As internet development accelerates, so does the need to produce content quickly, simply and accurately. Webmasters will agree that the importance of getting the story published online preformatted and in a timely manner is critical to repeat return visitors. In the search for something easier and faster, developers around the world using the newest technology have begun to design new company sites that can be managed by just about anyone. Content can be delivered at any time of the day and published from any internet enabled computer in the world. This design is called a Content Management System (CMS) and sometimes referred to as a Web Portal or Web Management System (WMS) for online publishing.
A Content Management System (CMS) can simplify the process of creating, publishing and archiving content on the companies live web site. This technology allows more time for sales and marketing. Some of the solutions available include formatting, imaging, file management, (PDF documents) or scheduling announcements prepared weeks before hand and automatically delivered by the CMS on a specified date. Content can be created, formatted and approved weeks or months ahead of time and scheduled to become visible at a later date.
All of these tools can be managed via the company web site from anywhere in the world by directly editing content through a web browser. The CMS will handle formatting text, article and image placement or creating links to match the look and feel of a professionally designed site. Anyone working with HTML can attest to the time requirements involved with positioning and formatting objects so they look just right on a given page layout. For example, many small business owners still use HTML editor products such as FrontPage or Pagemill with a template that is preformatted for their site design. Most of these sites have a design that is 3 – 5 years old and are in desperate need of an upgrade.
With even the smallest company site comes the importance of accurately representing the product, service or the companies’ persona correctly and in a publicly acceptable way. In turn, this has lead executives to design a publisher hierarchy that prevents content from being published until an assigned approver or editor has reviewed the new content. This process would simply mirror the company policy on permitting certain content to be published on the public site. Unlike blogging, corporate documents need to be accurate and free of personal bias.
This process is where user management, permissions and roles have come into play. Role assignment can control which users can publish and approve content to the site. A good design will allow one user to create and post content to the site but it is hidden from public view. Another user looks at the content and approves or disapproves it for publication thus making it visible to the world. The process can be extended to groups of individuals like a committee or board and updated through the same site and from any computer connected to the internet. In San Diego a writer publishes his final draft to the site but it is restricted from public view, then the editor views and approves the content sitting in his office in New York. The intent here is to control the public content and publication date.
As they say in business ‘time is money’. This is no less true when doing business on the internet or what is called ecommerce. As always, custom design work is expensive when billed at an hourly development rate but the return on investment can be beneficial for companies that handle multiple daily updates or in a situation where live data, like inventory availability, needs to be available and updatable 24/7.
Regarding ecommerce, products and services are managed via the web. The entire inventory, order tracking, customer support, credit card processing, sales reports and more can be handled securely via SSL (Secure Socket Layer) directly on the web site. With a CMS shopping cart, any web site can be transformed into an online store with few employees managed 24/7 from any computer on the internet. Options like reporting and customer support tickets can be generated live on the site and responded to by employees working from anywhere in the world.
In the world of web development, formatting is an important aspect of site design. Each page and their links need to have the same look and feel as the entire site. Developers use a CSS or ‘Cascading Style Sheet’ in order to standardize the site content such as fonts, colors, spacing, footers and headers. What’s useful in a Content Managed site is the ability to copy and paste content such as text or images without the need to reformat it before publication. The CSS is built into the back end where the end user need not see it and content is modified after the site has been updated. This allows more time for writing, updating and marketing site content instead of spacing images and formatting fonts.
A well designed template is the face of any company web site and projects a certain personality about the company and the way they do business. A site template does not need to be overly complicated; it just needs to layout the site in a logical manner pleasing to the eye. Visitors will frequent any site that includes well written and accurately updated content but they also need to visually accept it.
When shopping for a Content Management System consider the following:
Can the novice web user navigate and update content on the site?
Can the novice web surfer find what they are looking for?
In my opinion this is a big one. The ability to search for a keyword is important for marketing and customer service. Internet users are very familiar with search engines and a good company site should include this feature. If they can’t find it quickly, they’ll be hitting the back button.
On design, can you customize search features in the admin section?
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As always customer support is a large part of doing business on the internet.
Will your site offer a help section or support links, what about trouble tickets?
Is there a FAQ section that is easy to understand and updated frequently?
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Create and assign roles to your employees such as Authors, Editors, Approval and Administrator. Make sure site content has a process flow that must be followed before publication.
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Will the site permit archiving of articles or publications?
As an administrator, I don’t know how many times users have asked to dig through backup tapes looking for a proposal from last year they accidentally deleted.
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The administrator should have access to manage users, files and site content without restrictions. This limits your use of billable support time and allows your staff to provide solutions in a short period of time.
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Logging is a very important addition to any site, not only for marketing and order tracking but for troubleshooting. For example, customers may consistently hit an error page but never report it to you or the webmaster. A well designed log will notify the administrator with the error and page URL if possible.
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After the CMS site is setup and running, you may wish to add a customized solution such as inserting streaming video, displaying PDF files, or importing different file formats to your site. Include a set rate for customized development in the agreement even if there is no plan to upgrade the site in the near future. This can save time and money in the long run.
This is just a brief overview of the possibilities available to a business interested in upgrading their current web site to a CMS. A well designed Content Management System should be simple enough to be managed and updated by the novice user but powerful enough to deliver useful content to customers via the web. I believe that a good CMS should simplify things, not complicate them and can be a cost effective solution over time in any business environment.