Knowledge Bridge

//Kevin Anderson /May 22 / 2013

10 reasons to choose the right CMS

Before going through the effort of choosing a web content-management system (CMS), you might be asking why you would need one.

To put it simply, a good CMS will help you more easily and efficiently publish and manage text, images and audio-visual content to your website. Modern CMSs also make it easier to update and modify the design of your site to keep it fresh, and many CMSs also have packages to manage ads and to make sure that your site looks good and loads quickly, regardless of whether your audience is viewing the site on a desktop, a laptop, a tablet or a mobile phone.

Here are the top ten reasons why a news organisation should use a web CMS:

• A modern CMS allows journalists to focus on content instead of learning code. Writing a story will be instantly familiar to any journalist who has used a word processing programme such as Microsoft Word, and with a little training, adding images and even videos is not difficult.
• You don’t have to go to an expensive web developer every time you want to make a minor change to your site. With a good CMS, most updates can be handled by editorial, not technical staff, which means you own your digital presence.
• CMSs have or can be adapted to have a workflow that mirrors how newsrooms work. This will make it easier to fit the CMS into your current workflow. Content management systems also have different classes of users or roles so that you can more easily manage who has the ability to technically administer the site and you can allow external contributors or freelance staff to submit content for your review without being able to publish live to your site.
• Most modern CMSs use flexible design elements that can be easily changed. They use style sheets, meaning that a handful of files control the overall design of the site. You can change fonts, spacing and other navigation simply by making changes to these few files rather than having to update the thousands of articles you have already created. Building on style sheets, design themes allow you to quickly change the overall look of your site with just a few clicks of a mouse.
• For open-source CMSs such as Drupal, Joomla and WordPress, if it doesn’t have a feature you require, they often have an extension or plug-in that will deliver the feature or function you want.
• A good CMS will integrate well with ad networks and ad management platforms. For open-source platforms such as WordPress, they often support plug-ins from major web and mobile ad networks.
• With the rise of mobile, popular CMSs often make having a mobile website as simple as installing a plug-in or using an appropriate design theme. For open-source CMSs, there are often mobile-ready themes that you can adapt.
• A good CMS can easily be integrated with social media and other external web services, allowing you to take full advantage of fast-changing social media platforms.
• A commercial or open-source CMS can be less expensive in the long run. You shouldn’t require a full-time developer to maintain your site.
• It will free up any development staff you do have to do editorially focused work that will differentiate you from your competitors.

When you’re choosing a CMS, you will want your CMS to empower, rather than frustrate, you and your staff. No CMS is perfect or infinitely flexible, and you will have to prioritise your requirements when choosing one. However, a smartly chosen modern CMS will save you time and money and deliver a platform that will help you keep pace with digital developments in your market.

Article by Kevin Anderson