Deciding on which technology to use for your website is one of the most important decisions that need to be made before implementing your idea. The technology of your choice should be easy to use and be able to achieve the required functionalities while also being secure and easy to maintain.
Content Management Systems (CMS) are able to offer the majority of these functionalities and sureties if implemented correctly. They are also easy to use and the development time taken while using a content management system is short. However, website developers sometimes still shun these platforms and prefer to program their website from the ground up.
A content management system is an application that helps users to manage their web content through user management, database management, content creation, editing and deleting, publishing of content and presentation of content stored in databases into a well-formatted front end that is easy for users to navigate. These platforms also offer other functionalities such as ease to expand their functionalities, support and ability to create, manage and modify content without the need for specialized technical knowledge.
So, why should my website use a content management system?
Content management systems are used by approximately 43.6 percent of all websites that are currently online. This statistical feat highlights the trust and strong historical evidence of security that these platforms have been able to offer over the years.
Security
The top reason why you should consider using a content management system for your website is security. These platforms are trusted by almost half of all websites that are currently online. For a web developer, the last thing you would want for your website is laxity in security, where other people can easily take over your site or you risk losing your clients ‘data. This, therefore, is a top motivator for why you should consider using a content management system.
Content management systems are also developed by huge teams of developers who ensure that these platforms are put to exhaustive security tests before they are released to the public. Therefore, this ensures that that the core platform offered by a content management system is always secure and it is not easy to compromise it.
Plugins and other tools can also be installed on these platforms to ensure that your website security is not in doubt. These tools further strengthen these platform’s ability to withstand malicious hacking attempts.
Community
Due to usage by millions of website developers, these platforms have huge communities that help solve issues that you may be having with your website. Therefore, any problem that you encounter while creating your site using a content management system, you are almost guaranteed that a community member has also experienced such a problem and a solution has already been offered in community forums.
Requiring new functionalities for your site is also an easy task, whereby you can be able to ask the community if they have a solution to the functionality you are looking to add. This further ensures that your development is guaranteed to work as intended.
The huge community is also responsible for creating tens of thousands of plugins and other tools and applications that help in better management of the site. Every functionality that you might think of, chances are that a community member has already developed the application and it is readily available, further simplifying your development work.
No web programming experience needed
For some clients looking to develop or start a new website, programming is the scariest part of website development. However, it is not a must for the client to know how to code with a content management system. This is because these platforms are specially designed to integrate code from other, more experienced developers in the form of plugins or add-ons to add new functionalities.
There are also hundreds of thousands of functionalities that have been specifically created for these content management systems. For instance, most CMS support eCommerce sites, and you only need to add a plugging to have a fully customizable eCommerce site. You can also change the appearance by adding themes to create new experiences for users.
Easy collaboration and access
Content management systems allow for easy collaboration on tasks such as creating, editing and publishing content. This is done through user management, where multiple users can be registered on the platform.
These users are assigned different roles and privileges, such as a user can be able to edit all posts or only their posts and publish them. This ensures that the platforms are easily accessible to multiple users for collaboration especially for sites that need constant updating or content.
Advanced SEO tools and plugins
To market our site, you need advanced knowledge of how to use SEO in order to rank high in organic traffic providers such as search engines. Content management systems come loaded with these functionalities that help developers achieve a higher ranking on search engines.
These tools are also regularly updated to adapt to changes that are implemented by search engines, therefore ensuring that your site is always up to date with the current SEO strategies being used by search engines.
Popular content management systems
There are many content management systems that users might find interesting to use on their website. However, the most popular content management system is WordPress, which accounts for over 63 percent of total websites using a content management system. WordPress is free and easy to use. It also contains the best repository for plugins, where any type of website can be developed using the platform.
Joomla and Drupal are also popular content management systems that are also free and easy to use. The two platforms are also rich in plugins and addons and have large community forums that ensure that every problem you encounter is addressed.
However, not all content management systems are free. Platforms such as Shopify and Wix require users to pay in order to use them. However, the platforms are also powerful, secure and contain add-ons and themes that make your website development easy.
