The task of keeping a website’s content fresh and up-to-date can be a daunting one, yet it’s of utmost importance to the success of that website. Adding a Content Management System (CMS) to your website makes updating content a snap, but until recently these were very expensive to implement. The cost of implementing a CMS is much lower today than it was a few years ago for a couple of reason, there are some good comprehensive solutions available now that require very little customization and some of these solutions are open-source so there is no software costs is implementing them. I have developed several content management system websites recently and have seen the value that these add to a website, so I have compiled a list of advantages of a CMS.

1. Fresh Content - The most obvious reason is that your website will be easier to keep up to date. It just takes a minute to add new content, if it’s easy you’re more likely to do it and your website benefits by staying fresh.
2. Lots of functionality is available to you at little cost. There are hundreds of free modules available that plug into existing content management systems adding complex programming features with very little effort. Meaning that the cost of adding certain features to your site drops significantly. Some of the modules available include:
   • Site search
   • Polls
   • Password secured content
   • Email newsletters
   • Blog
   • Discussion forums
   • Photo galleries
   • Much more.
3. Dynamic categories, not only can you add new pages easily, but new categories can be added and the site navigation will expand gracefully to match.
4. Extensibility, new modules are being written all the time and since modules are developed in common languages like PHP, almost anything can be custom tailored to work within the system.
5. User friendly interface, the technical features of a CMS may tend to intimidate, but fear not, the interface is user friendly and easy to learn. So while the your CMS may have lots of technical features available, your interface for adding new content is user friendly and easy to learn

The content management system used to be practical only for large companies, but with lower costs to implement and the advantages listed above any website can benefit and see a quick return on the investment. Contact Liquid Design for a free quote on a content management system and see how affordable it can be to add these advantages to your website.

Posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 in Secrets of Successful Websites | trackback