Before addressing the heart of the matter, I would like to make a necessary premise: nowadays, working on the web may seem easy and cheap, but it is not.
This, in my opinion incorrect, belief is certainly fueled by the many portals that spread misleading ideas with slogans such as “create your site in minutes”, “create your own site”, “site online in 5 minutes “etc.
If it were that easy, one would wonder why there would be people who study for years to train in this sector and why every day they deepen various topics with the feeling of never knowing enough, despite their efforts.
In the early 90s, the webmaster was an all-encompassing figure who dealt with a variety of activities on the web.
Today these activities have become increasingly complex and evolved, so much so that at least a dozen specialized figures in various sectors have been formed (web design, SEO consultant, social media consultant, programmers of various types, etc.).
This is enough to understand that, as in everything, before venturing into an activity, it is necessary to have a wealth of knowledge to do it in the best way, especially when at stake there is the image of one’s own company.
At the cost of repeating myself (because in our blog we have clearly stated this several times), a company’s website represents its online showcase; certainly no one would want their showcase to disappoint those who see it (the users) otherwise the opposite effect would be obtained.
To create a website that carries quid pluris either you have the necessary skills to do it correctly or you need to rely on a professional.
Also because, in 90% of cases, the aim pursued by creating a website is to make yourself known and present your business and professionalism to find new customers. And I know that I will probably break some dreams in saying it but … the website is not enough!
Creating the website is certainly the first step: once done, however, it is necessary to put in place a whole series of marketing activities to get results. And such activities cannot be handled in an impromptu way if they are to be profitable.
For these reasons (and for many others that I will not discuss here so as not to go off topic), our advice is to rely on a technician who manages and coordinates everything.
This does not mean that, while relying on a professional, it is possible to independently manage the contents of your website.
Once online, fixed and optimized, you can also think about updating and implementing it without resorting to the intervention of the web agency every time.
In fact, there are two options for constantly updating the contents of your website:
- Updates are indicated to a web agency or to a professional who makes them for you;
- You make them yourself . If your website was created using a CMS (if you don’t know what a CMS is, read Websites: template or custom graphics) you have the possibility (by learning to use the software correctly) to vary or implement its contents without putting your hand to code.
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And here we come to the point: when does it make sense to think about updating the contents of our website independently?
- When updates happen periodically.
As mentioned earlier, to update the textual and graphic content of a website it is necessary to know the CMS with which it was developed and to know how to use it correctly.
If the changes to be made are proposed at a distance of a long time from each other, the notions learned end up in oblivion and, every time, it is almost necessary to start from scratch. - If you are a enthusiast
You must consider that the results are not obtained in 5 minutes; so, if you are not already interested in the subject but you do it only because you hope to obtain results, it is difficult for this to happen. - If you have time to invest in it
In my opinion, the decision to independently manage the contents of your website can be a winning choice in cases where you are an entrepreneur with a fair amount of free time and little budget to invest.
Let’s take the example of a person who has recently opened his own business, has few customers and the consequent need to make himself known. As this is a recently opened business, you will have little liquidity on average and, therefore, you will have every interest in saving money and using your time by carrying out an activity that you could otherwise commission to others.
The contents of a website greatly affect its positioning and therefore the results it can generate. Therefore, it is necessary to learn how to generate content, what characteristics it should have and how to position it within the pages.
If you get hives, maybe it’s better to give up!
On the contrary, I think it is a poorly suited option for those who have a well established business. A professional, doing it by trade, is quicker in modifying the contents of a site. And when you consider that time is money, it makes little sense for you to divert yourself from your business to perform tasks that a professional would complete in half the time.
Consequently, when does it make sense to independently manage the contents of your website?
- When updates are sporadic
- When you are a beginner with the world of the web and when you are unfamiliar with the computer world: if using a computer makes you sweat, perhaps it is not a good idea to try your hand at this undertaking.
- When you are short on time.
After these considerations, here is the minimum you need to know:
- Knowing writing well written texts
To position themselves and meet the needs of users, the texts must be original, clear and must use a language suitable for the subject and type of user we wish to browse our site. - Have graphic bases: in fact, you need to know how to use a graphics program to resize images and save them for the web and have the ability to harmoniously arrange the contents on your site.
- Know the basics of SEO in order to position yourself.
We have already said how the quality and quantity of content considerably affects the positioning that the website can get on search engines and how appearing among the top positions is the ultimate goal of almost everyone.
To achieve this goal it is necessary to know how search engines think and by which logics they are governed (although no search engine expressly says how its algorithms work, the years’ study has led experts to formulate theses more than based on what works and what doesn’t). - You need to have an idea of how content on social networks works and how it is shared.
- It would be useful to have a basic knowledge of html: even using a CMS, modifying some blocks implies knowledge of HTML. For this reason, if you do not have it, it is always good to be able to contact your web agency before making mistakes.
- Knowledge of the CMS and the plugins used.
Knowledge of the software used to develop the website is essential.
For this reason, for example, we suggest our customers who intend to manage their own content independently to carry out a mini training course and create their accounts with the possibility of binding maneuvers, to prevent (or at least reduce the possibilities) that they accidentally generate errors.
In conclusion, managing the contents of your website, if you want to do it correctly, is a real job, not comparable to posting a social network just for fun.
