Waiting a week for a developer to change one line on your website is frustrating, and it’s usually unnecessary. A good admin panel lets your team handle everyday changes alone, while protecting the parts of the site that really do need an expert.

Use this checklist when you’re choosing a website, or when you’re deciding whether your current one is serving you.

Your team should be able to do these alone

Words and numbers

  • Change headings, paragraphs and buttons on any page.
  • Update prices, opening hours, phone numbers and addresses.
  • Fix a typo in seconds, not days.

Pages

  • Add a new page, and have it appear in the menu.
  • Hide a page for a while, without deleting it.
  • Change the order of items in the menu.

Pictures

  • Replace a photo, and have it sized for phones and computers automatically.
  • Add a description to each image, for people who use screen readers and for search engines.

News and notices

  • Post an announcement, a holiday closure or a new product.
  • Take it down again when it’s out of date.

Safety nets

  • Preview a change before it goes live.
  • Undo a mistake, or go back to an earlier version.
  • Give each person their own login, with only the access they need.

From anywhere

  • Make small changes from a phone, not only from the office computer.

These should still go through a developer

Some changes affect how the whole site works. Doing them by accident can break things for every visitor, so a good admin panel keeps them out of everyday reach:

  • the site’s design and layout rules;
  • forms, and where their messages go;
  • payments, bookings and other connections to outside systems;
  • anything to do with security, privacy and cookies;
  • the site’s technical search settings.

Questions to ask before you choose

  • Can I see the admin panel before I pay?
  • Can my least technical colleague make a change without help?
  • Does it work well on a phone?
  • What happens if two people edit the same page?
  • Who owns the website, the content and the domain?
  • If I leave, can I take my content with me?

Websites with an Admin Panel

Websites with an Admin Panel is our product for exactly this. Your team changes the text and adds pages from a simple admin panel, without waiting on a developer. It’s in development; join the waitlist to be one of the first to use it.

Thinking about data and forms too? Read our note on NDPA basics for small business websites.