Many sites now have databases as a ‘back end’ to their website for many reasons including:

• Storing product information.
• Storing customer or client information.
• Storing content to be displayed on the website.
• Storing lists of information, for example website addresses, category lists, location information and much more.

A database can help to make a site extremely interactive and larger sites much easier to manage and maintain. I specialise in developing sites with MS SQL databases and in some cases, for smaller sites MS Access.

A CMS system is a way of managing the content on your website usually via an administration area which only you (and other administrators) can access. This area will supply you with an interface (or number of pages) which allow you to add, remove and change information in a database which is displayed on the website to the user.

I love developing these systems and feel they really can be a great asset to sites which need them. All CMS systems I build are bespoke and are tailored round the exact functionality the client requires and yes, I won’t hide the fact that it can sometimes be costly. This is where I will always advise a potential client to stop and really think about this:

• Do you really need a CMS system?
  • Have you got the time to update your site?
  • How often will you update your site?
  • If you are changing images on your website do you have the experience to re-size, crop and alter graphics before uploading?
• Do you know the potential traffic that is going to use your site? (This will ultimately determine the type of database you will need)
• Do you need to collect user information in a database or can you do this locally on your pc via emails?

I could go on but I hope you get the idea. I’m not trying to put you off at all but I am trying to get you to really think about what you need. Sometimes it is best to spend your hard earned cash on getting the website live, submitting it, optimising it and getting it found / used. If you are only doing periodic changes on the site get the web developer to do it (this should ultimately be far more cost effective!).

Remember, a database can quite easily be added later if it is required. It doesn’t have to be installed from the start.

Websites with a shopping cart (or at least a couple of products which you can purchase). That’s ultimately what an e-commerce solution is.

I’ve had many years experience in building e-commerce websites from a handful of products which link to PayPal through to large national websites which hold many products, categorised and searchable with a payment interface linked directly with their business bank account.

You can purchase relatively cheap ‘off the shelf shopping carts’ which may serve you well (I haven’t found one yet which a client was completely happy with but that’s just me being bias!). These all have their limitations and that’s why, like CMS systems, every shopping cart I build is bespoke and tailored to your exact requirements. After all I’m sure your shop is particular to you so why shouldn’t your websites shop?

No – its not necessary to have a database ‘feeding’ your site products, although I would advise it if you have many products. Some sites with a few select products do very well with products on their own pages ‘hard linking’ to a payment gateway.