Content Management System (CMS): A Perfect Guide on “How to Use It for Better Outcomes”

How does a Content Management System (CMS) work?

To understand how a CMS works, you first require to understand what it’s likely to build a website from scratch. You’d start with HTML to add text, images, navigation bars, and other building blocks of a website. Then you can add CSS to style those elements to match the unique look of your brand.

Also, you can finish up by writing some JavaScript code to add more advanced functionality to your website, such as adding slide-in CTAs. Then you would have to upload this HTML file to your server to be filed away in your database.

Remember, whenever you want to make changes like updating a small content then you have to download files from the server, open them, and change the HTML code manually. Then you’ll have to ensure that you don’t break any links or something else before uploading the files back to your server.

Sounds complicated? For developers and other advanced users having exposure to website development, building a website from scratch might be absolute. But for those who don’t have the coding skills or time and resources to build a website from scratch and maintain it, they can utilize a CMS. Now, let’s take a look at HOW.

A CMS is made up of two core parts like a content management application and a content delivery application (CDA). Combined, these applications essentially handle all code, database queries, and infrastructure in the back end so you can focus on the front end of your website.

Moreover, WordPress is a good example of a content management system. Without a content management system, you would require to write a static HTML file and upload it to your server. With a content management system such as WordPress, you can just write your content in an interface that looks a good bit like Microsoft Word:

Creating content with WordPress CMS seems easy, right?

Similarly, to upload and manage media, such as images, you can just browse the media library instead of requiring to interact with your web server directly:

The content management system isn’t just a backend management interface, though. It can also show up all your created content to your visitors/users in the exact form that you desired.

1. No coding language required

By enabling non-developers and other users to build websites without coding, CMS systems have helped transform web design. Just remember, gone are the days of depending on web developers and designers to establish an online presence for your business.
You can create and manage content, customize the design of your website, and install extensions to add functionality to your website, all without coding. As an outcome, having limited technical resources and time you can still build a powerful website for your business.

2. Easy Combination

Multiple users can approach and work in the CMS backend at the same time, which means on any given day, your marketers can be producing content, your IT professionals executing security protocols, and your developers adding custom code to your theme. Along with that, your team of developers or users can work on the same landing page at the same time. In short, a CMS can help enhance workflows and productivity across your team.

3. SEO features and Extensions

CMS platforms offer built-in features as well as add-ons to help you optimize your website for Google (Search engine). However, along with that, you can also use the below-mentioned points for better outcomes:

• Choose SEO-friendly URL structures
• Customize your websites page titles and meta descriptions
• Create XML sitemaps
• Add image alt text
• Create 301 redirects
• Comprise breadcrumb navigation for your website
• Optimize page load times

Using these practices will help improve your chances of ranking on Google and other major search engines.

4. Use Predesigned Templates for your website

Various CMS platforms such as CMS Hub come with a selection of predesigned templates you can use to quickly customize the appearance of your website. Choosing a responsive template, for example, will ensure your website looks good on any device, without requiring you to write a bunch of code. Not only do templates save your design time before launching your website, they can also make a website redesign much faster and simpler down the road.

5. Simple Updates

As discussed above, a CMS authorizes you to make changes on your site faster and easier from major updates, such as website redesign, to minor updates, such as changing the image on your website redesign, to minor updates such as changing the image on your home page. If you don’t have enough budget to hire a professional or don’t require professional hiring then you can visit your CMS dashboard to update and edit the content of your website.

This allows you to keep your content dynamic and relevant. If your website is growing, you may require to upgrade to a CMS to meet your requirements. You can initiate your search by checking out a few of the best CMS systems below.

Want to build your own website with a content management system?

• Scalable Cloud Implementation
• Easy Database Integrations
• Security & Compliance
• Integrated Marketing & SEO

Let Us Give You Ideas!

1. WordPress

It is one of the most popular content management systems and has the largest market share among its competitors. It is used by over 30% of websites. The New York Times or BBC America and Forbes are some of the WordPress CMS websites. Working on WordPress is very easy as you can create a really professional-seeking website with it. A CMS which is both reliable and flexible, and offers performance to your visitors. Along with that, posting new content on WordPress is also smooth as it also includes a powerful editor that helps you format your content as per your need.

2. Joomla

Do you know? After WordPress, Joomla is considered to be the second most popular Content Management system among other CMS. It may not be as beginner-friendly as WordPress, but it is very flexible in a number of ways of web development and creation. Such as WordPress, is also an open-source CMS that enables you to develop and build engaging and professional-seeking web pages without having the requirement to know coding or any other technical skills.
Joomla offers multilingual support, which saves you from using plugins or extensions for adding languages to your website. You can also use more than one template or theme at once on the same website for various types of content.

3. Drupal

Drupal has all the features you need for a good CMS. Though it is not as easy to use and is more complicated than WordPress or Joomla, it is considered to be a good content management system. Drupal is considered to be a more secure platform than WordPress and Joomla. It is because Drupal is well-known for its scalability and advanced security features. These features make Drupal a better option for business CRM websites.

4. Typo3

Typo3 is not much more popular CRM than Drupal, however, that doesn't make it a lesser option for building a CMS website. However, the main differentiation between Typo3 and other CRMs like Drupal, and WordPress can be done based on their scalability. 

After knowing about certain CMS platforms, Now you may be wondering which will be the best CMS platform for your website. Well, it's not as hard as it seems, the choice of CMS depends on your budget and exceptional requirements.

Moreover, being professionals, we would say that WordPress is the best CMS to be considered for any website. It is the most popular and also user-friendly platform that owns around 35.2% market share among CMS websites as compared to other CMS platforms.

WordPress

WordPress is an extremely prominent open-source decision for little, straightforward, or entry-level sites. It started as a blogging stage and stays a well-known device for running a blog. It is very easy to understand however not a generally excellent decision for big business level CMS on account of known customization, security, and versatility issues.

Drupal

Drupal is a superior open-source decision for complex or propelled sites or sites that require a complex organization of data. It is fit for creating increasingly complex sites.

Joomla

Structured as an open-source network stage, with solid long-range informal communication highlights. It offers more adaptability than WordPress however not as flexible as Drupal.

Sitecore

Sitecore as of late got one of the business’ driving CMS. It is an incredible endeavor level .NET CMS that highlights a Windows-like interface and numerous highlights, yet it has a moderately significant expense of possession.

Still, confused? Talk to our tech experts!