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Content Management Software (CMS) Buyer's Guide
Table of Contents
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What is CMS software?
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Is it worth investing money in Content Management Software?
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What are the features of Content Management System Software?
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What are the Benefits of Content Management Software?
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Before choosing the Content Management System
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How to Choose an Ideal CMS (Content Management System) Software?
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How Much Does CMS (Content Management System) Cost?
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Questions to ask a vendor when buying best CMS Software
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Conclusion
Running a website is not an easy task to do. It is expensive as well as time-consuming. After you finish the initial set up process, there comes the need for development, modification, maintenance, content management etc. While you will definitely need a human helping hand for managing other tasks, content management can be done easily through ideal content management software. The application will enable you to write, edit and perform other range of tasks with ease without a need to pay someone extra every time you decide to modify the content.
» What is CMS software?
Content Management Software application enables you to effectively manage your website content and control nearly every aspect of your website in a cost-effective manner without the need of any specialist. It also adds quick-to-edit functions for many aspects such as user accounts, message boards, photo galleries, and even online shopping systems. They are not completely web-based and can be used for corporate intranets as well. In this guide, you will come to know about various features and benefits of Content Management Software. You will also be advised on how to choose an ideal application that will take care of your website needs with ease. Before getting any deeper, let’s discuss how this software works.
» Is it worth investing money in Content Management Software?
Looking at the various functionalities and advantages, it may seem easy to invest money in this software however there is a catch. There are some instances where using this software may not be a good decision at all. For instance, if you are running a small website and it requires changes very less often, the functionality of the software will be wasted. On the other hand, there are also some Content Management Software applications whose functionalities may superfluous your CMS needs. Another factor that greatly affects the decision is the presence of capable manpower to manage the software. Let’s not forget that post-deployment, your staff will need training on handling Content Management systems. However, if they are not so technology friendly, it can add overheads to your business process. If you belong to any of the above-discussed cases then it is not worth investing money in a CMS system.
On the other hand, if you are running a website having considerable daily visitors and demands frequent changes to maintain adequate retention to bounce ratio then go for an ideal Content Management Software application without giving any second thought.
» What are the features of Content Management System Software?
Now, let’s have a brief look at the various elements of a content management system which helps in streamlining the content uploading work for the companies and businesses.
› PAGE MANAGEMENT AND WORD PROCESSING
CMS Software allows the creation, formatting, and deletion of a page as desired. Furthermore, one can also decide the content’s location on a page before publishing the content as well. Similarly, word processing also helps individuals to format the texts, add designs, add hyperlinks, and more.
› CONTENT DESIGNING
The pre-designed content layout helps in editing and uploading the different parts of content such as header, text, meta description, snippet, and more separately. This helps in getting the idea of how the website or the content will be visible to the readers.
› SEO TOOLS AND ANALYTICS
Another feature of the Content Management Software is their compliance with various plugins and templates such as SEO Tools, which helps in maintaining the company or website’s efficiency in the market by ensuring good search results. Moreover, analytics when linked to the site also helps in keeping a track over the total number of visitors, both new and old readers. This provides a detailed preview of the customer acquisition and behaviour of the website.
» What are the Benefits of Content Management Software?
Content management software come with a large number of advantages as they help various non-technical businesses and companies thrive in the global market by providing a method for uploading content without any prior coding skills. Here, we have listed out some of the standard benefits which these content management systems offer.
› USER-FRIENDLY
With the inclusion of various themes, templates, plugins and contact forms, the work of uploading content is streamlined for the users in the CMS software. This helps the companies and businesses to save time and create good content rather than scratching head on the working of the content management software.
› ACCESSIBILITY
One of the significant head-turning features of the content management software is its accessibility, which allows users to access their content from anywhere and anytime. Moreover, many software companies also provide mobile apps for their respective content management systems. These mobile apps allow individuals to operate all the websites in a single place providing greater flexibility to the users.
› BETTER SEO
Content Management Systems also help in managing a good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for one’s website. This is done by installing SEO tools or plugins in the web content management system which automatically cross-checks your content and suggests the best possible outcomes to improve the click rate and inflow of visitors to your website.
› COLLABORATION
Most importantly the content management software also works as a storage platform for the contents which as discussed above can be accessed from anywhere. This also allows various companies and businesses to merge their websites in case there is more than one and manage all of them through a single admin dashboard.
› PRICING
The pricing of content management platforms vary from one to another as it is entirely dependent upon the number of facilities and tools provided. However, some CMS software like WordPress also allows individuals, companies or businesses to use their platform for free, without any hidden charges.
» Before choosing the Content Management System
The market is flooding with n-number of Web Content Management System. However, before proceeding, you must set your priorities and needs in order to be able to figure out what kind of software you need actually. In this regard, here are a few questions that you must ask yourself to ease the task.
› HOW SOPHISTICATED IS YOUR CONTENT?
Both a large e-commerce website and a small blog can be managed through an Enterprise Content Management Software. However, it is important to audit your content niche now and how they are going to be in the future. The software should be able to cater to future demands as well.
› HOW MUCH CAN YOU AFFORD?
No doubt, you will get free applications but are they sufficient for your website? There are many popular e-commerce CMS software applications offering premium subscription charges. Closely analyze the features that are on the table against the price offered and then choose the best content management system that addresses your website needs.
› WHAT ARE YOUR SECURITY NEEDS?
If your website deals with content that has confidential customer data, you should look for the CMS offering a high level of security against unwanted data breach. The application must provide strong password authentication system ensuring a high level of internal secur