Try asking any web designer which CMS you should use, they will in most cases have a very decisive answer – the one they specialise in! But how do you decide and make sure you are choosing the best CMS for your needs? This post is about making sure the choice you make matches up well to your requirements ….
What is a CMS?
CMS is short for Content Management System i.e. a system that allows users to work on digital content in a collaborative way. What people really mean when they are talking about CMS is a solution that allows them to edit website’s content and look and feel (to an extent) without knowledge of web design or programming. Not so long ago, but what feels like a century ago in internet years, to edit website’s content was a dedicated webmaster’s job. Nowadays anyone who knows how to read and write and has a PC with an internet connection can via CMS edit websites, change or add text, images or adjust its look and feel.
But then – which one to choose? The list is almost endless so to narrow it down you should really ask yourself a few basic questions…
Do you already have specific technology requirements?
Are you using some specific CRM (Customer Relation Management platform) or maybe you keep your stock tracking in some already established database and you want this to be connected to your website – make sure to pick a CRM that can be integrated i.e. connected with those other platforms.
How much do you want to invest it custom look and feel and specific features? Are they a must or they can be substituted with something “close enough”?
On today’s market there is a solution for almost anything! So maybe you had some specific ideas on how your blogs should behave or how your products should be displayed. Evaluate if there are ready made solutions for this on the market or do you indeed have to go for a custom made solution. Custom is always more expensive in the long run.
What type of CMS if any did you use up to now and what were the pros and cons?
If you’ve already used a CMS to build and work on your website you must have hashed out some things you like and you don’t like. You might have liked how the adding of pages is done, but then hated how images placed on them behaved. Prior experience is a great teacher!
If you have not used it before, talk to your friends and colleagues – find out what are their experiences.
Are you going to have a web commerce site or more of a blog - or both?
This part is quite logical really – You’re not going to pick Magento to run a blog nor Blogger to run a webshop. But then there are some more complex requirements. One might decide to go for the all present WordPress with a well picked eCommerce plugin which will allow you to run both eCommerce and a blog from the same CMS.
I’ve picked my CMS, website has been launched – I am all good now!
…Well not really…
Most people will really focus on their website development and launch, but will very much neglect the fact those websites need to be maintained. As you maintain your car or house, your website aso needs to be periodically updated and upgraded. This is not only so to prevent them from breaking but also due to security reasons. This of course comes with a price tag so when picking that CRM do determine what will be the cost of maintaining the same.
Sites all to often get neglected in terms of maintenance and security causing further down the line significant issues with the site’s functionalities, look and feel. What’s worse is that this scenario often also means the website gets hacked. Thus we cannot stress enough how important is to keep the website fully up to date!
Did you know that here at OneHourSiteFix we can also offer you monthly maintenance packages for any type of CMS you are using. As we can clean any type of website, we can also maintain them!
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