Re: Website software

**D* G* <d*@gmail.com>**

Betty - I"m with you on simple site design stuff from some companies who
don't update resources.  But having said that - I want to take the
conversation back a bit.  Before you get an answer to a question of web
design or software, there are some other issues.
The bottom line for me is you have to decide what it is you want to do.  Do
you want to write - then you get a designer and an installer - and you
write.
Do you want to do it yourself - then you research the tools and go from
there like Betty did.

But you  have to decide what business you're in and what you intend to do
with the website.   If it's a postcard site to refer folks to - then you're
going to be fine with a simple 2 or 3 page site.  You can't learn and do the
work for as cheaply as a pro.

If it's an article-site then you really want a content management system of
some kind or you'll drive yourself nuts trying to keep track of it all once
it gets beyond a few pages and that might be your task or you might
outsource it.

If you want to make money with it - then you'll need to put it together
differently.  If you want to sell hard goods- that's another level of
complexity.  If you want a place to jot notes - then that might be blog
software.  If a place to run pictures - it might be a blog or it might be a
content management system - depending on what you wanted to do with those
pictures.

I hate to complicate your life but the real answer (imho) is that the end
product you want to have will determine both your choice of software and
design-tool.  And your willingness to involve yourself in the design,
operation, maintenance of that site in an ongoing learning curve will
determine your business approach.

There's no one-size-fits-all anymore.   There are evangelists for every
system out there - from software to hardware and they'll all try to sell you
on "their" system as 'the" answer - but the end-use and level of involvement
determine which direction and choices you'll succeed with.

And frankly, the learning curve to begin to answer some of those questions
is almost as long as the process of implementing them. Online publishing is
just one more another skill set.

But it all comes down to defining your own business model first.

Doug

On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 11:46 AM, Betty Mackey <BettyMackey@verizon.net>wrote:

> I have to warn people about using the easy website-making software provided
> on hosting sites. It is better to buy a program and learn it. Which one?
> Who
> knows!!
>

-- 
Doug Green @douggreen
Editor-in-Chief
SGF Publishing  www.simplegiftsfarm.com
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