Content Management Systems
A content management system (CMS) is an application used for digital content creation and management. They were established to create an easy way for content authors and publishers to add information to their websites without needing to know how to actually code or work within complex programming languages. When it comes to website development, content management systems are the best platforms to leverage for all types of companies from the smallest to the largest companies.
The advent and evolution of the CMS has empowered businesses to be able to participate in their marketing and in their website activities in a way that they weren’t previously able to when someone needed to know coded languages to make edits and updates.
- Multiple user roles and permissions
- In-house integration to add features and advanced functionality
- Multiple languages on one site
- Plug-ins to extend functionality or add deeper, feacher-rich applications
- E-commerce (done cheaply or free)
- Advanced security and hosting support
- Integration with all back-end systems to provide seamless, uninterrupted business process flow
- Management of multiple websites from a single admin interface
- Lots, lots more
Choosing a CMS
Choosing the proper CMS for your short- and long-term needs can be a complex process. Savoir Faire Marketing/Communications makes that process simple with a discovery process, which can include in-depth discussions about business goals, marketing objectives and long-term vision, and then help you choose the best platform based on your needs.
We will ask you questions, like:
What do you want your website to accomplish for the business?
Does your site need a lot of customization or support?
Will you need to define multiple system roles and permission levels?
Are you planning to have e-commerce?
Will you need to integrate your CMS with data from other sources?
Do you need multi-lingual support?
What features and functionality do you want your website to have?
The answers will help us determine which CMS will help best facilitate your success. The majority of websites built today already use a CMS, with WordPress being utilized by 60% of those (30% of all websites are created with WordPress). Google’s ever-changing algorithms play nicely with WordPress sites, making Search Engine Optimization simpler. Joomla and Drupal are currently Nos. 2 and 3 for CMS usage.
Joomla is more flexible for developers to create something new and to override an existing system. However, it’s less user friendly from a content author standpoint. WordPress has some constraints, but is more user-friendly for authors, editors or administrative users.
Our development team can work with any PHP-based, open source content management system. At Savoir Faire, we make the best use of resources, yours and ours.
%
Wordpress is more than just the #1 CMS, it powers more than 30% of all sites across the web.
(codeinwp)
%
Only 22% of WordPress sites are running on the latest version of WordPress.
%
In terms of popularity and usage, the next closest open-source CMS is Joomla with a mere 6.7%, a number that has steadily declined in recent years as WordPress’ popularity increases.
Getting a CMS to Work for You
Any CMS you choose is initially going to lack core capabilities that are critical for your business. Savoir Faire will help you navigate the complex landscape of your business needs and what plug-ins are available to extend the core functionality of the CMS to achieve your needs.
Keep in mind that setting up, designing and launching a CMS is only the beginning of this journey. You must utilize its capabilities in content marketing, social marketing, SEO and other online channels to reach your destination.
While our developer can use a CMS to provide all the functionality of a completely custom site, it’s also simple to set up an easy-to-update and easy-to-use interface for your content marketer or content author.
Time and again, we’ve heard companies gripe about saving up all their website edits – minor or major – because it was so expensive to have their webmaster go in to make changes. Those days are gone. We’ll empower you so someone at your company could be posting blogs, writing website pages, adding events, fixing typos and more. If it makes sense for your company, we can offer you control over being able to make updates and edits to your site.
On the flip side, we have several clients who do not have the hours in the day or the staff in house for content creation and updates. In those cases, we perform the full breadth of creating content and marketing services for you.
We know that choosing and/or switching CMSes can be challenging. The needs of your customers will guide you in deciding which system is ideal to support your business objectives and future growth of your digital presence.
Questions? Please get in touch. We’re here to help.
Choosing the right CMS
New website + plan = success
Are you planning a website redesign?
With WordPress, We Mean ORG not COM
Having a dot com and dot org for very popular web services can be confusing. The early WordPress.com set up for blogging meant you install it, select a theme and suddenly you can have an online presence for free. It still exists, but when we’re talking about Content Management Systems, we’re referring to the platform available at WordPress.org.
You can find a lot of articles online about how to convince a client they need a CMS, yet they don’t mention WordPress because there is this stigma that makes some think it’s some crappy, free blogging tool.
Back in 2001, WordPress.com was one of the premier blogging engines available, it still is. But in subsequent years, WordPress.org has become a wonderfully powerful website builder. You pretty much have a one in three chance of being on a WordPress website anytime you’re on the web.
Download our 10-step checklist to guide your next website redesign.
