content management systems
To CMS or not to CMS?
Content management systems are one of our most popular requests these days. Everyone wants one so that they can update their site on their own. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But there is more to a CMS than most people fully understand. The web is not built the same way that desktop applications like MS Word are. Even with a content management system, editing your web pages is not quite as simple as opening up a blank Word document and going to town. There are some restrictions and considerations that factor in. And let’s not discount the issue of cost. Do you really want to spend several thousand dollars to have a system that lets you update your phone number—on the off chance that it changes three years from now—when you could just let your web designer spend 5 minutes and do it ‘the old fashioned way?’ That said, content management systems are great for keeping a constantly-changing website up-to-date, with blogs, news, forums, and potentially hundreds of other features and functions that make a web site effective.
This page will take a look at some things you should think about before asking us (or anyone else) to include a CMS with your website.
Features and Limitations of most Content Management Systems
A CMS is typically composed of ‘building blocks’ that are dedicated to specific functions (modern CMSs go far beyond simply updating static content on pages.) These blocks, or modules, are chunks of code that call out to a database and return data in some sort of logical format. Typical modules include blogs, calendars, press release lists, etc. Most CMSs also go a step beyond just managing content and have available features and functions like ‘newsletter signups’ and ‘web forms.’ There are thousands of available modules that already exist (we’ll get to ‘existing CMSs’ vs. ‘from scratch CMSs’ in a moment.) These modules make up the features and functions that make your website sticky, interactive, functional, etc. And of course, there is the standard ‘blank canvas’ module that allows you to simply edit content within a given space on your web—much like you would do in any normal text editor.
How a typical Content Management System Works
Most content management systems also give you the ability to work with the structure and layout of your site by giving you control over your navigation and the layout of any given page within your site. (Note: things like editing simple content on a page or creating a blog post within a CMS are typically very easy to do and can be figured out on the fly. But modifying page layout and navigation structure usually takes someone who is very familiar with how the CMS works and who has the ability to work within the boundaries of the design (more on that in a minute, as well.) It’s not that you can’t update the navigation bars on your own, but that sort of thing may be best left for the professionals (unless you know in advance you’re going to need to do that regularly, in which case, make sure you let your account manager know that in advance so that we can design with that in mind.)
What Most CMSs Don’t Do Well
Web-based content management systems are not desktop publishing applications. Yes, you can insert an image and set it to be left, right, or center-aligned. But unlike something like MS Word, you can’t put it anywhere. You can’t crop it. You can’t add a fancy drop shadow to it. (When we say “can’t,” just keep in mind one fundamental truth: for enough time and money, you can basically do anything. We’re just speaking in general terms here.) Because CMSs work within existing templates, you need to keep in mind that it’s the content that you can manage—not the overall design and layout of those templates (well, most CMSs do allow for template creating and editing, but again, those are tasks usually best left for the professionals, or at least someone very knowledge of the CMS.) Also, CMSs don’t typically do flash. While we’re CMS-bashing here, let’s get the rest of the bad news out of the way: CMSs are typically more cumbersome to work with than most people realize. That’s because these are web-based platforms and the technology is somewhat limiting in terms of what can be done. (There is a reason we web developers use desktop software like Dreamweaver to build the sites, then turn things over the Client to just perform updates with the CMS.) CMSs are also a bit slower too. When you open a word document, chances are it pops right open. But editing a web page requires that you navigate to it. Then every time you do anything your computer needs to relay that command to the server, which is then processed and sent back, all over the net. And no matter how fast your internet connection is, it doesn’t even come close to approaching the speed of communication between MS Word and your desktop’s processor.
The other potential issue with content management systems is that they work by ‘stacking’ blocks together (kinda, sorta… but there’s a lot more to it than that.) The point is that all these modular ‘blocks’ is sometimes not conducive to the most artistic web designs. Certainly, we’re not saying that you have to pick between a CMS and a good looking website. That is not the case. But if you envision your site being on the cutting edge of design—especially with designs that involve flash, curves, or areas without clearly defined boundaries—a CMS may prove somewhat limiting. The saving grace here is that most sites that are uber-artistic and would present a problem for CMS integration or sites that probably don’t need a CMS. Don’t get too hung up on this issue. If we feel there will be design limitations that would conflict with your CMS preferences, we’ll be sure to let you know in advance so we can figure out the best workaround.
We DO Like Content Management Systems. Really!
Yeah, it seems like we’re trying to talk you out of using a CMS, right? But that’s not the case. We’re actually huge supporters of content management systems and implement them in most of our websites. Despite some of their limitations, they’re amazingly robust and flexible systems (most of the time) that provide for a level of website management that was unheard of just a few years ago. CMSs are wonderful for keeping your site up-to-date and relevant by adding little chunks of content on a regular basis. Newsletters, press releases, library articles, etc.—all that stuff is GREAT content and a CMS is a GREAT way to add and manage it. (Hint: adding that kind of content on a regular basis is one of the best things you can do for your SEO efforts!.) Speaking of SEO, CMSs are also wonderful for SEO efforts since they have been tooled specifically with search engines in mind. The other great thing about the almighty CMS is its ability to archive your content and keep only the most relevant stuff on top, while still giving access to the older stuff for visitors (and search engines) who want to dig back into the archives a bit.
Just a very few of the Content Management Systems Taoti works with
Which CMS Should I Use?
We keep alluding to ‘most’ CMSs. Like most other products, there are hundreds (actually, thousands) of competing content management systems already in existence. There are times when a home-grown CMS makes sense, but 9 times out of 10, it makes more sense to pick on that best suits your needs and use that as the foundation. (Most leading CMS platforms would cost six or seven figures to develop from scratch! Why reinvent that wheel on your dime?) Not only are there a ton of CMSs to pick from, but get this: the vast majority of them are FREE (or only a few hundred bucks.) These are known as “open source” platforms. (These include such names as Drupal, Joomla, .NetNuke, .NetCMS, etc.) (Why would someone give away such valuable software for free? That’s just the nature of the open source community. For more on that, you can click here.)
So which CMS should you use? There is no easy answer to that question. It will depend greatly on your needs. Which modules do you require? How will you update the site? How many users do you need to give access to? What are the long-term plans (some CMS platforms are more scalable than others.) For example, Joomla is a great CMS if you have pretty simple needs and don’t plan to expand much beyond basic CMS needs. But Drupal is much better if you plan to build on top of the platform and incorporate custom modules and functions that are unique to your operation. And those two are best suited to the Linux platform. If you want to host your website in a Windows environment, you have a whole other set of choices. Taoti explicitly avoids becoming ‘distribution partners’ for any given CMS. It keeps us honest and ensures that we suggest the CMS that makes the most sense for you—not the one that gives us the best kickback. But we do have extensive experience with most of the major content management systems, both with Linux and Windows platforms.
We don’t expect you, as clients, to pick your CMS. There are too many options and considerations. A big part of what you pay us to do is know which CMS will best suit you.
NOTE: While most of our CMS sales, based on volume, are existing platforms, most of our business actually comes from custom CMS development. We’ve built custom content management systems distributors, manufactures, and even the California State Senate. If you have highly custom needs or need your CMS to interface with your existing systems or databases, we should consider something custom (or at least custom modules built over top of an existing platform codebase. Contact us for details. Mention to whomever you speak to that you think you may need a custom CMS so that we can get an engineer in on the conversation from the get-go.
Speaking of CMS Costs…
As we mentioned, most content management systems of the nature we’re discussion here are free or very low cost. Moreover, they are released under the “GNU license” (which basically says you can use the code until your heart is content, but you can’t buy or sell it. It’s free for everyone.) So we are not selling you the code. Our fees are for consulting on which CMS to use and then to implement and customize the system (which is no small task.) It’s impossible for us to list pricing here for what costs what. But as a rule of thumb, there is a ‘base fee’ to install and customize the CMS with the new design, and then the more variable part of the costs come down to how many features and functions you want (in other words, how many modules we need to setup and configure, and how you may want those modules to interact with each other.) As long as we’re on the subject of costs, be sure to consider a CMS in light of the alternative: having Taoti maintain your website for you (if you think a CMS makes it easy to update your site, there’s nothing like just picking up the phone and asking someone else to do it for you! ;-). A CMS usually adds “a few thousand dollars” to the price of a website—even a very simple, basic one. If you have a fairly static site (such as purely informational “brochureware” website), it may not make sense for you to have a CMS, even if you know you need to change the text on your ‘services’ page once a quarter. Even with no support plan, our maintenance rates are ~$125/hr. And most simple text changes to a page may only take us 15 minutes. So you figure, you can have us make 20 separate updates to your website (assuming an average of 15 minutes each) for $600. How many updates do you think you need per year? Even if you only make one update every other month, that $600 would last you for more than 2 years! Or you could have spent an extra couple of thousand up front, and still have to spend the time internally to have someone update your site. And that person doesn’t work for free, presumably.
Again, we’re not trying to talk anyone out of a CMS. Just make sure it makes fiscal sense. If you only have a brochureware website with no functional needs and less than 20-30 pages, a CMS may be overkill. Your account rep can discuss this issue in more detail with you, as there is no blanket rule as to whether or not you need a CMS. And keep in mind that CMSs do much more than just manage content, so even if you don’t need the CMS for editing your copy, it may be worth having it as a platform from which to manage newsletter signups, blogs, etc. (We mentioned the CMS alternative, which was to use Taoti for your on-call webmaster. We’ve got more info and support rates/packages here.)
“So bottom line: do I need a CMS or not?”
You really thought it would be that simple? ;-) We need to speak with you about your site, your expectations, your goals and objectives, and your budget, and only then can we make that determination. The good news is that for all of the stuff mentioned on this page, our sales staff can typically talk to you for about 10 minutes and have an idea as to whether a CMS is in order or not. Even if you are considering other vendors to work with for your new (or revamped) website, please drop us a line to at least have a discussion. A lot of web designers don’t fully understand the complexities of CMS integration. It’s something they can ‘tack on’ to the bill and so they’ll often push a CMS on you even when it’s not in your best interest. Just make sure that before you pull any triggers, you talk to someone who really knows and understands CMS from all points of view. We’ll happily provide a free, no-obligation discussion about the subject. At worst, you spend 15 minutes on the phone with us and get a lot of free advice! Click here to drop us a line.