RE: Web site time required

Wow, someone w/o a website at all? <G>

Anyway, there are two parts to keeping a website "updated". The first is
technical -- patches, versions of software, web server log monitoring,
etc. The second is content, and I think that's what you're referring to
since you mention keeping customers coming back. 

What are you trying to accomplish w/your site, or to put it another way,
WHY do you want a site? 

What would you offer that would make a customer come back? Don't worry
about the technical aspects of getting that on the web, just think about
the question? I don't know your business (obviously) but let me ask some
silly questions: Do you offer training/seminars? Are there
sales/promotions? Are there general industry "trade rags" that publish
regular content? What do they publish? How often would you update your
content? Daily? Monthly? Quarterly? 

Now, the more frequent your updates, the more important something like a
content management system is. If you do quarterly updates, and all
you're doing is updating a price sheet, well, I'd guess you could handle
the HTML yourself -- it's not that hard. On the other hand, if you're
running regular "specials", have updated seminar schedules, and want
content updated by several people then a content management system is
what you need.

Also, do you care if the site is hosted on the iSeries? If you want it
on the iSeries, then I'm not aware of any hosting companies (I'm sure
someone will point one out) that use iSeries's for hosting. If you don't
care, there are numerous hosting companies out there.

Finally, look forward in time, do you see integrating the site with your
backend systems? Again, not knowing exactly what you do it's hard to ask
intelligent questions, but do you see online ordering? Web-based CRM?
Online bill-pay? If so, you'll need to consider how you integrate w/the
backend as you decide where to host your site.

Sorry to be vague in my responses, but it's a very general question. I
guess I can answer one part specifically, "does using an outside company
save time?" Sure! However, is the time saved worth the cost? Well, that
depends on the issues above.

-Walden

------------
Walden H Leverich III
President & CEO
Tech Software
(516) 627-3800 x11
WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.TechSoftInc.com

Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
(Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)
  


-----Original Message-----
From: pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Jeff Crosby
Sent: Wednesday, 09 February, 2005 14:32
To: 'PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users'
Subject: [PCTECH] Web site time required

My company is looking at doing a website.  Since I'm the whole IT
department, we're leaning to having an outside firm design and host it
initially.

I'm concerned about the amount of time it might take our personnel to
keep
it 'fresh' so customers keep coming back.  My thought is that the setup
is
just the beginning, it's just as much work to keep it up as get it up
(the
web site I mean).

If an outside firm hosts it, does that save a lot of time?  If we host
it
ourselves, does it become a fulltime job just to keep it up and fresh?

Yes, I realize it's a loaded question and the answers will contain some
"it
depends".

Thanks.

-- 
Jeff Crosby
Dilgard Frozen Foods, Inc.
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the opinion of my
company.  Unless I say so.



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