Full, Part or no CMS??

Tuesday 3rd May 2011

In today's world, nobody wants to feel like they are behind or outdated, so it makes sense to be able to update everything on your own website right?? Well that may not always be the case...

Building a website that has a content management system (CMS) requires a lot of development in not only the way the website is to display your information, but also in how the management interface will work for the end user. With that in mind, if you absolutely need to have a system where every detail of the website can be updated, it is likely to cost more than if you just need to update your images, text and page tags for instance. That isn't to say a comprehensive CMS is a bad idea though if you use the features to their full potential, not only in keeping your site alive and fresh, but also as a nice boost to search engine ratings to bring in new visitors.

It is important to view a website as an ongoing concern - if your content never changes, why would visitors return to the site? That said, if you have a "Latest News" area that hasn't been updated for a year, it isn’t going to fill visitors with confidence either! One idea to consider in this case would be to syndicate industry news from other sources and have the website update itself, or why not display a dynamic Twitter or Facebook feed = perfect for site owners to keep visitors up-to-date easily with the latest company developments, without the need to write a full blown news article every day.

From a design perspective, if the web design you love and can't wait to launch uses a horizontal navigation system, would it really be wise to add in more top level navigation pages and potentially kill the layout??

If you run an online store, it would be absolutely necessary to have a CMS in place to handle all of your product catalogue and pricing, but even then you may not need (or want) to update pages such as your company background, contact details, terms & conditions etc. and if you need a text change every now and again, the majority of developers wouldn't charge to do it for you anyway.

The main point to take form this is that your CMS is a very important (and crucial in some cases) part of not only the way your website works, but also the way in which your visitors experience the site, so it shouldn't just be a generic solution that "might" do want you need, rather the integral final cog in a well oiled machine.

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