All About Content Management Systems

Most of you may have heard the term content management systems (CMS). But, do you know what they really mean? Are they right for your business? This article will take a deeper look at some features of a content management system currently available.

So, what is a CMS?

A content management system (CMS) is software which allow you to take total control of the content and material on your website. This would give you access to a dashboard or a control panel so that you could easily add, edit, delete and upload new content onto your website. This function is very helpful to the website owner to add regular fresh content to their websites.

How Do They Work?

The CMS software acts in a way that the website owner can communicate with the server where the website’s database is stored. This feature helps the owner to upload new information to the database without having to log directly into each individual file. This enables the site owner to make simple changes and additions to the website from a single location. Maintaining a blog is the simplest example of a CMS system. A blog uses straightforward content management which would enable the user to log-in to the admin area of the site and add new posts by clicking on a module. This then opens up a word processing software which is linked to the database of the blog. The user is then able to write the articles in the word processing module and and click the submit or publish button. The blog post will go live and be published on the site.

What Type of Content Could be Managed?

The best feature of a content management software is that you are able to manage all types of content you wish to publish on your blog or website. Each component will be separated into different types that you can file and call upon as you require. Some of the types include:

• Written content, articles and blogs;
• Videos;
• Testimonials;
• RSS feeds;
• Images and photo galleries;
• PDF’s and many other documents.

Most of the popular types of CMS allow you to easily upload all this type of content with a simple click and attach format. It also allows you the opportunity to create new pages and other aspects of your website without the need to go back to your developer and ask them to add new coding to your site.

Popular Content Management Systems

There are many popular content management systems in the world today. Most web developers will have their favourite and one that they are more familiar with.  WordPress is by far the most popular content management system. It is such a powerful system with an easy to use dashboard for quick content management functions. It was originally created as a blog platform, and its growth has been phenomenal since then. It allows for a combination of pages, posts and picture galleries and there are a host of different themes available to suit all users.  WordPress websites can also function as brochure style business site and dynamic magazine style site. Joomla is another popular content management platform which is used extensively today. Joomla is popular with commercial websites which require new content in line with new product ranges, deals and general retail offerings. Even though Joomla is not versatile like WordPress when it comes to overall design, it still is a solid, relatively easy to use and dependable CMS system for its users. Drupal is another popular content management system that is similar to WordPress and a powerful system developed for multiple uses. It is the oldest of the CMS systems. It is SEO friendly and can be used for multiple page information sites and simple blogging sites. It is less intuitive and not as easy to navigate and lacks the versatility offered through the plugins like WordPress.