Everyone likes the idea of logging into their website and updating the content – let me repeat, everyone likes the IDEA of logging into their website and updating the content. Whether you decide that updating your own website is a good fit for you or not depends on a few things.
Do you have the time to learn how to update your website?
People often forget that updating a website, even with today’s highly simplified platforms, is not quite the same as writing a Word document. There is a learning curve involved and it takes time to make most updates unless they are limited to items like a trade show schedule. Having access to limited pages such as a news page as opposed to having access to the entire website, is an option you may want to consider.
Do you know how to resize and optimize graphics?
Graphics are an important part of any website. Visual images can help make your point in a succinct way. Your designer should discuss with you how to manage graphics. A large graphic file uploaded will cause your site to download slower than optimized images and you need to be aware of the alt tag for search engine optimization purposes.
Do you know and understand Search Engine Optimization?
Listen, you can have a beautiful website with what you believe to be the best content in the world, but if no one can find it, it may as well not be there. Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO for short, is the art of optimizing website content, images, and coding to assist the search engines indexing your website. This means you need the proper research to find out how people are asking for what you’re offering, the proper coding in the form of images, meta and title tags. It’s not rocket science, but it is an art. Many people make the mistake of peppering their content with keywords – this is known as keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is not a good thing. Google recognizes it easily.
Most CMS systems today have special sections for you to enter the required SEO content, the problem is that many users are either not aware of them or just don’t take the time to fill out the information.
What are the advantages of a static website?
First and foremost, you get a website that can have all the bells and whistles you want. The designer does not have to factor into the design the fact that a novice will be making updates to the pages. Most designers can work out a plan where you simply send them the website changes and let them worry about how to fit the content into the website. This means you don’t have to hire an employee who learned HTML in high school just to make website updates. You can pay as you use the service or some offer a contract for X number of hours. You can determine how often you think you’ll be updating and negotiate based on that assumption.
If you choose the right designer, they will make sure that each and every page is optimized for search engine indexing. If they are going to market your website for you as well, they will be extremely diligent in this endeavor.
Interactive elements can be included in the website. This includes items such as part number builders, estimating tools, etc. Your designer most likely has coding skills to create custom programs such as this for you. (If not, look for a designer that has these skills.)
Basically, the sky is the limit with a static website.
So which is right for you?
That you’ll have to decide. Make a list of pros and cons and factor in the time you or an employee has to make website updates and make the decision that is right for you. Web-Kare offers both static and CMS websites and would be happy to discuss a project with you.