | ||
| 606845 | 2007-10-31 07:11:00 | the two questions I have are; Is a compromise job going to do any good (I don't think so) and should we quite quickly be getting the domain name side of it sorted out (I think we should).Too much waffle before getting down to the actual issues. Paragraphs help you know! Someone should appoint someone else to be their spokesperson. Answers... A) A compromise is ok if its kept simple, clean and reasonably search engine-friendly. B) Yes get the domain name sorted asap. |
Greg (193) | ||
| 606846 | 2007-10-31 08:46:00 | Get the domain name registered first. Get the youth group to design the "look", logos, icons, graphics, photos etc. Get a professional to do the coding. |
vinref (6194) | ||
| 606847 | 2007-10-31 09:10:00 | Too much waffle before getting down to the actual issues. Paragraphs help you know! Someone should appoint someone else to be their spokesperson. Answers... A) A compromise is ok if its kept simple, clean and reasonably search engine-friendly. B) Yes get the domain name sorted asap. Yeah, I did put too much waffle in, didn't I. It actually looked atrocious after I posted it, in a hurry. You must be a very clever boy. |
jcr1 (893) | ||
| 606848 | 2007-10-31 09:15:00 | Thanks, other people, for your responses. A domain name will be registered very soon and then it's on to see what the youth group are capable of. |
jcr1 (893) | ||
| 606849 | 2007-10-31 17:08:00 | Get the domain name registered first. Get the youth group to design the "look", logos, icons, graphics, photos etc. Get a professional to do the coding.Agreed :thumbs: |
Myth (110) | ||
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