January 22, 2010 – 1:44 am, by Irene @ Skalfa
Posted in Miscellaneous | Tags: cms · community software · dating script · dating software · dating software solutions · freeware · hosted web platform
Dating and community software market has expanded greatly influenced by overwhealming success of such website industry giants as Facebook, MySpace, Match.com and eHarmony. An idea of starting a dating site or a social network that would grow into a multimillion-turnover business sounds incredibly tempting. Live examples of such dream-come-true models add more fuel to the web site-building fever.
The variety of community and dating site solutions offered in the market today is amazing: freeware, CMS, paid software 
solutions and hosted web platforms. Each has its own advantages and shortcomings. And before you start building a site of your dream you have to think carefully which way to go as to choosing the platform for your project. Let me walk you through pros and cons of major site-building solutions to help you make the right choice matching your expectations and opportunities.
Let’s start with freeware, which is a free community/dating script. Before you dig for details it looks like a perfect chance to build a website without spending a penny. But in reality it doesn’t work exactly that way. Freeware solutions are normally developed with potential for further improvement by webmasters. Which means that most likely you will not get some of the desired site features in the default package. It is usually a platform with basic functionality accompanied by development manuals and requiring a professional programmer touch to turn into a competitive dating or community network.
Pros: Since the script itself is free – you actually lose nothing by giving it a try. Pretty often the essential plugins for a free platform are offered by a vendor for extra fee. However, if the software is popular – you will face no lack of support communities and freelancers knowing the given code’s inside outs.
Cons: If you don’t have skills in coding, or at least a dedicated developer who you can trust – think twice before starting with freeware (especially if it is not so well-known). Chances are, you will not be able to get it work the way you need without proper customization. Another unpleasant ‘might-be’ is that after weeks (or months) of studying the code architecture and developing plugins for it you come to a conclusion that this particular script is still not doing it for you. This can be a huge disappointment, especially if you are limited in time. Also, quite possibly you will find yourself unable to remove the vendor’s copyright or advertisement, as the code (even stated to be an open source) may contain licensed or encrypted files.
Advice: Better forget about an idea of creating a really professional and competitive community site for free. This will never happen, even if you go with freeware. If you want your project to work for you – be prepared to invest. And a free opensource script may become just the right platform for building your dream, but only in case the software is of a good quality, and there is someone who knows what he’s doing when it comes to web programming.
Now, let’s move to paid software. Usually these are turn-key solutions that just need installing to a server for you to get an up and running site. Sounds like magic, and this is why they cost money. Paid dating scripts are supposed to have all essential features to make your site complete and ready for the first visitor. On top of that, you should get a variety of professional site templates, which will ease the designing issue.
Pros: are obvious. You have all chances to build a ’serious’ website even if you don’t have extensive skills in coding. Paid dating software vendors normally offer installation services, so you won’t need to bother about getting the site up. Plus, you get support service and regular updates and version upgrades, which means that your site features will always be up-to-date.
Cons: Having a ready-made website you might still want its conception to be unique, which means that you will go for custom design and probably want to add new features and integrate third-party applications. And here we are stuck at code modifications again. Most paid dating script vendors offer customization services though, so you shouldn’t have problems with finding a skilled developer.
Advice: Choosing a suitable paid script you should pay attention at two main aspects – source code encryption and features included in the default community software package. Quite often software vendors that state providing an open source code still leave some files licensed or encrypted, which makes it difficult or even impossible to perform certain code modifications. So be sure to confirm this before purchase. Also, don’t get immediately attracted by a low price. In most cases it stands for a basic-complectation package that might not include such essentials as chat, forum, blogs, video sharing, events etc. As a rule, these ‘additional’ features are sold as plugins for extra fee. So the full-featured package cost with the necessary plugins included might get twice as high.
Hosted web platforms are quite popular, as they can be a great solution for those willing to start a communtiy site in a fast and easy way. This is usually a service allowing you to build your own site hosted on a vendor’s server.
Pros: Site-building process is simple, and requires almost no efforts from your side. No coding knowledge involved. If you are seeking to start your own social network that would be easy and fun to manage at minimum expenses – a hosted web platform might be the perfect solution.
Cons: Your site will be hosted on a vendor’s server, so forget about access to the software source code. This means that you will not be able to customize your web site (change design or add new features), and the only option is to go for additional plugins that might cost extra. Developer’s branding and advertisement removal is either impossible or requires monthly payments. Often you are not allowed to use your own domain name, so your site URL will be a vendor’s subdomain. Besides, as the number of site members reaches a certain limit – you will most likely be asked to pay for hosting your network.
Advice: If the reason you are starting a web site is not just a spontaneous wish to check what it’s like, but a mature decision to build your own business – better find out all details before stepping into this. Confirm how vendor’s conditions will change once your network grows really big. Make sure that you will be able to transfer your members database to another software should the need occur. If you are building a web site with specific conception – check if this kind of content is accepted by the service provider, otherwise your network might be deleted.
To sum it up, a hosted web platform can be a great solution for the newbies in online dating business provided they can handle all
the cons.
CMS stands for Content Management System, which sounds quite self-explanatory. This is a basic platform with a standard set of features that can be modified into a web site accomodating your needs.
Pros: You can turn it into almost anything, starting with a dating site, and ending with an e-commerce shopping cart.
Cons: It’s not the right choice for those with no coding skills. Just like any universal system, it might be fairly good for a great lot of projects, but never too good for a particular one. In other words, it will not have that specific set of opportunities a specialized script provides.
Advice: If you are seeking to build a specialized niche web site with a CMS – call for a good developer. If you do not have enough coding skills – it will be hard to impossible for you to get the site work and look the way you need.
Of course, this is not the ultimate software solutions guide. There is much more to find, test and learn. But at least it is something to start an online venture path with. Be sure to choose the right solution and the right script as it forms the basis of your future success.
If you have questions, or a piece of experience to share – feel free to post your comments.
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