What is a content management system: What you should look for

A content management system is a widely known web term. In a nutshell, a content management system gives you the ability to add, edit and delete content on your website. There are two types of content management systems – open source (which is free to use) and closed source (paid software and/or not publicly available software). There are advantages and disadvantages to both; let’s focus on what you should demand your content management system does for you.

Easy to log-in

This is a standard must. You should be able to access your site from any location via the internet. You never know when you have an opportunity to add a blog post, or edit a page, add a page to the site etc.

It needs to be easy to use

Are you going to be the only one updating the site? Often times the people who search for content management systems or web developers know a lot about computers (in general). The only problem here is that often times there are multiple people who access the website. Bring in the person who has little computer experience. They should be able to use the content management system. At a minimum, make sure that the company you are looking to hire is willing to help out your staff on training how to use the content management system.

Functionality

If your website requires specific functionality, make sure that the content management system can do it. Some are not as robust in service offerings when it comes to customization.

SEO Tools

Make sure the content management system has search engine optimization tools in place to help your site get found online.

Restricted access

Being able to decide who has access to your website is important. The goal is to grow your business to make more money. In that growth will be more employees. Make sure that your content management system allows for different levels of access (i.e. some people can blog, others can update the event calendar etc.)

These are a few of the items that you should have when you’re shopping for a content management system (CMS). We’re keen on the Drupal content management system, however there are many other alternatives available.

What CMS do you use?