The Pros and Cons of Content Management Systems
"Macromedia Contribute 3
redefines web publishing,
making it an activity open
to everybody, everyday."
Before the importance of web marketing was fully understood, Content Management Systems (CMS) were developed as a way for large and small companies to easily build and maintain websites. As a result, there are some CMS's in use today that do not provide the best marketing results. This article explores the different types of CMS's, their pitfalls, and possible strategies to overcome those problems.
What is a Content Management System?
A content management system is a web program that allows a user to build a website without having to edit the HTML and CSS source code files. Common CMS implementations include: custom CMS programs, site builders, standard template sites, online stores, and blogs.
Possible CMS benefits:
- Ability to edit own site.
- Allows frequent addition of material.
- Quick set up.
- Advanced functionality for e-commerce, blogs, portals, wikis.
- Low startup cost.
- Open source CMS's are free or low cost, and may be supported by multiple hosting providers.
Potential CMS problems:
- Possible restrictions on editing the HTML source code.
- More difficult to implement best practices search engine optimization.
- May not comply with web standards.
- Can be difficult to integrate new web services without expensive re-engineering.
- May impose design limitations. Your site may look canned.
- Proprietary CMS's prevent you from switching to another hosting provider or developer.
Enterprise Level Content Management Systems
For large companies, web development shops offer CMS solutions under the premise that the client can save money by maintaining the site themselves using non-technical staff. Most IT departments are overburdened, so they are more than happy to install a CMS so the "headache" of maintaining the site can be passed to the marketing department. Unfortunately, the savings is often an illusion, because the CMS hinders the site's marketing effectiveness.
In general, content management systems are not the best solution for corporate marketing sites. They may be appropriate for portals or catalogs that would be expensive to implement without a CMS. Search engine optimization is easiest when you have direct access to the source code. Switching your marketing pages to standard HTML design has a cost, but in the long run you will save money on site updates, hosting charges, and you will get better results from your Internet marketing campaign. If you have a catalog, using an open source CMS may provide the flexibility to optimize the pages for search engine referrals.
Possible corporate solutions:
- Web publishing software like Macromedia Contribute 3 is designed to allow non-technical people to create and edit web pages.
- OpenSourceCMS lists and reviews a wide variety of standard content management systems that are supported by multiple hosting providers.
Site Builder Tools and Standard Templates
For small sites, companies like Yahoo! and Network Solutions offer online CMS's that allow the user to instantly create a website. Inexpensive site builder solutions may be appropriate for websites that do not involve a substantial marketing investment. For sites that will have a significant marketing budget, using a "McWebSite" does not provide the best return on investment. If you plan to use web marketing to generate sales and sales leads, you probably need to tear out this type of CMS and replace it with standard web pages. With a tool like Macromedia - Contribute 3 you can still have the power to edit your own site.
E-Commerce Sites, Online Stores
Online stores are usually built with a CMS so the owner can easily add products, change pricing and perform routine administrative functions. This functionality cannot be achieved with a custom HTML site without a substantial investment. Therefore, this type of CMS usually makes good business sense. However, most online stores are not built to implement best practices search optimization. Either you need to select a system that works well out of the box, or you may need to ask your developer or hosting company to make modifications to the CMS.
Blogs
A weblog is actually a content management system combined with a module that allows users to enter feedback. If you turn off user feedback, a blog can be used to create a standard website, where each article is a page. Blogs may be an appropriate solution for a site that isn't trying to sell something, or as a feature within a corporate website. If you need to add content frequently and want to publish visitor remarks, a blog is an ideal solution. However, most businesses don't use blogs because it takes considerable time to moderate user comments to prevent comment spam, trolling, and other nuisances.
Conclusion
If you are using a content management system, and plan to invest in Internet marketing, then you need to investigate different CMS's. Then you need to make a strategic decision, depending on your specific business requirements, whether to tear out, replace, modify, or keep your current CMS.
You may distribute this article under a
Creative Commons
Attribution 2.5 License.
Please attribute the author by
name and URL.