Being Prepared

Having a web presence is essential for business these days but it’s not enough to just be online. You need to make sure your website reflects your brand, communicates well and is updated regularly. What many businesses don’t realise is what a huge job this can be.

To begin with, putting a new website together is a mammoth task. Someone needs to be in charge of working with the designer to make sure it will do everything it needs to, now and into the future. Then there is the task of gathering content.

Professional copy needs to be written for every page and any images and diagrams need to be collected ready to use. This can take a professional copywriter several hours or even days but for someone whose expertise may lay elsewhere, it could take many times this.

The best advice is when you are starting a new website, dedicate a staff member to the job of creating content and do it long before the website is ready. Make sure they have time allocated each week to get the job done. Even if you choose to pay an agency to professionally write the copy and source images for you, you will still need someone within your organisation to guide them on what the content needs to be and making them aware of any points of difference that need to be communicated. This will ensure your website goes ‘live’ sooner rather than later and gives you that all important web presence.

Once the website is ‘live’ you will need to have a dedicated staff member placed in charge of keeping the website up to date. You’ll need to make sure they have time in their schedule to do this. It is important to keep all content relevant, make sure news articles are added regularly and galleries are refreshed as new images become available. Make sure events are promoted and that they are removed once complete. Out-of-date information on your website reflects poorly on your business.

The Springbox website offered by Jack in the box works on a CMS (Content Management System) so the client has a choice how they manage content. The system is designed so that a client can easily fully manage the site themselves. After a comprehensive training session many clients choose to create and upload all of the website content themselves. They then inform us when it is ready to go ‘live’ and continue to manage the site into the future. Others choose to supply dot points and image libraries to Jack in the box and let us put the site together for them. We write the copy, choose the best images and upload it all to the site. Once the site is ‘live’ most clients come in for training so that they are able to make any adjustments in the future.

Both are fantastic options which will likely be guided by budget and the ability of staff members within your business.

The important element is, no matter which option you decide upon, if you are on the web, make sure the content is relevant and that the website is an extension of your branding.