The Benefits of A Content Management System (CMS)

A content management system or a CMS is a term used for a piece of software that is integrated into your website that gives you control of the content that is published. You could use the CMS to add new pages of content such as blog posts, news articles or information page about your latest products and services. Additionally, you can upload images and artwork or simply edit existing content. The content management system should also provide you access to updating your meta information and URL structure.

Ok, so we have briefly covered what a CMS system is and what it brings to the table but which one should you use? There are a number of different content management platforms out there from Wordpress and Drupal which started off as blogging tools and with the help of the community have grown over the years to your more advanced and robust CMS offerings such as Umbraco.

Umbraco is the content management system we adopt here at CSI Media and one which we recommend to our clients. Umbraco has fewer limitations than Wordpress, it gives us full control to develop websites that give our clients autonomy over their website.

We have highlighted what a content management system is and which platform we recommend, but why should you consider using one?

A CMS system provides you with the ability to add new content to your website easily and quickly. This tool allows you to keep the content on your website new and relevant, keep your users updated and also provides additional layers of depth that will, in turn, provide the benefit of a stronger SEO approach. The process for updating is an easy one; simply login, create and publish; because this is so simple you are likely to do so more often.

Content management systems use databases to store all if its information.  Storing your information in this way is a much more secure way than simply having a static (hard-coded) HTML website.

The architecture and structure of the website is inherently the same, making changes and improvements to the layout or design in the future a much simpler and cost effective approach.  In simple terms as the code is global and shared amongst templates, any improvements made to one page are automatically made to others. With a static website time is wasted pushing improvements to each page in turn.

All of the above is great, but how is it going to save you money? The simple answer to this is because you are in control.  You have free reign of the content and when to publish it so you no longer have to rely on a 3rd party company to fulfil this task for you. Writing content, sending it to them, having them add it to the website and then force you to comply with their policies before being able to push the content. The time this takes costs money and this can quickly escalate if you update your website frequently this way. The cost of not having a CMS website can quickly out grown the costs of having one but without all the benefits.

One of the big benefits of a content management system is that you have access to it anywhere in the world, on any device. You can access the admin system from the office, home or daily commute. As opposed to a static website, where you rely on another company’s availability and timescales.

Another benefit of having a centralised code base is that members of staff within your organisation can also update the content, making the process of keeping the website content modern an easy one.

Sold? If you decide that a content managed website is something you wish to invest in then you may wish to consider the following also:

When building the new CMS website you also open the opportunity to review your SEO structure as the new website is being built, providing you with the incentive of a higher Google page ranking.

New website design; because you have chosen to adopt a CMS approach, then now is also the time you can review your website's design and branding. The internet and website design have come a long way and so has the way users view and interact with it. Mobile devices being used as a means to browse the internet is growing year on year and having agreed to revisit your website not is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of this.

Not only does a CMS website provide you with a flexible and cost-effective way to promote your brand but it also provides you with the opportunity to cleverly invest in a number of other online improvements.