Making Changes on Your Web Site

Most web sites need to be changed on a regular basis. A company might add new products or services, or need changes on a specific aspect of the site. And it good for organic search engine optimization to add new content on a regular basis.

In this article we will talk about how changes can be made to a site on a regular basis. There are avenues for you to make the changes yourself or you can have a web design make the changes for you.

Have a Web Design Company Make the Changes

Most companies opt to have the company or individual who designed their site manage their site. Since you are busy running your business, then it makes sense to have your designer make the changes. This allows you to concentrate on growing your business.

My company has a large list of companies for whom we regularly make updates to their site. Our clients email our designer directly with the changes and we keep a running tally of how many hours of work we’ve done. We then send them an invoice at the beginning of the following month. For a couple years we had one company that was averaging about 20 hours per month in changes.

Hire Your Own Web Designer

When you have a very active web site sometimes it makes sense to hire a full-time web designer. They are able to concentrate on keeping your web site up to date, plus if you have someone in-house, it aids in the speed and clarity of the site changes you need. And it might save you money in the long run.

Make Changes through Macromedia Dreamweaver

Macromedia Dreamweaver is one of the standard web design softwares on the market. It cost about $400 and can be difficult to learn. With Dreamweaver, you build a Template and then create individual pages from the Template. Any time you make a site-wide change to your site, such as adding a link in your navigation, you make the change to the Template. Once the Template is saved, the changes are replicated on all of the pages of the site and you upload all of the pages to the hosting server. It allows you to make site-wide changes quickly. Within the individual pages are editable areas where you add content and pictures.

The marketing manager for a new client of ours recently bought Dreamweaver and is in the process of learning how to use the software. She will be able to make changes within editable areas of the site pretty easily. Once she learns to use the software well, she will also be able to make site-wide changes as well.

Use Macromedia Contribute to Make Changes

Macromedia Contribute works in conjunction with Dreamweaver templates. It costs $150, and there is not learning as big of a learning curve as the full Dreamweaver program. You can only make changes in the editable areas that were created in Dreamweaver. Contribute allows you to create new pages and link between pages. The one drawback is that it doesn’t allow you to make changes to the Template.

Using Front Page to Make Changes

I’m not a big fan of Front Page. It comes standard in some of Microsoft’s software packages. Unfortunately it can be difficult to use and it creates a lot of funky backend code that is difficult makes the search engines work harder to index your pages. The price for this software is around $130 and is included with some Microsoft Office packages. I used to design with this software 10 years ago but found have found Dreamweaver a better software to use.

Employ a Content Management System

There are a lot of Content Management Systems (CMS) out there right now. You can also have a custom CMS programmed by a programmer. They can be very easy to use for someone who doesn’t know HTML. You log into an administrative backend and make changes using a WYSIWYG editor, much like Microsoft Word. You can create new pages with graphics and content. It may be more expensive on the front end but it allows to make changes without having to contact a web designer. And because it’s a login system, more than one person can make changes to our site. This is a good choice if you there are going to be a lot of changes to your site by a variety of people. And the system can be programmed to create site maps automatically.

Our clients make changes to their sites through a variety of methods. Though the majority of them rely on us to make the changes, some of them have taken up the challenge of learning new software and making the changes themselves. We have also created a custom CMS which allows our clients to make the changes themselves, too.

No matter what system you choose to use, be sure to keep your site up to date. It will help your visitors to have accurate information, and it will help your search engine rankings. One of the advantages of using a web site as a marketing tool is that you are able to make changes quickly and inexpensively compared to print material. Keep close tabs on your site and you will see success.

Dave Carlson owns Green Chair Marketing Group, an Internet marketing firm in Denver, Colo., specializing in driving visitors to web sites by search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, and web site design/redesign. Call 720-922-3124 or visit his web site at http://www.GreenChair.net.