What is a CMS and Why Should You Have One?

Learn content management systems, how they work, and why they’re essential for growing businesses.

Introduction

When it comes to creating a website, you have two primary options: manually coding HTML or utilising a Content Management System (CMS). Understanding the ins and outs of both systems and what makes the other different is a must-know for any company looking to grow their website platform. As the name implies, a Content Management System or CMS handles the digital content on your website.

Many businesses use CMS to organise the generation, publication, and analysis of content. Web content management (WCM) and enterprise content management (ECM) are two common uses for CMSes. Using a CMS’s user-friendly interface, you can create, manage, and publish content. Instead of using code, you can customise the look and feel of your website by downloading or buying templates and plugins. The same tool allows for many different things, including numerous people working in the back end. WordPress hosting is a prime example of a widely used CMS used by around 40% of websites on the internet, including The New Yorker, BBC America, Forbes, and The New York Times.

Here are some of the benefits of CMS and why you should have one.

1. Web Programming Experience Is Not Required

Content management systems were built for users with little to no programming experience needed. It’s extremely user- and beginner-friendly, once your website is fully developed by a web design professional, managing the actual content on your website is simple and easy to learn. Your web content, like images and text, can easily be inserted and uploaded onto specific pages and styled in a content editor that is similar to Microsoft Word. The rest of the user interface is accessible to those who haven’t even touched a single line of code.

2. Data Security

Nobody wants their website to be hacked in these days, especially the owners of e-commerce websites. Websites are particularly susceptible to hacking attempts and are frequently the focus of these attacks. However, a large team of programmers and computer scientists regularly checks content management systems in an effort to shield consumers from all possible security risks. In addition, there are innumerable plugins and technologies that are uniquely created to improve the security of your website.

3. Reasonably Priced

If your website is static, website maintenance may be a significant investment. The cost of hiring a web designer or developer on a regular basis might add up. Cost is a consideration, but you will also probably need to wait a few days before the improvements appear live on your website. With CMS, you no longer need to rely on a web developer to make routine site adjustments when you have a content management system in place. When you need them, you can quickly make these modifications by yourself.

4. Advanced SEO Tools and Plugins

Content management systems offer a number of plugins and tools that can help your site rank better in major search engines. This doesn’t mean you should get rid of your online marketing team, but these tools can help implement a basic SEO strategy in an attempt to increase online traffic to your site. These plugins are also regularly updated to adapt to any changes in major search engines that could affect your ranking. So, your website will remain optimised at all times, despite any updates or changes. Basically, CMSs, especially WordPress, are the only website options that allow you to easily optimise your website for search engines using user-friendly plugins and tools right within the editing interface itself.

5. Hassle-free Collaboration

Content management systems allow multiple people to not only have access to your website but also easily collaborate on different projects. Using individual accounts, multiple people can add, edit, or update content on the site right from their own computers or devices. CMS also stores all of your online content for you in one place and is available to anyone with access to the website, meaning the need to send multiple different files to different individuals is no longer necessary. Better yet, content management systems are also very convenient for people on the go. You can log in to the back end of your website from anywhere. All you need is a computer, tablet, or mobile device and an internet connection.

Conclusion

A content management system is an investment that will benefit you in the longer run. It gives your website a clear structure so visitors can easily find your content and improves the overall SEO ranking of your website. It’s a ridiculously easy to use system that doesn’t require you to be technically savvy, making it more accessible than any other website creation platform.