Hi, I’m Rick and welcome to Help Me with my Web Site.

In previous episodes, we covered types of web sites, how they could be developed and how to determine how you should develop your site.

Now, we are going to explore how you can determine if you need a customized site vs. a do it yourself site. In this video, I’ll assume a “customized site” is a site that you’ll need a professional to build. In contrast, do it yourself sites could be a godaddy template, a standard Wordpress site, and anything else that you can just point and click and publish.

First, what are types of web pages I could produce without a customized site:

• Static, brochure-like web pages with photos. Although, some templates do not allow you to have a page appear exactly the way you’d like it.

• Menus. Again, most templates give you the capability to do menus, but you may not be able to do everything you’d like to do with menus.

• Blogs. Tools like Wordpress came from the blogging world and they do blogging well. Others are not as proficient.

• Search. Many template sites offer a site search as a plugin.

• Sharing. Blogging tools especially integrate the ability to share content.

• E-commerce. Sometimes template sites can offer e-commerce, but their choices are often limited.

There are many specialized functions you may want that would just be excessively difficult in a packaged solution. Rather than try to list any of these specific functions, let me talk about general applications we have built that would be difficult if not impossible to accomplish with a lower end solution:

• A signup and reservation and reminder system for company tours

• A set of 25 web sites for a school district customized for each school

• A subscription-based education site featuring lessons, videos and interactive advice

• A one-on-one online mentorship system

In addition, you should realistic assess your technical abilities and time you have to spend on developing a web site. I’ve seen many small business sites die before they get started cause the work just isn’t getting done. In medium to large businesses, the client sponsor’s time is often better spent concentrating on the message, features and functions than exactly how to implement the site.

Next, how do you choose a web developer? See you next time on helpmewithmywebsite.