When preparing for a redesign of your website, one must-have deserving of some special attention is your content management system. A content management system enables you to publish, edit and modify content on your website as frequently as needed. These changes could be posts to your blog, company news, product pages or any other areas of your site that need fresh, valuable content added. The ideal CMS lets you manage your website the way you want without including costly features you don’t need.
Selecting the best fitting solution for your CMS is vital to managing an effective website. The CMS selection process may be reminiscent of Goldilocks taste-testing the right porridge to steal from three unsuspecting bears in that some will be too bland, some too much and a few will fit your needs just right.
Too Small: Template-Based Content Management Systems
Pros: Relatively inexpensive and can be quickly uploaded to most websites. Users have capability to update and change basic website page content.
Cons: Although they are touted to have far-reaching capabilities, template-based content management systems generally leave much to be desired. Typically, out-of-the-box CMS solutions are not very powerful on their own and users are frequently forced to deal with plug-ins or technical add-ons in order to make their website perform a certain way. System updates regularly break plug-ins, compromising the basic functionality of your website. The result: website crashes, lost data and missed lead opportunities.
Templated CMS options are even more lacking when you want to integrate any type of website security or database like a customer relationship management (CRM) program. Most template options are open source systems, meaning the source code, or how the site is built, is able to be modified and changed easily by others. Open source systems are extremely vulnerable to hackers and spammers. If you are running a dynamic site integrated with a CRM database you need to consider not only ease of integration but protecting your website and customer records from threats.
Even professional web developers cannot force a template CMS to perform functions for which it has not been designed. As the infamous line goes, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. Ultimately, many organizations realize their content management and website needs are greater than what is possible with a cookie-cutter CMS.
Too Big: Jammed-Packed CMS Programs
Pros: Have the technical stamina to handle more demands like e-commerce, lead capture, integration with CRM programs.
Cons: When basic template programs are not enough, companies turn to the other end of the spectrum in search of a better solution. Content management systems packed full of every technical capability are promoted as the “all you will ever need” option for your website. However, just because you can afford to buy a 35,000 square foot waterfront mansion does not make it the most practical solution for a single person. Seldom do extravagant CMS solutions amount to anything more than a lot of unused real-estate. You end up paying a lot for features you will never even know you have and trying to use the ones you need to may be more complex than is needed.
Just Right: Customized Content Management Systems
Your CMS should help you achieve your business objectives, not hinder them. Aztek can create a custom content management system tailored to your specific business needs which will help you manage creation, editing, and other website maintenance tasks that you choose to control. With a quality content strategy being critically important to the overall efficacy of your website, it is important that a business has the resources and tools readily available to make changes or updates as needed.
The beauty of custom is that we’re able work directly with business departments to learn exactly how they currently function, how they would like to function, what the overall goals for the company are, and more. These factors ensure that the end CMS product incorporates all necessary functionality and meets performance expectations.
A custom CMS is user-intuitive and gives you the ability to achieve technical results with not-so-technical know-how. It’s as flexible as you need it to be and responds to changes efficiently and effectively. And in case you’re worried, with a custom CMS solution like Aztek’s, you own the technology and will never pay a dime in licensing fees. Because it’s yours. Not too big, not too small, just right for your company’s unique needs.
What type of CMS does your website use? Not sure you even have one? Let’s talk today! Leave your thoughts & comments below!
Image Used Under Creative Common License:
Goldilocks and Three Bears: GettysGirl4260
