A Good Content Management System (CMS) is Vital

As a small business owner, you understand how important it is to attract online traffic to your site and social media pages. Providing excellent content drives traffic and establishes your authority in the industry. Tracking all the content you create or commission is time-consuming, though, so a good content management system (CMS) is vital.

According to the Small Business Administration, there are around 31.7 million small businesses in the United States, most with between 20 and 99 employees. Although not every company is your competitor, you still have to grab the attention of a limited number of potential customers. Many organisations will have similar target audiences as you.

Creating content is only half the battle. You have to release posts on a regular schedule that people can rely on and make it easy enough for any employee in your company to add content, edit it or schedule future posts. Fortunately, specific features in the CMS software you choose should make your life easier:

1. Regular Updates

There are many free content management system choices available for you. One of the most popular is WordPress, but you could also choose Mango, Drupal or multiple others. Make sure whatever program you pick has regular updates. Open-source software is a good option because there is usually a team of dedicated developers working to fix bugs and improve the platform. As the internet changes and artificial intelligence (AI) advances, you can take advantage of different add-ons.

Visit the website of each potential CMS software and see which ones have forums with recent and regular posts. Look at when the software’s last update was and how often new releases or patches arrive.

2. WYSIWYG Environment

What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) creates a platform easy enough for almost any user to pick up quickly. Most CMS software uses a standard system that looks very similar to Microsoft Word or other popular word processing software. The familiar environment makes it easy for users to learn the software. You won’t have to deal with tons of downtime while training your writers and editors on how to use the system.

Pay careful attention to the platform you choose. Test out the demos and have those who’ll work on your content test them, too. They may find issues you didn’t see and turn you onto a different option that works better for your team.

3. Social Media Connections

To truly engage your customers, you need a social media presence. One of the key benefits of publishing original content is the ability to utilise it on social media. For example, posting an article can lead to clickthroughs and bring highly targeted traffic to your site. Ensure the CMS platform you choose makes it easy to add links to share on social media. Look for plug-ins allowing you to post new content automatically to your other channels.

4. Number of Add-Ons

Before you do all the legwork of installing CMS on your server, check out the add-ons available for the software. WordPress has thousands of plug-ins and themes created by developers around the world. You can likely find a free or paid option for almost anything you need.

Keep in mind some plug-ins have a light version allowing you to access only some of the features, and then they charge a subscription fee for premium features. You can try the add-on and see if it meets your needs before paying for it.

Make a list of some of the add-ons you think you might need for your CMS, such as social media post automation or shopping cart features. Once you have a list of the elements you’d like to include now or in the future, do some searches and see if there are add-ons available for your chosen CMS software. If not, you may want to consider a different platform that better meets your needs.

5. Brand Awareness

Whatever platform you choose, you should be able to customise it and add your own branding, such as a logo, headline and tagline. There isn’t much point in releasing content if it isn’t branded with your company information. Your content should always point back to your products and services. The idea is to drive traffic to your site and turn those visitors into leads.

6. Easy Collaboration

If you have more than one or two people working on your site’s content, or you think you will in the future, seek a CMS that can host multiple users and give them different permissions. For example, both Drupal and WordPress give you different levels of users with varying permissions.

With WordPress, for example, you have administrators, editors, authors and subscribers. Subscribers may only be able to read articles and make comments. Editors and authors can create and edit content as well as upload media files. Administrators can do all the backend work plus everything else listed above. They can add plug-ins, change the theme and access the PHP and CSS code for the site. Be careful what permissions you give to different people.

7. Costs

There isn’t really a free option for business owners. Even no-cost platforms such as WordPress require website hosting and a domain name to be fully customized and branded. Think about the costs of hiring someone to do some coding for your site. Compare expenses for different platforms, such as Fiverr and Toptal. Is one cheaper than the other? Are there more people available on one platform, meaning you’d have less wait time for a quick fix?

Look at the cost of the plug-ins you think you might need. What are the fees for those? Compare the expenses of pre-packaged themes. Can you buy a theme for one CMS software cheaper than another?

Choosing the Right CMS

Do your homework, and you should wind up with a CMS platform that works for your needs. Don’t feel like you’re boxed into a corner, though. If one software isn’t working for you, don’t be afraid to move to another. Different teams work better on different CMS choices. What works for you today may not be best for you in a year or two. Choosing the right CMS is about knowing your company’s needs and being aware as your business grows and changes over time.

Author Bio

Lexie is an aspiring Olympic curler, a web designer and IoT enthusiast. She enjoys hiking with her goldendoodle and checking out local flea markets. Visit her design blog, Design Roast, and connect with her on Twitter @lexieludesigner.