5 Advantages of a Web Content Management System(CMS)

Websites have to be updated regularly to keep your content current and up to date but this can become very time consuming and cumbersome, unless you are using a website content management system. Content management systems used to be very costly to design and implement but it’s become a lot cheaper with the availability of open source CMS.

Open source requires a bit of customization to produce the website with the functional requirements that you need but costs are significantly reduced.

  1. Fresh Content – A CMS makes updating and adding new content very easy and less time consuming.
  2. Lots of functionality is available – Adding website functionality is easier and less costly especially with the use of open source software.
      3. Some of the common modules available include:

    • Site search
    • Polls
    • User role defined content
    • Content workflows
    • Email newsletters
    • Blog
    • Discussion forums
    • Photo galleries
    • Email Contact forms
    • The list goes on…
  3. Dynamic categories – In addition to adding content quite easy, you can also categories your content to make site navigation much more efficient.
  4. Extensibility – With open source software, new modules are created all the time. These modules are usually written in php and allows for further customisation.
  5. User friendly interface – Most content management systems are user friendly and fairly easy to learn if you have the time.

In the past, it was large companies that used web content management systems because it was expensive to design, implement and maintain but open source software has made it viable for small business use CMS. I create all my websites using a very well maintained and supported open source CMS called Drupal. Contact me if you need a website for your business. Using an open source CMS to market your business online offers a great return on your investment. Keep in mind also that Drupal, among other things, is a Search Engine Optimised CMS which makes it a firm favourite for online marketing

Web CMS Capabilities

Ok, so a web content management system is a software system that makes it easy to publish, manage, edit, organize and display your website content. These systems typically use template theme engines to display your content to your website visitors.

The templates can also be edited and modified but this requires a bit of HTML and CSS knowledge. It is also fairly easy to add features and functionality to your website but this usually requires a bit of technical knowledge.

Web Content management systems typically have the following features:
Automated templates – That allow you to create a visual template for your entire website or in some cases lets you assign a particular template to certain content groups or types.

Easily editable content – Most content management software includes a WYSIWYG editor that makes creating and editing your website content a little easier.

Scalable feature sets – Most content management systems have plug-ins or modules that extend your website functionality.

Web standards upgrades – Active CMS software usually gets regular updates that ensure the system stays up to current web standards.

Workflow management – The workflow management within a CMS allows you to create content but hold it back from being published until it has been edited and approved.

Document management – Some CMS systems allow for managing the life cycle of a document from creation, publication, archive and deletion.

Content virtualisation – Some CMS systems allow users to work within a virtual copy of the website which enables changes to content before it is submitted.