Mike Druttman, Senior English Marketing Writer
Getting the right package for Content Management Systems (CMS) is important to make websites much easier to handle.
Building a website is sometimes compared to building a house. After you’ve been through the whole construction phase, how would you do it better the next time around? I’ll share a few insights.
Proper set-up
There may be many areas on a web page and they all have to be controlled in clearly defined areas – such as 1) Top quote; 2) Main heading; 3) Intro paragraph; 4) Main body text and 5) Photos.
Managing photos
The CMS must be clearly defined for how it imports photos, updates them and what size of file is acceptable. If the size limit is 300 Kb and you’re trying to upload a 1MB photo, you should either be told ‘resize photo’ or perhaps have the CMS automatically resize for you. There should also be a ‘replace photo’ function.
Search engine friendly (SEO)
It’s important that your CMS includes an add-on function for adding titles and descriptions to each web page you build. You should be able to control the URL name for each page: NOT https://www.searchenginegenie.com/search-events/view_entry.php?id=717&date=20090803
BUT https://www.searchenginegenie.com/search-engine-optimization-articles.htm
The system needs to allow for easy hyperlinking, both for texts and for video inclusion.
Updating and security
A CMS like WordPress is an ‘open’ system, which means it is vulnerable to hacking. A critical need is to ensure that the system is always updated with the latest security updates. Do it yourself or, better still, have a technical guy update the site for you regularly.
Final advice
Having a good webmaster with a strong understanding of your CMS program (like WordPress) is a huge advantage. Such a person should know which solutions and add-ons are the best for you.
The Web is full of tools – some that work excellently over time and others that will show their shortcomings after a while. Choose well.