Need advice on how to satisfy a customer need

pmhoran

pmhoran

New member
I think I am in way over my head with this one :)

A friend (one I provide no charge web space to for his business site) has approached me to develop a site for a newly formed "business association" that he is involved with. It is sort of a "special interest" group ... so it would only be for businesses in his area and involved in this "special interest". Personally, I cannot see the membership ever being any more than 100 or so maximum.

They intend to have Registration via their website ... with two levels of membership available ....

  • First level would include a "business card" advertisement on the site
  • Second level would include a web page on the site

He wants everything "automatic" so ... when payment is received then either the page to enter the business card info comes up or the page to design their own web page (one page only).

Since I do not run a business (just have a resellers account :) ), I have no idea where I should even start with this. Since the group is non-profit, I think they will be looking for free hosting & free set up of all the needed software etc. I "think" my resellers account can accomodate their needs ... but as mentioned ... I have no idea where to start. What programs I might or should be looking for etc etc etc.

Any and all advice & suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Peter

PS They did, until yesterday, have one of their members that was going to take care of all this because he was in the web design business. Yesterday he decided to "quit" because he is going to move from the area. So its left them high & dry ... with me as their only answer ... unless I can come up with someone or something better :)
 
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Peter,
First off, glad to see you back! Was wondering how you were doin'.
Second, I'd talk to Mark over at AvidInteractive (ANMMark), that sounds like something he'd probably be able to master.

Perhaps it would be possible to contact the person that was going to set it up, and have him let ya know what he his plans were for settin' it up?
 
Hi John ...

Glad to be "fully" back ... I have been lurking in the bushes for a couple months ... I guess. Coming in occasionally to read the posts :) I have some new "unresolved" health issues going on ... so will probably be here only on an occasional basis for a number of months to come yet :)

I am going to be contacting Mark directly to see if he has suggestions ... or can help in some way :) But I was going to see if he responds here first before I bug him by email :)

From what I understand, the "other guy" had planned on using a Windows server & their Sharepoint ability. From what I know of Sharepoint ... I don't think that would have resulted in the website the rest of the associations board was envisioning. Could be why he made such a "quick exit" from the project.

Take care
Peter
 
What gets me though Peter, is are these people willing to pay for the design of such an app? They're charging for access to the website - why if they are non-profit? And if they're charging for access to the website they better be paying you for the hosting!

Sounds fishy to me.
 
Not charging for access to the site ... charging membership fees to the association. The business card & web page thing is just kind of an "added bonus".

I "believe" they will be charging just a nominal fee for membership ... to cover the cost of a newletter and to rent a place where they can hold their ??? times a year meetings.

I don't event think they need to offer the different membership levels ... or the business card or web page "perks". Just charge one fee ... list them as a member with a link to their website ... since most of the members I know about now all have their own websites anyway.

They are taking my suggestion "under advisement" ... but would like me to proceed with gathering info on their plan in the meantime.
 
Perhaps you could setup a phpBB - or other free BBS - system for them to use. You could have a single "Read Only" section with a topic per each member. The topic would contain an image for the customer, and if they paid for the service a link to the web page.

You could customize the forum enough to make it blend nicely with the rest of their website. It wouldn't be automated, but it'd be very very free ;)
 
Thanks for your suggestions John, but nothing is coming close to what I think is "the mark" they are striving to hit.

I have been in conversation with a couple of the associations founding members ... hopefully they will begin to realize that what they seek just might not be possible ... without paying out fairly substantial $$$ right now.

I will keep on looking, though. Maybe there is a ready-made & free solution out there that I just haven't stumbled across yet :) If I find it ... I will post about it here ... just in case someone else might be able to make use of it :)

Take care
Peter
 
Hi

I would have to agree with John with the phpBB or a freebie bb set up.

I had a client with simlar requirements but with a very low budget. They basically wanted an all singing and dancing web site but on the same budget that they paid some guy out of school. They were happy with my suggestion to go for the bb aproach with the low budget (especially when i explained that anything fancier takes time which in turn is money)

i hope that helps
 
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I think I may have stumbled onto a program that WILL work for these people ... finally. I came across a suggestion in another post ... (I think it was) ....
Help, Oh Please Help This Newbie Find The Right Host
... and have slowly gotten around to checking it out a bit.

Its ExpressionEngine by pMachine

It will cost the association some money to buy it ... but it will work (from the sounds of it) to do everthing they have said they want the website to do. And ... best of all ... its all in one package. So ... definitely a whole lot less work for me hehehehe :)

Now ... to convince them that this is the route to go :)

Thanks much for all the suggestions ... they were/are appreciated. And thank you Lesli for your contributions to that posting :)

Peter
 
You're welcome!!

Several people have asked similar questions, and if the "web pages" are what you describe, I think they fall squarely within PMachine's licensing restrictions (not allowed to use EE to run hosted blogging services.) You may have to customize ExpressionEngine to get the "automated" part, but there's a raft of available (and actively developed) plugins and extensions, and as well as other EE developers.
 
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