Website design

[young'gun]

Hi, I am looking to create an innovative website for college-aged people.
What are the best (and cheapest) sources for outsourcing the design of the site?


Thanks!

[nghs22]

a little too vague....

[young'gun]

as in what companies are good at making websites?
how is that vague

[webgal]

It's not clear WHAT KIND of site you want. ecommerce, magazine, article site, forum, dating site?

[samhill]

I posted a similar query about a week ago. The reality is that there are too many types of website production avenues to list without knowing your entire business plan.
I recomend you read through the previous posts here to research what you think you need. I gaurantee you will have many more questions as you learn more. And as Webgal states the more speific your question, the more concise the answer will be.

Happy Hunting!

[young'gun]

it will be a social networking type site,

[dustnureye]

As far as design firms go, outsourcing can be tricky, especially when it comes to more complicated projects like social networking sites. Sites like these are considerably more complicated than a standard ecommerce or business home page, and most freelance designers won't touch them. Not only that, but I'd rather pay more to an established North American design firm that I know will handle my project with proper care.

http://www.newswivel.com - It's a full service design group operating in the U.S., so don't expect any bargains, but if you're looking for high quality professional services, these guys can handle pretty much anything you throw at them.

[Sven]

Before you pay anyone, first check out drupal at www.drupal.org For a social networking website this will be a 99/1 excersice!

[EditorDude]

Changing topic slightly - I'm at a stage now where I can design the website myself, having typed up copy, but need it to be edited for SEO and selling purposes. Bearing in mind this is my first ecommerce type of venture - should I do it all myself - or is it worth me at this stage to bring in someone else to give it a professional touch? Or should I first get something online - and then improve it? This is for an ebook download business. Thanks.

[Sven]

Learn how to ftp
Learn drupal or wordpress
Get something online and find out you need no one for the website.

You may need advise on copy and selling trough websites though!

[padma]

Joomla is also a good software that can be used to create a social networking site.

That is what I used for www.furyfitness.com

[Drew Kime]

Or should I first get something online - and then improve it?
Read this: The Ready, Fire, Aim, Reload Strategy for Social Media Success (http://www.copyblogger.com/agile-content-development/)

[Abhinav]

Changing topic slightly - I'm at a stage now where I can design the website myself, having typed up copy, but need it to be edited for SEO and selling purposes. Bearing in mind this is my first ecommerce type of venture - should I do it all myself - or is it worth me at this stage to bring in someone else to give it a professional touch? Or should I first get something online - and then improve it? This is for an ebook download business. Thanks.

I am running a SEO, SEM and Website Development Company and I think can help you with anything related to website development and marketing.

Just let me know the URL and I can assist you by making my staff work for you.

PM me your IM ID so I can guide you well, along the way.

Abhinav :cool:

[Sven]

This seems like an advertisement.... Making my staff work for you.

[webgal]

Abhinav- Perhaps you could start by offering advice to the question editor dude asked.

Or should I first get something online - and then improve it? This is for an ebook download business. Thanks.

[eyeofhurricane]

Make a black on white description of your project.

If you do not have it black on white do not even start do do anything....

It is important that you make it clear with yourself what you want.
A lot of problems will melt when you force yourself to write the plan.


Include in the plan for designer the following sentence:

"Offer solutions using connecting and editing any existing modules. Do not reinvent the wheel"

You will modify this sentence once you know for yourself what you want,

[kapogoVP]

i have visited the site, not shure what it is? do you create your own website through it?

[Sven]

Drupal is a content management system, just like wordpress and joomla. You can download these for free and use them to build your website.

I am currently making a guide for the basics of a drupal instalation on www.puresven.com which is also a drupal site.

Sven

[EditorDude]

Hi All - I haven't visited the message boards for a while now so apologies for the delay in getting back to you - Thanks for all your advice, it is all good.

[blueangel]

Its a good thought but your market is tapped already i.e. myspace, facebook, twitter and every other social networking site, college kids are poor and unless you can beat free in your offer than you need to tweak it a bit. Don't be a small fish in a big pond .. be a big fish in a small pond.
Keep it simple.
By the way why aren't you outsourcing this stuff?
You have guys in india and the phillippines who will do this stuff. Remember get stuff off your plate not have more work to do. Unless you've been programming since you were 8 then do it . If not then let someone else take care of it.

[EditorDude]

By the way why aren't you outsourcing this stuff?
You have guys in india and the phillippines who will do this stuff. Remember get stuff off your plate not have more work to do. Unless you've been programming since you were 8 then do it . If not then let someone else take care of it.

Yes - it's true, I'll probably do that - Thans

[jenspeter]

Hi, it depends on what you want on your site Flesh embedded or dynamic site will cost more than static sites. It too design sites in ASP.Net.

[spaChaser]

Joomla. Of the three most popular CMSs, Joomla I think is the best. Wordpress is simple to use, but for social networking - I don't think there are a ton of extensions for it. Joomla however has a huge community (for support), thousands of extensions, it's free and it's pretty easy to use. Drupal has a much higher learning curve.

My husband and I are trying to include more social networking aspects on our site. (Consequently, we also use Joomla for our site) I can tell you from experience, that hiring people to build it is not an easy thing. Our developers convinced us that they could, but showed over time that they didn't have the skills and ended up trying to get as much money from us without finishing the product. That's why I ended up taking over the project. Thank goodness Joomla is as easy as it is, because I had no real experience with running websites before.

If you want some more info on some of the social networking apps available for Joomla, message me and I can send you some good info.

Megan