Looking for the easiest way to develop, design, and manage a website? Even if you are planning to run a blog or an online store then all you need is a website with a good CMS to create and publish content. Connect with the best CMS Platform to create, modify, and publish the web content in the smartest and smoothest way possible. Keep reading this article to get a comprehensive CMS checklist that you need for choosing the best content management system for your website.
What is Content Management System?
Content Management System (CMS) can be best marked as a software that involves the creation, modification, and publishing of web content.
In simple words, the CMS enables a user to create and manage content on a website without coding (doesn’t require the user to upload HTML files to the server).
You don’t have to be an expert to manage content on your website, blog or online store if you have a good CMS connected to it.
WordPress, WooCommerce, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, and Shopify are the best content management systems. However, you must know that WordPress ranks the top when it comes to setting up a multi-niche website whereas content management systems including WooCommerce, Shopify, and Magneto come in handy the most for setting up an online store.
What Does CMS Do?
A content management system is the house of all the tools and techniques required to create, optimize, and publish web content.
The main functions of a CMS Platform include:
- Internal Search
- Retrieval
- HTML Markup
- Access Control
- Format Management
- Revision Control
- Storing (Content/Media)
- Publishing
- Indexing
- Reporting
More clearly, some of the major tasks the webmasters can perform using a CMS Platform includes:
- Create and publish web content (posts/pages)
- Update/delete published web content
- Add and store multimedia files in your database
- Add and modify categories, themes, or templates
- Organize and maintain the layout of the web pages
- Manage the structure & navigations of the website
- Manage authorships, adminships, and editorial workflows
How does CMS work?
Have a look at the core parts of CMS that makes it work on the technical level:
- A Content Management Application (CMA)
CMA enables the user to add as well as manage the content and media files to display on the website. This part basically manages the front end of the website.
- A Content Delivery Application (CDA)
CDA enables the processing of the data in CMA to make the content visible and well arranged for the users and viewers. It can be best marked as what manages the backend of the website.
How to Setup a Website using CMS?
Setting up a website on CMS isn’t as difficult as it may seem. There are some basic steps you need to follow to develop and design a website with an interface of the CMS of your choice.
Have a look below to know how to make a website using CMS:
- Buy a domain with hosting services
- Select the Best CMS for your website and Install it on your Web Server
- Create and manage content using the CMS interface
Now, comes the question: what type of CMS do you need for your website?
Have a look below to know about the types of Content Management Systems:
- Open Source CMS
- Proprietary CMS
The Open Source CMS comes up with a free allowance for the modification of its source code. Such CMS platforms are developed and managed by a community of developers.
The Open Source CMS platforms don’t require a license, contract, and even upgrade charges.
Most importantly, the source code of an open-source CMS platform is available to all of its users. Thereby, it can be easily modified for the creation of the new functionalities as per the user requirements.
Some of the best Open Source CMS Platforms are:
- WordPress
- Joomla
- Drupal
- Magento
- PrestaShop
The Proprietary CMS Platforms are developed and managed by a sole company. Such CMS platforms are purchased and require the users to buy its license as well as pay on a monthly or yearly basis for the upgrade and support services.
Some of the best and most popular Proprietary CMS Platforms are:
- Kentico
- Shopify
- Microsoft SharePoint
- IBM Enterprise Content Management
- Pulse CMS
- Sitecore
We hope that now you must be aware of the different types, and thus, benefits, and uses of the CMS. Thereby, keeping in view all these factors, you can choose the right CMS for your website.
Let’s get to know about the factors you need to consider while choosing a cms platform.
CMS Checklist – Features of the Best Content Management System
If you are looking for the best cms platform then you must know about the features that make it worthwhile, and compatible with your website/store.
Features that marks the worth and quality of a CMS include:
- User-friendly Interface
What makes the interface of a CMS user-friendly is its ability to provide access to the users at easy-to-give commands.
While choosing the best CMS platform, look for the one with an interface that is well organized, and enables the users to easily locate the essential and required tools
- Flexibility
CMS should allow you the flexibility to make any type of website whether it is a blog, e-commerce store, or portfolio. A CMS is called flexible if it doesn’t limit you to a specific category or type of website. Precisely, the flexible CMS enables the creation, and development of all types of websites, and thus, web content.
- Scalability
CMS should be scalable so that the website can easily grow, and expand as well as the user can monitor both the performance & growth of the website.
- SEO Plugins
SEO is the most crucial and vital part of web content. The best CMS provides the users with all the basic and advanced SEO Plugins as well as themes to help them optimize the web content in the best way possible.
While looking for the best CMS, choose the one that comes up with in-built SEO plugins such as readability checker, content optimizer, alt tag generator, broken link generator, etc.
- Multilingualism
If you would like to rank your website at a global level then the CMS must be multilingual.
While looking for the best CMS platform, choose the one with the ability to translate the web content in different languages without changing its intent, meaning, and context.
- Affordability
You must check if the content management system you are going to use is affordable or not. Although majority of webmasters opt for free CMS, it is sometimes necessary to get premium subscriptions as well. Go for the one with the most economical plans and packages.
Conclusion
To find the best CMS platform, you must find the answer to this question “Which CMS does your website need?” While looking for the best CMS for your website you are required to consider some factors. Keep in view that the compatibility of the website and CMS is very important to validate. Verily, the best CMS is the one that caters to the needs and requirements of your website (blog/store) particularly, from the SEO perspective.
