I recently attended a very good presentation put on by NetContent Chicago and the Association of Multimedia Communications.

In the session, three different web companies – one very high end, one mid range, and one low end that deals with a lot of nonprofits – addressed web design and content management strategies.

David Armano, Senior Creative Director at Agency.com, used a great analogy. He compared websites to houses and various approaches to TV home improvement shows. Some websites just need a fresh coat of paint — that’s like “Design on a Dime.” Some need a few other things — that’s “Trading Spaces.” Others need to be demolished and rebuilt — “Extreme Home Makeover.”

Michael Silverman, Founder and CEO of Duo Consulting, said that the cost of totally rebuilding a website is often not much more than the cost for redesign and that if you are planning to start using a content management system, then a total rebuild may be in order. He said website costs have come down quite a bit over the past several years.

Use this link to view the excellent presentations from this seminar:

http://www.amcomm.org/contemplate/assembler.php?page=SIG_content_archives