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Recently I've had enquiries for 4 new websites, all of which have been set up as CMS (Content Management System) sites, so that the owners can login and update their information at any time that suits them without having to ask me to do it. Not that I mind doing it but you know what it's like when you have a good idea - you want to act on it immediately, irrespective of the time or day, and you don't want to wait if someone else is busy with another client.
I find that these sites have become extremely popular. They are built in Wordpress, very easy to use, even for beginners, and it's also very easy to change the look of the site simply by clicking on a button in the system to choose another template.
I edit the templates and add extras for the websites for my clients and set up their basic pages (and blog if they want) but then hand it over to them for whatever they want to do with it after that.
However, some who have contacted me, have been very new to the idea of a website and I've had to explain the various components to them, so they have some idea of what it all means.
There are three components:
- The domain name, address, URL, whatever you want to call it. The .com, .com.au and the many variations available these days.
- The webspace provided by your webhost. This is where your website will live and the domain name will point to this space so people can see your site.
- The website - designed in a web design program and published onto the webspace so that people can view what you want to tell them about yourself and your business or whatever you are showcasing.
If you aren't very web savvy then it may make sense to engage one person to manage the whole thing for you, i.e. organise your domain name, your webhosting and the website. Many webhosts or web designers do offer this service. However, it is important that you make sure the domain name, when registered, is in your name and not in the name of the person you engage. Otherwise if you decide to shift your website to another webhosting service you may experience difficulty in gaining access to your domain name so the site can be repointed to the new webspace. When I register on behalf of a client I always put it in their name, and the billing contact details but I list myself as their tech support and sometimes as their admin support too. That way when notifications come through about domain renewals or anything else, I'm alerted to it, as is the client.
If you have lots of photos you want to put up then I would encourage you to open a free account at Flickr.com and then link your photos from there - it saves on both webspace and bandwidth and will help bring an audience back to your site.
Same for videos - open a free account at youtube.com and upload your videos there. An embed code will be created for you and you can copy and paste that into your website so people can view your videos. Youtube actually tracks how many viewings have taken place and will also refer people to your videos via their own directories.
One of the many things I love about Wordpress, other than it being a very flexible program, is that it is very search engine friendly and newly published sites are listed within a very short timeframe, literally within the hour - unlke the 4-6 weeks it takes with traditional websites.
When you're thinking about a website you need to consider these things:
- colour, style, theme of site
- the text and images you want on the site
- the reason for the site - who do you want visiting it and how do you propose to get them there? If you're planning to use it as a business site then it's important that you can be seen as an expert in your field.
- any extras you want - Wordpress has tons of 'plugins' I can add for you that will allow all sorts of things to take place automatically.
- unfortunately it cannot be a 'set and forget' site. You may have
read about sites like that but the reality is a stagnant, non-active site is
a dead site and won't bring you any business in most cases.
Can you tell I enjoy working with Wordpress? Most of my sites are now in this program (which explains why I own a few sites), and even my very large (over 1,000 pages) vadirectory.net site is now a Wordpress site which means all of my virtual assistant team members can login and update their own profiles. So, that's another point - you could choose to have co-authors of your website too.
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