If you’re a business owner, it’s likely that you’re well acquainted with the trials and tribulations of building something from the ground up. It’s a skillset you’ll be using when launching a website and you have to do the groundwork first. With a website you’ll be brainstorming ideas and plotting them into the structure of a CMS. If this is something completely alien to you, don’t panic. We’re connoisseurs when it comes to CMSs, and we’re going to share our experience to give you not only basic knowledge of what a CMS does, but also an evaluation of the different types.
What is a CMS?
A Content Management System (CMS) allows you to manage your web content from the back end of your website. It lets you get behind the scenes that your site visitors see. Multiple contributors can create, edit and then publish the content, like sections of text, images and layout formats – that can build up a webpage. There are a variety of CMS types, including:
- Free: This system does what it says on the tin – there’s no requirement to pay for the platform. Typo3 and Weebly are in this bracket.
- Paid: This CMS system offers a few more features than a free version of the software, most significantly a unique domain name. Software like Hubspot and Magnolia are in this category.
- Templated: Both paid and free platforms are likely to offer templated formats which offer the basic building blocks of pages – effectively doing lots of the hard work for you. This is the typical style of platforms like Wix and Wordpress.
Pros of different CMS platforms
Each type of CMS has its own strengths, varying from usability to freedom to experiment with different layouts:
- Free: The obvious benefit with this type of CMS software is that it’s friendly to your pocket – if you’re starting out with a small budget, a free CMS is ideal. It’s likely that you’ll be able to create a website that has all the essentials and a hub for your traffic to go to, without a costly impact.
- Paid: Paid CMS software will offer you a wealth of website layouts and freedom to design. Also, it lets you have that most important of features: an original domain name. A paid website allows you to avoid the URL layout of [businessname].[CMSname].com . Instead you can look smart and professional with a www.[businessname].co.uk .
- Templated: If you’re looking to build a website in a short timeframe, a templated CMS is your best friend. Without the need to build an entire page structure from scratch, a template allows you to simply fill out the boxes already provided. A CMS like WordPress can also provide the freedom to add in different widgets if you need to add more content to your page. Templated CMS software is immensely popular – according to Hubspot, 18% of marketers use WordPress as their content management system.
Cons of different CMS platforms
Along with positive features, some platforms have limitations:
- Free: As with free services in any industry, free CMS platforms come with limitations. It may be that you’re limited to a certain selection of features before paying to get more out of the platform, or you just can’t access the same functionality or speedy load times as you would without expanding your budget a bit more. Oftentimes, you will also have the hosting CMS in your website URL, which can sometimes appear unprofessional.
- Paid: When it’s possible to get something similar for free, many people debate the purpose of paying for a If you’re looking for a website that is simply going to perform the basics for your business, splashing out on an excessive amount of design capabilities use up budget that would be better invested in other areas.
- Templated: Even with sites that offer moveable widgets and a variety of layouts, templated CMS software will always be just that – a template. You may run into the risk of appearing too similar to your competitors who are using the same service. Or you may not be able to effectively express your business’s message within the constraints of the platform.
Eonic’s favoured CMS
Eonic’s website is built on proteanCMS, the CMS that we developed ourselves. It is a flexible and intuitive platform that can display your business’s story effectively using an array of responsive features. We also have a support team on-hand to provide any technical help you may require, and pride ourselves on quick response times. If you’re strolling to make a decision as to the best CMS for you, please get in touch to learn more about ProteanCMS.
Finding the CMS platform that’s perfect for you is highly important – after all, it’s what every piece of website content you produce is going to be created with. Take the time to evaluate all of your options and remember: the right CMS will save you time and money by making a website a pleasure to manage.
To find out more about ProteanCMS and how this platform can work for your business, contact the team at Eonic or take a look at the results Protean can achieve from our client case studies.