website management

We often receive enquiries from prospective customers concerning the amount of effort needed to maintain and manage a website.

The answer generally depends on how involved you want to be in the day-to-day maintenance and operation of your website.

Another aspect is whether or not the website was built using a content management system (CMS). If not, an unskilled user will usually find it too difficult, time-consuming, and resource-intensive to handle.

There is often a trade-off between the length of time required to update content, the cost of employing a designer or developer to finish the task, and the level of competence required to execute the work effectively—even with a website built using a content management system.

Let’s examine each of these in more detail.

These days, with the advancement of content management systems, even those with minimal experience with the web have several options for controlling website functionality.

Of course, a user’s level of competency determines how complex the features are that they can handle.

The majority of content on information-based websites should be changeable by users possessing the bare minimum of the following skills.

Computer skills

For the most part, the user will need to be comfortable using a mouse and a keyboard.

As a result, some typing ability and knowledge with standard computer operations such as copying and pasting are necessary.

Understanding different file types, sizes, and locations for storing and saving files will make the job of a website editor easier.

Image and graphics skills

Since most websites require image related content maintenance, users must have access to and be competent with basic image-editing tools.

Digital cameras usually come with the software needed for cropping, rotating, and optimising photos for the web. If not, a quick web search will usually yield a variety of free alternatives.

Copywriting

A user that can construct coherent text blocks that project the kind of polished, professional image required for the website would be a great benefit.

Writing content in a tone that suits your website and brand is essential.

Coding skills

Web design skills such as an understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are not necessary for standard content management, but they will allow the user to perform more complex editing and changes that would otherwise require the help of a web specialist.

Generally speaking a basic knowledge of html (such as how to hand code a link) and a little CSS (setting font-sizes for example) will be handy to know.

Time management

Managing the content of a website may be very time-consuming, particularly for those who don’t do it often. A staff member may usually devote two to three hours a week to maintaining the content of a website, which is sufficient to keep it up to date and helpful.

This raises the question of whether staff time spent on website content monitoring would be better used for other projects, and this has to be determined case-by-case.

As most firms hire individuals to maximise their time at work, there may be times when it is more productive to contract out the site content upkeep to a web developer.

Costs

The question “Can content be handled internally with the time and resources available?” is a key factor in determining whether it is “economic” to maintain online content updates internally.

The organisation itself or channels utilised by the sector must be the ultimate source of content for changes to the website. But, it’s also critical to consider the cost of hiring employees.

If employees can be regularly assigned to work on website material without having to neglect other (income making) activities, the cost of hiring a web specialist can be reduced or avoided.

When this freedom is lacking, hiring someone else to finish the job could be less expensive than having a staff member work on projects outside of their area of competence and suffering from lower productivity.

Even though it is rare for someone to “break” a website built using a content management system, occasionally well-meaning staff members or those obliged to perform activities outside of their area of expertise may inadvertently disable certain functionality.

When this occurs, calling in experts is frequently the only way to fix it, which can be costly and lead to lost content.

Conclusion

The majority of firms need to weigh the cost of outsourcing online content management against the availability and skill of their personnel in order to determine whether the work can—and should—be done internally.

When there’s no simple answer, a hybrid approach is often adopted, where a staff member posts a weekly email and handles other simple, routine tasks, leaving more time-consuming or technically complex tasks to the web developer.

This might offer the ideal balance between expense and having a current, up-to-date website when internal resources are restricted.

If you would like to discuss your web and marketing requirements then please get in touch.

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