Do You Need a Content Management System [CMS]
What is a content management system?
A content management system or CMS is a term used for a software that is integrated with your application to control and manage your content. You use CMS to add text, pages, blog posts, news articles, services or products information. It is also used to upload images, artwork or simply edit existing media. Content management system should provide you access to updating your application information.
1. Which one do I choose?
Ok, so we briefly covered what a CMS system is and what it brings to the table but which one should you use? There are a number of different content management platforms out there from Wordpress and Drupal which started off as blogging tools. With the help of the community Umbraco have grown over the years to become a leading CMS offering with more advanced interface and tooling.
Umbraco is the content management system we adopt here at Block77 and one which we recommend to our clients. Umbraco has fewer limitations than Wordpress, it gives us full control to development that gives our clients autonomy over their website.
2. Why should I use one?
We have highlighted what a content management system is and which platform we recommend, but why should you consider using one?
Keeping things fresh
A CMS system provides you with the ability to add new content to your website easily and quickly. This tool allows you to keep the content on your website new and relevant, keep your users updated and also provides additional layers of depth that will, in turn, provide the benefit of a stronger SEO approach. The process for updating is an easy one; simply login, create and publish; because this is so simple you are likely to do so more often.
Security & maintenance
Content management systems use databases to store all if its information. Storing your information in this way is a much more secure way than simply having a static (hard-coded) HTML website.
The architecture and structure of the website is inherently the same, making changes and improvements to the layout or design in the future a much simpler and cost effective approach. In simple terms as the code is global and shared amongst templates, any improvements made to one page are automatically made to others. With a static website time is wasted pushing improvements to each page in turn.
Saving money
All of the above is great, but how is it going to save you money? The simple answer is because you are in control. You have free reign of the content and when to publish it so you no longer have to rely on a 3rd party company to fulfil this task for you. Writing content, sending it to them, having them add it to the website and then force you to comply with their policies before being able to push the content. The process costs money and this can quickly raise the cost if you update your website frequently. The cost of not having a CMS website can quickly out grow the costs of having one but without all the benefits.
Centralized access
One of the big benefits of a content management system is that you have access to it anywhere in the world and on any device. You can access the backend system from the office, home or daily commute. As opposed to a static website, where you rely on another company’s availability and timescales.
Another benefit of having a centralized code base is that members of your team within your organization can also update the content, making the process of keeping the website content modern an easy one.
3. Added benefits
Sold? If you decide that a content managed website is something you wish to invest in then you may wish to consider the following also:
When building the new CMS website you also open the opportunity to review your SEO structure as the new website is being built, providing you with the incentive of a higher Google page ranking.
New website design; because you have chosen to adopt a CMS approach, then now is also the time you can review your websites design and branding. The internet and website design have come a long way and so has the way users view and interact with it. Mobile devices being used as a means to browse the internet is growing year on year and having agreed to revisit your website not is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of this.
Not only does a CMS website provide you with a flexible and cost effective way to promote your brand but it also provides you with the opportunity to cleverly invest in a number of other online improvements.