Info Needed : Cost of Website Development & Maintenance

Going from the other thread, I stopped by a web design company, here in Indy; BoxCrush Web Design, boxcrush.com . They are going to get back with me, but it won't happen til the week after next, due to me being in Sandusky OH, riding the Cedar Point coasters!!! If someone wishes to jump in, their # is 317-816-9353. The person to contact is Travis. They have "our" url.

If someone wishes to contact them/him, please do so, next week. Make sure you tell them I, Mark, sent you... they should be able to take care of "you". They are currently offering a FREE website analysis, so maybe someone should jump on this next week.

I tried googling for the info and it seems all over the map . Of course I don't talk computer language so I really don't know what they're talking about .

Galo , I think that would be some good info ......

I also googled and just don't have the time to sort though the mess of what is what.  

 I think Galo is on point with getting information.  It doesn't hurt to shop around and see whats out there. We may actually get some clues on how this is done so we can make a better decision.  I know of companies in India that will do something like this on the cheap but I don't trust them.  

If the consultation is reasonable and we can fundraise the amount I think its the best way to go and it should give our two admins a break from a lot of heavy lifting.  

I am not a web developer but I don't believe there's much work needed. If this is running on WP, we can simply buy a plugin for $20-100 and be done. 

Posted by: hello

I am not a web developer but I don't believe there's much work needed. If this is running on WP, we can simply buy a plugin for $20-100 and be done. 

You make it sound easy but reality is ... it's not . There's things that need fixed and still options that need to be implemented . I don't think anyone is questioning  Patrick and LT abilities but a matter of time they have to commit . It's like turning a hobby into a full time job that pays no monies . The registration issue needs fix pronto and they could probably use some help .  

Yeah if we don’t take initiative and think of this board as our own  this board will die because our admins can only do so much as the work can be overwhelming if you have a job and a family. It’s a very crucial time for us. If we do this right we can have something nice that everyone can enjoy. I don’t think I can stomach going back to  Spyderchat after being here. The organic content is better than I hoped it would be in a short period of time. 

Agreed. It's not probably as easy as I make it sound but my point is it's not as difficult as you may think. (I have built a few sites.)

Ok, so a few things. First off, hosting costs are nominal. I don't know what LT has for his hosting plan, but I currently have two hosting plans that cost be about $100 per year and allow me to host as many websites as I want. 

For now, this website is made using Wordpress. This allows a lot more customization overall and makes things easy to manage. The primary issue we have right now is the emails being blocked by spam filters or not being sent at all. This is an issue that is specific to Wordpress and how it handles email. I am going to test out a fix for this that could resolve all future issues related to emails. I will be routing email directly through my SMTP server, so the emails will be coming from no-replay@mytechliving.com. Should this work, then it will be the way we go moving forward. 

As for hosting this forum on another software, it's all apples and oranges at this point. I've done various Bulletin Boards and they all have their limitations. What I like about using Wordpress as the backend and a WP based forum(WPForo) is that it's all tied together and integrated within it's self. What I mean by this is that when you register on the forum, it's actually on the WP website. This is very beneficial, especially for future growth, when we consider collaboration in the form of potential comments, community posts/blog, sales section, mass emails, etc. 

If you want to see what happened last time we fan a BB software, go to mr2-spyder.com/forum   lol

LT and I have briefly talked about using AWS(Amazon Web Services) to host the website if it's growth expands past what either of our hosting plans can support. For now, we're still good.

I’m happy to hear you guys have a well thought out plan for growth.  We are going to need it. 

Very happy the PM module is installed.  We just need activation for new members and then we are ready for the next wave. 

Once we reach 100 members we are going to be hit with spam. I’m going to watch closely and unapproved the posts as they come in. Also someone will start a fire, it happens just par for the course as we grow. Once we have 150 members the board will be self sustaining and we can enjoy for a long time. 

PL and LT, the ONLY reason I checked BoxCrush out was what was being said by others. I don't have experience, and I'm not "upset" with the growing pains. Yes, I have asked questions and commented on one aspect of logging in.  I appreciate what PL and LT have done. I greatly appreciate you both saying "we don't want/need "money" to do this"!

PL, if "we" don't need "outside intervention", say so...it's ok, really! I didn't mind stopping by BC, hell, I met a bunch of really nice people!

Again, PL, if you and LT say you can do this, go for it!!! You guys have my support, for what that is worth 🤔 😀 

No need for outside help. 😀  it'll only add cost into the equation while removing control from the community. Hosting plans can be updated for minimal cost, so adapting to increased site traffic is easy to accomplish. site design is again, easy. Its a simple site now to ensure it is fully functional. Once it's proven then I(We) will spend time with the design of it all to pretty it up. 

Up until this point all of this has really been limited by the amount of time I have had, but now that i've gotten the main issues fixed, it'll all start rolling. The next hurtle will be the design followed by compensating for the increased traffic; Both of which are easy to handle.

I'm currently out of town until late tomorrow night, but I can help with getting things resolved much more starting on Monday. I had a string of vacations and projects that needed to get done.  Hosting is not an issue and won't be going forward either.  I have a very similar plan to PL on Dreamhost. I will be adding a vps (virtual private server) setup that will allow for immediate expansion should we start to grow unexpectedly. 

Once we are taking on enough traffic to warrant the big guns like AWS, then moving the site will just require some planning and a brief period of downtime when it happens. 

If you guys are talking about software design for the forum, there are multiple options out there. And, I've offered and will still pay for licenses for either add-ons to this forum software or other software that is maybe more familiar to people.  I don't have a ton of time, but I can definitely carve out some time now in the early stages to get us set up right and ready to go.

We just need to decide and agree on the exact direction to go with the forum software.