Why have a web site when you can have a portal?

por·tal (pôr'tl) n.

Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin portāle, city gate, from neuter of portālis, of a gate, from Latin porta, gate

Easy to Maintain

Web sites can be difficult to maintain and are often out-of-date and inaccurate. Maintaining an eHostPort portal requires no special software nor HTML knowledge.

Feature Rich with Collaboration Tools

Basic web sites provide text and graphics support. An eHostPort portal provides the features of a standard web site plus modules to support event calendars, RSS newsfeeds, picture galleries, XML, and more. Blogs, discussion forums, feedback forms and  guest books are collaboration tools which provide two way communications between you and your clients. The sites automatically include a search capability and breadcrumbs for easy navigation.

Security and Individualization

Standard web sites present the same pages to every visitor. A portal web site supports the registration of users so that they can login in the future. The login identifies the user for collaboration tools such as the blog, feedback forms and discussion forums. You can control the presentation of different web pages or components within a web page depending on the user. For example, users who are not logged in can see some public web pages, but logged in users will see more web content. You can even associate content with fees so that users will automatically be directed to a payment processor like PayPal. Once the payments is made, the user will automatically have the content made available to them. User registration can provide automatic access or the access can be dependent on a manual vetting process.

Guided Tour

For a guided tour to building a portal website, visit http://dotnetnuke.com/guidedtour 

Watch the Product Overview training video available at http://dotnetnuke.com/Default.aspx?tabid=810 

Look at the portal website at http://eXpertGenealogy.com/port

eXpertGenealogy Provides Advanced Portal Technology to the Genealogy Professional

Easy Updates

• Update your web pages using an easy to use page editor
• No need to purchase software like FrontPage or DreamWeaver
• Benefit: The web pages are always up-to-date because they are easily changed

User Registration

• Users register their email address so that you can communicate with them in the future.
• User information is automatically used in the Blog and Forum modules
• Visibility and functionality of modules can be restricted by user
• Benefit: You can collect a fee for access to infomation
• Benefit: You can communicate with visitors who register

Feedback Form

• Provide a form for users to initiate an email message
• Benefit: More contacts are made if it is easy for them to communicate

Forum

• Provide an online discussion forum to engage the visitor 
• Discussion history can be viewed by others
• Benefit: Provide web site content in a natural question and answer format

Blog

• Describe your daily thoughts on an easily updateable format
• Blogs have become a popular phenomena simply because they are easy to create and update
• Benefit: Provide web site content in a natural diary format
• Example Use: You could create a blog for your client describing your progress for their project.
  • The blog could be private so that only your client could see it
• Example Use: Your client could have a blog that they update with new information from you, thereby informing their relatives of your research
  • The blog could be private so that only relatives could see it

RSS Newsfeeds

• Automatically provide updated new information on any subject you choose
• Benefit: Provide constantly updating information automatically

eXpertGenealogy Provides Advanced Portal Technology to the Genealogy Professional

Easy Updates

• Update your web pages using an easy to use page editor
• No need to purchase software like FrontPage or DreamWeaver
• Benefit: The web pages are always up-to-date because they are easily changed

User Registration

• Users register their email address so that you can communicate with them in the future.
• User information is automatically used in the Blog and Forum modules
• Visibility and functionality of modules can be restricted by user
• Benefit: You can collect a fee for access to infomation
• Benefit: You can communicate with visitors who register

Feedback Form

• Provide a form for users to initiate an email message
• Benefit: More contacts are made if it is easy for them to communicate

Forum

• Provide an online discussion forum to engage the visitor 
• Discussion history can be viewed by others
• Benefit: Provide web site content in a natural question and answer format

Blog

• Describe your daily thoughts on an easily updateable format
• Blogs have become a popular phenomena simply because they are easy to create and update
• Benefit: Provide web site content in a natural diary format
• Example Use: You could create a blog for your client describing your progress for their project.
  • The blog could be private so that only your client could see it
• Example Use: Your client could have a blog that they update with new information from you, thereby informing their relatives of your research
  • The blog could be private so that only relatives could see it

RSS Newsfeeds

• Automatically provide updated new information on any subject you choose
• Benefit: Provide constantly updating information automatically