Regardless, it’s not good.
Don’t feel bad; you’re not the only organization out there with a less-than-complete handle on your content. For organizations that have embraced the web for years, it may even be a bigger problem than for newbies. Because the longer you’ve been in this business, the more likely you are to have some legacy systems that never got adapted into a content management system….you know, because:
- We don’t use the information on that microsite much.
- It works fine the way it is.
- So-and-so is the only one who needs to manage it and he’s familiar with that old system.
But what happens when:
- You do need to use that information?
- It no longer works?
- So-and-so doesn’t work here anymore?
Ah, but that’s what happens to other people, right? Ahem.
Unmanaged content — the content you can’t name, or place, have forgotten entirely or that no one ever told you existed — will continue to loom over your head, portending your coming doom, until you physically capture and catalog it.
Ideally, you can put uncorralled content into your content management system once you find it. But even if that’s not possible due to technical constraints, a complete catalog of what you have will make your life easier.
Don’t wait for your content to find you — Murphy’s Law will bite you every time. Get out there and find that stuff!