We've come a long way and things have changed quite a bit in the "web world." Back in the day (circa 1995). It was cool to just have a website with a www address. After several years your website got old (kind of like eating the same meal everyday) and you wanted a change, a new fresh look. Well, even with today's web technology and know-how, it seems that same old syndrome is still occurring. You hear people say "we need a new website, ours is old." Truth be told, that's a boon for web designers.
Just think how much business is derived from people being tired of their websites. Look at your website. If you've had it for a while, you're probably thinking it needs some work. It's natural to get tired of the same thing after a while. That's not to say that looks don't change and company brands don't evolve. Of course they do. Clearly, a website from the 1990s would look ameture and unprofessional these days. But does that mean we are caught in an endless loop of "time to re-do the website?" The answer is no.
Continuous Evolution of Your Website
With today's content management systems (CMS), its easy to have a website the continually evolves. No longer should you be "re-doing" your website every couple of years after it's gotten stale. CMS provide several distinct advantages that allows you to break the cycle and take a more effective direction of "continuous evolution" of your website. CMS allows you separate your content from your website navigation from your website look. By storing content separate from your website you are not constrained to rely on a web designer to change a page or even add a page. Today's CMS allows content authors to quickly generate and edit content from a WYSIWYG editor (this blog is edited using Ektron CMS 400). So even right off the bat, you can keep your website fresh and evolving.
The second feature that CMS provides is Web 2.0 features. Have you ever wanted to create a calendar, forum, collaboration workspace (or any of those things you see on the web) for your own site? A good CMS keeps up with what's happening in the web world to provide your website with current features and functions that can quickly be implemented in your site.
The third thing a CMS is great at is organizing your content. It's almost like putting your web pages in a set of file folders. You can also "tag" your content and create special "groups" of content that allows you to organize your content in virtually any fashion you'd like. Just think how nice it would be to arrange your content based on what your site visitors are looking for. We all know the best sites are those where people can easily find what they are seeking.
The last (but not final) thing a CMS is for is applying visual styles and graphics to your content. Because a good CMS will keep these two aspects of your website separate, you can upgrade the look and graphics of your site without performing a major undertaking. So next time you're tired of your website, you can just slip a new stylesheet in and viola!
The benefits of a great CMS with a solid implementation can turn the world of websites on it's ear. The next time someone thinks about a website "re-do", a CMS implementation can make it the last website they'll ever need.