Moving on Up..to WordPress
Lately, I have had a couple of questions from clients regarding upgrading their website to WordPress. Most still have their original sites which were built by a web designer or web design company in an editor such as dreamweaver or frontpage. Many of these clients went with packages that included the designing of the website, hosting and maintenance.
In the past, this was the only way to have a website… you had to hire someone to design and maintain the website. Anytime you needed a new page or wanted to update an existing page, you had to contact the webmaster or designer. Now, with the advent of CMS (content management systems) like wordpress, drupal and joomla, this kind of website is no longer the norm. Although, drupal and joomla have a bigger learning curve than wordpress, these applications still make it possible for you, the client, to make changes and updates to your website pages. You no longer need to have a special program, all you need is an internet connection.
But don’t say goodbye to your webmaster yet. Although wordpress is user friendly, if you want to change the colors in your theme or make changes to the CSS file, you will need someone who is knowledgeable in HTML and CSS. Also, most entrepreneurs and small business owners see the wisdom in hiring someone like a virtual assistant to maintain their website so that they can concentrate on building their business. So having a webmaster or an assistant who is knowledgeable in website maintenance is still a necessity, especially for very large or complicated websites.
Many websites that are built today use CMS technology. Using a CMS like wordpress is beneficial for both you and the designer, it frees the designer from minor details like updates and lets them do what they were meant to do… design websites and puts control of your website in your hands. You may or may not want that control, but at least you now have options.