¶ … Management Effective Management for a Website

Websites have become an important component of nearly any organization. The content can be provided to customers externally or to employees internally to provide critical information and keep them abreast of changes. However, the content and design of a website must be managed effectively so that the site can serve as an effective tool in communication. An accurate, well designed, and regularly updated website is one of the fastest ways to disseminate information among groups and it is a necessity for most organizations in a competitive landscape. Thus it is critical to study best practices and apply them to the website management function in an organization at all times. This analysis will describe some of the main duties in website management.

Perpetual Management

One of the best practices in website management is keeping the content relevant by actively updating on an on-going basis. One of the common misconceptions is that a website is a one-time project that has a start and an end date. However a website should be looked at from a holistic perspective as an extension of the organization. Websites are high value assets and should be treated as such (ICT Web Publishing, N.d.).

To keep the content fresh it is necessary to designate a dedicated individual that can be responsible for the overall website. Even if different sections are delegated to other people of other organizations there should...

Designating a single person can be invaluable to providing coordination of the efforts, ensure that website follows a structure or theme, and improve the organization and usability of the site. Without someone at the helm of the project it is possible to lose a focus of the overall design.
Create a User Centered Design

Many website designs seem to leave out one of the most important components in the equation -- the end user. It is important to consider the usability of the website at all times and try to look at the design from a user-centered perspective. Creating content that is not relevant to the end-user could result in a website that confusing and hard to use. Thus considering the design from what the user will experience can help the design can provide an more effective and efficient for the end-user.

User experience (UX) focuses on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities, and also their limitations; it also takes into account the business goals and objectives of the group managing the project (Usability.gov, N.d.). The UX best practices are thought to promote the quality of the user's interaction with the website and the perceptions of the content on it.

Figure 1 - UX Honeycomb (Usability.gov, N.d.)

End User Development

Consistent with the UX perspective, one idea to ensure that the end-user perspective is relevant…