Selecting the best content management system (CMS) for your website needs can mean the difference between success and failure.  In this post, Siu Coll (Business Development Manager) offers small businesses an overview of considerations when choosing a CMS. 

Most website owners now recognise the need to continually update their own website.  Search engines love content, and regular updates can pay dividends with better search engine rankings.  With a content management system (CMS), you can update your site without involving external parties in time-consuming updates.  It gives you control of one of your organisation’s assets (and one that you should be regularly nurturing): your website.

If you are considering a CMS, then it's likely that you're at the start of your website project.  This is an important stage of the process.  Selecting the right CMS for you will determine whether future website management is a pleasure or a pain, or could even mean the difference between success and failure.  So, rather than making a snap decision to take up the first CMS on offer, you need to consider whether the CMS meets your organisation's and website's needs.  And this is no easy task since there are a plethora of products out there.  No two CMS's are the same and there is no 'ideal' CMS out there.  Each one has its own merits - and its own price tag. 

Content management systems (CMS) for small businesses

There are literally thousands of CMS products out there.  Enterprise CMSs are very powerful, and for SMEs, not necessary.  Unfortunately, this narrows down the options only very slightly.  However, talking in very broad terms, you can opt for either a bespoke CMS or a pre-developed solution.  Again, neither is considered 'best' as it depends on your individual needs.  Certainly, a pre-developed CMS solution can be delivered quicker and, potentially, at a lower cost. 

In the case of pre-developed ones, these are either open source ones that are available for all (mostly for free), but require time, effort and (for many products) skills to get the website precisely how you want it. 

For SMEs, a more realistic option is to engage the services of a professional web agency who will take the time to fully understand your needs, and then select the right CMS for your website.  The CMS might be an open source one (e.g. WordPress) or one developed in-house.  In either case, your web agency will hopefully align the CMS product's capabilities/scope for scalability/price tag against your website short-term and long-term needs.   

To be sure that you're choosing the best CMS for you, it's worth your web agency lots of questions, e.g.

• Does it meet with your business and web content needs? 
• What are its limitations? 
• Is it customisable - either with plug ins or with further development work?
• Is it search engine friendly? 
• What are the lifetime costs of the CMS?  e.g. costs for rental cost obligations and training or support costs.

Where possible, we would highly recommend that you try out the CMS to evaluate that its features match your needs, and, importantly, that you find it user-friendly.  This might not always be possible, e.g. where your website demands a bespoke solution.   

greensplash content management systems

RefresherCMS - a flexible CMS for SMEs

The most popular CMS for our website clients is our RefresherCMS product, due to its features and flexibility.  RefresherCMS has lots of search engine friendly features built in, which our clients love. 

Simple CMS – highly affordable and a cinch to use

Next on the list is our Simple CMS product, which is a lightweight and wallet-friendly CMS.  It allows clients to update existing pages of content - perfectly adequate for many small businesses that perhaps only want to only update a few images or text on an infrequent basis. 

Neither RefresherCMS nor Simple CMS require the client to be tech-savvy. 

Bespoke content management systems

Finally, other clients have bespoke content management systems, which are wholly tailored to suit individual needs. 

Share this...

 del.icio.us   Reddit   StumbleUpon   Digg   Facebook   Twitter