Chapter 3

TIP FOUR: Design and Layout.

The Internet is full of designs that you can choose from. This is the cheapest option and a developer will custom code the template to suit your branding, logo and style that you prefer.

Joomla and Wordpress have thousands of available free and paid templates/themes and some are brilliant with plenty of options for customisation.

TIP FIVE:

Selecting a system (recommend Joomla or Wordpress)

Firstly look at the functions your website is going to need, based off tip one you should have a clear understanding of what your website is going to accomplish.

Ie Take bookings or orders, have image rotators for banners, display on a mobile device, register for newsletters, advertise services, sell products, etc etc

If you require some sort of functionality out of the ordinary then search the Joomla Extensions website or the Wordpress Plugins website, this will determine the best option for your requirements. If you stiil cant find a solution I would then look into Drupal, another CMS or have a programmer custom code the program you need which will install into either Joomla or Wordpress. This is by far the cheapest option. Sometimes you might have to go for an option with plug-in that aren’t 100% what you want but the cost is so much cheaper it does not justify custom programming. This is how you save thousands of dollars but is really up to you have you proceed from here. Most clients are happy with something close and as the website produces more sales they are then happy to spend the money and get exactly what they want.

As a general rule we use Joomla as a CMS and Wordpress for blogging, both you can update yourself. Wordpress is easy to learn in regards to adding posts and pages while Joomla is a very powerful Content Management System. Both have a learning curve and both have an unbelievable range of free and paid templates or themes, Widgets/Components or Modules/ Plugins for just about anything. These extensions will save thousands or dollars in programmer’s fees if you aren’t to fussy and even if you are some of the quality is outstanding and constantly improving.

Updating and upgrading these software packages can sometimes be a problem especially if third party programmes are also installed onto your website. Before doing anything make sure your take a full backup of your website.

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