07 Feb CMS – How Having a Good Content Management System Improves Your Business
Any business in today's economy needs a dynamic online presence in order to survive, but creating and maintaining a web site can be an overwhelming task for many business owners. Using a Content Management System (CMS) can simplify the process and render several other business advantages at the same time, but before commencing such a project it is important to identify the key business goals you want the system to achieve. These may include:
• Increasing the flexibility of the site
• Improving the accuracy of information
• Supporting marketing
• Reducing the duplication of information
• Improving the customer experience
• Improving business responsiveness
• Streamlining information updates
A suitable content management solution can then be chosen to ensure that these business strategies will be met. Here are some more reasons why a CMS is good for business:
Cost of implementing
A compelling reason for businesses to use a CMS is cost. Although some CMS can be expensive, many others are freely distributed under an open-source license.
Speed of deployment
Getting a website up and running used to be very time-consuming, but a modern CMS can get you online in a matter of hours.
Getting Support
A proprietary CMS website can be expensive expensive to maintain, but help is usually close at hand whereas an open source CMS such as Joomla or Drupal may not have the same dedicated support facilities. However, almost all have excellent support communities so any problem encountered should be quickly solved.
Staffing levels
Most CMS can be edited by existing staff who can be trained to use the software – and there is nothing new to buy.
Security
Security is a serious concern for any business. A CMS automatically keeps track of updates, recording when and who updated the content creating an audit trail of any unauthorized changes.
Transferring hosts
It is important for a business website to be transferrable to another host if necessary. CMS usually have an export option, making it simple to change.
Applications
So many plug-ins and extensions for popular CMS now exist is that extending the functionality of your website is easier than ever.
Appearance
All CMS use CSS to style the pages, and the design of the site relies on the use of templates. The big advantage is that changing the template can radically alter the look of the site; if you have a site with hundreds of pages this can be an incredible time saver.
Adding functionality
A CMS is virtually is limitless in terms of scale, and can expand as the business grows. If at some stage an e-commerce site is required, it is relatively straightforward to add one in most content management solutions.
Edit from anywhere in the world
Editing a CMS by using a web browser means that you can add or edit content from anywhere with Internet access, and is substantially cheaper than purchasing multiple site licenses for Dreamweaver or Expression Web for everyone in your office.
User Management and permissions
Access to separate areas of the site can be granted to different users, and documents and webpages placed into separate directories. Additional users can be created and deleted as staff members leave or roles change.
SEO
One of the claims for the traditional HTML website was that it was easier to optimize, but CMS can actually improve ranking by generating SEO friendly code and because they are so easy to maintain, they often have fresher content than the traditional static site.
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