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General discussion

Web design project- how much can we do ourselves

by joeyusc99 Jun 11, 2009 12:01PM PDT

I work in a small office that is trying to set up a website for high school students that informs them about college educational opportunities in our area. We would also like there to be a message board for these students to post questions and create a blogging community on the website for the students to blog about their experience. Many people in our office lack significant experience creating web sites and I what would be the most simple and cost-effective way to go about this? How much could we do ourselves with little knowledge of the web and how much would we need professional assistance with? What would maintenance for a project like this be like? Thank you for your help.

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Analysing the problem

by Sovereign Forum moderator Jun 11, 2009 2:04PM PDT

Problem: You would like a web site that provides information and offers a forum for exchanging ideas and interacting with users.

Solutions:

1. DIY
2. Hire Someone

To find your solution, you must consider at least 3 factors:

1. What's more cost-effective? Hiring somebody who knows what they are doing or letting your office spend time on research and implementation. There is no developing phase because most likely you will use existing software. The best way to get ideas is to request free quotes from businesses in your area.

2. What is your time frame? Does this have to be up and running ASAP? Withing a week? A month? The longer the time frame, the more likely you want to consider doing it yourself.

3. Maintenance. Who is going to maintain, update, enhance, and monitor the web site once it's up? Do you have a designated person who is willing to dive in that pool to take responsibility and ownership? It seems overkill for everybody to learn how to do this.

~Sovereign