Content Management Systems (CMS)

Keeping Your Website Up-To-Date

It is well known that once you create and publish any work, it will not be long before you want to change or update it. In the online realm, this is known as web management or web maintenance. There are several different forms of web management utilized by companies. Some companies (typically larger organizations) hire web designers full-time in order to handle all website changes. Others contract out to web design companies on a monthly or quarterly basis allowing for a flat price or set amount of hours to be worked per period. However, due to the irregularity and unpredictability of a company actually wanting to update its website, most tend to pay a designer on an hourly basis.

The Small Business Webmaster Problem

Small businesses can rarely afford hiring a web developer to work exclusively or part time for their company, and often times they also do not have consistent enough changes to justify monthly or quarterly web maintenance packages, costing them money in the long run. Instead, they turn to paying their designer an hourly rate. This can be the best way to go if you actually have a large amount of changes at once that the designer can focus on. But say you simply have a paragraph to change here or there, an update to the news and announcements section, or a few pictures you want to swap out. If you call up your designer to change a few paragraphs, it will most likely only take him a short period of time; however, the bill you receive more than likely will end up being rounded to the nearest half-hour, which can put a dent in your wallet as these changes add up over time. Also, sometimes there are delays in the turnaround time as your development firm is undoubtedly handling numerous clients at once.

Is there a better alternative for small business wanting to keep their site up-to-date at a low cost? Absolutely!