Internet and Businesses Articles

Through my years of Web Consulting, the leading complaint that I hear all the time from small business owners is that they cannot find good, reliable and affordable local Web help for their business. This issue has caused most small business websites to be old, out-of-date, and not reflect the branding and true image of their company.

Because of this troubling issue, the past five years has brought on the new idea of Content Management for websites, which has become a more widely used term in the Web Industry. Content Management, also known as CM, it is the process of creating, editing and storing information on the Web in a structured and orderly manner. For this article, I’m only going to discuss the importance of Content Management, in relation to the management of websites, and the need for the small business to effectively manage the content of their site for the future success of their business.

As with any new technology, Content Management first started with larger organizations and over the past five years has become more readily available to mid-sized businesses. Most of these companies used their existing in-house development resources to create Content Management Systems to manage the data on their website. This change in the way companies are able to manage their site(s) has allowed for mid and larger companies to reduce their website management costs and allows their sites to grow in a greater capacity than can be accomplished through hard-coding of text, images, and other website data, as was done in the past. This is one of the main reasons why these larger companies are able to grow their business online at such a tremendous and increasing rate.

As this is great for the mid to larger corporations, unfortunately, the problem still lies in the fact that small business owners continue to struggle to manage their data in a cost-effective and efficient manner. Most small business owners are still using local Web shops to help them maintain their websites, at a hefty cost and in a unreliable manner. As more and more small businesses need to manage their business online, there is a great need for Content Management solution providers that target the small business. The issue, however, is that small businesses cannot generally afford the standard Content Management conversion fees that apply to converting their website into a Content Management System, without using overseas development resources.

Over the past few years, many websites have popped-up that allow small business owners to register online and create a template-driven website to manage the data of their website. The problems with these sites is the fact that they cannot truly be customized and lack the ability for the business to provide an image and branding of their company because the designs and layouts of these sites are what’s referred to as “template-driven” and look like every other site out there. Also, when a business needs to add a custom component, form or tool to their website these template-driven sites most likely lack the ability to provide the business with this ability.

If a small business can find the resources to convert their website into a Content Management System, in a cost-effect and efficient manner, then they are 10 steps ahead of the game. With the ability to login to their own website to manage content, images, graphics, customer data, employee information, and much more, they are able to provide a return on their investment greater than when they had to hire a Web designer or developer to hard code their website data for them.

The next five years will cause some smaller Web development companies to transition and begin to offer Content Management for their clients, instead of providing static websites by hard-coding the data. This transition will allow small businesses to keep up with their competition, while reducing their overhead and in most cases provide a return on investment for their business. The importance for small businesses is to realize the importance of Content Management for the website today, begin to analyze their business, and locate the resources to help them convert their site into a Content Management System. The time is now and the importance is for them to stay ahead of their competition, while growing their website in conjunction with their business.

At Hudson Horizons, we provide website Content Management conversion for the small to mid-sized business to easily allow our clients the ability to manage the data of their website on a day-to-day basis.

Hudson Horizons is an e-business product, solution and marketing company specializing in creating highly sophisticated customized websites, web-based software applications and providing e-marketing services for small and mid-sized businesses.

Our vision and ultimate ambition as a company is to always strive to be "The New Light for e-Business."

By offering new, innovative and extremely competitive products and solutions to our customers, we provide better ways to run and operate their business online. http://www.hudsonhorizons.com/