CMS (Content Managed)

CMS allows you, the owner of the site, to edit and add your own content, create new pages, edit existing pages, news items, links and so on without having to learn all the tricks and traps of web site structure or language. There are many sites out there requiring the constant attention of the original designer or programmer and this represents a significant ongoing cost far exceeding the initial cost. If a real estate operator needs to engage the programmer every time he or she needs to add a property to the listings, cost of ownership over a year would soon outstrip the original purchase price, yet this is still the most common form of site - low initial cost and high ongoing costs of ownership. There is a hidden cost also, in that the site is not constantly being updated, it does not have an "alive and well" fully up to date feel about it.

A CMS driven site on the other hand would include a secure site administration area wherein the real estate agent would add the property simply by filling in a form, entering property price, description, selecting a picture or two and clicking "save". The CMS machinery would then create all appropriate links and catalog entries together with the new page sewn seamlessly into the website. More advanced systems also allow the agent to create new categories of property at will, add staff members to the contact page, nominate weekly specials, add real estate news items and so on.

There is no reasonable limit to the extent such systems can reach, ecommerce (on line shopping), news sites, product catalogs with or without shopping carts, sporting club fixtures and results, restaurant menus and on line bookings, clothing, cars, clubs, whatever your business or hobbies are, there is a CMS solution to automate the maintenance of the website.

A typical CMS website can be managed by clerical staff with minimal training. Most commonly in fact the training is practically nil given ordinary abilities to log onto the internet and work with a browser. If a staff member can fill in a simple form describing a product, or copy and paste a news item from a wordprocessing document, he or she can manage your website for you on a daily basis with no ongoing dependency on outside web developers or programmers whatsoever. The sites in the portfolio are all entirely content managed by their respective owners. We are currently in the process of creating a practice site for clients to experiment with.