In the past, the only way to update and maintain your website was with the help of a webmaster. When you needed to make any changes to the school’s website, you had to contact the webmaster to make those changes, and depending on the person providing the service, it could take quite some time to make those changes. This was an ineffective way for schools to do business, and it meant that parents and students were not able to access pertinent, up to date information in a timely manner. Fortunately, things have changed and technology is at a place where it’s possible for just about anyone to manage a site as long as they have a great content management system in place.

Make the Content Management Simple

The school website content management system should be something that is very simple to use, as you want your administrators to be able to make changes to the site quickly and easily. You want to make sure that your site is able to show up high in the search engine rankings, and the best way to do that is update the content regularly. When your site offers a content management system that makes it easy to update everything, including the static pages, you are going to be able to update your site and make the search engines happy.

Schools always have tons of content that they need to update. Whether they are talking about school closures, holidays, assemblies, meetings, lunch schedules, staff changes, or just about anything else, you need to be able to get this information out to parents and students as quickly as possible. Easy school website content management systems make it all possible. However, you have to make sure that you are working with a high quality company for the design of your site and management system.

Using the Professionals

Time is a very important factor when you are making changes on your site. You want a website that is going to be able to update the site as soon as you make the changes, and you want it to work just as simply as the CMS for a blog. While your school’s website is likely going to have more parts and more things to change and update, that doesn’t mean that the CMS needs to be difficult to use. It is possible to find some high quality, easy to use systems through some of the top developers out there.

During the development of the site, it’s always in your best interest to use the professionals rather than attempting to build a site on your own, especially if you don’t have experience. A professional company is going to be able to create a site that looks great and is easy to navigate, as well as a site that has the most modern features you want. Best of all, the company will be able to show you how to utilize your school website content management system, making it easy to update and change your site.

Thursday, March 15, 2012
By Ann Wishart

A presentation on the redesign of Russell Township's website led to discussion about its potential and limitations during trustees' March 7 meeting.

WRIS Web Services consultant Jim Abbott and company president Charlie Meyers evaluated the site the township is now using and described it as difficult to use, hard to update and not fully optimized.

It could be more of a communication tool as well as a better online presence for non-residents curious about the township, Abbott said.

Some Northeast Ohio governmental entities have worked with WRIS to design their websites and to tie them into social media such as Facebook and Twitter to better connect with the public, Abbott said.

"It's all about communication," he added.

The current content on the township website is good and residents can find various township forms online, but Abbott said it is not user-friendly or fresh looking.

Melissa Palmer, assistant to the township trustees, said the website was launched in the mid-to-late-1990s.

Abbott said state funds could be available to help build a regional website that would include several adjacent communities.

Each town-ship or village would have its own page where information about upcoming events could be published, he explained.

Trustee Jim Dickinson said he sees a township website as more restricted in its scope and should include only news and information related to the township government, such as the repaving of roads.

There is a difference between a community website and a government website, he said.

Trustee Jim Mueller said a website could be used to create synergies among the communities in the Chagrin Valley.

Residents could learn about such things as cultural activities and when to sign up for swimming lessons or little league through the website, he added.

Both trustees referred to the Chagrin Valley Intergovernmental Council, which is comprised of member communities Bainbridge, Bentleyville, Chagrin Falls Village and township, Gates Mills, Hunting Valley, Moreland Hills, Orange Village, Pepper Pike, Russell, Solon, South Russell and Woodmere.

"A purely governmental website would be like eating sand," Mueller said. "That's not exciting."

Abbott was originally contacted by Trustee Justin Madden, who said his purpose was to find out what could be done with a new website and if any funds were available to implement those changes.

Trustees asked Abbott to provide a proposal with some social media interface.

"We're tiptoeing into the waters," said Mueller.

In other business, trustees welcomed Michael McIvor as a part-time officer on the Russell Township Police Department.

Trustees also agreed to send a letter of support to The Chesler Group to submit to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, recommending the ASM International headquarters on Kinsman Road be considered a historic place.

The complex includes a modernist building at the base of the dome, designed by Cleveland architect John Terence Kelly, that houses the offices of ASM, a global clearinghouse for technical information on the science of materials.

It was built in 1959 after William Hunt Eisenman, the organization's director from 1918 to 1958, donated 100 acres of land for the headquarters.

ASM subsequently bought hundreds of acres of surrounding land, which it later sold to the Geauga Park District.

Today, that acreage is known as The West Woods.

In late 2009, ASM was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that helped it qualify for $2.4 million in federal and state historic-preservation tax credits.

The credits helped pay for a $6 million renovation done by The Chesler Group, a Cleveland company specializing in renovation of historic buildings.

"It's a unique building, a national landmark," Mueller said. "I think we, in Russell, tend to overlook it."