Hello and Welcome.
My name is Peter Morgan and I build websites.
I also maintain existing websites and help people set up and expand their businesses online.
Website Development
I build all types of website using a variety of technologies. These can be simple personal profile sites for freelancers, or larger commercial sites incorporating a spread of features such as blogs, photo galleries, shops, forums, portfolios, trade directories and social networking. Anything from a very basic 1 page presence on the web, through to large office integrated e-commerce systems. For bigger projects I have a network of other freelancers that I call on to work with me.
Broadly speaking there are two ways to build a website:
- using an off-the-shelf package known as 'Content Management Systems' (or CMS for short)
- or designing and building from scratch
Off-the-shelf or Content Management System (CMS) Websites
CMS based websites are created using software that comes bundled with many features. The primary feature is the facility to create pages and edit content yourself. Websites built this way are usually a good deal cheaper to set up than their custom built equivalent. One major benefit of CMS packages is that they usually have many 'plug ins' or 'extensions' that extend their functionality in various ways.
There are many CMS packages available that you may have heard mentioned; Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal, Mambo, Magento, Movable Type, PHPNuke to name but a few. Although 'off-the-shelf' is a common industry term to describe these sites, it is a rather misleading expression. There is often still a lot of work to be done to set them. It's also worth noting that while the CMS package is free, you often have to pay for many of the extensions.
Custom Built Sites:
Where there is no natural fit with an off-the-shelf package then your website will need to be custom built. There is no hard and fast way to measure the potential cost of a project without discussing it in detail with a developer.
Costs and Pricing:
I try to make pricing completely transparent. Before starting work I'll go through the project with you on the phone. I then get back to you with a detailed estimate of costs based on the various aspects of your project. I'm very happy to work within a set budget or to build your site in stages to spread the cost. I always aim to help you maximise what you get for you money and so give lots of advice on ways to make savings.