Designing Websites That Anyone Can Manage And Update
By Neil Kilgallon on Friday, 29 November 2024
Having designed and developed hundreds of websites for small startups through to globally recognised brands, ID Studio understands the importance of creating a website that can be easily maintained by staff with limited technical knowledge.
This article will discuss different content management systems and explain how ID Studio creates easy-to-maintain platforms to ensure your website stays up-to-date and fresh.
Understanding The Needs of Non-Technical Users
As a leading London web design agency, we have been fortunate to work with META, The Associated Press, DHL, and many other organisations with in-house marketing and technical teams that understand content management systems (CMS) well. We've also worked with small start-ups that have never previously had to manage and update a website. For these and many other companies with no technical knowledge, the thought of using a content management system for the first time can be a daunting experience. We understand this and deal with it regularly.
By choosing the right CMS, keeping everything as user-friendly and straightforward as possible, and providing first-class training and documentation, we can ensure that anyone within your company is capable of maintaining your website.
Choosing The Right CMS
There are hundreds of content management systems, ranging from simple solutions with limited functionality to feature-rich systems suitable for maintaining multiple complex websites.
Unlike other web design agencies, ID Studio is platform agnostic and will recommend a system once we fully understand your requirements.
We include easy-to-manage features like an intuitive dashboard and navigation, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, drag-and-drop functionality, and pre-designed templates with easy customisation. By incorporating these features, we make it easy for anyone with basic computer experience to update and maintain your company website.
Customising The CMS For Simplicity
CMSs come with many different features that not every user will need. By hiding unused or advanced features and creating custom user roles and permissions to prevent accidental changes, we streamline the options, making them far more user-friendly.
Providing Training And Documentation
All the content management systems we integrate for our clients include videos that show users how to perform daily tasks. Located within the CMS, these step-by-step tutorials make it easy to onboard non-technical staff as and when required.
Testing With Real Users
Before a website goes live, we undertake user testing with the team responsible for maintaining it. Observing how employees interact with the CMS while performing daily activities allows us to identify pain points and implement small iterative improvements.
Long-Term Maintenance And Support
Websites need to evolve, and content management systems are the same. When new features and designs are added to a site, they need to be built and added to the CMS. When these new modules are added, additional staff training and the production of new video tutorials need to be undertaken so that employees know how to use them.
Certain content management systems need regular plugins and security patches to stay safe and secure - here's looking at you, WordPress. ID Studio can handle this as part of an ongoing support and maintenance agreement.
Summary
One of the most important aspects of any website is usability. It should make it easy for visitors to learn about your products, services, or brand in general and to complete the site's primary goal (e.g., requesting more information or making a purchase).
The same applies to the content management system that allows your staff to keep your website fresh, relevant and up-to-date. It needs to be user-friendly, intuitive and efficient. If you are finding it hard to use your content management system, you should get in touch so that we can discuss how we can help.
