CMS solutions can range from blog-only to highly sophisticated publishing platforms, but the key to getting the right one is identifying need and research, research, research

DENVER, CO – The heart and soul of any website is content. Content is the informative centerpiece of a website, the presentation, and it tells the story of the website owner – not only to the website visitors, but importantly to the internet search engines which, in response to great content, will help bring more visitors to the website.

If any website is to be more than simply a place holder, the content needs to change. It needs to be updated regularly, it needs to be grown and nurtured, it requires input from its visitors with responses from its administrators, and to be effective needs the content need to remain relevant in an ever-changing world.

In a word, it needs management.

That’s where a Content Management System, or CMS, comes in. CMS allows a website owner or administrator to effectively manage the content on the site to keep the message up-to-date, the information correct, add new information, to provide a forum for visitor input, and to control the interaction between website visitors and owners.

There are many types of websites out there in every endeavor, from fairly static presentations of the basic company or organization information that rarely change, to robust and interactive publishing platforms that change daily, even hourly. Some businesses need only the barest of CMS to allow for changes and updates, and others need very sophisticated CMS platforms for constant manipulation of content and presentation.

Fortunately, there are literally hundreds of CMS platforms out there to choose from, and they range from free open-source solutions with few options, to very complex and feature-rich programs that handle virtually everything. Most, but not all, are designed for use by an average tech-savvy person to use for content management, but even the simplest of CMS platforms require a bit of familiarization and training to become efficient.

The question any website owner or manager needs to ask is “Which CMS is right for me?”

Every single CMS offered in the internet world will make itself sound as if it is the answer to anyone’s needs. That is basic salesmanship. Basic buyer-ship, if you will, requires some investigation.

The place to start is with those needs. If the website in question is one of the static kinds that rarely changes, presents only a few pages with a limited number of headlines, sub-headlines, embedded links and photographs, and does not allow for visitor interaction beyond e-mail or phone contact information, then the simplest of CMS platforms may be chosen. If the main focus of the site, or at the very least the only dynamic part of the site, is a blog, then choose a blog CMS.

If, on the other hand, the website is highly dynamic a much fuller feature-rich choice for CMS must be made. Is the site going to contain many images, and are those images going to be animated (e.g. moving still pictures presented in a slideshow format, with special effects)? Is video are part of the website presentation? Are there community forums and reader response requirements? There are CMS platforms that specialize in one or another of these requirements, and there are those that specialize in all of them – and more.

For instance, visit the website of The Denver Post, or any newspaper for that matter, or ever-changing sites like The Huffington Post or Yahoo, and you’ll find content that is updated continually, photographs and slide shows, video presentations, reader response areas, forums, poll questions, and on and on. Each is uniquely formatted for presentation with different type faces, colors, a variety of headlines, moving teasers for breaking news, and search and archive features for looking up pertinent information and content. These are operated with highly sophisticated CMS platforms.

And remember, content is more than the text, photos and video. CMS can and does also manage such things as contact forms or user authentication systems.

Here at Unleaded Software we are very experienced at building CMS platforms for all levels of use and need, and integrating them with other types of web functionality, like the world’s number one shopping cart technology, Magento. We have installed blog CMS, like WordPress (which has expanded its CMS universe from blogging to full publishing), and full service CMS solutions like ExpressionEngine, and everything in between.

Here are some basics to look for in a CMS program to meet the needs of any website:

• Easy installation – This is especially true if you are installing the CMS yourself, but even if you use a web designer/developer like Unleaded Software, a CMS with ease of installation will save time and expense.
• Simple administration – Every CMS has a “backend” (where the administrator enters and/or edits the content) and a “frontend” (which is what the visitor sees), and you want to go through a full demo to test difficulty of managing the backend. Many people, including us, recommend against having the IT manager at a company choosing the CMS platform by him/herself as it may be too geek-oriented. Make sure to select one that tech- savvy, but relatively non-technical staff who will be administrating the CMS have a hand in its selection and can use it without taking a degree in computer science.
• Availability of extensions – every CMS uses extensions (think: apps) to extend the functionality of the basic platform. If you have special needs or anticipate wanting to expand, you want to know what’s available and how much it costs.
• Easy template manipulation – The template, which is the basic format of the content presentation seen in the frontend, should be easy to change and alter. This could include the insertion of advertisements, for instance.
• Helpful user community – No matter which CMS is selected, there will be issues that arise, changes that come down the pike and new ideas that come into use. A robust user community will keep you informed of new opportunities, and help you address problems.

When CMS solutions first came out they were relatively simple, but they have expanded into areas that allow for a wide range of functionality. One of the best on the market, we believe, is ExpressionEngine, and here are but a few of the functionality categories this platform offers.

• Multiple channels – create an unlimited number of channels to run separately, or put on the same page.
• RSS and syndication support – content that may be made available for syndication is full supported in all of the major syndication formats.
• Multiple entry editing
• Image and file uploading – upload to multiple destinations and limit to specific users groups.
• Search engine friendly URLs – No query strings which hamper SEO efforts. Clear concise URLs.
• User commenting system – Supporting all functions of user commentating, including moderation, membership, and anti-spam protection.
• Admin-friendly typography – Import content from multiple word processing systems or high-ASCII characters with clean conversion to HTML.
• Referral, hit tracking and statistical tracking – complete tracking of in-bound links, hit tracking, search term logs, a host of statistics, and search terms submitted by users.
• Full template administration – build powerful templates, mix them, limit access to user groups, create custom variables, and more.
• Email management – manage mailing lists, send emails in variety of ways.
• Search capabilities – search features, search term logs, IP searching
• Spam deterrents
• Add-ons – discussion forums, mobile blogs, wiki, RSS, queries and more.
• Member management – create multiple member groups, manage subscriptions, etc.
• Full site security – session management, IP banning, secure form processing, word censoring, etc.

There are hundreds of functions in ExpressionEngine – and many other CMS solutions – and the functionality can be expanded with extension integration. The best way to select a CMS is to research, research, research, trying diligently to go through a thorough demonstration of both the backend administration and frontend usability to make sure the selected program meets your needs.

For assistance with any CMS issues – from installation and operation, to customization and integration with other website programs, call on Unleaded Software, the West’s premier website design and development agency. Call 855-UNLEADED (865-3233) for complete details.