Portal & Vortal Development:

What are Portals and Vortals?
Sites like Yahoo, CNN and MSN are considered portals and are gateways into the Internet. A Portal attracts a broad (horizontal) range of users, whereas Vortals appeal to a more narrowed (vertical) audience.

Vortals focus on a group of people with a specific passion or interest. They are sometimes called 'online communities' or ' vertical portals.' If you are interested in horses, for example, go to horsenet.com. Here, you can chat with others interested in horses. You can also buy horse-related products and books and find miscellaneous information about horses.

We can build your Portal, Vortal or Community. This Portal development may include adding several features or components that are not normally found on a typical site. For example, you may need a discussion forum where your visitors can share ideas or experiences. To get this forum working on your site requires installing a third party software (component).

Reusing Existing Components vs Building From Scratch
Fact File
The reuse of existing components or the modular approach to building a portal is faster and cost effective

We can create a custom portal from the ground upwards or we can integrate pieces that have already been developed. The reuse of existing components or the modular approach to building a portal is faster and cost effective.

Using these components as the building blocks that form the framework of the site we can then add your content. Look at the menu of components below and decide what you want to build.

There are many other components or modules you may wish to add to your Portal/Vortal. Many of these are free while most of them can be purchased for less than $300.

Reusable Components: The Building Blocks of Your Site
Shopping Cart For online purchase of products or services
Chat This allows users to chat online
Calendar Shows events or lets users post events
Search Keyword or phrase search of the whole site
Classified Ads Allow users or members to post their own classified ads
Rotate Banner Ads This component displays ads for a specified time on each page
Application Form Visitors can complete an application form and send it via email
Auction Conduct live auctions

Installation of the component is only the first step. It will then need to be integrated into the site and administered.

Portal Success or Failure?
Portals can grow and have many areas of interest for the visitor. When compared to printed publications, they can range from family newsletters to the Washington Post!

But there's more to the success of a Portal than building it. Many people are surprised that a good Portal is an ongoing process. Once it is designed, developed and published, the Portal then needs visitors. This requires site promotion.

Components of Portal Development

• Concept, design and text development

• Site development

• Installation of components

• Graphic and animation development

• Banner ad creation

• Content development

• Integration of component

• Marketing

Portal Package

Here is a plug-and-play portal designed to get your online community up and running. It is like ordering off a menu: you describe what you want and we can create the portal.

Home Page - including logo
Form - A feedback form which will be e-mailed to you each time someone fills it in.
Discussion Forum - The heart of the portal community - a place where your visitors can post questions and comments. .
Links - This component allows visitors to add links to your site. It is similar to Yahoo! or other search engines.
Classified Ads - Allow your visitors to publish their own ads.
Survey - Use this to get customer feedback and at the same time provide a spontaneous way to view compiled results.
Poll - Many people like to know the opinions of others.
Test Poll - Let your visitors test their knowledge.
Banner Ads - Advertise your products or receive income from products belonging to others. We will create two banners ads for you.
Search - Allow your visitors to search your site for words.
Auction - Conduct an online 'live' auction.
News - Allow your visitors to post information and news.
Site Statistics - We will set you up so that you can easily monitor the number of visitors coming to your portal.
Handbook - These instructions will help keep your site going after we have created it.
Guest Book - Here your visitors can post their names and comments.
Fill in the Quick Quote form