Often when I chat with business owners who are either looking for a new website or redesign of an existing one, the same question always comes up: how will future changes be made?
Enter: The Content Management System. This very simple, user-friendly coding makes it easy for website owners to make their own updates as often as they like. New event on Saturday? Update the website. New product available? Update the website. You get the picture. However, another question always comes up when discussing website options: What if they don’t want to update the website?
They don’t have time to update the content. They don’t remember how to log into the site. They say they have an issue handing over the responsibility to someone else at the company. Or worse yet, no one at the company wants to take on that responsibility. Suddenly, this simple task just turned into a large headache.
Unfortunately, many businesses pay a lot more each month to host a CMS website so that they can do these changes themselves, when the better option may have been regular hosting with an occasional update by their website designer/developer.
Some questions to ask yourself before embarking on a website project:
-Who will be making the updates? You? Your assistant? Are they enthusiastic about this new role? Their enthusiasm, or lack thereof, often will translate into their online message.
-Is this person comfortable using the internet? Logging in to and altering a website?
-Does this person have excellent grammar and savvy writing skills? This especially important when this person needs to create a blog post from a few bullet points.
-Have you given thought to your customer’s privacy? You wouldn’t want sensitive information published on the internet so specific guidelines should be strictly adhered to.
-How often will you be updating the website? Search engines such as Google give preference to frequently updated websites. But a CMS website will likely cost more per month than a regular website, however you will be doing your own updates as opposed to paying a designer to update the website for you. If you update your site a few times a year, then hiring your designer for those updates will save you money in the long run. Figuring this out early in the project would be beneficial to you.
TOVO creates beautiful, personalized website designs that can be updated either by you or by our team. We will work closely with you to find out what would be best for your company, your employees, and your future. Please contact us today for more information.
