Adding blog to existing site

[familychoice]

A lot of my clients have been talked into having a CMS by local business advisers, and in some cases it's almost a requirement for available grants. Others want one because their competitors/friends have got one.

Some do make good use of them, others don't. Even then though there are still advantages. Adding new functionality via a free widget is quick and if I do this for them it's a lot cheaper to install than it would be on a static site, and you can give a site a quick facelift by creating a new child theme.

For many clients there are definite advantages to using something like WP other than simply managing content.

One reason why I don't think off the shelf DIY packages will replace a bespoke design service: companies like Vee's. They provide everything a small business could possibly require for an online prescence, and offer a friendly, inexpensive solution.

Site building facilities will still require someone to make decisions on design and layout, which features to incorporate. Someone to tweak the look and feel to work consistently with their existing branding. And the person most suited to do that is someone with web design skills. A lot of business owners will already have tried, and failed, with the DIY route and will be keen for their sites to start paying for their keep.

I'm sure there are big developments and tools on the horizon but they're still only tools. And you can only do a good job if you know how to use them properly.

One look at the 90's fad for DIY DTP is enough to prove that.

[sarahA]

In my experience, if someone really wants to go the DIY site builder route, they rarely want to pay proper prices for a site anyway. There's plenty of businesses/people out there who still want or need sites and have the budget to pay for them. Unfortunately there's also a lot who are just uninterested in the web, don't see the point of it, or why they should invest.

I would still say that whilst setting up a static site is marginally quicker than a WP site (I could theme a site virtually just as quick), maintaining a WP site is definitely quicker, especially once they want to expand.

The large site that Mr A mentioned, last year was a HTML site, a few hundred pages, a members list that was pulled from a db table, which in turn was populated via an excel spreadsheet. There were no interactive features. Then again, it was built in 2001. Now they have a full on members site in WP, the business office who manage the members can export a list of members, new members can sign up and pay via paypal and instantly get access to the members only area. They maintain some of the site themselves and come to us for the main page updates, in part because even with something like TinyMCE, it's still very easy to break the code in pages, break the display or simply output awful bloated code. However, if they now came to us and said they wanted XYZ, (eg. they wanted to set up a mailing list to email members newsletters etc) one install of the mailchimp plugin (autochimp I think), and we had everything exported to mailchimp, rather than having to export from one, import to the other, constantly.

Sometimes it's not what the site needs now, it's planning for what the site may want in a year or two.

[suedenem]

Some do make good use of them, others don't. Even then though there are still advantages. Adding new functionality via a free widget is quick and if I do this for them it's a lot cheaper to install than it would be on a static site, and you can give a site a quick facelift by creating a new child theme.  For many clients there are definite advantages to using something like WP other than simply managing content.

We find that applying the principles of separating content, structure, style and behaviour let us do this even with static sites.

One reason why I don't think off the shelf DIY packages will replace a bespoke design service: companies like Vee's. They provide everything a small business could possibly require for an online prescence, and offer a friendly, inexpensive solution.

Vee should fare better than most.  She doesn't sell 'web design'; she sells a complete marketing package.  If the Web went poof tomorrow, she could adapt her offering in a way that 'web designers' couldn't.

Kodak imagined that their products were unassailable - instant photography for a social setting.  They never tried to compete with professional photography, but they didn't allow for the disruption of digital cameras and camera phones entering the market.

It's not all bespoke designers that I think are in immediate threat - as above, it's "low cost" work which I think will go.  Vee is 'good value' rather than 'low cost'; there's a world of difference

Site building facilities will still require someone to make decisions on design and layout, which features to incorporate. Someone to tweak the look and feel to work consistently with their existing branding. And the person most suited to do that is someone with web design skills. A lot of business owners will already have tried, and failed, with the DIY route and will be keen for their sites to start paying for their keep.

You're still thinking with a product, rather than market, orientation ;-)

Punters don't care about who does their site as long as it does what they want it to do.  If a site builder can do it then they'll use one if they can save a grand.

A significant number of small businesses - the customers that I suspect will abandon us in the next few years - do not have a marketing strategy as such.  They wing it, stumbling along from client to client through word of mouth and doing a good technical job.  Their web sites are almost incidental, only used as a reference point for new contacts.  As long as they have something, and as long as it doesn't look awful, it will be sufficient.

There are plenty of good-looking themes coming out of WooThemes and the like.  It wouldn't take much for these themes to be generic enough to be usable for 95% of small businesses.  There's a successful branding agency that we've worked with which have simply taken a Themeforest template and whacked their own logo in, with no other customisation other than populating with content!

The moment that these themes are commonplace, and there's a provider who will automate the set up, customers will go to them in droves.  The very bottom of the market - the £500 sites - have already gone this way - see the number of sites powered by Mr Site as proof.  It's only a matter of time before the £1000-£1500 market goes the same way...

[sickpuppy]

Kodak imagined that their products were unassailable - instant photography for a social setting.  They never tried to compete with professional photography, but they didn't allow for the disruption of digital cameras and camera phones entering the market.

Nothing to do with blogs, php or client but Kodachrome was very popular with professionals. Many still have fridges full of it.

[familychoice]

The moment that these themes are commonplace, and there's a provider who will automate the set up, customers will go to them in droves.  The very bottom of the market - the £500 sites - have already gone this way - see the number of sites powered by Mr Site as proof.  It's only a matter of time before the £1000-£1500 market goes the same way...

Maybe, but I've also noted quite a few enquiries recently from businesses and individuals who have started out with Moonfruit/Mr Site type hosted websites and who've become frustrated with the lack of performance. In a way the web builders have helped to focus their requirements and provided an introduction into online business so we don't have to.

Like Vee we offer a full range of complementary services, and I think you're right this is definitely something to concentrate on rather than the basic web building side.

I guess the mark of any successful business owner is to be able to adapt to change and utilise new technologies to their advantage. Personally I've already taken advantage of some of the powerful new themes you mention and used a couple to provide cost effective functionality for a client with high feature requirements but a tiny budget.

Instead of taking work from my company they've actually enabled me to offer functionality that would otherwise have been unavailable.

[suedenem]

It's a judgement call at the end of the day... I hope you're able to make the right choices for you.

Anyway, back to the original post... Andy, does that answer your question?

[Steve Lampkins]

I think he's jacked the job in by now.

[Tony]

nah, he's trying to find where they hid the forum link on .net so he can read the replies

[familychoice]

It's a judgement call at the end of the day... I hope you're able to make the right choices for you.

Thanks, I've managed to stumble along in the design industry for nearly 30 years so hopefully I'll cling on by my fingernails for a few more before they cart me off.

I can't afford the time (and don't really have the inclination) to swank around local business seminars or take up golf but I've got low overheads so a couple of sites a month and some complementary pies will keep the sheep from the door. I'm not overly concerned about site builders, but if they do turn out to be any good I'll incorporate them into my own business services like I did with Wordpress. And the internet.

There's good stuff in threads like this - it's always inspiring to hear where others think things are heading, and although I may occasionally dismiss your opinions in public as over-excited flights of fancy, privately I'll probably end up making a 180 degree turn and taking them on board.

[Mr Anderson]

Nothing to do with blogs, php or client but Kodachrome was very popular with professionals. Many still have fridges full of it.

It was lovely, but you can't get it developed commercially anywhere in the world any more.

[suedenem]

I can't afford the time (and don't really have the inclination) to swank around local business seminars

Ah, I don't mean swank around them.  I mean host them (or at least speak at them).  Put yourself up as the expert.  I believe that there are a few members on here that write/have written for magazines/books which would help them establish credibility... it's the same principle.

If you've not got time to work on your business (rather than just in your business as a technician), it's probably time to start thinking about hiring staff or outsourcing to freelancers.

(As with pricing I learned all this the hard way, with a push from an accountant friend...).

[suedenem]

Kodak imagined that their products were unassailable - instant photography for a social setting.  They never tried to compete with professional photography, but they didn't allow for the disruption of digital cameras and camera phones entering the market.

Nothing to do with blogs, php or client but Kodachrome was very popular with professionals. Many still have fridges full of it.

You know what - I had 'polaroid' in mind when typing that, but 'kodak' came out for some bizarre reason.

Swap the 2 and my analogy will make a whole lot more sense.

[Mr Anderson]

Swap the 2 and my analogy will make a whole lot more sense.

With Kodak going the same way it still makes sense:
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/kodak_defends_digital_camera_business_news_309776.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-30/kodak-said-to-weigh-bankruptcy-filing.html

[familychoice]

Ah, I don't mean swank around them.  I mean host them (or at least speak at them).  Put yourself up as the expert.

Unfortunately in this area there's a glut of that sort of thing and as usual it's all sewn up by the local favourites who know as much about the subject matter as I do plumbing (bugger all). It's a good idea though. I do a fair bit of training and I enjoy the sound of my own voice.

If you've not got time to work on your business (rather than just in your business as a technician), it's probably time to start thinking about hiring staff or outsourcing to freelancers.

I do, when I get the opportunity. I'm more than happy to pass on the work to someone that can do it better than myself if the budget's there.

To be honest I'm at a bit of a crossroads business wise. After ten years dealing with snotty clients and chasing invoices what I'd really like to do is to work more with other web companies on a freelance basis. Funnily enough I had a call from a local-ish company this afternoon seeing if I was interested in taking on a few jobs so hopefully something will come from that, and they might be able to fill a few gaps in my services as they provide multimedia and video production.

As I've mentioned before recently, running a web company can be desperately unrewarding at times. Give me freelance work any day, it's like having a proper job.