Edit your own website: what can you do yourself?

What do you need to edit your own website?

The basis is a CMS. That stands for content management system: a secure environment where you log in and manage your content. Well-known examples are WordPress and headless systems linked to a custom website. Which one fits best? Read choosing a CMS.

• Your own account with a username and strong password, ideally with two-step login.
• Knowing which parts you're allowed to change and which you're not.
• A short walkthrough or training from whoever built your site.
• A backup, so a mistake can always be undone.

What you can usually change safely yourself

In a well set-up CMS, most everyday changes are easy:

• Text on existing pages, such as opening hours, prices and service descriptions.
• Replacing or adding photos.
• Writing and publishing blog posts and news items.
• Adding reviews, vacancies or projects.
• Creating new pages with fixed building blocks that are already part of your design.
• Filling in page titles and meta descriptions for Google.
• Adding menu items or changing their order.

A well-built website works with building blocks. You choose, for example, a block with text and a photo, or a block with frequently asked questions, and fill it in yourself. That way the design always stays tidy, whatever you add.

What exactly you can do yourself differs per website. With a simple site without a proper CMS, you sometimes have to call your web developer for every comma. With a site built on building blocks, you can create a complete new service page yourself. So when you get a new website, ask up front: which parts can I change myself, and which can't I? And ask for a short manual or a recording of the walkthrough, so you can look back at it later.

Leave these to a specialist

Some changes look small, but touch the technology or findability of your site. Be careful with these:

• Changing the design, branding or page layout.
• Changing the addresses (URLs) of existing pages or deleting pages. Without a redirect you lose visitors and Google rankings.
• Installing and updating plugins or extensions on a WordPress site.
• Changing forms, integrations with other systems or payments.
• Adding code, scripts or tracking codes.
• Changing cookie, privacy or security settings.

How to edit your own website without mistakes

A fixed routine prevents most problems:

• Work in a draft and check the preview before you publish.
• Check every change on your phone. That's where most visitors often look.
• Use the CMS headings (heading 2, heading 3) instead of making text big and bold. That helps readability and Google.
• Resize photos before uploading them, unless your CMS does it automatically.
• Add a short alt text to every photo.
• Don't paste text straight from Word. Hidden formatting often comes along. Paste as plain text.
• Keep track of what you change and when. Then you know where to look if something goes wrong.

Writing new copy? Also look at our tips for writing website copy. Clear copy often achieves more than a new design.

Schedule your website updates too. Many business owners only update their site when something's wrong. A fixed moment, such as the first Monday of the month, works better. Go through your prices, opening hours, team photos and offers, and publish a new article or project if you can.

Common mistakes when updating your own website

• Deleting a page that's still in Google or that other sites link to.
• Giving every page a different style, with its own fonts and colours. Your branding gets fragmented.
• Uploading large photos that slow the site down.
• Copying text from other websites. That's not allowed without permission and Google sees it as duplicate content.
• Putting off updates on a WordPress site, leaving security holes open.
• Working with one shared account. Give everyone their own account with only the permissions they need.

Edit your own website or have it done?

A handy rule of thumb: you handle the content, you have the technology and design done for you. Doing it yourself is cheaper and faster for everyday things. But your time is money too. If a change takes you an afternoon of figuring out, outsourcing it is often smarter.

An example. Your opening hours change in summer. You update that yourself in a minute. You want a new booking system on your site. That touches forms, integrations and privacy, so you have it done. You want to add a new service. With building blocks you can do that yourself, but it can be smart to have someone who knows about findability check the copy and page title.

Many business owners choose a mix. They keep text and blog posts up to date themselves and take out a maintenance plan for updates, backups, security and bigger changes. Read more about what's involved in website maintenance.

Managing your own website on a Violexa site

Every custom website from Violexa comes with a CMS and a walkthrough, so you can manage text, photos and pages yourself. A website starts at €1,799 excl. VAT (€2,177 incl. VAT), including design, development, a layout that works on every screen, the SEO basics and Google Analytics.

Prefer to hand off the technical side? There are maintenance plans: Silver €179 (€217 incl. VAT), Gold €299 (€362 incl. VAT) and Platinum €699 (€846 incl. VAT) per month excl. VAT. The first 12 months are fixed, after that you can cancel monthly by email with one month's notice.

Finding your current website hard to update yourself? Book a free quickscan. In 30 minutes we look at your site together, online or at your location. Afterwards you get short written advice with a price indication, with no obligation.

Frequently asked questions