Thread: Website programming

Can anyone tell me the disadvantages of using a joomla website vs the alternative which I guess is written using html. I believe a couple of guys here recently said they are scrapping theirs.

What is the best alternative? I'm interested in a ...lead generation site and would like to get some bids. I believe I'm going to throw in on a website.

Thank-you

WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are popular Content Management Systems (CMS). Which means you can create and continuously edit your website without special knowledge of HTML, CSS etc.

There are hundreds of free design templates (themes) available for you in these CMS systems so that you can select a site design of your choice. If you are more knowledgeable, you can also edit these designs to make it more customized.

The downside of using the above systems is that, you will not get complete control on the look and functionality of your website.

If you are more knowledgeable about HTML, CSS etc and if you have the right tools (such as Dreamweaver) you can create a site from scratch. Or you can hire somebody to do your site in clean HTML. In this approach you will have complete control on the look and functionality of your website.

For general websites (blogs etc) the above-mentioned CMS are the best choice. If you want your website to have more functionalities, customized database and other bells and whistles, then doing a custom design may be worth while.

My 2 cents.

So if I went with the "custom" design I would request the site be built how? What words should I be looking at? Should I request it be done in Dreamweaver or in clean html or what?

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by PurEnergy

So if I went with the "custom" design I would request the site be built how? What words should I be looking at? Should I request it be done in Dreamweaver or in clean html or what?

Dreamweaver is just a tool (an advanced version of Notepad combined with a visual editor) that will make the development of WebPages easier / faster for the programmer. There are other similar tools also out there. Some hard-core programmers don't use any tools at all other than a text editor.

To answer your specific question, if not covered by "Stupid Question" link.

If you are going with a CMS based approach, and you are not comfortable setting one up, you can easily hire a programmer for a few hours to setup a WordPress template or Joomla template. Your can also ask them to show you the features. Once this is done, you can easily maintain the site by yourself, add more content to that site etc.

If you decide to go with a custom design, you will need to learn more. First of all you need to figure out the features you want on your site. I suggest you review some similar sites and come-up with a list of features those sites support. Do you require your site to have various user accounts? - in which case you will need a database. Once you have nailed down the features, then interview and hire a programmer with the following skills:

1. HTML/CSS.
2. Database (usually MySQL and PHP) skills.
3. Search Engine Optimization and Web Marketing skills.

Depending on your goals, updating a custom build site would require programming skills. So you will need the help of a programmer to make any changes to your site.

You can also hire someone overseas, using rentacoder.com or elance.com.

You will need to read and learn a lot before hiring anyone, since most of the work they do are intangible. You will learn their deficiencies only when it is too late. Your knowledge is the only thing that can protect you from scam artists.

Its already been answered but you are going to need custom designed sites, lead generation is all about landing page design most of the time if you have a static site gathering emails. it takes a lot of testing to get the most conversions.

If you just want a simple site up and running for your simple need as CMS.

You can use WordPress and check out one of the CMS theme from the following site.
WP Remix premium theme - offers wordpress as CMS experience by offering 50+ easy editable page templates to choose from. create small sites in minutes

Using othe open source CMS or site may be over kill.

Joomla can be powerful and great CMS if you are developer and know how Joomla! works. Bad thing about Joomla! is that if you want to change something in files you have to open 3-5 different files and make changes to every one of them. Good thing about Joomla! is that there are tutorials and great templates for non-developers.

I can't say that alternative is drupal. Drupal is really powerful and also hard to go around with. I think drupal is more for developers because it's like a lego and you can build whatever you want if you know how. Drupal doesn't also have the files problem like Joomla does. Drupal's moduels come in one file and if you want to change something you will do it inside one file.

I think alternative is omething like simple-cms for really simple use. Also, html is something what give a look and will hold this forum together but PHP is what puts this forum to work.

Originally Posted by servicefly

SEO is 95% crap and a scam. It is necessary, but the little bit necessary can be easy to create, don't pay someone to do it!

I don't agree with that. There are certain facts that will give a boost in search results.


Just to note that I did this webpage with Joomla and it was a hard work. Watches For Discussion | The Age of Watches

Originally Posted by servicefly

J_PAL,

I can explain in great detail the proper SEO methods as I was a paid consultant in this field for many years. All SEO techniques can be read for free over the Web. A good example is the WebWorkshop forum where the experts hang out, much like here. SEO techniques are important for all website; however, they are not complicated or even difficult for anyone. SEO experts today get paid to accomplish what any $10 per hour student can with a couple of hours of Web research.

More important, these days SEO isn't nearly as important as generating "Qualified Traffic." I'm not just trying to contradict you, I can put my money where my mouth is. If you check out the attachment under the "Web Marketing Success" thread you will be able to read my in depth explanation.

I am also a Joomla expert. Joomla will not work as a back end for a lead distribution system. An extension for this has not been built yet. I tout Content Management Systems all day, but in some cases it is much more profitable to have a custom website built. With lead distribution, a listing system for selection is necessary, attached to secure private information (encrypted by law). The organizing functions are simple and MySQL is good for this, but certain compliance regulations require encryption.

I agree that SEO should not be taken as a magic formula to the websites success but often people optimize their pages too less or too much and can miss half the visitors count from google. I actually spent few days to organize keywords and keep them in moderation. Few months later when my pages were reindexed my traffic doubled. A lot of watches are being searched by their model number and thanks to the SEO I get the "Qualified Traffic."

But still I agree that SEO is not the most important thing. Making your website credible over the internet and adding SEO in moderation is important. Because I have seen the most relevant websites pulled back in the results and in the top there is not so credible but well optimized (Maybe bought links and higher pagerank) website.

Thank-you to everyone who has contributed.

Is it possible to keep the lead generating site simple and effective using the simpler CMS and have a separate site custom built with the back end functions?

From an amateurs point of view it seems like this would be most manageable over the long term. Let a professional handle as much of the back end site as possible and hire or work everything else using CMS.

Can a main lead site be built using CMS, and be professional looking and fully functional?

This is good stuff!

Originally Posted by servicefly

The front end of a website is minimal when it comes to programming. It equates to about 1/20th the cost of a website developed by a programmer. Have your programmer design the back end and give code for the designers to step in and make things look good. A good programmer will have a designer on staff or contracted regularly, or they can do the design as well.

Much like a house, the decorating is a wash if the whole house falls over because the construction was wrong. I also have never liked the construction crew decorating the house either, .