6 Reasons to Use a Content Management System (CMS)

It’s probably for the best that the guy who lives here can’t upload his mad scrawlings to the internet.

09 Apr 6 Reasons to Use a Content Management System (CMS)

If you haven’t gotten the message yet that content is a big deal on the web, it might be best to just retire from the internet, settle in to that log cabin deep in the woods, and grow a really long, gross beard. Or armpit beards, if you’re a woman.

Your website’s copy, blog posts, informative articles, videos, images, feeds, and other content are integral to your users’ experience, your branding, your sales pitch and conversions, your digital marketing, your search engine rankings, and everything else about doing business online. But how to conveniently and affordably keep up with adding, removing, updating, and editing all that content?

That’s where a content management system (CMS), aka a web content management system (WCMS), comes in.

Basically, a CMS is software that facilitates managing the content on a website. There are many products and different types with widely varying functions, features, capabilities, complexity, templates, user-friendliness, and other characteristics. WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are the three best known off-the-shelf content management systems. And any good web development agency can build you a custom CMS and integrate it into your site.

A quality web-based content management system offers lots of benefits. Here are six big ones:

Enjoy More Freedom

Sure, many web developers are very nice people. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to be tethered to them all the time. Without a content management system, you’re stuck relying on your developer to make even minor changes and updates to your site. A CMS gives you the freedom to easily and instantly add, remove, and edit website content whenever you like, without knowing HTML or anything about coding. It helps you keep your site up to date and create a more dynamic user experience.

Save Money with a Content Management System

It’s cheaper to make changes on your own, of course. No matter how nice your web developer is, you can expect a bill for all services rendered. If you have to hit up your developer every time you need or want a small tweak or addition to your site, costs start adding up. Even if you have an in-house developer, it’s not the best use of the resource to devote his or her expertise and time to simple matters others could handle with a content management system.

Boost SEO with a CMS

The freedom to add content without shelling out for someone to post it probably means you’ll put up fresh content more frequently. Google and other search engines reward sites that regularly add unique, well-written content with higher rankings. Also, decent web content management systems include built-in tools to evaluate and guide your efforts to optimize content and on-page SEO.

Increase Social Media Engagement

That steady stream of content (assuming it offers the audience something of value) also means more material to share—and for your connections to engage with and share—via social media. This helps drive targeted traffic to your site and makes you a more transparent, trustworthy, respected, familiar, likeable brand. A CMS is a smart investment for your content and social media marketing strategies.

Involve the Team with a Content Management System

A web-based CMS lets everyone in your organization add, remove, or edit what’s on site pages, even from remote locations and mobile devices. Individuals directly handle matters under their purview, eliminating unnecessary back-and-forth and opportunities for things to get overlooked or even screwed up. Any decent content management system also provides the ability to limit access to particular areas of your site, so you don’t have to allow everyone access to everything.

Redesign or Rebrand More Easily with a CMS

Eventually, you’ll want to change your website. Maybe it starts looking dated, maybe SEO and responsive design best practices evolve and you’re vigilant about staying current, or perhaps your organization decides to rethink its branding. Because a content management system keeps the content and design elements separate, the design can be altered without affecting the content, reducing the effort, time, and cost needed for a site redesign.