Joomla (or any CMS) YES! but…

So you want to build a Joomla (or any kind of CMS)  website and for that you deserve a lot of credit. Why? Well as you probably know, CMS sites are basically user friendly making them quick and easy to update, and they happen to be great for SEO, though you will have to pay attention to some common sense guidelines. So Bravo - go for it. There is one rather significant caveat that you should be aware of though. At the basic level, these types of CMS frameworks are easy to work with and they do put an incredible amount of power into your less than webmaster hands, but venture beyond basic and it's a whole different story. I'm not trying to scare anyone, only trying to forewarn those who may be bold enough to want to do it all themselves. (Which these days includes many of us.)

Let's face it. You only get really good at the things you take the time to learn and there is a great deal of learning to be done with any beyond the basics CMS site. If you were to graph this, you would have a very shallow, gradual line going slowly upwards, then all of a sudden spiking skyward when you crossed the frontier into unknown territory. Not saying you can't do it - you CAN! I'm only raising the issue because like me, you'll have to decide if your time is worth it. Let me offer an example.

When I was growing up, I was fortunate to have a father who could do virtually anything that needed to be done in the trades, like woodworking, plumbing, framing, roofing, pouring concrete, laying brick and so on. Of course, since he was a Master electrician, I was able to learn about that too along with all those other things. Was he great at all those things? No, but he was pretty darn good and as a result, I learned a lot of skills I would not have otherwise. To this day, I struggle with making the call between hiring a pro or doing it myself. How much time am I willing to spend doing things that fall outside my chosen profession? Like you we all have to decide and more and more I've come to the conclusion that it's not worth my time, especially if I have a design project to work on.

So, if you decide to put up your own CMS website, I wish you well and commend your willingness to DIY, but if you find that you're spending way more time than you thought you would, it may be time to call a pro and if you do, I hope you'll consider calling me. I'm available, willing and easy to work with and waiting for your call. ;-) By the way, my name's David and here's a link to my site.