Choosing the right team for your CMS Website
In CMS Websites- “with great power comes great responsibility” (Part 1), I focused on having a long-term strategy for your website and content management system. The article touched on the importance of choosing the most appropriate technologies and building a strong foundation in the early stages of development.

Another area just as important to the success of a CMS website are the people who will be involved with your content management system training, maintenance, marketing and management of the site.

Some business owners/managers like a hands on approach, keen to learn how to use the content management system themselves, while others prefer to share responsibilities from day one.

Below are some questions to contemplate while in the planning phase of your CMS web development strategy.

• Do I want to learn to manage and update the website myself?
• Can I assign these extra tasks to myself and comfortably fit them in with the day to day running of my business?
• Do I need to employ or contract other people to manage and maintain the website?
• Do I currently have members of my staff who can manage these tasks?
• How many hours or days per week, per month, do I expect my staff to be involved with the website? (Full-time, part-time?)
• If on a part-time basis, will they be able to manage these tasks with their current workload?
• Do they have the communication, imaging and organisational skills to do this for my company?
• Who will be responsible for web maintenance and website enquiries?
• Who will partake in the CMS training?
• Who will write, edit and approve copy?
• Is there a need for ongoing photographic images and video?
• Who will schedule and publish the content?
• Who will monitor and analyse the web statistics and data?
• What are the types of online marketing that we want to be involved with short and long-term?
• Who will be responsible for marketing the website?

If an ecommerce-shopping cart and/or advertising modules are also part of the plan, then more questions around resources and services will need to be added to the list. And certainly the more powerful your CMS website becomes, the greater the responsibilities.

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Coming soon:
CMS Websites – “services & resources to help you”
CMS Ecommerce Websites – “require a team effort”

Related articles:
CMS Websites - “with great power comes great responsibility!” (Part 1)
Is your business website ready for a content management system?

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If you would like to know more about our content management systems you can contact Paul or Marie. Go Man Go specialise in Web Design and Development, Web & Email hosting, Digital Marketing and Outsourcing Services.

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PowerPuff & Astro images courtesy of: Ernest von Rosen

Fans of Marvel action hero Spider-Man, may well remember the above quote from Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben, in the Spider-Man 2 movie. Whilst it may sound a touch melodramatic, a CMS (content management system) website can be a very powerful publishing tool, especially when teamed up with an ecommerce shopping cart engine, revenue generating advertising module or ad server.

For small/medium sized businesses and non-profit community organisations, a CMS provides opportunities to publish upcoming events, new products and services, blogs, media releases, industry news, competitions, advertisements and more.

A CMS also becomes an effective marketing tool for a business that comes equipped with an online marketing strategy. It works especially well when the business has allocated dedicated resources and services to manage, maintain and publish content on a regular basis.

Build a CMS website for the long term
A website with a content management system is best viewed as a long-term investment. For example, say a business wants to start with a Stage 1 version of their website with the intention of expanding the site at a later date. This could be due to a number of reasons - budget, time constraints, staff, first website, lack of content and so on.

The most cost effective approach is to include the big picture planning and scoping in Stage 1 of the web design phase; with the appropriate technology and web hosting services selected to allow for future growth. Technical designs for the larger framework, including information/ content architecture and interface designs are taken into account to ensure that there is a strong foundation for Stage 2.

Without this forward planning, a business may find themselves throwing out the initial website and having to start all over again - an expensive exercise, that can reduce the business’s speed to market and have an impact on internal staff morale and motivation.

Technology and planning aside, the key to a powerful CMS business website and its longevity are its people, both internal and external to the business.

Content Management System Websites… (Part 2) focuses on the web content team.

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Coming soon:
CMS Websites – “services & resources to help you”
CMS Ecommerce Websites – “require a team effort”

Related articles:
Is your business website ready for a content management system?

—————————————————————————————————-

If you would like to know more about our content management systems you can contact Paul or Marie. Go Man Go specialise in Web Design and Development, Web & Email hosting, Digital Marketing and Outsourcing Services.

—————————————————————————————————-

PowerPuff Image courtesy of: Ernest von Rosen