A CMS (or better known as a Content Management System), is a web platform that allows users to create their own content for their blog, or the rest of their website, through a backend structure without the need to know how to program.
According to one analysis, around 64 million websites use a CMS. This is a testament to the value that they provide for website managers and developers.
You may already know some of them, for example, some of the most popular ones are WordPress, Drupal, Prestashop and Joomla. WordPress was developed in 2003 and has become the most popular blogging CMS. Drupal and Joomla were developed in 2001 and 2005, respectively. They are ideal for more general sites with different functionality requirements. There are also some other CMS platforms that are very popular but have more specialized applications, such as Shopify for ecommerce store owners.
If you spend some time looking at some of the most popular websites, you will find many of them are created with content management system platforms like these. A good CMS has a number of great advantages over traditional web design. Some of the biggest benefits of using a CMS instead of creating a website with raw HTML, PHP and other types of code are summarized below.
Good Functionality
The content management systems incorporate features that have already been previously tested to ensure the proper functioning, allowing you to focus on other aspects of the creation of your website. Taking into account that most CMS integrate blogs, email platforms, user management, it is a great advantage not to worry about them working well.
This is not to say that you won’t sometimes run into functionality issues. For example, some WordPress plugins might not be compatible with each other and could cause the site to have issues.
However, the functionality issues are far easier to address with a CMS. You can usually resolve the issue by simply disabling different plugins until you see that it works again. It would take many hours more of troubleshooting if you had to deal with similar problems from a regular site that was built with raw HTML or PHP code.
Speed and efficiency
The wide variety of available templates and the multiple functionalities of a CMS along with the massive availability of free and paid plugins or modules that you can easily install according to your respective needs opens a wide range of possibilities. This allows you to create more robust webpages and reduce production time by more than 50%. Depending on the complexity of your website and your skill level, you might even be able to reduce your production time by 80% or more.
The CMS also generates dynamic URLs for each article or published content, making it easier for the content to be linked to other pages and obtain greater visibility on the network.
Easy and fast updating and self-management
Having an updated website is no longer a headache. The ease of management of CMS allows you to keep any website up to date and make small modifications without suffering dramatic changes.
Easy blog management by content experts
Its easy and intuitive interface for creating blog entries also allows most content creation professionals to use it without previous knowledge. This facilitates the work of web positioning for online marketing professionals. As a result, it tends to be a lot easier for website owners to market content when it is created with a reliable CMS.
Technical support
Each CMS has a community of programmers who offer constant support, as well as most of the creators of templates for these CMS. This makes it easier to solve any technical problem.
You need to make sure that you use a reliable CMS with a great technical support system. This will help you deal with any issues that you might encounter down the road.
Social Networking
They facilitate the integration of social networks, not only the usual buttons to follow or share but also the integration of Widgets that allow you to add more dynamic content to the website. It is a great advantage because having social networks is very important if we want to increase traffic to our website. More traffic means more possible clients, that is to say, to increase the possibilities of business.
A good CMS can offer a lot of great benefits
There are a lot of great reasons that you should invest in a good CMS. If you get a good CMS for your web project, it can help you in the following ways:
- The authoring process can be easily streamlined.
- Your website will get remotely updated whenever needed.
- The appearance of your website will be attractive.
- You can customize the website based on your business needs.
- People who don’t have proper technical knowledge can easily handle the website and update it.
- The website maintenance cost will be minimized.
Before getting a CMS, ensure you have complete information on your workflow, processes, and your technical requirements.