Content Management: The Basics of CMS

by Diana Roberts

The purpose of a website is to provide information. Whether your site is product or service based, educational or commercial in nature, content is king. Few websites are truly static and even fewer should be. Along with good design, the key to keeping your website relevant, fresh, and valuable to users - not to mention the search engines - is regularly updated content. Paying a web designer every time you need to upload new photos or change text can be expensive and time consuming. Fortunately, a new focus in the IT world on Content Management Systems (CMS) makes it easy to manage updates yourself, even within complex dynamic sites.

Simply put, content is all the “stuff” on your website: text, photographs, charts, graphics, audio/visual elements, downloadable forms or PDF documents, interactive pages and applications that allow users to do or affect something. In short, content is anything that appears on the site, and all the elements that comprise it. Content management is how you manipulate that “stuff”: text revisions, calendar and event updates, new photographs, forms, even new pages or tabs on the site. A CMS is a computer program or software that allows you to add, delete, or manipulate the content, generally without any special knowledge of code, programming or web design magic.

When developing a website, your designer will want to know in advance what content the site will include. This is important, because content influences both the design - how the site is composed visually - and the structure of the code to ensure that everything works smoothly. Ultimately, everything on the “front end” of a given website (the part the user sees) is the result of programming code on the “back end” that translates into a given effect. This is what scares most non-developers away from updating their own sites: it's literally a whole other language.

This is where a CMS comes in. The increasing number of programming languages, an exponential increase in the sheer number of websites on the World Wide Web, and the many features now integrated with other technological gadgets (cell phones, PDA’s, networks, etc.) make it increasingly important to make sure that your content is both accurate and properly integrated into the site structure. If you have an active calendar section, for example, that lists important dates or event information but doesn’t get properly coded to print or download to peripheral devices, it sort of defeats the purpose. Or, say you want to update product information or feature a new item, but the photos don’t load properly. Even more to the point: do you really have the time or money to contact your web designer every time a change needs to be made? Probably not. If you have an integrated CMS, you don’t need to know the code.

In most cases, CMS input or editing panels are designed to look and operate just like the familiar programs you use every day. Text is generally straightforward, using standard keyboard typing, copy-paste functions and common formatting commands typed directly into the panel. Some use the familiar button or menu technology to upload photos, graphics and other files. In short, they’re designed in such a way that anyone with standard computer skills can accomplish basic web editing tasks, without knowing html or other coding languages.

In an ideal world, all CMS are programmed to integrate smoothly with every page and function on your site. In reality, however, many CMS solutions can cause as many problems as they solve. Most off-the-shelf versions have limited functionality. They are generally designed to work with do-it-yourself web design templates, both of which place limits on how much you can customize your site or editing options. Depending on the version, they can be full of glitches and may be intended to work with a very limited number of web design programs. In short, off-the-shelf CMS (in conjunction with the templates they are designed to work with) may very well hold your website hostage.

Customized CMS, developed by your web developer specifically to work with your website, is the best option. Alternately, there are sophisticated, professional caliber CMS available from both proprietary and open source vendors, usually via Internet download or subscription. You can get these yourself, or ask your designer/developer to research the best options to integrate into the site. Proprietary software requires the purchase of a license and cannot be altered. “Open source”, on the other hand, means that code can be viewed and modified by the public to encourage peer review and improvement by other programmers. These are generally free, though not always. Professional CMS can be extremely effective and most are designed to work with a range of design architectures. Depending on the source and what you need, they can range in price from free to quite expensive. Many of them are efficient and cost-effective. However, unless you know what you’re looking at, it may be hard to tell. Some of them are great, while others can hobble your site as much as an off-the-shelf version.

It all comes down to how much time and effort you can invest in learning about the technology. One of the main problems with the more sophisticated do-it-yourself CMS is that they can be quite complicated to integrate into your site. Incorporating a CMS into the original infrastructure of your site generally improves functionality and allows for future customization. Most proprietary CMS vendors offer tech support
, but they may charge additional fees and "support" usually doesn't mean a technician who can come to your office for installation or set-up. While a handful of open source CMS providers offer excellent products and tech support, most expect you to be knowledgeable enough to manipulate and/or customize the code yourself. Most open-source providers value effectiveness, broad applicability, and free access to further information. They usually provide links to other resources, product reviews and blog posts.

The simplest, safest, and most effective solution is to go with a custom CMS developed by your web design/development firm. This is the most direct way to ensure that your CMS is designed to meet your individual needs and is integrated with the specific configuration and features of your website. Customized CMS may be more expensive up-front, but for sites that require frequent updates or complex integration across various pages and functionalities, it may be more cost effective
in the long run. Work with your designer to make sure you both understand what your website and CMS needs are. A customized CMS may ultimately be less expensive, especially if you count the time and frustration of trying to figure it out for yourself.

A reputable, professional designer/developer will be able to guide you through the decision making process and answer your questions. If you have the interest and are feeling techno-savvy, it’s always a good idea to do a little research on your own, even if you leave the job to your IT specialist or web designer. The more you know, the more likely you are to get what you want and need.

If you need help with a site with Content Management please visit us at New Media Worlds

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Create Great Keyword Lists and Improve Click Rate

by Scott Bradley


The creation of a good keyword list is the main thing for a strong PPC campaign. Therefore, it is extremely important to go for research activities and make sure that you get hold of quality keywords. Make sure to create a long keyword list that allows you to go wide and deep. Therefore, the need is to investigate every available opportunity and make sure that you get hold of opportunities available to you.

When you begin creating the list, have a step-by-step approach that allows you to build up the list through a continuous updating process. The first list will be a draft one that will allow you to build an initial structure for the keywords that you think should be in the final list. Next try to expand into deeper areas so that you can add more keywords based on the initial ones.

Try to form separate groups of keywords and accommodate all essential ones in them. These keyword groups are basically categorized as a single keyword with a lot of variations available with them. You can simply design your search marketing or Adwords campaign around these keyword groups itself. It does not matter if a specific domain does not exist in the content. There are people who type a variety of keywords during search and therefore some amount of traffic will always be available to you.

Make sure to avoid the general keywords and dig a little deeper while expanding on related terms. If possible, rephrase the essential terms and try to use them for your SEO purposes. People generally type a lot of options around the essential keywords in a domain to look for content as required by them.

Make sure to separate all the available keywords into different lists and create separate adgroups for each of them. There is a need to make sure that you do not drop all the keywords into a single campaign itself. Try to place all the typos in one adgroupScience Articles, plurals in another one and continue with the process. This will lead to easier targeting for your ad writing activity thereby offering you with the option to track results in a much simpler manner.

Another great way to build up your keyword list is to take a look into your log files. They will offer extensive data regarding the keyword that is used in your site by a visitor. The focus of your website should not be limited to the home page alone. Make sure to search for all the main keywords on the search engine and also look out for the related terms as and when they appear in your analysis.

Having a look at the kind of keywords used by your competitors cannot be ruled out. Once you understand the activities related to building of keyword lists make sure to dig deeper and find more keywords to add to your list. Always remember the fact that the keyword list is the first building block that allows you to go for efficient PPC activities.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott Bradley is a successful business man in a wide variety of internet services.
His organization Echo Digital, provides affordable services to small to medium business to assist them to grow their business. Affordable Web Design, Web Hosting and Internet Marketing

We do Membership Website Design. Please learn more about our services at http://www.NewMediaWorlds.net

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