Website using open source Forums,Wikis and CMS (Single site)

Question

Hi,

I want to develop a site using all three FOSS i.e. Forum,wikis and CMS.But i have few doubts.

1.Can you suggest which is the best software for each of the three(Forum,wikis and CMS).? 2.How should i make the front end preferably(i.e should i use Dreamweaver or just use the CMS for the front end too) 3.How do i integrate all the three(CMS,Forum and Wiki) into a single website. 4.Should i make my own CMS? 5.Site popularity and monetary techniques which really works.

Please provide detailed explanations for your answers.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers!

Answer 1

1. MediaWiki, phpBB and Drupal are good examples of each.
2. Hand code or use CMS in-built designer, Dreamweaver etc. is a bad choice
3. Just give them the same theme; they should then visually integrate
4. Yes.
5. Rich content, simple visual structure, valid HTML5 markup, backlinks

Answer 2

1. MediaWiki, DokuWiki (wiki), SMF, phpBB (forum), Drupal, Wordpress (CMS).
2. Dreamweaver CS5 (not CS4 or lower!) supposedly has the option to work directly on a CMS skin, but sincerely, I'd either grab an existing one or make your own by hand. Then apply the skin (theme, template - it's got different names on different CMS) on the front end and there you go.
3. I suggest using Drupal. It has modules which allow you to integrate a forum (inbuilt module plus the Advanced Forum module) and wiki-like behaviour (Freelinking). All with a single login and a single graphical theme.
4. No, no, NO! Don't even think about it! Unless you work all your life on it, it'll suck big time compared to mature projects such as Drupal. I sometimes have to work on my clients' "custom-made" CMS and it's a pain in the back how limiting and primitive they always are. ALWAYS. Unless you have some really fancy needs that can't be addressed by any existing plugin/module/addon, don't ever create a custom CMS. And even if there's no module that will do what you want it to do, it's faster to write a module than an entire CMS.
5. Find resources about SEO and read them. There are many techniques and you should combine ALL of them to get any near-decent results. Start with organic SEO, which will cost you nothing (save for extra work - but believe me, it's way less when you do everyting right when creating a site then when you optimise an already existing site). If you need to advertise, go for some PPC campaign (AdWords, Google's sponsored links...) - you'll have to experiment with how much you invest and in what keywords though. There's no fixed recipe.