Once you’ve launched your website, you’ll eventually need to make updates.
Perhaps you have a small informational site and only make a few changes a year. In that case, you might just send changes to your web developer, who can make them for you.
For more complex sites, and mor frequent updates, you’re going to need a Content Management System, or CMS.
A CMS is software framework on which your website is built. It allows you and your team to make content updates through a specialized interface, without having to modify the actual code of the site. The content is usually stored in a database, and distributed to the site user as each page is loaded.
If you’ve ever used a blogging tool, like Tumblr or Blogger, you’ve used a simplified CMS.
There are numerous options for a website CMS; we’ll go into some of our favorites next week.
Action Item: How do you handle updates on your current website? Does it use a CMS? If so, collect any necessary login information and store in a safe place.