Entries by Anita

No, of course I don’t mean surfing at the ocean, I don’t think that can ever bore me.  As content writers go (or most internet marketing professionals actually), when we talk about surfing it Always has to do with the Internet.  So what I am finding these days as I surf the net is that so many times I just get so bored of the things I am reading online.  It is not so much what I am reading but how it is being presented.

One thing that I noticed is that many websites choose to use the same kinds of wording to convey their messages. You can look at that as a good thing or a bad one.  Those who think it is a good thing are those who think that following a standard adds to user-friendliness and makes the whole thing easier for their website visitors.  But I am of the opinion that following standards does not mean that you have to use the same phrases.  I think that is when the dryness kicks in and you wish what you were reading was slightly more interesting.

I do think that the content on the Net is becoming quite dry and content creation is perhaps not given the same attention that it once was. I don’t think anyone has changed their mind about the importance of good content but then why does this keep happening then?  A large part of it is due to the pace that things on the Internet work at.  Many websites have to update their content very often and because of time crunch, they put together what they can as soon as possible and upload that content.

But, perhaps, these are just worries that content writers have and other Net surfers are probably completely oblivious to this. What do you think?

Lately, I have been reading a lot of motivational books and things along those lines apart from my usual literature on web development professionals .  I know there are a lot of people who think that these things look good only on paper but do not apply to real life.  But with experience, I do believe that all this is just as true in real life as it is on books or television. 

Let us take the example of enthusiasm.  I really do believe that enthusiasm is something that can be spread.  A book I was reading recently called enthusiasm “contagious’ and I think that is the perfect way of explaining it.  Especially, at a management level, I think it is part of our responsibility to spread enthusiasm.  In fact it does not matter who we are talking about, be it web developers, content writers or professionals from any other department, enthusiasm about the project and colleagues is a must. 

I guess the leader of the project is where the enthusiasm should start from.  If the leader does not show much enthusiasm then that will spread to the other team members.  The team members can easily detect that there is a lack of enthusiasm and they will also feel that there is no reason to be enthusiastic about this project. 

I do think that the setting the mood in a work place is essential.  I realize that when those around me are upbeat about a certain project then that enthusiasm gets to me too. Maintaining a sense of positive-ness really does make a difference.  That is how a sense of contentment and belonging to the work place can be established.

There are many user-friendly products available on the Internet to create and update information on your website. These products have revolutionised Internet content development in such a way that even an average IT literate can maintain a website without having much knowledge of web programming and designing. The credit for this transformation goes to the latest innovations in content management systems

Web designing and development companies are frequently using Content Management Systems (CMS), mostly available for free on the Internet (GPL Softwares), to develop simple websites with basic applications like product management tools, shopping carts etc. PHP is the most commonly used language for these sites.

Users can easily manage their portals when CMS is applied on site, and can engage in as many applications they want like introducing a new page, updating content of existing pages, uploading photographs and, banners, and so on.

CMS vendors have been successful at setting the agenda for fine tuning the requirements of content management systems. They have dominated the debate on these systems among its practitioners’. And even though there are enough negative perceptions about many aspects of CMS, ultimately, all publicity that comes ends as good publicity.

There clearly is more to content management than CMS technologies. Content managers need to work on all kinds of non-technical things, such as adapting to and modifying content workflow and publishing processes, metadata development, content integration, marketing and acceptance and so on. Generally, these issues cannot be addressed by CMS technologies. These require human expertise and a high degree of local customization. But there seems to be no common venue for sharing the expertise, techniques, and good ideas. This is because content management is not a community or a field, but an industry. And it is an industry with vendors dominating the agenda and unintentionally squashes the wisdom that only a community can accumulate.

But there are some issues that remain untouched in such products which might be crucial for individual sites. Watch out for more in the subsequent entries…