TennisConnect is a very flexible framework, and a very flexible organization.
The "Just what you need..." messaging in our literature refers to the role you want us to play for your business. You can choose to use and pay for as much or as little of TennisConnect as you need.
Our job is to provide you with systems that help build your business and ease administrative costs and effort. So we are not a web site developer, but we need to deliver our functionality through a web site, so a discussion of web site hosting options is at the foundation of your TennisConnect implementation.
There are only four hosting scenarios, and we support them all:
- Host your main domain
- Create and host a "sub" domain for your tennis specific functionality
- Host your own web site somewhere else and plug our interactive components into it
- Use TennisConnect behind the scenes entirely with no consumer facing features.
Main Domain Hosting
When we refer to "Main Domain Hosting" in TennisConnect we are referring to physically hosting your main web site. This service is free to every TennisConnect customer and is very appropriate for a tennis provider focused primarily on tennis.
There is no charge to host your web site, and the Web Page Editor, Styles and Themes are free. You should budget something for design and tailoring the standard styles and themes to match your business branding. Of course you can do it all yourself or you can hire a professional from our very cost effective
Authorized Service Provider network.
Candidates for Main Domain Hosting include tennis clubs, associations, CTA's, specialty retailers, and independent
teaching pro's. For a business like this, main domain hosting is just an added
benefit to using TennisConnect.
Sub Domains
A sub-domain is your domain with a prefix. Like partners.cardiotennis.com instead of cardiotennis.com. Or consumers.quickstarttennis.com instead of quickstartennis.com.
A sub domain is a
different web site from your main domain. Sub domain hosting is still free. Mixed use or general purpose businesses, such as health clubs, swim and tennis clubs, country clubs, fitness consultants, YMCA's, etc will probably not want to host their main web site with TennisConnect, but offer a link on their web site to a sub domain provides the tennis specific functions offered by TennisConnect.
Sites like
www.mainepines.com that link to the sub domain
www.tennis.mainepines.com or
www.ucmem.com and
www.tennis.ucmem.com
are good examples of mixed use clubs that use a sub domain to deliver
their tennis specific functionality. Each of these businesses still
drives their customers to their main web site, and opens up the tennis
specific site when tennis is selected.
Host elsewhere
You can host your web site elsewhere and simply plug in TennisConnect Components where you want to. The Tennis Center at College Park in Maryland is a good example of this. See
www.thetccp.com and choose the "Events" tab to see the TennisConnect calendar running inside the thetccp.com web site. Or look at
www.redondotennis.com and choose the Calendar option.
Hosting elsewhere is open to everyone, and has certain advantages and trade-offs:
- Advantages:
- The designer has complete control over the site using a technology they are already familiar with
- The designer has complete control over search engine optimizations techniques
- The designer has complete control over the implementation of compatible add-ins, such as blogs, surveys, even TennisConnect Components
- Your designer is probably local and can sit in the chair across from you to discuss goals and changes
- Disadvantage:
- A little extra cost for hosting, and varying degrees of reliance on your designer to make changes
- The potential to incur additional costs to update your main navigation if/when you decide to expand your site map
You can maximize the upside and minimize the downside as long as you introduce your designer to TennisConnect and make conscious decisions on what to have them code versus where to use TennisConnect Components.
Behind the scenes
You can use TennisConnect strictly behind the scenes. Many functional modules do not rely on a consumer facing component. You can use Group Email, Contact Manager, Find-a-Game, Online Tennis Court Scheduler, eCalendar and enrollment management, String Center, Demo Racquet Center, and TennisCollect without a consumer facing presence.
Summary
Whether you use TennisConnect for main domain hosting, or hosting a sub domain, you can still use the TennisConnect Themes with or without the assistance of a professional designer. There is only so much you can do without a technical background. Our goal is to provide you with very good low cost / no cost options, and the opportunity to spend as much as you want getting the precise look that you want.
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Article ID: 140, Created On: 9/30/2010, Modified: 10/4/2010