As a web designer and developer, I am frequently asked, “Do I need a CMS for my website?” And my answer is always a quick, “Yes.” Below I have listed my top 5 reasons why having a CMS running your website can save time and energy. But first, let’s first define what a CMS is for those who may be new to the term.
CMS is an acronym for content management system. A content management system is a web-based tool that allows users to manage and change website content with little to no programming knowledge. Once in place, edits can be made without ever looking at code or dealing with the templates that hold the site together. Pretty cool right?
There are many reasons why using a CMS can make your life so much easier, but here are my top 5, in no particular order:
Cost Effective – Who doesn’t love to save money? A CMS can help you do just that! Building a CMS-driven website takes web developers less time, which in turn, means lower programming fees for the customer. Also, after your site is live, every time you call up your website designer and ask them to make a change to your website, a bill is sure to follow. Making those minor changes yourself means no bill and no waiting for the designer to get back to you and complete the work.
Scalability – Adding on to your site is easy to do without having to revisit the design of the site itself. Adding in a new page or section also adds this new information to your menus and navigation areas dynamically. How convenient! Additionally, most CMS programs have add-on or built in solutions for implementing shopping carts, directories, forums, or even wikis as your business grows or expands.
Ease of Use – After an experienced web developer has set up and customized your CMS, editing content can be done by even the most novice web user. If you can fill out an online survey, you can probably edit 90% of your website’s content.
SEO – The framework of the CMS can have an effect on the SEO-friendliness of a website. Cleaner code allows the search engines to crawl your site effectively. With a good CMS in place, you don’t have to worry about bulky code that can slow things down or hinder a crawl. One less thing to worry about when planning your SEO strategy.
Multi-user Capabilities – Since the CMS is web-based, edits can be made anywhere, by anyone who has access. So, if you have a team of users who blog, edit news listings, or even update job listings, everyone can be logged in at the same time working away! This feature is also great if you run a website with member registration.
Two of the most popular CMS systems are WordPress and ExpressionEngine. The corecubed team specializes in implementing both of these systems. Each has their own features and advantages, so when working with our clients, we can help you choose the CMS that will best address your needs.
Is your website currently running on a CMS? If so, is it easy to use and flexible? If you answered no to either of these questions, you could be losing valuable time and resources. We’d love to help you with that problem. Contact the corecubed web development team and we can help get your site back on the road to efficiency.