Managing an internet business website basically consist of three main function. These are content research, development and maintenance of this content. The extent of work in any of these functions depends on the kind of website. It also depends on the amount of content your website needs to be competitive in its market. The more content your website has, the more work you will have. Equally the more unique your content, the more work you have, particularly in researching and developing.

Researching content entails determine what content to put on your site. For example a curios website may choose to inform on the culture behind particular pieces. They could detail the culture behind beaded Massai necklaces. On the other hand a book-store website could entail reviews of the books they offer for sale. All of this content has to be researched.

Developing content entails constructing the researched information into valuable information to your users. This stage include site structure design, page structure design, content format eg text, audio, video etc. It is important to note that this stage has implication on both user experience and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Managing content basically involves keeping your content fresh and up to date. If for example an event has been passed by time or facts have changed, you need to reflect this in the website.

If you have ever tried to manage a 50 page website, you know how easily an internet business becomes a full time job; especially for small internet businesses, that outsource minimally. The process of getting content from research to website can easily take days and this does not include maintenance.

As in any business, you need to focus on growth and increasing value and revenue. This in internet business translate to mean that researching content and to some small extent developing content should be your primary work. Most of content development and nearly all maintenance should take the least of your time. Unfortunately by the time your site is hitting 100 pages, you are tied down more in maintenance, using most of your time in the least productive function. There is a primary tool that can successfully help you focus in production function, namely Content Management System (CMS). Next week we look of what CMS is and how it has become a necessity in website management.