All You Want to Know About a Content Management System
by Josette Millar
Most business professionals don’t moonlight as website gurus. The knowledge required to learn enough programming to create a website takes significant education and practice. That doesn’t mean those outside the tech field can’t manage a great website. A Content Management System (CMS) is a platform created by web professionals that can be used and updated by a trained businessperson to maintain a professional website. CMS allows users to update, post, and edit website pages on a simple, intuitive platform.
CMS Makes Website Use Easier
CMS is a bridge tool that allows non-technical people to operate extremely technical websites. This is accomplished by creating a user-friendly framework that makes changing data and publishing content simple with intuitive design. Users are presented with a platform that guides them through the process without seeing a single line of code.
Operate Your Website Securely
Security is essential in any business, especially when it comes to online presence. Content management systems help business owners gain security with their websites. With CMS, content is stored in a central location which reduces the possibility of losing the entire website when a computer goes down. Additionally, a CMS is controlled by a single person. This webmaster takes care of gaining in-depth knowledge of the system and how it works. Other users have limited usability of the site. This means that only one person is required to learn the inner workings of the CMS while those who need access to the website can’t accidentally delete files or damage the website.
Get SEO Benefits Without Learning SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a whole discipline to itself. Gaining high search engine rankings that attract business and promote your content can be one person’s sole endeavor or you can rely on the benefits of CMS. Content management systems have gotten savvy with SEO and with a simple plugin or additional feature, a CMS can help those publishing content adhere to proper SEO for higher rankings with little effort and little SEO knowledge.
Added Support of CMS
CMS requires as little or as much support as your business needs. While some businesses may require a designer to simply build the framework and train employees in its use, other businesses may want website designers to be available for calls or continued maintenance of the site. With a CMS, it’s up to your business to determine what level of support is needed.
Drawbacks of a Content Management System
Even with the significant benefits of choosing a CMS, there can be some drawbacks. Using a CMS requires an investment of time and money for a company. Time is required to learn the system and implement it within your business and money is required to establish a CMS that addresses your business’s specific needs. Compared to the time and money spent learning programming, the investment is small but it is still significant.
Also, implementing a content management system isn’t a magic bullet for the online needs of a business. Excellent content will still need to be created and a qualified, educated webmaster will be needed to update and ensure site security. Businesses that can’t spend the time necessary to properly train a webmaster may need to get additional support to ensure the website is properly updated and maintained.
CMS allows businesses to create, update, and maintain a professional website with limited programming knowledge. CMS saves time and money by giving businesses powerful tools for programming, SEO, and security but requires an initial, and sometimes continuous, investment of its own. Those businesses that want to make website upkeep easy can benefit from using a content management system.