Nobody wants to go through the process of redesigning their web site but sometimes it is critical for business. There are always good reasons to consider doing so including outdated design, outdated programming, a stale approach, increased competition, etc. But all of those reasons are taking a back seat to the two most sweeping issue...
Nobody wants to go through the process of redesigning their web site but sometimes it is critical for business. There are always good reasons to consider doing so including outdated design, outdated programming, a stale approach, increased competition, etc. But all of those reasons are taking a back seat to the two most sweeping issue in web design right now... and those issues are connected. Of course, I am talking about mobile sites and content management.
Clearly, no matter what you do in a web redesign, you want to have a content managed site if you want to be competitive. The ability to add new content to your web site (and to do so without maintenance fees) is absolutely critical to continually improving your relevance to search engines. Think of it this way: The Internet is expanding you need to be expanding, too, in order to maintain your edge. This is how search engines think in general. New content is always more relevant than old content. Your ability to add new content on demand will keep you competitive or make you more competitive. So, that is Advice #1: Make sure your site is designed with a content manager you can use. When we design sites, we use Joomla. It is one of the leading content managed web development softwares and we like it because of its frequent updates and vast number of extensions. If anyone offers you WordPress as an option for this (which is common), just know Joomla will serve your needs better over time.
So, having established that content management is critical, think about this: What happens when most of your traffic is seeing your mobile site and/or iPad site rather than your standard web site... you know the one you are updating with fresh content using your content manager. Unless your mobile sites are also managed with a content manager (which most are not), all those mobile visitors are seeing the less-robust content of your mobile site. The kicker is that most sites are headed toward that tipping point where 50% or more of visitors are coming via mobile devices. That leads me Advice #2: Build mobile sites accessible from the same content manager as your main site. If you don’t you are asking for a maintenance nightmare.
Dog Star Media has an easy solution to this dilemma. We designed it with these connected issues in mind. Our Mission Control web site coordinates your standard site, your smartphone site and your iPad sites all with one content manager. First off, it makes all content available for all three sites, so it no longer matters how many people are using what device. And, equally as important, one change can easily be posted to all three formats. Mission Control eliminates all issues about content management and mobile viewing. The best advice I can make for those of you who are thinking about a new web site it to use a Mission Control web site to focus you on one thing after your new site is finished: how easy it is to add new content everywhere. If you are planning to get a new web site in 2013, contact me at donald@dogstarmedia.com to discuss Mission Control. For a limited time, we are going to offer some payment plan specials. It has been pretty popular so far this year and we want to make it as easy as possible to get Mission Control.
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