Content Managements Systems, also known simply as CMS, are software applications that allow webmasters to control content on a website without having to have technical knowledge. Below are 10 things you need to know about CMS before deciding to use one and which one to use.
Content management systems are responsible for helping administrators create, delete, edit and reorganize the content on your website. However, good content management systems allow you to do this in an easy, intuitive way.
Today’s editors allow admins to take a different approach to content management. Content can now be edited without an impact to the overall design of the page, making them both easy to use and generally fool proof.
The search function is an important aspect of any website. Over half of your traffic will start a search within your site looking for content.
3. Managing assets
The management of images and files is one of the most important tasks a CMS is required to handle. Unfortunately, it is something that many don’t do well. You will want to ensure that your CMS not only allows for easy uploading and management of images and files but also provides basic image editing tools such as cropping and rotation.
The search function is an important aspect of any website. Over half of your traffic will start a search within your site looking for content. However, most Content Managements Systems solutions don’t provide a quality search function. You will want to ensure that the search capability is robust in the CMS you want to use.
Unfortunately, many CMS designers, just like web designers, use bad coding practices that do not allow your website to separate code from design. You will want to steer clear of these and focus on using a Content Management Systems that allows flexibility in the way content is retrieved and displayed.
Websites are only as good as the community that uses them. If your website is dependent on gathering user feedback, your Content Management Systems is going to have to be able to handle it or at least allow a third party plugin to handle it. In addition, if you need to interact with your users or manage user profiles, you will need to ensure that your CMS can do this, too.
As the number of content providers on your website increases, you will need to assign roles. For this, you will need to ensure that your CMS can handle multiple roles such as an editor and an approver or whatever roles you want to define for your site.
As you administer your site, there will be times where reverting back to a previous version will be beneficial for recovery purposes. For this purpose, your CMS should, at minimum, allow your site to be reverted back to the last save date quickly and easily.
Rarely do businesses operate one website anymore. This means that your Content Managements Systems should have the capability of running more than one website from the same installation.
While you may not need it today, having multilingual support will make it easy to expand, especially if you are ever offering a language specific product.
Targeted SEO Services can help you navigate through the complex world of CMS and help you choose the right one for your needs.
