Origins of the Libra Program
Individuals and small businesses embarking on new enterprises or seeking to revitalize existing ones understand the importance of an effective Web presence. They understand that an online presence can be a critical element of their sales, marketing, operational and customer service strategies.
In the current economy, however, many of these entrepreneurs have had to slash their Web-site budgets.
In recent months I have had many conversations with prospects whose Web-site requirements equate to thousands of dollars of custom development costs but who, when asked about budget, say they hope to cap their costs at $1,000.
Some of these prospects already tried the template-driven wizards of the domain registrars and found them to be either too limited or too difficult to use — or the results were not sufficiently professional. Template-driven Web-site wizards are rarely the solution if you need a professional Web presence.
Enter nSiteful Web Builders
I have been designing and building systems since 1983 and Web sites and Web applications since 1994. While nSiteful's primary focus remains full-lifecycle custom Web-site development and Web applications, it's clear to me that the prospects I've been describing represent a market we can serve well. These individuals and organizations deserve professional Web sites that properly reflect the professionalism of their enterprises, and they deserve world-class expertise, service and support. And they should be able to get all of that for $1,000 or less.
Enter WordPress
Most people who have heard of WordPress know of it as a blogging platform. Indeed, WordPress started out as blogging software, and it's the engine that drives many of the Internet's most visited blogs.
But WordPress has evolved to be much more than blogging software. It is a full-blown, robust, and eminently extensible Content Management System (CMS) which, in the right hands and with proper support and guidance, can create complete Web sites — even Web sites that don't actually have blogs.
Key Features of WordPress
User-Friendliness: Using an interface and forms which resemble those of the most popular e-mail programs, most aspects of the WordPress CMS can be mastered easily by anyone who can read and follow directions.
Extensibility: WordPress is Open Source software with a large and growing developer base. At this writing, WordPress.org offers 1,126 free Themes (also known as templates, skins, or layouts) and 8,225 PlugIns (programs that extend WordPress' basic functionality). Countless other reputable developers offer additional themes and plugins. Most themes and plugins you'll find are free; commercial themes and plugins can cost as little as $10.
SEO-Friendliness: From the beginning, WordPress was developed with an eye toward search engine success.
nSiteful, WordPress and You
In 2009, nSiteful extended its expertise as a WordPress developer by creating WordPress Web sites for some clients and integrating WordPress blogs into the custom-built Web sites of others.
Although the task of installing and configuring WordPress software, themes and plugins isn't rocket science, it isn't a trivial matter for the layperson, either. Customizing WordPress Web-site themes and modifying WordPress code (sometimes required for theme customization) aren't things the average business-owner should try "at home". And while the WordPress online documentation is extremely thorough and helpful, it can be daunting.
So while WordPress offers lots of "Do-It-Yourself" functionality to you, the Web-site owner, there are some things you probably won't want to do yourself.
In short, the team of nSiteful, WordPress and You can be a winning combination that gives you the effective, professional Web presence you want and deserve at a fraction of the cost of a completely custom-designed and custom-built site delivered by a firm like nSiteful.
We'll set you up and set you sailing. You can start small and go large. You can publish your Web site in phases, at your pace. When you hit bumps or walls, call us in to help.