Element Fusion

This is part three in our series on "Getting results from your website." Other articles in the series include: "part one: the website hub" and "part two: the impact of design." In this article, we're going to discuss the importance of being able to manage the content on your website yourself.

Dynamic content is happy content

The content on your website needs to change. It needs to change regularly. "Why?" you ask. Well, if you'll think back to part one of this series (or click here if you'd rather just read it again), you'll remember that your website should be a hub — a hub of information, communication, and archiving. It's impossible to use your website as a hub if your content does not change.

Plus, there are other reasons that regularly updated content is important.

It's important for your site visitors

When people visit your website for the first time, they'll be impressed if the content is fresh. On the other hand, if the most recent news item is two years old and there's information about last year's events, they will start to wonder if your organization has it all together. Perhaps even more importantly, if content isn't fresh, your visitors aren't likely to return. Why would they unless there is new and useful content for them to consume.

It's important for search engines

Humans aren't the only ones who love fresh content. Search engines like to see that a site is active and changing as well. It helps the search engine to know that your site might be worth the attention of those who are searching. Regularly updated content like blogs and calendar are very beneficial to your site's search engine ranking.

Do it yourself or you're not likely to do it at all

If you have to pay someone every time you make a change to your website, logic tells us that you're going to try and update your site as little as possible. That's why do-it-yourself content tools are so important. By giving you or someone in your organization the ability to update content at any time on your own, these tools encourage you to make changes to your content and to take hold of the benefits discussed above.

So, if you're looking to get real results from your website, do-it-yourself content tools are a must. If your site is running on one of our products — WaterCMS, SkyCMS or LightCMS — you've already got everything you need to manage your content. If you don't yet have the tools you need, let us know, and we'll be happy to discuss the options with you.