Five content management mistakes to avoid

Improve your user experience with the help of professional content management

Author

Christa Schwandtner

Content management & editor

What is content management?

The programming of your new website has been completed, your content strategy sounds promising, and all text and images are ready to go? Then it’s time to throw it all together! And believe us: Even the best web design, search-engine optimized text, intriguing images and state-of-the-art features are only ever as good as the content management behind them.

It’s the job of a content manager to ensure that your website is displayed correctly and that it works the way it should. This involves much more than just copying and pasting text. A lot comes down to professional website maintenance, including functioning links, a clean navigation, structured data management and regularly updated content.

Without a plan and a clear structure, it’s easy to lose focus – especially if you’re dealing with several large-scale websites in multiple languages.

Mistake No. 1

Doing nothing

The worst you can do is: nothing. You book in your car for an annual service, have it regularly inspected and, if necessary, replace certain parts. The better care you take of your car, the longer you will be able to drive it. With your website, it’s just the same – the only difference being that the internet is even more short-lived than the automotive world.

You can keep your website up to date by …

regularly checking plug-ins and updates and installing new ones if necessary.
updating or recycling your content.
deleting unused or poorly visited pages.
keeping your meta tags up to date.
adding alt text to your images.
finding outdated links and removing or replacing them.

Mistake No. 2

Not using an editorial plan

Often, more than one team member has access to the company website. This makes sense especially if multiple people are responsible for different parts of the website. For instance, while one person makes sure that your blog and news articles are up to date, another person is responsible for the product data section.

To avoid mix-ups, it takes meticulous planning. An editorial plan for content management topics allows you to keep track of who is responsible for which part of your website. Plus, you can use it to schedule news posts and to define certain content page designs. After all, the corporate design of your brand should be reflected on your website, as it ensures a harmonious overall look as well as good readability and an accurate representation of your company values.

Make sure that …

the individual pages have a uniform design.
your headlines are properly formatted.
your URLs are all structured consistently (regarding upper and lower-case spelling).
you draw up a plan of which pages you would later like to cross-link.

Our tip

A content management system (CMS) with PIM functionality makes product management much easier. It allows you to manage product data independently from your CMS.

Mistake No. 3

Slow-loading pages

Not so long ago, you had to wait a few moments for every interaction on your PC or on the web. Nowadays, people lose patience after only a few seconds of loading time. If your website takes too long to deliver on a desired interaction, you risk users clicking off.

If your website takes too long to load, it could be due to an excessive amount of data on a certain page. For instance, high-resolution images, autoplay videos, various plug-ins or sophisticated animations can all have a negative impact on the load time of your website. Page speed also affects how well your website ranks on search engines.

That’s why you should use Analytics tools to regularly check your website, especially those pages with a high bounce rate. The bounce rate of a certain page is high even though your content is good? Then it might take too long for your page to load!

Our tip

The PageSpeed Insights tool allows you to test the page speed of your website.

Mistake No. 4

Half-hearted content management

Good content management takes time. If you only enter new content “in passing”, you are bound to make mistakes. Content management takes a structured, meticulous and focused way of working – especially if you deal with sensitive data.

Would you like to do the content management of your website yourself? Then you should keep the following things in mind:

Plan enough time! Schedule enough time every week for your content management! Plan more time if you want or have to create new content pages.
Familiarise yourself with the system! Many CMS providers offer free tutorials explaining important functions of their system, which can make your life significantly easier.
Use an editorial plan (as outlined under Mistake No. 2)! At first sight, an editorial plan seems like a lot of work, but you will soon notice that it helps you work more efficiently.
Keep an overview! Make sure that the backend of your website is tidy, for instance by using separate folders for media and teasers. This makes it easier for other people to find their way around the system if they have to fill in for you.

Mistake No. 5

Not testing enough

Testing your website is another fairly time-consuming part of content management. Each time you publish new pages or delete old ones, you should test the respective pages of your website. Your website might look great on your desktop computer – but does it also work on smartphones or tablets, on larger or smaller screens and on notebooks? Plus, do you need redirects for the pages you deleted to prevent users from ending up on a “dead” page?

Before you publish a page, you should test the following:

responsive design and functionality in different browsers: incl. dark mode and private mode
links: internal and external links, links in texts and buttons
captions: Are your copyright information, alt text and description complete?
meta tags of your website: Use tools such as SEO META in 1 CLICK!
if applicable: Does the language switch work on all pages?
Avoid dead ends: Do your content pages provide a link at the end or are they dead ends?

Conclusion

Your website is your personal calling card

Your website is the place where your customers gain a first (and hopefully positive) impression of your company. That’s why it’s important that it’s well-maintained and up to date. What’s more, efficient content management positively influences your Google ranking.

Content management can be done by anyone who likes to work in a structured and meticulous way. However, keep in mind that the continuous maintenance of your website takes time and a structured approach. The more comprehensive your content, the more time it will take to manage and update it.

Are you too busy with other parts of your job to focus on content management? Make use of a professional content manager to keep your website neat and up to date – including everything from website relaunch to first-level support. Did you know that punkt & komma offers this service as well? Simply get in touch if you want to find out more!