So why did we (s-go Consulting) build the Open Source Website blog? If you are in the web development business, you know many answers to this question. Here are NOT some of the reasons:

• Everyone is Doing It
• Get Rich Fast
• Become Famous
• Gain Total Consciousness (Which is nice)
• So Bored, Nothing Else to Do

The reason we are launching it now is because we offer blogs, including Third Party Blogs, as a service and we wanted both Joomla and Wordpress blogs of our own. We wanted to share our experience in the open source website design/development business with the world and hope other firms just like us join into the conversation. We know that we can help many other developers and are looking for people to help us as well! We know that in using social networks like Twitter and Facebook that we can build a community of like (or even dissimilar) people that share at a certain level. You see, we are first and foremost, a MARKETING firm.
And by the way, “open” “source” and “website” do fairly well in monthly search volume. Hey, this open source thing may not be a fad!

We come at this a little differently than companies that start as programmers. While we have created a module or two, and we edit and modify CSS, PHP, HTML, Javascript and mySQL databases all day long, every day, we are not “programmers” in the classic sense. We are not part of the core Joomla team (but we do have a member of the Joomla Resource Directory team, Chad Windnagle). We don’t run a template club. And we did not go to art school for design. (but some of our sub-contractors did!) But we have built brands successfully and watched many of our clients grow and prosper when working with us. Plus, we are getting pretty good at this SEO thing.

We are part of a large group of developers making a living using open source applications. And we are rabid fans of this movement. Joomla is our CMS of choice, but we have implemented other open source applications like Wordpress, Moodle, Open Realty, osCommerce, Zen Cart, PHPBB, VP-ASP (yuck), Sugar, Achievo, TrixBox, AsteriskNow and a few others.

So we start our journey of sharing the triumphs and challenges of this business. We will share tips and mistakes we have made. We will be brutally honest and open to improvement. If any of this resonates with you, join us in the community. Follow us on Twitter, read our blog and give us your comments.

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