Time to Update Your Website? Updating your website doesn't have to be a headache.
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Updating your site with new content--from personnel changes to product updates--used to be a chore if you weren't tech-savvy. Until recently, you had to call your busy IT department for help, contact the original site developer to update the code, or purchase a complicated and intimidating software program.
But thanks to an array of new web-editing software and services on the market designed for novices, you can now take basic website maintenance into your own hands. These tools give people with no web programming experience the ability to edit web pages as easily as editing a Word document.
Macromedia Contribute 3 from Adobe and Page Publisher from Interactivetools.com are two products worth a look, especially if your site doesn't use any advanced programming.
The tools used by web professionals to build sites, such as Adobe's Dreamweaver 8 and Microsoft's FrontPage, have become more intuitive. These products, which range in price from $149 to $399, will meet your needs if you're comfortable with software and need a feature-packed tool to edit a more advanced site.
You can also try an online website maintenance service such as Edit.com, which gives you the ability to quickly and easily change text, links and images, and even add new pages. To use the service, which also offers personal support, sign up at Edit.com and schedule a 15-minute phone orientation. The cost? A one-time fee of $75 to make 15 of your site pages editable ($5 for each additional page), and a service plan that's either pay-as-you-go ($25 per day of use) or unlimited ($25 per month or $180 per year).
Editlet offers a similar service for $29 per month. Editlet users can also choose to pay quarterly ($78), twice a year ($148) or annually ($260).
Updating your website regularly has a variety of benefits:
- If you want to rank well in search results, post new content regularly.
- Customers may overlook an outdated print piece, but they expect your website to be correct and up-to-date at all times.
- Rounding out your site with timely and relevant information like prices, hours of operation and special offers can help users reach a buying decision.
