Choosing a Website Management System

Choosing the right website management system for you can be a little daunting. This is especially true if you are not very “techie” in the first place. Most likely, the web design companies giving you quotes will offer you a website management system that they are comfortable working with. But is the system they choose going to be the best one for you or your staff?

We’ll start off by assuming that you are going to have your website built by a professional web designer. The designer will set everything up and then turn the website over to you to manage yourself. At that point, in theory at least, you should be able to login to your control panel and start working on your website right away. The learning curve required to do this will be determined by which type of website management system you choose.

Here are some of the key things you need to look at when choosing a website management system.

First, is it easy to use? How easy is it for a your average office worker, that does not know anything about web design, to add pages, remove pages, add photos and links. Do you need to read a 100 page instruction manual to figure how  to edit text or is the system designed to be user friendly.

The problem with most of the systems like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal is that they were designed for web designers and not the average person. They are bloated and have so many unnecessary features that performing simple tasks like adding and removing pages can be a nightmare for someone who is intimidated by computers in the first place. In the hands of an experienced web designer these systems are great but in the hands of your average business owner they are considered too intimidating and the business owner usually ends up hiring the web designer to make their updates for them anyway.

The second thing you should consider is your budget. If you have the money, consider having a website management system custom built for your business. If you only require simple functions like editing, adding and removing pages with the ability to upload photos then you could probably have a management system built for less than it would cost to have one the more popular website management systems customized for your business.

By having a system build specifically for your needs you can avoid ending up with a bloated system that is confusing to use. Everything can be scaled down to the essentials of what you need making the system much easier to use for you. Additional functionality can always be added in.

The third thing you need to consider is search engine optimization. Will your website’s placement in the search engine rankings be important to it’s success? If so, then be careful choosing your system. The 3 major free systems out there WordPress, Joomla and Drupal do a fairly poor job creating search engine friendly websites. All three require additional plug-ins and programming to get them to create SEO friendly websites. Well this additional programming will cost you during the design phase. And even with these plugins the websites created with these systems still have issues with validating. Validating is basically checking to see if the website is put together right on a technical level. This is a small factor that is taken into consideration for search engine placement.

There are plenty of website management systems out there. Some are more popular than others. Some are free and and some you have to pay for. Make sure you choose the one that’s right for you and not your website designer because in the long run, hopefully, you will be the one working with it.

3 Questions To Ask When Shopping For Cheap Website Design

When you are shopping for cheap website design remember the old adage, you get what you pay for. Cheap website design does exist, but is the quality going to be what you are looking for? If one guy quotes you $50 per hour, another $75 per hour and yet another quotes you $100 per hour would you even know what questions to ask to figure out if you getting more value for the higher quote?

Here are three questions you need to ask when shopping for cheap website design.

1) How long did it take you to build this?

Have a look at the web designer’s portfolio and find some website designs that you like and ask them how long it took to build those particular websites. This should give you an idea of how fast they work. The average website usually averages out to around an hour per page or less. That is, unless there are a lot of intricate graphic design or animated elements flying around but if you are looking for cheap website design then those types of things will pretty much be out of the question anyway. Asking this will also give you an idea of what ballpark your website quote should be in. If you ask for a website similar to one in their portfolio that they said took them 10 hours and the quote comes back 50 hours then you know something is up.

2) Why does this take so many hours?

Web designers hate to be questioned on why they quote the way they do. Some will even flat out not answer you if you ask them why it took them so long to build a particular website. That’s exactly why you need to ask. Now, you may not understand everything they explain to you but have them repeat it until you do understand. If they can’t explain to you why they quoted you 20 hours for a particular service in a way which you can understand them then don’t hire them. They are either trying to rip you off or they don’t really know what they are doing. Now, reality is this, some web designers are just flat out faster and better than others. You may run into one guy who charges $100 per hour but will have your website done in three hours where the $50 per hour guy may need 10 hours to do the exact same thing. Is he ripping you off? No, he’s just slower. Don’t make your deicing based purely on hourly rates when shopping for cheap website design. Take speed into consideration too. Fast web designers are usually more experienced and charge a little more but the money is usually better spent.

3) Have you ever built a website like this before?

This is a biggie. Too many clients have walked through our doors with half built websites wanting us to finish them because their old web guy got in over his head. This is especially important when shopping for ecommerce website design. Make sure the web designer you hire has built the type of website you need before. Many web designers like to learn “on the clock”. That is, while you are paying them. They will accept a job that is over their head and try to figure out how to do it while charging you. You can easily avoid this by asking. If they hem and haw or don’t give you a confident response then you may want to look elsewhere.

The point being made is that

• Experience = Speed
• Speed = Less Production Time
• Less Production Time = Less Billable Hours = Savings to You

This article is reprinted courtesy of CheapAssWebsite.com

Some Tips When Shopping For A Cheap Website.

Business owners need to be careful when shopping for a cheap website because as the saying goes, “You get what you pay for”.  The biggest mistake most people make is going with a web designer who does not have the required experience. Many cost conscious business owners end up hiring the kid next door or their brother-in-law because they know how to put together a rudimentary website and get it online. Then, once the business owner asks them to add in something more advanced like a contact form, rotating images or e-commerce functionality they can’t get the person on the phone and they are left with a half built website that generates zero business.

The other issue is often quality. More often than not, the business owner will end up with a cheap website that looks like it was put together by a 5^th grader.  This does them no good, especially if image is important to their business. Remember, a website is often the first impression a prospective client will get when shopping for your services. If your website looks cheap, then how does that make you look?

You can get a cheap website that looks professional and works the way you need it to if you ask the right questions before hiring a web designer.

Here are some tips:

• When the web designer shows you their portfolio, ask how much each of the websites cost to make. Many times you will be lured in by an awesome looking portfolio only to find out that not one of the samples they show you is the actual “cheap” price.
• Make sure that the “cheap price” includes the amount of pages you will need. Many web design companies promote $99 or $199 websites but those are for 1 page websites only.
• If you have a particular website in mind that you’d like to pattern your website from, ask how long it would take to build it. Then get the hourly rate. Many times what you want, or need, for your business doesn’t fit into a cheap website. You may be asked to scale back. That’s okay as long as you don’t scale back so much that you end up with something that does your business no good.
• Don’t kid yourself thinking that you will get a full blown e-commerce website where you can take credit cards, control inventory and offered discount codes for a couple hundred bucks. E-commerce websites need to be secure and have to give you the ability to easily add products, shipping calculations, affiliate programs and such. You can have a reasonably priced e-commerce website built but it obviously can’t be built as cheaply as a 5 page informational website.
• Make sure that the web designer has the technical ability to enhance your website in the future as your business grows. If they are willing to build you a cheap website then they may not have the skills or know how to build you a more advanced website when the time comes for that.

You can find a cheap website as long as you take your time to ask the right questions. There are plenty of professional web design companies that offer cheap websites out there. Just take your time to find a cheap website that is the right one for you.

Is Affordable Custom Website Design Out There?

I have been building websites for 15 years and here is a little secret, affordable custom website design is out there. You don’t have to purchase a template to save your company money.

I have had many business owners walk through my door with a template website totally unhappy with the money they had previously spent. “I don’t like how it looks”, or, “it’s too hard to customize” are usually the major complaints.  When I ask why they are using a template the answer usually is either, “It was cheap”, or, “It came free with my hosting”.  They wanted affordable custom website design but didn’t look long enough to find it.

The major drawback of using a template is usually the fact that, while you can edit the content, you can’t (or it’s extremely difficult) to edit the overall look and feel of the website. You may be able to change out the banner or change the color scheme but you don’t have overall control of the website. Another issue is that many times certain widgets or traffic building tools won’t work because of the limitations of the template or limitations imposed by the hosting company. An example of this is the free websites offered by WordPress.com. This is a great free tool for blogging but using it as a business website can be frustrating due to the restrictions they put on the free accounts they offer. Many social media widgets and other tools won’t work due to the fact that Javascript is disabled for security.

If content management is important to your business then you have the major free template driven sites like Joomla or Drupal to choose from. The major issue with these CMS systems is that they can be extremely expensive to customize and it is not something than the average business owner can do on their own because of the programming skills required for customization. They may be free to download, but it will most likely cost you a grand or so to get it to look the way you want it to unless you go with one of the stock templates that come with the site. But then again, you are stuck with a design that may not match what you are looking for.

If your budget does not afford you the ability to get the website you want and you have to scale back to get you business online make sure that the web designer you choose has the technical ability to be able to enhance your website when you are ready to do so. Some times, companies that offer affordable website design may not have the technical know how to create more advanced websites. Do your homework.

Your best bet is to find a website design firm that offers affordable custom website design that fits into your budget. You may have to make several phone calls and visit many websites to do so but it’s worth it to put in the research. There are plenty of companies out there that offer affordable custom website design and will build you a professional looking custom website for a few hundred dollars. Some will even build you one that you can update yourself. You just have to have patience when searching. You may even want to speak with an Internet consultant when gathering bids to make sure that you don’t end up paying for something you don’t need.