It is a question I often ask, but not always the same way:

Do you have time for a Web site?

The question is posed to prospective clients, which some reading this may think is ironic. However after building Web sites commercially for over 15 years now, every once in a while a Web site languishes from lack of or poor content, let alone varying oversight and management.

Web Sites Don’t Update Themselves

With the advancement of content management systems (CMS) and blogging platforms, coupled with RSS, content syndication and aggregation among others, it is easier than ever today to update and post content to your Web site. In some cases a Web site can be updated with little human interaction. Where you can bring in content from other places, your own custom-crafted messaging is vital to the success of your Web site. This is the reason people will want to visit your Web site more than once.

When planning for a Web site, most all consider the monetary cost of paying for the site to be built. They will also plan to write the initial content for the Web site, and for a blog they will write a few blog posts ahead of time to ensure there’s initial consistency. Once the site goes live and the last sip of champagne is drank, the work continues to write new content, review existing content, let alone reviewing analytics, modifying tags and meta data for SEO, and making other changes and responding to readers to ensure the success of your Web site.

A Plan That Works For You

Don’t let writing content for your Web site be yet another item on your burgeoning to-do list! Come up with a plan and process to ensure regular, quality updates to your Web site. Where content plans can cover several blog posts in itself, here’s some attributes to consider in your plan:

• How often do you want to write?
• What do you want to write?
• Does everything need to be a long, extensive piece or can short updates be worthwhile ot readers? (Hint!)
• How much time do you have available to write?
• Ensure you review all content when significant business events occur (e.g. office address, company name change).

Keeping the content fresh on your Web site will be of interest to your Web visitors as well as the search engines. And these are certainly things to toast with champagne.

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