What Is A CMS?

A CMS, otherwise known as a Content Management System, is a software that is used for building and managing digital content. Most commonly this content is on a website, so you may sometimes hear a CMS being called a website builder. There are many different CMS platforms that you can use for example WordPress and Shopify. In this blog post, we’re going to break down what they do, why you should use one and what to look for in a CMS.

What can you do with a CMS?

Well, we’ve already said you are able to manage your content but they have more features than that. Many people get put off making websites because they think it’s going to be lines and lines of code. Which is true to some extent but with a CMS platform, it takes away the coding side. It has an appealing visual interface that makes managing your content quick and simple. A good CMS platform will allow you to easily install plugins and integrate them with your website. These can be anything from a contact form to an ecommerce store plugin. Finally, a CMS can be installed onto your domain name, which makes it much easier for you to access and publish a website.

Common CMS platforms

Like we previously mentioned there are plenty of platforms that you can choose from and it’s up to you to choose which one. Our favourite here at Frogspark is WordPress but here are a number of other platforms that you should know about:

• Wix
• Magento
• Shopify
• Squarespace
• Drupal

Why should I choose a CMS at all?

If you’re wanting to host and update a website, for many people going without a CMS is not an option, without a CMS platform, you’ll have to learn coding languages and manage all your content in code. When you have a framework for your website it is so much easier to build and collaborate on it, with the drag and drop builders they come with it makes adding content blocks effortless.

What should you look for in a CMS?

It can be difficult sometimes to actually know which Content Management System is going to be the best for you. The majority of them will have similar capabilities a lot of it will come down to what you think has the best user interface and will be suitable for the kind of website you’re running. However, we personally believe a great one to use no matter what type of website you’re running is WordPress. With a ⅓ of all websites ran on it, it obviously offers the users a good experience. Not only is easy to use its easy plugins mean that you are able to turn your website into an ecommerce store so easily with the use of tools such as Woocommerce.

Are they SEO friendly?

If you plan on using SEO to boost your organic rankings then think about which CMS has the most SEO friendly features built into it. Again we’d say WordPress is definitely one of the best especially with the help from the Yoast plugin.

Overall a CMS platform is going to make creating a website much easier than learning multiple coding languages. However, you will always find there may be a few issues with your website from time to time. If you’d like some help creating a website our experts here at Frogspark are ready and waiting to get started on your project, don’t hesitate to get in touch…