Take the headache out of choosing your CMS

If you have been tasked with choosing a CMS (content management system) for your website, you may be wondering where to begin. With so many options available, it can be a daunting prospect for many.

It’s worth investing time in planning exactly what you and your team all need from your CMS, in terms of the user experience and also your own content management requirements. It also helps to be aware of the main pitfalls that can cause problems and expensive re-work further down the line.

It goes without saying that mobile optimisation is a core consideration now, as browsing from mobiles has overtaken desktop. There are a few other key things to be aware of too…

Multi-platform ready?

According to research by Smart Insights, most web users are multi-platform, meaning they browse the internet on a range of digital devices, from mobile and tablet to desktop and laptop. This means websites absolutely must be fully optimised to function well across all devices, so your CMS should fully support this.

Most expensive isn’t necessarily best

Don’t assume the most expensive CMS must be the best. It very much depends on what your own specific requirements are – everyone’s needs are different, so be clear in your mind about what your essential requirements are and also any other nice-to-haves.

Beware of bespoke

Some agencies can offer a bespoke CMS, which on the face of it may sound like an attractive option. Opting for this can be a mistake though, as if the agency goes out of business or the relationship turns sour for any reason, you will most likely end up having to rip it up and start again, which could be time consuming, costly and inconvenient.

Your flexible friend?

Select a CMS that is flexible enough to cater for your growing and changing needs as your business develops. Consider all the ways you may need to use your website both now and in future, and ensure the CMS can fulfil as many of these as possible.

In-house resources

Don’t underestimate the in-house resource needed to implement the CMS in terms of time to upload content. The easier and more straightforward the better!

Access all areas?

You may need to create different levels of access, so ensure your CMS will fully support this, while remaining completely secure, and also unbreakable.

Content is king

The key to keeping your website alive is having really great content, from video and infographics to blogs and polls. your CMS needs to fully support all the myriad ways you might want to display your content.

Think of your website as the engine room of your digital communications. It is the hub that everything else needs to feed into. It needs to support the other digital tools at your disposal such as social media, paid and organic search, SEO and Ecommerce. If your website is not supported by the right CMS, the engine will fail, and if this happens your digital marketing strategy could fail along with it.