Content Management Systems (CMS)

Do you need to update your own Website with a Content Management and Editing System?

Content management systems seem to be a requested feature in every other website design enquiry I receive nowadays. Many of them come from people who want a website that they can update themselves.

Most people in business nowadays use computers and they may have developed skills consistent with allowing them to update or make changes to their own website content. But ... is this advisable?

Apart from the *adverse SEO affect this may have on the site's search engine rankings and some security concerns a CMS is a good option only for people who are PC literate and capable of using the administration interface.

Before content management systems were available the problem was that the technology involved in managing the content of a website was such that only highly trained people were capable of making website updates. Websites were written in a markup language and only people who were familiar with this language could make the required changes. To some extent this is no longer true.

Updating your own Website with a CMS or Editing System

Many software companies now produce reasonable website content management systems that people with some computer skills should be capable of using to edit their own websites. The problem is in choosing a suitable website editing system. The better ones still require a fairly high skill level and people like you, who are in business, often don't have the time to learn how to use them.

Some web design firms offer CMS systems that are quite difficult to use. This can mean that their clients will have to come back to them for support in the use of the CMS or website editing tool. This of course defeats the purpose because support costs money and money is normally what you are trying to save by updating your own web site.

Here at Toucher Web Design we can install these website editing tools. They are fairly easy to use if you know what you are doing and they can be installed on your site at design time for as little as £100. This means that you have control of sections of your website content management for as long as you want.

Problems with Website CMS

Unfortunately improper use of a CMS can often cause a website to look shoddy. People tend to start getting "creative" with the text colours and fonts this moving some website pages away from the original design. If you are using a CMS you must bear this in mind. You need some design ability unless you want to make your website look shabby and unprofessional.

There are also security concerns with some CMS systems. Most of these allow access to the website that has been uploaded to the server via a user ID and password. This puts the website at risk from hackers who may manage to find ways of accessing your content. This can have disastrous consequences when a site has built a good Google ranking. The hackers can change the content in ways that will cause you to lose your ranking and hence all of your traffic damaging your business. It may take a long time for it to be recovered.

Web Content Management Tailored to your Requirements

Contact us if you need information about getting a website with a content management system. We can offer advice on the best solution and provide you with a system if this is appropriate.

Alternatively, if you are not confident enough to do this, we can provide an easy means of editing a particular page or pages. For example, this would be ideal on your website if you required to regularly update news pages.

Note: We also provide ecommerce websites that are fully editable by the store owner. With an ecommerce site you can control all features of your online store including stock, categories, shipping and sales. These are more complex and different from the website updating and content management systems described above.

An Easier Alternative to a CMS or Website Editing system

It is perhaps worth pointing out that there is an easier alternative to a CMS systems for your website. As we said above, CMS systems can be quite easy to use but like any computer application they do require some skills and can take time to learn.

If you only intend to update your site every few months you may find that it is easier to get us to do this for you. Infrequent use of the CMS may mean that you have to spend some time re-learning it each time you use it. You may even have to ask us for paid support that could cost more than if we did the changes for you.

If required we can provide a low cost annual support or website management contract or just request changes on an ad hoc basis. With either of these all you have to do is email us the information for the required changes and we will do it for you quite quickly. Most site change requests are actioned within 24 hours. This method can work out cheaper than a CMS and it is a lot less hassle for you. (Ad hoc changes and support requests start at just £25 per request. In practice this covers most minor changes to your website.)

This is the preferred option for people to whom SEO is important and you should be aware that the changes you make carry a real risk of affecting the search engine optimisation (SEO) on your website. When your site is delivered it will probably have been optimised to help it get found on searches in Google and the other search engines.

The SEO that we have done involves careful placement of certain words and phrases within your site. Change these and your site's ranking may be adversely affected. We do not therefore recommend the use of CMS systems on sites where position and hence targeted traffic is important.

We put a lot of thought (and experience) into the SEO links and text content used on your site. After a few months it will probably be attracting your targeted traffic and enquiries. Unless you have knowledge of SEO techniques then the changes you make to your site will almost certainly adversely affect this.

Feel Free to CONTACT ME to discuss content management on your website if necessary.

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