Technology Today
Content Management - Are you using it?
7/1/2007 - Kevin McCluskey
So...you've got a great web site. It's designed well. It looks nice, and you're getting rave reviews. Things should be smooth sailing from here on in, right? Everyone will want to visit your site; it's that nice, right? Well why does traffic fade? Why are you getting 10 hits this week when you got 100 last week? There could be a very simple answer to this. Content management is the key.
Content management can be on of the most crucial aspects of your web site, and unfortunately it can be one of the last things to be considered when your web site is in its development stage and all of the pieces are being put together.
What is content management? It is the ability for the non-technical web site owner/administrator to change, add, or remove content to keep a web site looking, sounding, and reading fresh to the most important people on this planet: the end user.
A good Content Management System (CMS) will allow the site owner/administrator to make changes to the site to keep events, contact information, directions, news articles, about us sections, and a whole array of other things that do change often in your organization that you need to make your target audience aware of.
So...how does it work? Well...the long story short is that during the design and implementation of your web site, certain areas of the site are identified as needing to be updated often through the CMS system. Those items/areas are programmed into the site and connected to the CMS system and the original version of the content is added to the CMS so that to the end user, the appearance is seamless and doesn't appear any different from the rest of the site.
How do you use the CMS? First you need to access the system. That usually involves a username/password to an online application. We at Laubacher Multimedia, Inc. utilize the "Portal" for this feature. Second, you'll need to select the page you want to edit and then the section of that page you want to edit as well. Thirdly, you need to use the online editor to manipulate your content and use a set of tools to adjust styles, colors, links, and more to maximize the impact of the content to the end user. Once your changes are done, you save the content and its then automatically published to your site and end users will see the "fresh" content on the site right away.
So why is there a need for fresh content? Why can't you just let well enough alone and let my web site run itself? Studies have shown that people re-visit web sites that have content that changes or is expected to be different on future returns. Successful web sites change content almost daily (sometimes hourly!) to attract users over and over. Think about it, would you go to CNN.com if they had the same news stories all the time?
So in the end, having a successful website can often times come down to what your site is saying, but sometimes more importantly it comes down to what your site is saying and how often that your site is saying something different as well. Keeping it fresh and updated for the end user invites repeat traffic, better search engine results, and more people that enjoy your site more than they would if the content remained static.
If you have questions about how a CMS would help you and your site's content management, please contact us at your nearest convenience, and we'd be delighted to help you understand the options available to you and help you make the best decision on the best next steps to make your web site better and better.
I hope this has helped you and I hope that you return back for more of "Technology Today"!
Kevin McCluskey
Vice President - Senior Developer / Production Coordinator
Laubacher Multimedia, Inc.
kevin@mywebdept.com