Seeking advice Ning or Kickapps

[Greg G]

I have been using Ning for a couple of months and have started to build a decent little site. www.kentuckysportsnetwork.com I am trying to take the site to the next level but I am really struggling because the site will be mostly a news content site and we want to support the site with local advertisement. I like the the social networking aspects of Ning for fans to interact. My question is I have seen a couple of sites that seem to intergrate Ning like Spill.com but the web developer I am working with doesn't like Ning and feels more comfortable with Kickapps. What argument should I make to stick with Ning or are there any developers living in Kentucky that would be interested in helping with this project

Thanks

[LRon]

Hi Greg,

We develop custom themes, full layout designs, systems and features on the Ning Platform. Please sign-up at our site at sympho.ning.com so we can discuss your Ning related problem

We'll be glad to help you out and take your network a step further or give you some advice.

cheers.

LRon
Sympho Networks
sympho.ning.com

[Victor Ramayrat]

Here goes Greg... from a developer/publisher perspective...

I just checked out KickApps if they have anything new that will kick Ning's arse. They don't... and 250k niche social network couldn't be wrong. It's safe to say that Ning will be here for a while even if they are a "software as a service (SaaS)" offering (this is impt. for publishers because data resides on someone else's servers; and if the business model is not stable, then migration will be a total headache when the SaaS business goes bust).

You've started with the Ning platform, and should continue with the Ning platform. If I were to advise you here's what I would tell you:

1. Continue using Ning for your community platform. Request to get access to the code.

2. Use a combination of CMS and Ning. Out of the many open-source CMS out there, Wordpress is the only one with a plug-in that would work with Ning ID authentication (I have not yet tested it).

3. For full control of the landing page, point your Ning community into a subdomain (ie. my.kentuckysportsnetwork.com). Install the CMS package into the root of your domain (like www.kentuckysportsnetwork.com). When users go to that page, they will get a front page you control (spill.com does this; the front page ain't Ning).

4. Once you are done theming the CMS part (and your theme should take into consideration the Ning's layout dimensions), integrate that theme into the Ning code that you control. Most of this configuration is header and footer code tweaks.

5. For your ad management, I suggest you install OpenX into a subdomain called admanager.kentuckysportsnetwork.com, unless you have Google Adsense already; to gain more control, apply to Google's Ad Manager (currently on beta).

For the specifics, just google the software packages/plugin/how-tos that I mentioned. This would be a long post if I gave you all the details.

Am I available for consulting? Unfortunately not as my business is focused on non-profit web marketing at the moment. I am also a web publisher myself so I have to devote time to my ventures as well.

But... I hope you gained some insights and ideas on how to approach your project. Maybe I'll have some more free time to help out later.... but, again, I cannot promise.

Good luck!!!

[Greg G]

Hey Victor,

Thanks for the detailed reply. You have given me a lot of great information. I feel like Ning is really superior to Kickapps but my background is more in video and not web developing so I am relying on someone else to help me with the web developing and he is a big kickapps fan. I will definitely use some of your points to help my argument.

[PCOSgurl]

what did you decide?

[Greg G]

I actually let my web developer switch me to kickapps/joomla and it's pretty much been a disaster. I really wanted to pull something off similar to www.spill.com but my web developer insisted on using kickapps with joomla. we constantly have errors and joomla and kickapps don't play nice together. You can check out the site if you like it's
Kentucky Sports Network

The kickapps pages are brutally slow to load the message boards are slow to respond and the plugins on the homepage to try and feature members and photos are clearspring widgets that don't work so well

[abhi]

hey - i just checked out kickapps and your site.

well - kickapps seems ok - though they seem to focus mostly on video and seem to be making that their big bet.

i've only been with ning for 6 or 7 weeks - however the service has been good, and the new features they're adding i.e. tab manager, iphone support etc. - well, in my mind that pretty much makes ning untouchable.

also - for your site - the design is - well, i hate to say it - it's just not that good.
there isn't that much information or content above the fold (i.e. you have to scroll down for the news) and the layouts are not pretty like ning has (for most themes anyways).
the latest articles and KSN staff blogs should be visible without having to scroll.
look at the successful news sites - most of them feature the top articles above the fold.

your login box takes up way too much space - ditto for the banner and image.
i'd recommend moving back to ning. just my 2 cents.

[Greg G]

Thanks Abhi for the reply your not offending me. I am not a developer so I am seeking advice from developers. I loved what I was able to do with Ning with my very limited ability and reading advice from others on here and on network creators. My Ning site had over 800 people sign up in a month and our best day had over 9,000 page views with an average of over 3,000 the last two weeks. Since we switch to Joomla/Kickapps it's been all downhill the Kickapps pages are very slow and cumbersome not to mention they just don't look as clean as Ning. It's been very frustrating and I just don't know where to go from here. I think my best option is to switch back to Ning and find a new developer.

[lima]

Kick apps locks up, has several issues with their widgets, ... I just personally switched over from kickapps to ning... great end user platform... just easier to work with, more friendlier, and less money..

the only thing I don't like with ning that kickapps has is admin controls of end users with the ip's and blocking the ips if need be.

[Greg G]

I am in the process of switching back over to Ning. Lesson learned!

[Brandon Bradley]

Hi, I have a network on Ning and on Kickapps and trying to find a way to migrate so I have both on Ning!

First I must honestly admit that Kickapps is a very dynamic open social offering that has a lot to offer. One of their greatest features - one I hope Ning will develop one day - is their easy to build (and integrate) widgets. But, the 'KICKER' is that Kickapps have VERY intrusive google ads fed into your pages and videos. And unless you buy this ad service out - which costs thousnds of dollars each month - you going to have to live with ads popping up in your pages and videos that say things like 'click here for thousands of prospective Russian wives' - I kid you not, eeeeek!

Cheers,
Brandon
Hope this helps.