When I initially starting looking for community website software packages, I faced the same issues. When I would look up user reviews on a particular package, I would either find sales pitches by the providers or reviews packed of unconstructive remarks written by irritated users. As you know, these scripts aren't inexpensive, so making a decision was horrible!
1st challenge: Lots of unconstructive reviews, few encouraging ones.
Each time you type "Dzoic" or "phpfox" in Google, you'll probably find many reviews of persons saying they are all a rip off. Is this right?All of these reviews need to be put into perspective. Clients turn out to be annoyed when they purchase something that does not meet their expectations. Looking at the script features specified by the providers, I often wonder what these clients were really expecting.
Generally, angry customers did not comprehend the nature of the product they were purchasing. Community website software solutions like efriends, Dzoic, and so on, are ready made. They come with a very important list of features that are hardcoded. For someone with partial know-how of php, html and other languages, modifying these scripts will be a difficult job. Even for a skilled programmer, this would be a challenge. Due to the complexity of the scripts, a programmer would have to read a lot of documents and then attempt to comprehend the complete construction from scratch to make any noteworthy changes to the functionality.
Most of the bad reviews come from persons who did not comprehend this and did not take the occasion to plan out the exact requirements of their website prior to buying an out of the box package.
The basic rule to being a pleased client is determining what it is you are expecting exactly. Only at that time can you look for a community website software package that suits you best, and then maybe have minor changes made. Doing this the other way around is a costly recipe for failure!
2nd challenge: The offer is too big!
There are more than a hundred distinctive providers out there. How on earth can you make an informed decision with all these horrible reviews and expensive price tags?
Again, the answer lies in your methodology. No IT project can come to triumph without an obvious specification of requirements.
As soon as you have made a list of what you desire your site to be able to do, you should have restricted the offer to a top 5 list.
Now is the time to begin looking at the front-end design (the part the users see and navigate through). Out of these 5, which one do you like best? Which of the software solutions do you think needs the slightest modifications design and colour wise?
By now, you should have a shortlist of a a small amount of solutions that are fit for your needs.
3rd challenge: They are all so costly!!!
Lets think about this for a moment. You are purchasing a software solution with multiple interactive features like chat, video, audio, twitter feeds, mobile feeds, polls, groups, affiliate management, etc. If you were to create this yourself, even with programming expertise, you would be paying a lot more in terms of expensive hours passing by.
If you are not willing to invest this amount in your project, you ought to look for other solutions. Perhaps your project is better fitted for something like Ning, which hosts social networks without you actually purchasing the script and building a website yourself.
Again, it all depends on your expectations. What is it that you want to realize?
Conclusion:
1. None of the solutions are "bad" as such. What makes some better than the others, is the client service and documents on the software.
2. Being a pleased client depends a lot on yourself. Make a list of what you wish for exactly, and after that start looking for a solution.
3. Try to choose a solution that already has the design you are looking for.
4. Decide if your project is worth the money and compare this to the cost of a programmer or the time you would waste on it yourself.
5. To help in your search, acquire lists of features for each product, if possible with some user reviews about the client service.
Looking for social networking software to get you started?
Below software user review site will help you on your way:
No comments:
Post a Comment