When building a website, we are all faced with the big question, “Do I want to be able to update this site myself, or let someone else do it for me?” This is a hard decision, and sometimes can intimidate a person. Ultimately, if you have put up a site on a free web page server, you probably have had the capability to go onto your site and change information when and if you needed to. This is what content management really is. In a nutshell, the ability to update the site yourself is content management.

There are six phases and 5 roles and responsibilities for content management:

Phases:

  1. Create
  2. Update
  3. Publish
  4. Translate
  5. Archive
  6. Retire

Roles and Responsibilities:

  1. Content - Responsible for creating and editing content ( phase 1)
  2. Editor - Responsible for fine tuning the content and the style of the delivery, including translation and localization ( Phase 2)
  3. Publisher - Responsible for releasing the content for use (phase 3)
  4. Administrator - Responsible for managing access permission to folders and files (normally by assigning access rights to users groups and roles) as well as assit and support in various ways (phase 4 and 5)
  5. Consumerm, Viewer, or Guest - Person who reads or otherwise takes in content after it is published or shared

The last two phases are the phases in which the content is changed, or saved and replaced by better more updated content. 

You may be asking yourself know “What may I need to update?” which is simple. If you are creating an e-commerce site, you may need to change information on pricing, availability, and/or styles. If your site is not an ecommerce site, but more of an informational site, you could need to change the information about your company like location, phone and fax numbers, products or services offered etc.

Updating a site youself, usually is very beneficial for changing and updating information about your company and its site. However, I do not suggest updating your site if you do not plan on making more than 2 changes a year. If you don’t, it would be a wise decision in my opion if you allow the company who build/hosts your site to do it for you. Not only would it be cost - effective, but it doens’t make sense to learn to do it just to do it a couple of times a year, if even at all.