Managing a business website can be a very complicated undertaking. As your business grows, so will your website and its needs.
Your users will come to expect more from you and, if your business grows enough, you will need to invest in physical hardware, i.e. servers, to keep up with demand.
Even if your business is not an e-commerce business, there is a very good chance that your website is contributing to your revenue. If you sell products or services through your website, as well as through physical outlets, then your website will have a multi-faceted role to play in your business.
What is a CMS?
A Content Management System is an application used to streamline the management of website content. CMSs are designed to be intuitive and simple to use, enabling regular employees and those without specific web developing skills to contribute media to a website.
A CMS is a great way of enabling workers throughout your business to contribute to your website in a meaningful way. But if you want your CMS system to benefit your business, you need to choose the right system for your business. StatusCake has a great article about choosing the best CMS for your business. They also offer a number of examples, some of which you can try for free.
Here’s a quick lowdown on the key features you need to look out for.
Publishing Tools
These are at the heart of any CMS. Publishing tools are, as you might have guessed, the specific suite of tools the CMS makes available for publishing content to your website. You need to find publishing tools that offer all the functionality you need and are intuitive enough to be used by those with only very basic IT knowledge.
Customization
This one is going to be more important for some businesses than others. If you need a CMS that is going to play ball with your existing configuration, make sure you check and double-check that any CMS you consider can integrate suitably. Many CMS providers will offer customisation options, meaning that they will configure the system so that it works with your other systems.
SEO Tools
SEO is a vital aspect of modern web design. Without SEO, your website will be virtually invisible to the digital masses. You don’t need us to explain to you the myriad benefits of drawing in a high volume of web traffic; the benefits are obvious.
Social Media Integration
Social media marketing is almost as important as SEO for businesses today. Social media platforms are, underneath all the bluff and bluster about connecting people, incredibly sophisticated marketing platforms. Given the way that they work – open-source mass surveillance – they are able to build very specific profiles of every user. It’s hard to overstate the power of this from a marketing perspective. A CMS that integrates with your social media management tools will enable you to raise your profile and easily distribute different media to different platforms.
The right CMS can completely transform your business’s online strategy. By opening up your website to all levels of your workforce, you are able to create something much more effective than you could if it was exclusively web developers directing your website.
