We have been consulting with a client about opening a new chat portals and community web site. There are many premium options for establishing an online presence in the chat and social software arenas, and we suggest several. For clients on a tight launch budget, we recommend free and open source software to get started.

Many of our clients are in the early launch and beta test phases of new web projects, and the early steps of new online business models require at least some web presence to get started. We know that everyone wants to have a super slick, tricked out, full featured web site, but when funding is tight, getting things started is more important that getting things full blown and polished.

It doesn’t take a lot to show concepts and get options from colleagues, teammates and investors. We have found by installing basic software and apps, giving people a demo of how things will flow, and showing some rough examples of color schemes is the best way to launch a new project. Many times we have seen clients spend time and money developing the web site’s look at feel with fancy graphics, only to have them completely reworked later in the public announcement phase. This is why we suggest getting the core functionality first, and then develop the look and feel later.

With all that in mind, we have a pre-launch of the new online chat forums up and running. It’s a start, and a great skeleton for future development.