In my quest to lower prices and provide environment to offer anyone an affordable professional web site, I have been advising some of my clients or prospective clients to use the blog model for their web sites.
This naturally causes confusion, since the word "blog" has all the baggage attached to it that does not relate to professional web sites at all - blogosphere, politics, arguments, rowdy behavior... all that. As an interpreter and a linguist I should have thought about this ahead of time.
- Blog or not, a dynamic, Web 2.0 web site will have to have interactivity and will have to have a database behind it. It's just that simple. and blog, used as a tool already offers database management for the web site: administration, queries, etc.
- Blog format also offers familiar user interface tools like a calendar, list of categories, search form.
- Blog format offers RSS feeds and built in search engine optimization.
So my question is, why not use it as the foundation for a professional web site?
- If it looks like a blog and walks like a blog... Well, but design can be changed. Blog format usually offers a good separation between form and content. Looks can be different.
- Want three-column layout with a navigation like that at the www.puppetsuperstore.com? Sure, why not.
- Some pages can be hard coded and navigation bars can be created. Using Cascading Style Sheets allows greater flexibility then ever in terms of layout or interface.
- The bottom line, a blog-based web site does not have to look like a blog.
But beyond that, why be afraid of blog format? There is no reason, unless of course your site is a product catalogue and a shopping cart Then a combination of a blog with a cart will have to be worked out.
Please, bear in mind though, that all the above means you are getting an affordable web site when your needs are humble and your budget is adequately humble.
A music band, an artist, a small construction company or a contractor that can't afford more then $700 to spend on a web site will benefit greatly from this approach.
If you are a larger company with intricate needs and a product catalogue equipped with bells and whistles like
Applied Geomechanics, then you should go for what you need. If you need a truck for your business, no Corolla will help you no matter how less it costs.
Posted At : 1:09 PM. |
Posted By : cyrill">
