Making Website Updates Simpler and More Efficient
Keeping your website up to date is an important part of managing your business online. Prices change, team members join, services evolve, promotions come and go, and new content needs to be added.
At Interphase Design, we look after ongoing website updates and maintenance for clients across a wide range of sectors. Some requests are as simple as changing a telephone number, while others may involve adding new pages, updating imagery, creating promotions or making changes across several areas of a website.
Whatever the size of the request, one thing can make the process considerably easier: clear communication and well prepared content.
The more information we have when a website update is submitted, the easier it is for our team to understand exactly what is required and complete the work accurately.
How Should You Send Website Updates to Us?
Different clients prefer to work in different ways, so we provide more than one route for submitting website updates.
For larger clients managing a higher volume of website updates, we can provide access to our ticket system to submit and track requests, while smaller clients can simply send updates through our shared website support inbox.
There is no requirement to use one particular method. The important thing is choosing whichever works best for you and your team.
Both systems allow requests to be seen by the relevant members of the Interphase team, rather than depending on an individual member of staff being available.
What matters most is not necessarily how you send the request, but the information you include when you send it.
Be Specific About What You Want Changed
Clear instructions are one of the simplest ways to help us complete website updates quickly and accurately. A request such as “Can you update the homepage?” gives us very little information about what needs to change, where the change should be made or what the finished result should look like.
Where possible, tell us the page you are referring to, the section that needs updating and exactly what should be changed. Including the page URL is particularly useful, especially on larger websites where similar content may appear across several pages.
The same principle applies to ecommerce websites, product catalogues and larger business websites. The more clearly the request is defined at the outset, the less time is spent clarifying the details before work can begin.
A little more information at the beginning of a request can prevent several emails going backwards and forwards and allows our team to get started sooner.
Provide the Content Wherever Possible
When requesting a website update, it is helpful to provide the content needed to complete it at the same time. If you want text changed, send us the approved replacement copy. If an image needs updating, attach the new image. For changes involving documents, products or company information, provide the latest version rather than simply telling us that something has changed.
This could include updated product photography, new pricing, staff profiles, service descriptions, brochures, technical specifications, menus, downloadable PDFs, logos or promotional artwork.
If the content has not yet been created, that is not a problem. Interphase Design can assist with copywriting, design, photography and other content requirements where needed. However, it is useful to tell us this when submitting the request.
Knowing what has already been supplied and what still needs to be created allows us to assess the request properly from the outset.
Send the Correct Images and Files
The quality and organisation of the files you provide can also make a considerable difference. Wherever possible, send original, high resolution images rather than screenshots, images copied from Word documents or compressed versions downloaded from social media.
Original files give us more flexibility when cropping and optimising imagery for different areas of the website, while also helping us maintain the overall quality of the design.
Clear filenames are also useful, particularly when several assets are being supplied at once. A file named IMG_4837.jpg gives us very little information, whereas new-office-exterior.jpg or blue-widget-product-front.jpg immediately tells us what the image relates to.
The same applies to documents. If you are replacing an existing price list, catalogue, brochure or technical document, make it clear which file is the latest version and where the previous document currently appears on the website.
Tell Us Where the Change Should Appear
Many websites contain information that is repeated in several different locations. A product price might appear on the product page, a category page and a promotional banner. A change to a company’s opening hours might need to be reflected on the contact page, website footer and Google linked location information.
Where you know that a change affects more than one part of the website, let us know. Providing the relevant URLs is the clearest way to do this.
Our team will always use our knowledge of your website to help identify related areas, but clearly defining the scope of a request reduces the risk of an important reference being overlooked. It also ensures that everyone has the same understanding of what needs to be completed before the work begins.
Bringing It All Together
To help illustrate how these principles work in practice, the table below shows examples from each section. Each one demonstrates how a vague request can be improved by being more specific, providing the correct content, supplying the right files and clearly identifying where the change should appear.
| Scenario | Less helpful request | Improved request |
|---|---|---|
Being specific about changes | “Update the homepage.” | “On the homepage (www.example.com), please replace the paragraph under ‘Our Services’ with the attached copy and update the image beside it with the new team photo.” |
Providing the correct content | “Add our new service.” | “Please add a new ‘Consultancy’ service to the Services page using the attached copy, images and call to action text.” |
Sending correct images/files | “Change the product image.” | “Please replace the main image on this product page (URL) with the attached high resolution file named ‘blue-widget-product-front.jpg’.” |
Identifying where changes appear | “Update delivery info.” | “Please change standard delivery from £4.95 to £6.95 on the Delivery Information page, checkout page and product page delivery message (URLs provided).” |
Consolidate Changes Where Possible
When several people within a business are reviewing a website, feedback can sometimes arrive through multiple emails and from different members of the team.
Where possible, it is helpful to consolidate related changes into a single request.
For example, if five changes are required on one page, sending them together makes it easier for us to review the page as a whole and work through the updates systematically.
This is particularly useful when a new page or larger website section is being reviewed.
It also reduces the risk of conflicting requests being sent by different people within the same organisation.
Communication Works Both Ways
Good website maintenance relies on communication between our team and yours.
Sometimes we will need additional information before we can complete an update. We may need a missing image, clarification about wording, confirmation of a date or approval before something can be published.
Responding promptly means we can continue progressing the work rather than putting the update on hold while we wait for the information required.
This becomes particularly important for time sensitive updates such as events, promotions, recruitment adverts, new product launches or changes to opening hours.
If something needs to be live by a particular date, let us know when you submit the request.
Check Your Content Before Sending It
Where you are supplying finished website copy, prices, dates or other business information, it is always worth checking it before submitting the update.
Our team will naturally flag anything that looks unusual, but you know your business better than anyone.
Make sure prices are correct, dates have been confirmed, names are spelled properly and the copy being supplied is the version you want published.
This is especially important for information such as pricing, promotional terms, contact details and opening hours.
What Makes a Good Website Update Request?
In simple terms, a good request tells us:
- Where the change needs to be made
- What currently needs changing
- What it should be changed to
- Which files should be used
- When the update is required
You don’t need to use technical website terminology or explain how the change should be built. That is our job.
You simply need to give us enough information to understand what the finished result should be.
Helping Us Help You
Our aim is to make ongoing website maintenance as straightforward as possible for our clients.
Whether you prefer submitting requests through our ticket system or communicating through our shared support inbox, we can work in whichever way is most convenient for your business.
Clear instructions, the right content and prompt communication help us get to work on your request with fewer questions, fewer delays and less opportunity for misunderstanding.
Your website should continue to evolve alongside your business. With good communication between your team and ours, making those changes can be a simple and efficient process.
