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It takes a lot to manage your
website, especially if you plan to make money from
it. The internet is a global marketplace, and you
have to be able to serve people around the world,
24 hours a day. This article offers some great tips,
and don't forget also your web site monitoring. |
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Every action has a beginning phase
where you launch your activity, a middle period in which
you must sustain and develop it and a conclusion. Many
people set up a website enthusiastically but then they
find that they don’t have the skills or knowledge to
maintain and develop it. So, what are the challenges
in this middle phase of a website’s life and how can
you meet them?
Updating the site: The beauty of a website is that
it is not static like a brochure or printed document.
You can change it to reflect new products or new developments
in your enterprise. You can launch new campaigns, and
at any time you can add more content.
The problem for some companies and individuals is that
after they have paid a good amount of money to have
their site built, they do not have any personnel who
can make changes to the website, such as adding new
text or photos etc. One solution to this is to make
sure you have a good maintenance plan included in the
contract or agreement you make your with your web designer,
so that minor changes can be made by your original designer
Another solution, and one that gives you more flexibility,
is to train someone in your organization to be able
to work with an html editor (like Frontpage, Dreamweaver,
or other similar programs). While not everyone has the
skills to design a site from scratch, someone who is
able to use the normal word processing programs can
learn how to modify text and upload files to the server.
Promoting the site: If you just sit on your hands you
cannot expect your website to live up to its promise.
Many web designers do not have a clue about things like
search engine optimization or submission, and the new
website owner is left with a nice looking site, but
no traffic. Furthermore there are other website related
promotional tasks such as reciprocal linking, newsletter
editing and mailing list maintenance which do not fall
into the duties normally performed by the site’s original
designer.
Once again check with your web designer or developer
and see if they can perform any of these tasks economically
or give you some help. If not, then some of these activities
may have to be outsourced. Search engine optimization
and submission, and even reciprocal linking, the activity
of finding link partners, can be contracted from among
the hundreds of companies offering such services.
You or a designated member of your staff can learn
some of these tasks by reading online tutorials, e-books
and newsletters (like this one!). Though this takes
time, again it gives you flexibility and an ability
to work at your own pace and within your budget.
Finally if you can’t afford the outside services needed
to maintain and develop the site, and if you are not
sure how to train yourself or your staff, a third solution
exists in the form of Ken Evoy’s Site Build It (http://buildit.sitesell.com/webpromote2.html).
In which powerful hosting, design, maintenance and promotional
tools are provided along with step-by-step guidance
enabling complete beginners to build, develop and manage
effective websites.
Even before you start your website you should be thinking
one step ahead, so that you can develop the site intelligently
and vigorously, and ultimately be successful in your
web project.
About The Author
Donald Nelson is a web developer, editor and social
worker. Hehas been working on the Internet since 1995,
and is currently the director of A1-Optimization (http://www.a1-optimization.com),
a firm providing low cost search engine optimization,
submission and web promotion services. support@a1-optimization.com |
