Nov 302009
- $100 – $2500:
In this price range you should consider WordPress as a CMS (content management system) that is free, easily administered by the novice, installed with the press of a button on many hosting servers. (The hosting company is the computer that will actually have the website on a hard drive, available online 24 7’s) There are robust options and plug-ins written by people all over the world to enhance the basic capabilities of this very widely used mainstream scripting: and WordPress is scalable to thousands or even millions of pages, all of which can be updated or changed with a click of a menu button, backed up easily and moved with simple import and export functions, and administered by almost anyone. (This living book is in WordPress) Though very inexpensive, and easy to use, there are WordPress blogs that are huge and that generate large amounts of revenue for their owners. Almost any question or problem can addressed with Google search, and there are robust documentation and tutorials available also at WordPress.org. (More information about WordPress here)
- $2500-$5000:
In this price range you will have the option to have the site built by a professional developer and use a more scalable customizable CMS like “Drupal” or “Joomla”. Advanced community features are possible like grouping and dating or match-making functions and affiliate tracking; and the modulated nature of the scripting (programming) makes it very customizable with custom programming. However, if you are a novice and do not know code, you will need a professional not only to create, but to administer the website in the future if you choose either of these options. While a novice may be able to learn to administer such an advanced Content Management System, most will not, and professionals are not often fond of tutoring. Again, almost any questions can be answered with an online search, if you are able to read what you may call “techno-babble”’ (IE: English written by technically oriented people who use technical terms and confusing acronyms) Many professional website designers will be familiar with one or the other, and will thus be inclined to recommend that one over the other: both are excellent and can be customized to perform almost any function by a real programmer. If you require this level of functionality, and do not have this much money, or the expertise to do it yourself, you should start by finding more money. (More information about Drupal here)
- $5000 and up:
Custom functions written from scratch can be integrated into a mainstream content management system (CMS), and real and unique functionality perhaps never before imagined is possible in this price range. If the business plan requires a great deal of ongoing development, you may consider using Ruby-on-Rails CMS; this is the very elaborate and customizable programming behind such mainstream sites as Twitter. You will need money to administer a site like this, and a paid professional programmer who is familiar with the programming (either Drupal, Joomla, or Ruby-on-Rails are recommended) to administer the ongoing development and adjustments that will be needed to compete in this fast moving, competitive, and yes, potentially highly profitable marketplace; and to do justice to the upside potential of the proper management of such a venture. An example of the profit potential is digg.com, where a 19 year old do-it-your-self-er sold out for over $100,000,000.00 before he turned twenty years old. (More information about Custom application development here)
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