A CMS is a next step to drive the success of your business. With the numerous options out there, here's what you need to know to make the right selection.
According to Small Business IT professionals, the plethora of available platform options can make the decision to set up a Content Management System (CMS) a daunting one. However, applying the following steps will streamline the selection process and help to ensure satisfactory results:
Define Your CMS Strategy
What do you intend to accomplish with a CMS? The objective could be as basic as publishing content to educate consumers about your product/service, or it could be as extensive as utilizing the site to manage eCommerce activities. The strategy will drive decisions such as opting for a custom-built site tailored specifically to your business needs or an off-the-shelf solution that can either be customized or used as is (in the case of sites that are built for a particular purpose, such as car sales).
Determine What Features You Need
Defining your strategy will enable you to determine what features are critical to the success of your CMS venture. If the primary purpose of the site is to maintain content for consumers, key features might include ease of use, flexible editing functionality, multiple language options to support an international customer base and SEO optimization. Where the CMS will be utilized to manage eCommerce, vital considerations could include ease of collaboration and the ability to integrate with other tools/software utilized by your business.
Evaluate Available Resources
Once your critical CMS features have been identified, an evaluation of available human and financial capital should be performed. For instance, you could have in-house developer talent work on building and managing the site, or you could adopt a hybrid approach whereby the site is built in house, but management activities such as security, monitoring and maintenance are outsourced. In the same vein, you will need to consider what funding is available to allocate to the CMS. This could factor into deciding whether to settle for an open-source CMS - which is free - or a proprietary CMS, which requires a paid subscription or licensing fee.
Review and Compare Options
Having outlined your strategy, key features and available capital (human and financial), you will be in a better position to review and compare available options in order to make the optimal decision for your business. While there are several options available, only one of those may satisfy all the requirements you have identified. Top CMS options include WordPress, Google Sites (formerly Blogger), Joomla, Magento, HubSpot, Drupal, Ghost and Kentico.
Make a Decision
It is important to note that the above steps need not necessarily be performed in isolation and should ideally include some overlap. Available resources may drive decisions about strategy and features selection - eg there may be a specific requirement for ease of use if the site is built by personnel without coding experience. Additionally, considerations such as SEO optimization may carry more weight in the final CMS determination.
