Custom admin dashboard: change prices, products and text without waiting on your developer

A custom admin dashboard is the private side of your website or system where you change prices, products, promos and text yourself, without asking anyone. It has only what your business actually touches, labeled the way you talk, and it works from your phone.

I'll use a real example: the digital menu for Boca de Lobo, a steakhouse with two locations in Buenos Aires, has more than 250 items, and the restaurant updates prices, dishes and promos on its own from its dashboard. First, though, the problem it solves.

“Can you change this price for me?”

Lots of businesses have a website they can't touch. To change a price, pull a sold-out item or fix the opening hours, they message whoever built it and wait. Sometimes a day, sometimes a week, sometimes the developer never answers. Meanwhile the site says something that isn't true, and the customer who shows up quoting the old price has every right to be annoyed.

The other extreme doesn't work either: a generic admin with dozens of menus, settings nobody understands, and the fear of breaking everything with one click. The owner stops using it, and we're back to “can you change this price for me?” I wrote about this from another angle in self-managed websites.

What makes a good custom dashboard?

It's not about having lots of features. It's about having the right ones, done well:

• Your words: if your business says “dish,” “artwork” or “service,” the dashboard says that, not “post” or “generic item.”
• Only what you touch: if you'll never change the design, there are no design buttons. Fewer options, fewer mistakes.
• Instant changes: you save, and it's live. No three-step publishing.
• Phone-first: you'll use it standing at the counter or in the kitchen, not sitting at a desk.
• Photos that fix themselves: upload a photo from your phone and the dashboard resizes and crops it so the site stays fast.
• Bulk edits: if a whole category needs updating, you don't do it one item at a time.

Generic admin or custom dashboard

Every business touches different things

A steakhouse dashboard looks nothing like an artist's. Pérez Palermo, a painter, has a website with his catalog organized by period and a page for each artwork that he adds himself: title, medium, size and photos. He doesn't need prices or promos; he needs adding a new piece to be easy. You can see it at perezpalermo.com.ar.

At a restaurant, prices change most; I went into that in updating restaurant menu prices. At a retail shop, it's stock and sold-out items. At a service company, it's text and FAQs. That's why the dashboard gets designed after I understand what changes in your business and how often.

Who can change what

As a business grows, not everyone should be able to change everything. The owner sees and edits it all; each store manager handles prices and sold-out items for their location; whoever handles photos only touches photos. Everyone logs in with their own account, and every change is recorded, so if a price shows up wrong you know where it came from and fix it fast.

One more thing that matters: the dashboard is yours. If you ever switch developers, you keep access to your site and your data. I explained why in who owns your website code.

What if I already have a website?

It depends on how it's built. Sometimes a dashboard can be added to your current site; other times it's better to rebuild so the dashboard is part of it from the start. If you're on WordPress and the admin feels like too much, take a look at moving from WordPress to a custom website.

I work remotely from Buenos Aires, Argentina (UTC−3), with video calls and progress you can open from a link. I quote each project based on what your business needs to change.

Frequently asked questions