A Content Management System is a platform for managing a website. CMS software allows a direct connection from a computer at your home or business to your website’s hosting server making it possible for anyone to publish information on a website without having to understand web design or development.
How to Get Started Using A CMS?
Setting up a CMS, as opposed to using it to manage a website, requires web design and development knowledge. Hire a web design studio, freelancer, or direct employee with proven experience building websites using the same CMS the company will deploy. Once a modern and professional website is online, then a business owner or designated employee that is computer savvy can manage the site using the CMS. A person with a sound foundation of web development and graphic design knowledge would be ideal for this place though.
The CMS will have an interface that allows anyone set up as a user to upload articles, images, advertisements, and video directly to the website. The uploaded content will appear immediately. Every popular CMS allows different levels of access for every user. For instance, the website manager or business owner would have administrative privileges and can do any task.
However, a salesperson may have limited access and can only add a product price or description. The graphics department could have a user status created that only allows them to upload images that have been approved by a site administrator first. Obviously, a CMS can be a great asset to a business, whether they are a large online retailer or a brick and mortar store that only uses the web to convey contact information.
Depending on which CMS is used the user interface may be simple or complicated. There will be a learning curve for employees not familiar with the use of a CMS, but employees with limited user access should be able to learn the procedure in a matter of minutes. Administrators that have many responsibilities could face months of study to master the more complex CMS’s.
Different Types of CMS’s
The three most popular CMS’s in use are WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. WordPress is by far the most used CMS on the web because anyone can start a blog or launch a simple website using WordPress quickly, and for little money.
WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are free and open-source that means the underlying code that the CMS is built on is available freely for change. The only costs incurred are those that any website would face. Things such as a hosting service, any optional add-ons available from the hosting service and a domain name.
In general, WordPress is best suited to small business use, Joomla for medium to large companies, and Drupal is employed for use in large businesses and multinational corporations. These are just broad guidelines though.
These CMS’s offer lots of free tools and can do difficult SEO friendly website functionality in a few minutes. A CMS uses free themes to create professional looking website layouts.