What Exactly is a Content Management System?

Today, one of the big industry buzzwords is content management system.  The funny thing is content management systems (CMS) have been around for years but its taken them a while to gain popularity and now it seems they are taking the web by storm.

Content management systems come in all shapes and sizes from large enterprise applications to free open source platforms. And in between those are  the different types of content management systems for creating blogs, websites, e-commerce shopping sites, auction sites, directories  and the list goes on.

So what is a content management system? I think I like Wiktionary’s definition best…

“A computer software system for organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content, especially for loading to a website.”

In other words, a content management system is a software application that is installed on a hosting server. It has a control panel or dashboard that is accessed via a web browser. From the control panel you create your content, format it, insert pictures or video clips and publish it to the web.  All the data and parameters set from the control panel or dashboard are stored in a database. A CMS allows business owners to maintain their own website content without needing to know any code which reduces costs by not having to pay an expensive web developer to make those changes for you.

However, depending on which CMS platform you are using there may be software maintenance costs to keep the software up-to-date and secure. Be sure to ask about maintenance costs if you are considering an open source CMS like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and others.

One attractive aspect of a content management system is that it separates the content and the programming from the design or layout which makes it easier to change the look and feel of the website without having to update every single page.  Generally, the site design is  handled by a small group of files but this does depends on the CMS you are working with.  What this means is that it won’t cost nearly as much money to do a full site redesign.

Search Friendly Web Design proudly employs WordPress as our content management system of choice.  WordPress is the most search engine friendly, user friendly and customizable solution on the internet. Contact Us for more information about setting up a WordPress CMS for your website.

Image via Boagworld.com