This week we will look at a technology tool that I use every week… Adobe Contribute.
What is Contribute?
“Adobe® Contribute® CS3 enables content authors to quickly and easily update existing websites and blogs while maintaining site integrity — with no technical expertise required.”
So many people get paralyzed when they think about designing websites and they probably should. Designing a good website from scratch can be hard, but managing a good website can be really easy. That is exactly what Contribute does for Fellowship Memphis.
We have a pretty nice website. It was designed by Deluge Studios, a local web design company here in Memphis that does incredible work. They did all the hard work, but they have made our site very easy to manage with Contribute.
With Contribute I can change any of the text just like a word document. I can insert an image just like in powerpoint. I can create a new page just like making a new document. The guys at Deluge gave me an hour tutorial before I took the reigns of the site and they are happy to make “major” changes whenever I happen to need them.
Now it is true, I have had “some” design and web experience before I jumped into Contribute, but nothing to brag about. This program has been much easier to work with than Microsoft’s FrontPage. One of the big tell-tales of this program was before I took over the week-to-week duties, it was ran by our former Administrative Assistant. She had no web experience, but she could keep our website updated with ease.
Updating is one of the BIG Three U’s of Websites from Seth Godin. The other U’s are Useful & Unique. Contribute isn’t a lot of help with those two U’s, but it is great with updating your site. Keeping a site fresh keeps a reason for people to come back and trust that your site is communicating your current message.
You can manage multiple websites with one Contribute license which only costs $149. Updating a site can take 2 minutes. I would much rather have control of my site and not have to pay $100/hr to a professional to change a date or one picture on my site. Plus having to wait to fit in their schedule. If you need something up on your site, you want it up now.
For all of you who have not gone out and bought a great website because you were afraid of a keeping up with it or you have a good website but you don’t know how to edit the content, Contribute is for you.
