Why use CMS?

Are you an individual, organization or business trying to decide what to do with an aging, static web site design?  Are you trying to balance the benefits of a compelling, modern web site with the cost of paying expensive web developers to build and maintain it? It’s a common problem, and many have put off making much-needed to changes to their web site because of costs that can soar into thousands up-front, plus monthly upkeep fees or extra charges for any updates.

Unfortunately, rapid changes in technology – such as web browsers, mobile internet and search engines – require that you either bring your web site up to date or risk slipping away into obsolescence.  That’s something you can’t afford.

Almost universally, your best choice – for cost vs. benefits, integration into your organization, and visibility to the world (search engine optimization) – is a web site content management system, commonly called a CMS.

This article is intended to explain what you need to know about CMS, and why you should have one.

What is a Web Site Content Management System?

Simply put, a content management system is a software platform that allows rapid and continual changes to a web site.  Both the web site design and content can be changed quickly and easily by the owner. It allows a web publisher to focus on what makes the site meaningful: the content. It’s also one of the best ways to make a site attractive to search engines (more on that later) and thus create a stronger internet marketing presence.

In an old-style HTML site, the business owner or organization wrote stories or articles and then handed them over to a web developer for conversion into a web page.  Each page in a site would be marked up with complex code inside a template “wrapper,” then uploaded to a web site.   If a change or update was needed, the page would be downloaded from the web server, recoded, and uploaded back to the server. In a content management system, your web site is under your control, and the most important thing is the content itself.  

Once a CMS has been installed and customized to the customer’s needs, all the operations of changing or adding new pages or content can be done through a web-based administration tool. Speaking technically, a CMS page template is a shell.  The content – your stories, articles and pictures – are stored in a database.  When a user clicks on a page on your site, the CMS pulls the necessary content out of the database and inserts it into the shell while the page is loading.  Because the pages are built on the fly, they’re called dynamic pages.

This sounds geeky – is it hard to use?

The short answer is not at all.  A longer answer is that there are a number of CMS platforms, some of which are easy, and some of which can be more complex.  Most individuals, small to medium businesses and organizations should be able to use the simplest type of CMS. What do we mean by easy?   Take a look at the screen shot below:

This is the page-writing screen from WordPress CMS, one of the best and easiest web site content management systems.  If it looks familiar – with tools common to Microsoft Word and other word-processing programs and email clients – you’re right.  If you can use these tools, you can update your pages or create new ones. You can write directly into the page, cut-and-paste text from your word processor, add subheads and make hot links.  The software also allows you to upload and insert and embed photos and other images, audio files, video and Flash, directly from your web browser. CMS Web Site Management puts you in control.

What are the benefits of a CMS-powered web site?

OK, it seems easy enough to use, but what are the bottom-line benefits of using a content-management system?

• Easy updating – If your web site acts as a static online business card or billboard, you’re not getting the full value of being on the internet.  Many businesses and organizations design web sites like telephone directory ads – basic, static information.  This works in the Yellow Pages, but the internet is a different animal.  Every business site is the same size – the size of a browser window – and in full color.  Visitors judge your business based on the appearance and timeliness of your web site.  A CMS can allow you to have a constantly updated site at a relatively minor cost.

• Cost-effective – Major media and other web sites moved to CMS long ago, because it simply costs too much to code new pages for each new article, or to update pages.  While most web sites are small operations, paying traditional web developers to create and code an entire site can be a significant cost, followed by ongoing costs for every update or change.  A CMS site can cost less on the front end, because no one has to hand-code dozens of pages.   More important, with day-to-day updates and articles, there is no need to pay continuing fees to expensive web developers to code new pages.  As seen in the example above, creating a page, adding an article, or correcting or updating a page can be as simple as opening a Word document, making changes, and saving it.  All through your web browser.

• Search-engine friendly –  If your static site was built more than a couple of years ago,  it probably isn’t optimized for Google and other major search tools today.   All major CMS platforms are search-engine friendly out of the box, and they have tools that allow someone knowledgeable in search-engine optimization to quickly make sitewide tweaks and changes as often as necessary.   Search engine rankings are very volatile, and without a CMS, web publishers must either commit resources to making frequent coding changes, or just make them less often.  This can be a deal-stopper in today’s competitive environment.

• Blogging/Social Media – Don’t be afraid of these terms – it just means a system for quickly publishing content to the web, and in a way that allows you to build up a relationship with customers. It’s  a tool that allows the quick posting of the day’s press release, sales special or company news.  It also allows a conversation – a two-way relationship – with your audience.  Almost every major company today invests heavily in a “social media” strategy as a key factor in customer service and two-way communication. It’s also a way to catch the attention of Google and other search engines.  If you and your competition both have static web sites, having updated content on your homepage by way of blog headlines could be the factor that gives you the edge.  If you have a two-way conversation – with customers asking questions or making suggestions, you have a higher profile.  It’s also a great way to produce an RSS feed – a type of newsletter that goes out each time you make a new post.  An RSS feed is another type of feature that can catch the eye of web indexes and engines.  Your CMS can also be set up so that each page has buttons that allow it to be easily shared by email, Twitter, Facebook or other social media platforms.

• Extra features for your Web Site – If you need any extra functionality on a standard web site, it almost certainly will cost extra cash, often a lot more, depending on whether the web developers need to write programs or code scripts.  Most CMS platforms have a large base of Open Source developers who have made thousands of features called “plug-ins” available.  While many may need customization for your site, a web developer specializing in CMS can do this at a fraction of the cost of normal coding or scripting.  A plugin that allows a contact form, for example, can be added quickly at no cost.  A more complex form that collects customer information in a database can be added at a fairly low cost – the CMS already “lives” in database form, after all.

• Design changes – Many aspects of a CMS website can be changed sitewide quickly and easily.  If you redesign your logo, for example, simple tools may allow you to upload and replace the old one, right from your browser.

• Direct control – While you may want to get help from a developer for adding functionality or complete SEO monitoring, many web tasks can be performed by your own employees.  A CMS allows the creation of multiple user accounts with different permission levels.  Your marketing department, for example, might have an account allowing the posting of news releases and company news.  Your customer service department might have an account allowing it to post answers to the most frequent customer questions.  No specialized knowledge is needed.  If staffers can use Microsoft Word, Yahoo Mail or Facebook, they can log into the admin screen and create a new page.  If  their page needs to be approved before it goes live, you can limit their permissions to writing only.  The post will be held until someone with higher permissions reviews and publishes it.

Who uses CMS platforms?

All major businesses, many medium-sized businesses and virtually all media sites use CMS platforms.  This includes everyone from CNN to Microsoft to Amazon.  There would be no way to handle their massive number of pages and updates without dynamic pages manages through a CMS.  If you’ve used almost any web-based tool or social media site – from G-Mail to Yahoo to Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn – you’ve already used a CMS.

Facebook is a good example.  If you’re a member, you probably understand that everyone has the same page template “shell” that you personalize with various add-ons.  There’s no need to code anything, you just fill in the blanks, check boxes to add options, and write in your text entry box to update your status or make blog posts.  On MySpace, you can even change the look of your page template.  But in the end, it’s about the ability to focus on content, not on coding.

What about Front Page, Publisher, Dreamweaver and GoLive?

The tools that allow WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) web building were major developments in the mid- to late 1990s.  They took web publishing out of the realm of pure coding (many geeks still prefer using Notepad) and into a visual environment, where you could actually see the page you were building.

Many people don’t realize that Microsoft Word itself is a WYSIWYG tool – before this type of word processor, computer screens showed plain text, and even simple coding like boldface required coding similar to HTML code.  In fact, Word itself can save your files as web pages.

These web publishing tools were cutting edge in their day, but they still required a knowledge of HTML coding and the ability to perform file transfers and other web server tasks.  These programs still work best when the user already understands web coding, and can use the program to speed up the work.

Today the programs are more complex, because the web itself is more complex.  Instead of just HTML, they use CSS (style sheets that direct fonts, colors, spacing and other aspects of appearance), Javascript (programming language) and other tools.   Dreamweaver itself is now used almost exclusively by designers with high-end skills.  Using any such tools effectively requires a learning curve, even on the low end.

In the end, such tools produce flat, static HTML pages.  Worse, most add complex, proprietary code that increases the time pages load on the web, and can confuse search engines.  And you still must add search engine optimization and dynamic features that require special knowledge, ongoing updates and programming fees.

But my web host offers easy web site-building tools . . .

Most good web hosts offer an array of services, including the availability of “one-click install” programs and site builders with a variety of templates.  One of the most popular web domain registrars, GoDaddy.com, for instance, offers site builders starting with its “Web Site Tonight” product. This type of product actually is a CMS, with the same benefits as described above. 

This might be a good solution for a starter web site. Unfortunately such site builders tend to be limited.  GoDaddy’s products, for example, allow a limited number of pages and designs.  Quick and easy for a basic site, but with little allowance for larger sites or those with customized designs and extra features.

If you handle your own web hosting, it likely offers CMS platforms in its “one-click install” offerings.  These may include WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and others.

So why do I need your help with a CMS Web Site?

A fair question, since you can easily hit that “one-click install” button.  Let’s take WordPress, which is our CMS of choice for individuals, small to medium businesses (even large businesses, unless they have complex site needs), or organizations.  WordPress is better known as the most popular blogging software in the world.  With a few adjustments and the right template, however, it becomes a remarkably powerful, but easy-to-use content management system.

But go ahead and hit that “one-click install” button.  This is the default blog template that is set up.  

Not exactly what you had in mind, right? Like this better?

The difference is the installation and customization of a premium CMS-enabled theme.  In the first example, the blog is the centerpiece.  In the second, the promotional content is the centerpiece, while the blog is now a section of updating headlines in the lower right corner. While it’s true  you can easily install WordPress  with a "one-click" (actually there’s a bit more to it than that), turning it  into a fully functional CMS website requires extra skills.

Our specialty is not only installing the software, but customizing CMS web sites so they are fully functional and ready for you to drive.  This includes:

• Setting up security tools, such as spam-blockers

• Premium theme design, customized with art, graphics and color palette

• Installation and setup of  a dynamic sitemap generator (an outline of your site used by search engines)

• Custom search engine optimization (SEO)

• Installation of  extra functionality based on your needs – including photo galleries, social media (sharing), advertising rotations (including Google AdSense and similar programs), contact forms, databasing forms, etc.

• Tutorials

The bottom line is that is using a CMS-powered web site frees your business or organization from the dilemma of choosing between long periods without site updates, or being held hostage to the schedule and cost of traditional web developers.  The cost of a CMS website launch is much lower than a traditional static website, with extra functionality available at much more affordable rates.  Daily updates can be handled by any staff member who can use Yahoo! Mail or Microsoft Word.  And even if you need help with website updates or sitewide changes, our CMS specialists can do the work much more quickly (and therefore more affordably) than a traditional web developer.

Contact us today for an estimate on what it will take to convert your current site into a dynamic Content Management System, or to create a site if you don’t already have one.