Last Updated on May 9, 2023
Content has become one of the most used methods brands interact with their customers and a well-designed, easy to use website is key for any business to be successful. Websites tend to flourish on the quality of their content, but more than often too many resources go to the creation of content over anything else. While that’s undeniably important, there’s little thought put into how brands should curate the content they have on their webpage, to ensure the content remains up to date. To utilize your content for all its worth and market your business, you need a sound and flexible content management system.
What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
A content management system, usually abbreviated as CMS, is a software platform that lets you create, edit, manage, distribute, and report content on your website without having to know any technical knowledge. It also allows multiple web administrators to log in to a single system and collaborate on updating your website. In other words, a CMS enables you to easily manage your content without having to know any form of coding.
How does a Content Management System Work?
Content management systems make it easy to use popular web-based CMS tools such as WordPress and Drupal. These tools allow you to write your content in a simple and easy to use interface. We’ve broken the CMS process down into these four categories to give you a better understanding.
- Content creation. Without a content management system, you would need to write code and then upload it to your server, which can be complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing. This simplifies the entire process by creating a site structure.
- Content management. After you save your content in a CMS, the content is saved there forever. This makes it easy for you to keep track of every version of content that you have, as well as keep a record of who updates a page and when they do it.
- Content publishing. Once your site or page design has been created by a web developer, you can apply this to your CMS, so all of your content is presented in the same format. A good CMS will apply any site or page layout automatically.
- Content presentation. The content that you create shows up to visitors in the exact way that you want it. There are a number of things that a content management system can do to present content. Different systems offer different presentation options.
Open Source CMS vs Paid CMS
Open source CMS are largely available to the public, and mostly are free of charge. They run based on an open community that contributes to CMS creation. This community consists of coders and developers from all over the world. The most popular open source CMS are Joomla and WordPress.
While Paid CMS, also known as Commercial CMS, are developed and owned by a single company. Users usually need to buy a license and 3rd party plugins are not allowed. One of the most popular paid CMS is Sitefinity.
Popular Content Management Systems for Digital Marketing
Open Source CMS
- Hubspot’s Website Platform. HubSpot offers a free version of their CRM, but it costs extra to add sales and marketing modules. This platform is ideal for those who are considering changing the design of their website. It also comes with easy to manage interface options while ensuring that your content is optimized for search.
- WordPress. Based on PHP and MySQL, WordPress is one of the most known content management systems and offers a wide range of tools to help create content, videos, and images. It offers a nice selection of pre-made themes and an intuitive interface for easy navigation.
- Drupal. Drupal is an open source platform that empowers both apps and websites. One of its most notable features is that it offers an integrated modular system that can be used for communication, publication, and e-commerce. Many business owners prefer to use Drupal because it is versatile, manageable, scalable, and secure.
- Joomla. Similar to WordPress, Joomla is an open source CMS that is easy to use. It manages all the content that you want and offers thousands of extensions and themes. This can be a great pick if you have forums, news, or other content related sites. However, Joomla is not an all-in-one solution, so you may find yourself having to do a lot of customization yourself to get all the features that you want.
- MURA. This platform was mostly developed for programmers, designers, developers, and government organizations. It has the main goal of providing easy-to-use tools that promote maximum productivity. Furthermore, it includes search engine optimization, scalability, multi-language support, and cross-platform flexibility. Mura does lack in theme selection and plugins though.
Paid CMS
- Kentico. This is an all-in-one platform where business owners can not only manage their website, but also publish content and start e-commerce campaigns. It also offers community building capabilities such as forums and message boards. If you’re an international company, Kentico lets you manage your website in a number of different languages.
- Sitefinity. Sitefinity is a well-established paid CMS platform that has a sleek design and user-friendly experience. It offers a range of features including A/B testing, personalization, drag-and-drop widgets, and accommodation to manage multiple brands and regions. However, developers for this platform can be a little harder to find than the other CMS platforms mentioned, and its template selection is limited.
- Adobe Experience Manager (AEM). AEM makes it easy to manage marketing content and perform maintenance across all channels while delivering a personalized experience. Its features cover user generated content, web & app creation along with marketing campaign management. It also offers real-time analytics and marketing optimization.
- Sitecore. itecore’s solution combines content management with user experience that allows businesses to control customer experiences and analyze customer engagement. This is a good tool for businesses that want to have rich and detailed data on individual customers and want to take advantage of A/B testing.
Leverage your Web Development with Sekkei Studio
Sekkei Studio is an expert in designing and building websites on WordPress and Drupal. We design websites in a way that is guided by research and focuses on the end user. Sekkei Studio will custom design every page and site to fit your brand and power your business goals. Turning to a digital agency like us allows you to focus on marketing your business and allows us to scale your business in new and exciting ways. Contact us to learn more about CMS or how to get started with your web development.
Case Study
Hayco designs and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods and wanted to refresh their website to attract more clients. We began with a complete revamp of their old website and found out that Drupal’s content management system would be ideal for Hayco’s needs. Drupal’s user-friendly layout allows Hayco to easily manage and interact with their website, while ensuring that it is fully responsive across all devices.
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