WordPress and Your Clients

Do They Actually Use It?

by David Zemens

wordpress2_vert.pngDo your clients actually use WordPress to update their websites?

As many of you know, I have become quite fascinated with using WordPress as a content management system for my clients. Each project I have completed this year used WordPress as the backend database system. I have found that most clients really like the idea of being able to update some of their site content themselves, and it’s a great selling feature when making a proposal to a potential client.

In my experience, however, very few clients ever make changes to their website themselves. In fact, most of them still contact me to do the site maintenance for them. These changes are often very simple text changes on an existing page, which is something that WordPress can easily handle for them. For some reason the clients just don’t want to delve into the administration panel and make the changes themselves. Come to think of it, I have a hard time getting the original content from the client, so I guess I am not surprised when they drag their feet at updating their existing content.

I am curious what your experience is. If you are a developer, I would love to know how involved your clients typically become in maintaining or updating their website. Do they do some of their own updates, or do they still give you a call when something needs changing? If you are a client, I would also be curious to know how often you make changes to your site. How comfortable are you with using WordPress as a content management system?

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October 29th, 2007 | WordPress


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3 Comments & Trackbacks to “WordPress and Your Clients”

 

#1 Deborah had this to say:
Posted: October 30th, 2007 at 9:43 am

Hi Dave,

As you know, I’m finishing up a WordPress as a CMS project now. I don’t have any experience to share on WordPress sites and how often a client updates. But I can tell you on my Textpattern built sites, that the client has never updated any of the content.

#2 David Zemens says in reply:
Posted: October 30th, 2007 at 9:55 am

Thanks for commenting, Deborah. I guess I should not have limited the original question to sites using WordPress as a CMS.

My guess is that most clients never update their sites. But sometimes I realize that the rest of the world has different experiences than I do!

#3 Deborah had this to say:
Posted: October 30th, 2007 at 10:01 am

Hi Dave,

I look forward to hearing other developer responses too. I have a major project (at least for me) in the next few months that will move a static page site to a CMS site. I’m interested in hearing what other developers experience in terms of client updates.

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