I recently posted an article that discusses what exactly a content management system is. The next topic regarding content management systems that I want to address is whether or not your small business needs a CMS. While I do think that content management systems are a great fit for most businesses, they don’t necessarily fit every small business.
Most Small Businesses Can Benefit By Using A CMS
Websites that are continually updating products, services, prices, writing blog posts, et cetera will benefit the most from a content management system. A small business can reduce their overall website content related costs by having the ability to make these changes in house. A CMS site gives the owner the power to update text and images without having to know any code. A content management system also allows the ability to integrate other functions sometimes through a plug-n-play interface on the dashboard.
Another good reason for moving into or creating a content management system is the wide variety of available functionality. Most CMS’s are run using a scripting language called PHP in conjunction with a Database. You can do almost anything you want with plugins or modules, again without having to know any code. Things like syndicating your recent posts onto the homepage or allowing users to leave comments on the site using their facebook login, posting video or audio clips and creating photo galleries. We’re just scratching the surface on the functions available without knowing any code.
Why A CMS Doesn’t Work for Every Company
We have several clients who have maintained traditional HTML websites and I wouldn’t recommend they convert to a CMS. Two of these clients don’t have a reason to update their site except for occasional price changes. These small periodic updates run them about $200 – $400 a year which makes the conversion to CMS an uneconomical approach. Another reason a content management system wouldn’t be efficient for some small business clients is that they simply just don’t have the time or the staff to maintain their own website which is one of the top reasons a small business would want a CMS to begin with.
Even small businesses have very large and complex websites and it takes a lot of time to achieve and maintain competitive search engine rankings. Moving a website into a content management system will likely require the site to change all page URL’s which could have an adverse affect on search engine marketing if not addressed properly with 301 Redirects.
The ability to access, create and manage your own website content is a very powerful tool. Do you think your company could benefit by using a Content Management System?
