Web designers

[danaeris]

Scenario:
A small fledgling online news publication has approached you; they want you to design a barebones website that will include a CMS that is easy for editors and writers (who are web savvy and know a little HTML but are by no means experts) to learn and maintain. They are starting very small with minimal investment capital and plan to grow the site and add features in the future -- for now they just want the basics necessary to start growing a readership (and thus revenue stream). Said revenue stream will be through advertisements, not subscriptions.

What I'm looking for

1. NEEDED ASAP: Some thoughts, comments, etc. on the necessary technology to do this, and some sense of how much it would cost, just off the cuff


2. Needed over the next few weeks: At least one professional web guru (preferably, one or more in Canada, the US, and maybe even the UK) who are willing to put together a semi-detailed price quote for such a website. You or your company would be named in the academic paper I'm writing.


3. NEEDED ASAP: If you're willing to do item two, please let me know via email (give me your name or the company's name).


4. Needed at some point: Any suggestions on revenue sources for a publication or blog beyond Google Ads and subscriptions


5. 
   

Please forward to anyone who might be willing.

Comments

[awfief.livejournal.com]

www.digital-loom.com is Tony's company (my husband). Contact them, it's what they do, and they can give you a quote.

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

1. There are a lot of good open-source CMSs available these days, which means the software cost could easily be nothing, though there would still be the cost of having someone configure it, create a custom look for it, etc. Drupal would be my pick - over the past year or two I've come to really appreciate its flexibility and ease of use, and I now think it's capable of running rings around Joomla.

How much setting up an online news site with Drupal would cost is highly variable. Depends how complex they want it, how extensively they want the appearance customized, etc. I could probably put a really simple Drupal site together for under a thousand, or a really complex one for several thousand.

2. I'm a little confused here - is this an actual project that's happening in the real world, or a hypothetical one you're using as the basis for a paper? The answer will pretty much determine my willingness to do a detailed quote, because I'm currently swamped enough that I really don't have time to put that much work into something that's not going to turn into actual paying work.

4. There are various other ad programs out there - one of my clients is having fairly good results from adify.com. Also, depending on the site's focus, sometimes affiliate programs of various sorts can help generate revenue. Amazon.com(/.ca/etc.)'s affiliate program is probably the most widespread, but there are many, many more.

[secretsoflife.livejournal.com]

misslynx has said pretty much all i'd say. the only thing i'd add is to make sure they have a support contract in place to do security updates, as web CMS's need to be updated regularly or they will get hacked.

for pricing you could also look at a hosted service like bryght.com, which does hosted Drupal installs.

all that said: i'm not really a web person. i hack sites (professionally, not maliciously), i don't make them :)