What Do I Really Need to Know About Content Management?

It seems there is still some questions about how can it be this easy?  I won't diminish the skill set needed to bring it all together...that's our job.  But once it's running, it will be as easy as checking your email, writing a Word Doc or even putting you latest family video up on YouTube.  

So lets take a moment and pull back the curtains and take a look at what you will need to know...or at least the terms you should be familiar with:

  1. CMS / Content Management Systems:  This is the game-changer in internet management.  All the software you need to run your website is on the server...free, as part of your hosting plan.  The only program(s) you might need on your own computer is an image editor, maybe a video and audio editor if we are focused on media.  From a marketing standpoint, it would be nice to have a FaceBook page, maybe a Linkin profile.
  2. Office 2007 or 2010:  Not only will this allow you to prepare your material, but you can make PDF files which display on your site better than the original document
  3. A Hosting Company:  This is your server.  This is where your files will sit, your software (CMS) will sit and all your content will be stored.  We highly recommend Ace-Host for many reasons, but the three main ones are:  Low cost, great support, all the CMS software free.  Don't confuse a hosting company with the "cloud".  In a way, they are somewhat the same thing.  A storage device where you can upload files to.  But a server then has all the systems and software to make your site run...not just store data
  4. WYSIWYG: We have all head that: "What You See Is What You Get".  Most of the time, that is simply an editing term.  What you type or put into a document is what you will get...visually.  Here is where you would doing the vast majority of content work in one of our websites.  This has all the little icons and functions you will recognize from word or other powerful document enditors
  5. Script:  A script or 'plug-in" is just a pre-made piece of wording that you copy and paste where ever you want the function it provides to appear.  You don't need to know how to write one, you just need to say, "I want a YouTube video to play here" and paste the little script into the article using the editor above
  1. Module:  Like a script, but with more options.  You might want to have the ability for someone to translate EVERYTHING in your site to Japanese.  then you would basically drag-and-drop a translator module into your editor and on the site, they can drop down the window and choose from hundres of languages
  2. Componant:  This is a large, powerful function that you can add to your site.  You may want to have a really cool eNewsletter displayed on your site that also allows people to sign up for it and have it automatically send on pre-set dates.  Again...drag and drop.