Content
Management
System (CMS)

Maybe you’ve heard that you need a content management system or CMS to take your website to the next level, but what does that mean — and what is the right CMS for your business?

Learn the benefits of top CMSs, how they affect your website performance and business, and how Kansas City’s The frank Agency can help with your content management system integration.

What is a Content Management System?

A content management system is essentially a program that helps you create, maintain, and edit your website without turning to a developer every time you need to make edits to web pages.

CMSs allow you to create and edit web pages and blog posts, create a navigation system, upload photos and videos, manage content using drag and drop methods, and get basic data about your website’s performance from a central dashboard.

CMSs also make it easier to collaborate on your web presence. You can create login credentials and set user permissions for your colleagues, so they can edit web pages or create weekly blog posts for your review and approval.

Content management systems relieve the burden on your IT department, who may be responsible for making sure your website is running smoothly, applying software updates, and handling your web presence. Adopting a CMS will give your IT staff more time to devote to other projects.

List of Content Management Systems – Pros & Cons of Each

Exploring the different content management systems can help you narrow down the options and compare programs that are right for you. Popular CMSs include:

• WordPress – A popular open source CMS, WordPress has a robust developer community and strong support network. While you can purchase premium themes to create an attractive site, a free theme library makes it easy for small businesses to get started with WordPress on a limited budget. While WordPress is a very popular CMS, large websites may outgrow the platform and some users are frustrated at the difficulty of making stylistic edits using CSS.
• Squarespace – A new player in the CMS field, Squarespace has become popular for its ease of use. In minutes, you can get started with an attractive website — no messing around with CSS or PHP! Squarespace features responsive templates that look great on mobile sites and accommodate ecommerce tools; however, it can be tricky to integrate third-party widgets. Squarespace does cost more than other tools, as well.
• Drupal – Drupal is a developers’ CMS. It’s not intuitive to use if you haven’t developed other websites; if you have, you can get it to do what you want handily. Out of the box Drupal doesn’t do much, so you’ll need to add modules that let you customize content to develop a website that looks good and does what you want. If you aren’t comfortable with tech, you’d be better served by another CMS.
• Joomla – Joomla handles bulk well, so if you anticipate having a content library of thousands of articles, it’s a solid tool. It’s not as intuitive as WordPress, so there is a bit of a learning curve to start. However, once you know how to use it, you can get Joomla to do just about anything.

Why Your Website Needs a CMS

While a CMS makes it easier for your team to build a website, what does the program do for your site? Plenty, as it turns out.

Because it’s fast and easy to edit websites from your CMS, it’s easy to update page content whenever it’s needed. This is great for updating time-sensitive information, such as contest deadlines or enrollment periods. SEO widgets allow you to set keywords, monitor performance, and track trends so you can use data to make smarter decisions.

Since there’s a database behind the program, you only need to change something once for it to switch over site-wide; this is a major time saver.

CMSs automate cybersecurity and allow remote access. This makes it easy to check in on your website from anywhere or to collaborate with team members in remote locations. Since administrators can set access control, there’s never a worry that the intern could accidentally delete the website, for instance.

Now that you understand what a CMS can do for your website, dig into the specifications of top CMSs to choose what’s right for your business. Whether it’s a strong user community and demonstrated maturity or responsive templates and robust security, let the features that are critical to your business guide you toward finding the right CMS and making the switch.

Need help determining the best content management system for your goals? The frank Agency specializes in content management integration in Kansas City and beyond – contact us to learn how we can help with your CMS needs!