Why a good content management system is just as important as a good website design

When setting up a new website for your business there are a number of factors which need to be addressed, for example is the navigation easy to use, will users be able to find what they are looking for, does the design fit your branding and is all the relevant content present. These are key parts to consider regarding the front-end of your website. But one factor that can often be overlooked is what will the back-end of the website be like?

A good content management system (CMS) is just as important as the website design as this is the area where you can have constant control over your web content. Website content needs to be regularly updated to ensure that the site is current and also to help with SEO rankings.

With a good CMS controlling your website is easy to do. A good CMS does not necessarily mean the one with the most frills and trimmings it just means an efficient system where you can upload content and images easily and quickly and that each update is consistent with the chosen design.

One problem we have come across when dealing with clients with existing websites is that they have none or very limited CMS capability meaning that whenever they need to change any copy or images they have to contact their website developer to make the changes for them. This is not only time consuming and costly it is a very inefficient way to make changes as you have little control over how the changes look.

A CMS enables you to manage the content on your website to make sure it is up to date, relevant and useful to users.

Some important factors to consider when looking into a CMS system are:

· Can you change layout and size of content?

· Can you access content on all pages?

· Are you able to upload your own media such as images or videos?

· Can you add news stories or case studies? Can you add new pages into the existing navigation?

The complexity of the website will determine what addition capabilities you may require as part of your CMS. It is important that you discuss all these options with your designer/developer before you start to develop your website.

But don’t forget even though a good content management system can be easy to use it still means that any changes made should be thoroughly checked and controlled. Poor content is one of the first things to turn someone away from your site.

Whale Marketing win contract with Swiss-based Glass Manufacturers

Whale Marketing Limited a full service B2B marketing agency based in Manchester is pleased to have won a contract with Swiss-based Glass Manufacturers; Glaströsch. Whale Marketing will be responsible for marketing their fire glass brand FireSwiss within the UK Market. Although Glaströsch are already a well-established glass provider throughout Europe this is the first time they will be fully concentrating on penetrating the UK market.

Whale will promote the Glaströsch brand in the UK and raise knowledge of their range of FireSwiss; fire glass products.

Whale has a wealth of glass experience with MD Hannah Whale previously fulfilling a marketing role with Pilkington Glass; existing whale clients include CT Glass, K-Seal and Independent Glass.

Hannah Whale, Managing Director said ‘It is great to be working with Glastrosch who have successfully established themselves in other European markets, we are excited about launching their brand in the UK and bringing their extensive, certified and well renown range of fire glass to highly competitive UK market place.’

Are you networking or not working?

Face to Face networking can be one of the most powerful tools for any business if used properly but how can you ensure that you are getting the best out of it?

With hundreds of different networking groups in any area, finding your networking home is key.

If early mornings are not when you are at your best and you wake up looking and feeling like a member of Kiss then perhaps try a lunch or evening event. If you are a new start up with time on your hands, then attending daytime events may be the best use of your time.

Ask yourself … do you prefer to simply chat to individuals or do you prefer structured 60 second roundtable presentations, do you want to hear a topical guest speaker?

Sometimes, the fear of walking into a group of unknown people can have you heading straight to the bar, but remember you are representing your business and unless you are selling hangover remedies.. you could be damaging your reputation.

There are events to suit all and below we have listed a few of our favourites in the North West:

www.fbeonline.co.uk – Breakfast Networking events for the property and construction sector

www.gmchamber.co.uk – Chamber of Commerce events attract senior business people and are always well located with good attendance.

www.4networking.biz – 4N breakfast events which allow you freedom to visit different venues.

www.networking4business.com – Also known as Simply Networking, these are informal and well attended daytime networking events held in central Manchester.

www.networkcheshire.co.uk – With events held at places like Panacea in Alderley Edge attracting a high level clientele.. what is not to like!

Remember: If you are networking out of normal working hours in your own time, make it enjoyable, make it worthwhile and set yourself goals for each meeting so that you come out having achieved something.

People buy from people and putting your personality on your brand is key, so as you are reaching for that 5^th glass of Chardonnay… remember why you are there and if you have achieved your goals.. then cheers!

Social Media – Friend or foe?

The recent UK riots have been the cause of much debate… not only about the state of society in general but the part in which social media has played in it all.

The media went crazy.. how was it that so many youths could gather so quickly? The co-ordination must be social media’s fault surely? Should they close down Twitter? Are Blackberries the sole cause of yob culture?

Twitter was a barrage of rumours and incitement and Blackberry’s BBM messaging service was blamed for the fast gathering of looters, but was it all bad news for social media?

Amongst all of the chaos and blame, The Guardian ran an article which was poignant called, ‘Social media can help riot-hit communities recover’

The article pointed out the positive side of social media and the role it can play in rebuilding communities. During the riots, individuals were able to gain reassurance from tweets by official government bodies and police twitter streams and you could quickly follow escalation of violent areas, validated by photography helping people to stay away from riot areas.

Critics are quick to forget that Social Media helped a great deal with the clear up and in bringing communities together to support local business and catch the looters. #riotcleanup and #RiotcleanupManc became UK wide trending topics on Twitter and Facebook and out of this, the humble broom became the new icon for community spirit and the embodiment of all things good.

Catching the looters became society’s way of managing the issue civilly, posting photos and videos and shopping those caught inciting violence as well as sharing success stories of arrests such as the yob who burnt down Miss Selfridge in Manchester.

As a Manchester based business, we saw the effect this had first-hand. Communities such as this pull together even stronger in times of crises and although social media seemed to play a part in the cause… the aftermath is where we should focus. A few hundred looters got together to riot, but to put this in perspective… hundreds of thousands of people came together to support each other in the aftermath and this is exactly what social media was made for.

Lorem ipsum - Why we use the same old Latin page filler!

How many times have you seen the following:

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum."

Yes, the bog standard filler for designers with no copy to run into the artwork.. but why do we use this and where does it come from?

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. It comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC.

The lorem ipsum text is typically a section of the above copy with words altered, added and removed that make it nonsensical in meaning and not proper Latin.

Where text is easy to read in a document, people tend to focus on that, rather than upon overall presentation, so publishers use lorem ipsum when displaying a typeface, design elements or page layout in order to direct the focus to the publication style and not the meaning of the text.

If you are over lorem ipsum and want to be different... try scrambling your own nonsense phrases such as our copy above! (We wanted something Whale related for ours and so we used an excerpt from Moby Dick and reversed it, just to be different!) .)..