Traditionally, content managed websites have been used by big companies. However, in recent years small and medium-sized businesses in the UK and around the globe have started to see the advantage of these websites. The benefits of outsourcing IT and online marketing work are many and different and besides, the costs of such solutions have started declining due to growing competition.
Content managed websites do not differ from brochure style websites in terms of design and graphics. You can have a brochure style website, a catalogue or an e-commerce website. The main difference is that these sites have their content managed by a company other than yours. Usually, this is the company that has designed and built the site.
Website services can be many and different. Usually, the service provider is responsible for managing all the technical aspects such as the hosting, the functionality of the menus and icons and the quality of the pictures and graphics. You can request the provider to upload content for you as well.
Many businesses decide to have the entire content of their content managed websites administered by specialists for the purpose of more efficient online marketing. In this case, the service provider will optimise your website for search engines using various techniques such as keyword optimisation and link building. These are just some of the services that you can take advantage of. Most businesses make use of email marketing and have opt-in lists built via their websites. If you decide to use social media marketing, the service provider will include a blog in your site and integrate it with one or more of the popular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
Now that you have an idea about content managed websites it is natural to ask whether these are productively efficient and whether they actually result in an increase in sales and revenue. The cost of owning and using such a site varies significantly from one company to another. Some service providers charge a monthly fee. Others have packages for a set period of time. Generally, costs can vary from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand pounds per month depending on the services that you require.
The return on investment from content managed websites varies, but it is usually between 10 and 50 per cent. These are pretty high numbers given that the size of the initial investment is not particularly large. In general, it can be that businesses benefit from these kinds of services. Good content will guarantee you get higher traffic to your site and a fairly high conversion rate. As a result, you will see an increase in revenue.
The important thing is to find a provider that will deliver what is promised. It is common for companies in the internet marketing industry to work with set targets on search engine rankings and numbers of unique visitors to your site. At the same time, you have to take into account the fact that the meeting of such target usually requires months of work on content managed websites.