Just as the World Wide Web has evolved in exciting ways over the past two decades, so has the business of building websites. In the heady early days, during the mid-1990s and beyond, enthusiasts were able to construct websites using WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) authoring packages such as Front Page and Dreamweaver.These ground-breaking software packages enabled anyone interested in building a home page for themselves or their family to create a website with minimal knowledge of HTML.
However, whilst such software gave many a great start in web design, in the long run these packages became unwieldy, especially for companies. One issue was the sheer cost of buying multiple “per seat” licenses for all those wanting to get involved in web development. Another issue was the World Wide Web itself and its seemingly exponential technical expansion and growth. With user interactivity positively encouraged and rich media being incorporated as a matter of course, web sites have over the years become very complicated beasts, albeit under the bonnet. Consequently, any specialist software package, such as Dreamweaver, would need to be constantly upgraded to keep up – and on a company-wide basis.
Consequently, it has become increasingly impractical and expensive to be the owner of traditional desktop website development software.
Here at SEO Consult, a leading UK-based web development company which also specialises in SEO with a track record of creating successful websites for business, we take an alternative approach. We have developed our own web-based CMS (Content Management System).
A web-based CMS is a clever software package which is housed directly within your web browser. The CMS contains an editor’s view of a website, meaning that the site authors can go in and add content, just by firing up their web browser. No expensive, specialist software is required.
One great advantage of a CMS is that it encourages collaboration both within the web design team and between the web development company and its client.
As soon as an early prototype of the site is up and running, all those involved in the web development project can effectively “drop in” and take a look. All they need is a web browser and most likely a username and password. Clients can therefore begin populating the prototype site with sample content, such as news and background information of the company, as well as a company blog.
Meanwhile, the web design team can try out various templates and rapidly garner feedback from the client on the most preferred options. The website will therefore begin to grow organically, with the CMS as the focal point.
Moreover, SEO can be incorporated in to the web design process from an early stage. This is particularly the case since our custom-built CMS makes it easy to populate a site with keywords in just the right parts of the site, as well as to make changes to keywords where required.
All in all, with the emphasis on close client collaboration and transparency throughout the web design process, we are proud of our CMS and what it helps us achieve.
