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Joomla Website Management Systems

I have built several websites for other people recently, and it's a service for which there is a great demand. I've written these notes to give people a clearer idea of what I do and how I do it. The key thing to remember is that the internet has come a long way in the last 10 years. Websites are a lot more powerful and a lot easier to manage than you probably think.

My clients need never pay a designer or software engineer again! Let your secretary manage your website like a pro with Joomla CMS!

I discuss my clients' needs and draw up a list of the features you need for your site. To do this I have to educate you about the possibilities so that you know what can be done.

I help you clearly list the content you want to share with your customers, and to decide on your strategy for adding future content. In other words, we refine the message you present to your customer. This may be aligned with marketing and customer relations strategies developed with Enspyre .

If necessary I can also arrange to have your site translated into any language worldwide and internationalised appropriately.

I help you finalise your requirements for design - how you want the site to look and feel - and arrange for this to be taken care of. This could even be part of a bigger "corporate identity" project.

Then I build the site with you. I show you how everything works, and how to make changes. I teach you how to add or change content and functionalities. It sounds difficult, but any average person, even with no previous experience, can master this within 20 hours of 1-1 training.

After that, you have complete control over the website and never need a designer of programmer again.

(I am available for free consultation after the installation is complete, however. You're never on your own!)

I don't build websites from scratch. I use sophisticated software that manages the whole process, and teach my clients how to use it too. They don't need my help for routine site maintenance in future. I set my clients up with a complete (and 100% legal) solution with no ongoing licensing or support costs, which enables them to make future changes quickly, cheaply and easily.

If you can create a document using MS Word then you can manage a Joomla website. It's that simple!

Basically, there are three issues to consider if you want to build a website:

Content - What does your site say to your customers or show them? ( 2 items )

Content is king! You can have great design, all kinds of exciting functionalities, but if you don't have a clear message then nobody will be interested in your site.

We build websites for a reason. Let's do it right!

Before we can build your site, we need to be clear about what you want to tell your customers. We need to be sure that you have the basic content - words, music, pictures, video - that you want to share with your customers. It's often a good idea to have a future plan too - how often will you add content to keep your site fresh and interesting?

In the past, adding content to a website was a difficult and often expensive process. Today it's something that ANYONE can do. In fact, I will guarantee to train anyone in your organisation so that they can quickly and easily update the content of your site as often as you want. If I can't train them then I'll give you your money back!

And if your site is for an international audience then it may be necessary to build different language versions of your site, or to change the content to reflect the interests of different people. I can advise on internationalisation and, in partnership with Star Translations, have your site translated into any language worldwide.

(I'll also teach you how to make your content show up in search engines so that people can find your site, and how to track your success at doing this. It's a science! There is a process.)

Functionality - What can your website DO for you? ( 7 items )

The key to getting the most out of your website is to add the functionalities which enable you to communicate effectively and cost-effectively with your customer.

A website can be a brochure which shows people your products and services. But that view is kind of old-fashioned. Web 2.0 is all about using your website to do a lot more:

Streamline the process of generating sales leads, improve your responsiveness to your customers, and help you gain valuable feedback.

Manage direct mail programs, tell your customers what events or special offers you have coming up, and share news with them.

Modern websites evolve continuously in order to build relationships with customers and maximise the benefits for everyone.

Websites should make life easier and save you money, but all too often they add expense and complexity to your business. Joomla CMS puts you back in control. Joomla enables me to build websites that you can operate cheaply and easily - to benefit your business.

Design - How the site looks. ( 2 items )

In this section we can take a closer look at how templates work, and the benefits to you.

People ask me all the time to "design" their site, and they're always talking about graphic design - the look and feel of a website.

They assume that you need a designer to build a website, but in fact design should be seperated from content and functionality. I use designers to create "templates" for my websites which are independent of what the website does or says.

The appearance of your website can then be changed quickly and easily and, more importantly, if you want to make a change to the content or functionalities of your site then you shouldn't need to contact the designer. You never pay again, no matter what you want, unless you decide to change the look and feel of your site.