Image courtesy of MandyXClear

Do you have a website, but find it a challenge to keep it updated? If so, you may be in the market for a Virtual Assistant who specializes in website management. Much cheaper than a website overhaul, a simple maintenance plan can keep your website up to date and looking fresh.

Lack of Time

Time has it’s affect on all of us. Websites are not immune to the passage of time. As the Internet grows standards change, browsers adapt, and audiences start to expect different things. How your website stands the test of time depends on how well you adapt to these changes. Unfortunately, the last thing a busy business owner needs is to spend an hour or two a week navigating a CMS or even worse, the code itself!

Along with changing consumer expectations are the opportunities missed because events and promotions are publicized at or after the fact. I’ve seen several business owners post things to their website the day of an event, or in retrospect. Websites that encourage repeat visitors should reward them with timely news. But face it, you’re too busy organizing the promotion or getting ready for the event to handle all of this yourself.

Lack of Experience

I have worked with several people who use preformated code to update their websites. They change their blog post based on filling in different information into the coded template and then they upload the information. Sometimes the template gets compromised: a DIV gets removed or added or a picture is bigger than the containing element. For those with little coding experience this can be horribly frustrating. For a Website Virtual Assistant, it can be simply a few minutes of looking at code and putting in the missing elements.

When I first started studying website design and usability, I had difficulty making my designs look just right. They were functional and pretty but lacked… something I couldn’t put my finger on. I spent hours rearranging elements and removing pieces hoping for balance. Then I broke down and asked a Graphic Designer friend of mine for help. The answer? Proportions and alignement. With a trained eye my friend could easily see why certain elements seemed off in seconds. If only I had asked my friend sooner! A Website VA can bring this same level of expertise to your website – freeing up your time for your business.

Lack of Money

A Website Virtual Assistant is going to be one of the least expensive options for making custom updates and changes to your website. Sure you can buy one of those “All-in-one” website builders for fairly cheap, or find a free WordPress theme, but does that really represent your business? On the other hand, professional web designers are definitely worth the cost but how many small business owners can afford them? Once the design is done, how many businesses can afford to make updates and changes?

In the days before I became a Website VA, I had the opportunity to participate in several website projects. I noticed a common theme: each of the businesses failed to consider the costs of updating the site. In one case, the web designer had locked certain areas of the site for updating. If the client wanted a change made in this area, they would have to contact the designer to make the changes… at $75 and hour. In the beginning this seemed reasonable, but after the first month and several small tweaks to text, the maintenance budget for the website was gone. Result: an expensive website (original design cost was $35k!) that now looks out of date and is difficult to maintain.

A Website VA is middle ground and can provide small changes, updates and upgrades for your site at minimal cost to you. Don’t fall prey to instant good looks that are quickly outdated and costly to upkeep. Choose a format (such as WordPress) that adapts to your client/consumer needs and your budget. Then find a relatively low-cost VA who can help you keep it fresh and exciting.

Image courtesy of Fox_Kiyo

I have been a fan of WordPress for many years. I began using WordPress as a blogger, but soon found that using WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS) was the best option for my needs. I’ve created several websites that are pure CMS or a CMS/blogging mix. I’ve found WordPress to be an extremely adaptable alternative to other website platforms. I joke that it is the chameleon of the web world, changing its face to meet the needs of the environment it is in.

As I pondered the uses of WordPress for small businesses, I came up with three distinct reasons why I would choose WordPress over any other platform.

It’s Very Easy to Add Content to a WordPress Site

Once the system is in place, the business owner can take control. If you are a restaurant owner and you want to change the weekly special on your website, you can do it with ease. If you find that you just can’t find the time then there are inexpensive people who can help you. It shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to change an item on your sidebar or in your website menu list. The days of designers and programers who will not relinquish site maintenance are gone. With WordPress, the ability to take control of your web presence is back in the hands of the website stakeholders.

It’s Fairly Easy to Add Functionality to a WordPress Site

WordPress can adapt. It’s a little more complicated than adding in content, but changing a WordPress site to meet your needs can be done. With WordPress I’ve created blog sites, static pages, e-commerce sites (yes within WordPress not as an aside) and membership sites. You don’t have to limit your website to what the platform can do, now you can design it based on what it needs to do to perform–without spending the big bucks to do it.

It’s Easy to Customize the Layout of a WordPress Site

There are many different free themes and paid themes out there for WordPress. If you don’t have a design in mind you may be able to find a free one that works well. Change a few of the header graphics and colors to match your businesses look and feel and voila! Customized look and feel at a fraction of the cost. If you have an existing design, and a little CSS/HTML knowledge you can adapt your existing design to lay on top of the WordPress loop. WordPress design can be as little or as much as you need it to be.

photo credit: Vince Kusters

I have been a fan of WordPress for several years now. I had been hard coding sites for a while and found it time consuming. Instead of providing content, I was constantly redesigning the look and feel. Then a friend introduced me to the WordPress platform – and I was in heaven. While I can still tweak the look and feel of the site to my hearts content (and without learning a completely new programming language!) it allows me to focus on what I really want to do: post quality content.

Content is King

You’ve read it over and over, that without quality content you’re website is over before it has started. So for a writer you want to make sure that the platform you choose for your website allows you to put in your content easily. I chose WordPress because of how user friendly the back end is for people who are providing content. I can access it from anywhere and put in content – and so can other authors. I want my guest authors, or myself to be able to easily put in photos, video and text and I don’t want to have to code the layout every time I get a Word document. Which leads us to the second reason WordPress is perfect for writers….

Design is Queen

Presenting the content in a clean fashion is almost as important as the content you provide. If your page is covered in several different blocks of text without formatting or color to differentiate where one thought begins and another ends, your readers will be confused. I can’t tell you how upset I have been when I clicked on an advertisement link that I thought was part of the content I was reading and then having to click back to find the original. Sometimes, the simplest design addition of a different background tint for a different section can make all the difference to your reader.

WordPress makes this easy for the writer by providing easy instructions on how to upgrade themes. You can often find these for free in theme directories. The template I am using for this website was made by David Hoyt and was found in the WordPress.com Theme collection. It’s a simple theme very well executed. I just tweaked a couple of settings and ta-daa – easy to read, classic, website. Thanks to David’s hard work, I can move beyond worrying about the design and concentrate on my content.

The other thing to keep in mind when looking at design is bandwidth. Without going into all of the details of image size reduction, you can tell if you’re website is suffering from bandwidth problems if it takes a very long time for your page to load. It doesn’t even have to be images. If you have a link to an off-site ad network that takes forever to load, it’s possible that your text will not be displayed until the ad is. This keeps your reader waiting. And if they want to look at multiple posts on your site they’re going to become easily frustrated waiting for ads to load every time they click on an internal link. Constantly check to see how long it takes your page to load and if any of your plugins are the culprits- don’t drive your visitors away!

Make sure you keep in mind that no matter how pretty yur website looks, if you don’t have the content your readers need the design means nothing. Again, content and design work in partnership to create a successful blog/website/product.

But the Pawns do All the Work!

Ease of use and navigation will also help your readers find what they’re looking for. WordPress makes this possible by offering two different types of posting: static pages and blog posts. The static pages serve as the meat and potatoes of your site. This is the content that shouldn’t change. Your prices, your portfolio, client statements, etc. This is all of the stuff you want your readers to have super easy access to.

The blog posts are part of the new wave of content marketing. Constantly changing content that helps build a relationship with your readers over time. WordPress allows you to create both types of content with the simple press of a button. Both of which are easy to edit, thus allowing you to change your prices, put new items into your portfolio or add a new quote from one of your clients.

WordPress allows you to easily update the areas of content and design so you can work on creating. With all of the other things you’re trying to accomplish as a Freelance Writer you’ll need to find tools like WordPress to simplify delivery to your audience.