[Hidden-tech] Template Sites in general - GoodBarry in particular

[Nancy Salwen]

Hi Fred,

I appreciate your answering - you make some really good points.

Thanks!
Nancy
______________________________
Nancy Salwen     nancy at salwen.net
Salwen Graphic Design
Online Portfolio:  http://www.salwen.net


On Nov 19, 2008, at 12:04 PM, fredbliss at comcast.net wrote:

>    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the  
> member's area.
>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
>
>
> Hi Nancy,
>
> I'm not a designer nor do I work with pre-made templates so I won't  
> comment on that, but I would like to give you my 2 cents regarding  
> GoodBarry.
>
> GoodBarry does have a very solid marketing strategy and seems to  
> have a robust statistics package and a focus on business metrics/ 
> ROI and such, which is great.  If you don't have the tech staff  
> available to support and develop similar business tools, then they  
> have basically offered you a solution - an easy-to-set-up polished  
> CMS on which you can host your clients' web presence.
>
> My gripe with GoodBarry is the degree of reliance that you end up  
> having in their product and service. I like to think of it this  
> way- would you buy a table that stands on only one leg?   Probably  
> not unless you love the effects of gravity.
>
> A good web presence should not rely upon a single resource for  
> everything, especially since migrating to a new system is such a  
> big undertaking.  In addition, their technology is proprietary,  
> they are the providers and developers.  If you need something  
> custom, you pay them top dollar or you don't do it.  They have some  
> rudimentary tools that allow you to manage data in certain ways,  
> but that won't take care of the specific needs of your client all  
> the time.
>
> I feel the best choice you can make for your clients is to find and  
> offer a portable solution - something that can be worked on by more  
> than one person in the event you/they aren't happy with the current  
> technology provider.  I could launch into a diatribe about open  
> source CMS technology versus licensed but I won't do that now,  
> (There are some ASP.NET-based solutions that are portable as well)
>
> Ultimately you have to decide whether you would be better off  
> putting all your client's eggs in GoodBarry's basket or perhaps  
> looking into forging a relationship with an entity that offers  
> something that the client can take and have other people work on in  
> the future.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Fred Bliss
> www.winanscreative.com
>
>
>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: Nancy Salwen <nancy at salwen.net>
>>    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the  
>> member's area.
>>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
>>
>>
>
>
>
> From: Nancy Salwen <nancy at salwen.net>
> Date: November 19, 2008 11:28:16 AM EST
> To: Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
> Subject: [Hidden-tech] Template Sites in general - GoodBarry in  
> particular
>
>
> Hi!
>
> I am website designer (not a developer) and I usually work with a  
> subcontractor to develop the sites I design, but I work a lot with  
> small businesses with very small budgets and am finding that some  
> of them can't afford a completely custom website.
>
> So a new service I'm providing is to help them discover whether an  
> inexpensive template site could be right for them, and if so, to  
> guide them in choosing and setting up the an appropriate  template  
> site and then customizing it for them so it doesn't look like a  
> template site. This customization is not through HTML or any  
> programming language but only throught the CMS that the template  
> offers, working with fonts and colors and customized graphics to  
> upload using Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. I figure my service and  
> expertise can make their template site way better than if they just  
> did it themselves, and I just charge by the hour to do this work.
>
> So here's my question: Does anybody know of Template site companies  
> that they highly recommend? Any that  "partner" with designers in  
> terms of discounts or commissions that are also conducive to ease  
> of use and good design (not necessary but could be useful!)? Any  
> template sites companies that I should particularly stay away from?
>
> Also, has anyone heard of GoodBarry? They seem to do all of this  
> and have an excellent vibe/marketing pitch as well, but I was  
> unable to find any reviews of this company online. I'd love to hear  
> from someone who's worked with them or has heard stories.
>
> Thanks so much!
> Nancy
>
> ______________________________
> Nancy Salwen     nancy at salwen.net
> Salwen Graphic Design
> Online Portfolio:  http://www.salwen.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net
> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
>
> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech  
> Discussion list.
> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members
> page on the Hidden Tech Web site.
> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members
>
> _______________________________________________
> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net
> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
>
> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech  
> Discussion list.
> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members
> page on the Hidden Tech Web site.
> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.hidden-tech.net/pipermail/hidden-discuss/attachments/20081119/6a79bcfa/attachment.htm