Choosing a CMS can be a daunting task. They really do come in a wide variety of flavours; from commercial tools with all the bell and whistles, to open-source tools with a vibrant community of dedicated developers, to home-grown CMS systems developed inhouse.
And because there are pros and cons with any of these tools, the system you choose should reflect your agency’s goals, objectives and needs. Without a clearly defined set of requirements, you risk being tempted by elaborate functionality you will never use.
What then should you look for in a CMS?
Below is a list of key considerations you should take into account when selecting a CMS.
1. Core Functionality
Many people assume all CMS platforms perform the same functions – for example, creating, deleting, editing and organizing pages and content. While at a very basic level this is true, there is a range of functionality that not every system supports, such as eCommerce, events management, multilingual support, multiple website support, etc etc. The list goes on!
On the other hand, there is no point investing in a CMS with bloated functionality you will never use. Unused functionality isn’t excess power, its excess weight slowing you down and making your system unnecessarily cumbersome.
Making a definitive list of what you need and don't need from your content management system, as well as any future requirements, is extremely important and the first thing that will help narrow down the field of competitors.
2. Interface & Usability
The whole point of a CMS is to enable non-technical people to make updates and changes to the content of your website easily. So it’s important the backend of whatever CMS you choose is intuitive and easy to use. Badly designed systems can frustrate users with poor accessibility and usability. And even though the majority of people are familiar with word processing and spreadsheets, they may not be all that technically savvy.
When navigating around the administrative portion of a CMS you should be able to figure out its basic functions without much instruction.
The time taken to create content should also be a consideration. An intuitive system that makes a user’s life easier can cumulatively add up to a considerable amount of time saving.
Updating and maintaining your website shouldn’t be a constant struggle!
3. Initial Set-up & Deployment
Where costs can be incurred when implementing a CMS is in setup.
While open source CMSs may be available free of licensing costs, and can mean a saving on up-front expenses, the system still needs to run somewhere, and be installed and configured to your needs.
If you happen to have provision for hosting already, as well as the technical skills available, then you may be able to do this yourself.
However this isn’t a step to be underestimated, with configuring and optimising CMSs for production use often a complicated task. The safest route in many cases is utilising a dedicated vendor to take care of this for you.
4. Flexible
The presentation of content or the functionality of an application should not be dictated by technology. While limitations may have existed in the past in terms of the way content is retrieved and presented, the best CMS’s now largely avoid these constraints.
Without naming names, we have had (and still do at times) the misfortune of working with quite a few well known content management systems that are completely inflexible in their presentation of content. Such systems continue to put unreasonable constraints on the design and can have serious impacts on accessibility.
5. Extensible
Most CMSs will allow for a certain degree of configuration to bend and shape them to your particular needs (some better than others). But once you go beyond relatively common functionality, then, over time, the CMS will most probably need extending in some manner.
The ability of the CMS to incorporate extra features into a website or application by means of bespoke development or plug-ins, such as photo galleries, media players, event booking systems etc is an important consideration. And much like the flexibility of a CMS regarding design, some CMSs provide a greater level of extensibility due to their superior code base.
6. Integration
Some businesses have unique processes that require multiple systems to operate their business (e-commerce websites, procurement systems, CRM systems, Volunteer Management Systems etc). But when such systems do not integrate effectively, the resulting dispersed data can significantly hinder the businesses ability to collect, compile, share, analyse and report on important information in a timely manner.
The ability of your CMS to integrate with existing systems or third-party applications is an extremely important consideration.
7. Search
Search is one of the most important aspects of any website, however it is an often overlooked element when selecting a CMS. Here are a few things to look for when assessing a CMS’s search engine friendliness.
- Title Tag Customization
- Static, Keyword-Rich URL Customization
- Meta Tag Customization
- Enabling Custom HTML Tags
- Internal Anchor Text Flexibility
- 301-Redirect Functionality
- Image-Handling & Alt Tags
- 8. Budget & Licensing
When choosing a CMS you’ll need to think about your budget and what you can and cannot afford. You can either opt for a commercial proprietary CMS offering a robust set of features and ongoing support, or follow the free open-source CMS route.
Choosing one over the other really boils down to your business, your needs, your budget and often the preference of your staff or the developer building the website.
Today, many organisations are going down the open-source route as it is viewed as a substantial cost saving while still allowing a great deal of freedom to customise.
Nevertheless, no matter what CMS you opt for, it’s always best to investigate the costs in terms of licensing fees and ongoing development – otherwise a cheap solution in terms of initial outlay may blowout very quickly.
9. Support
For open source projects, the level of community support is very important (unless you have in-house technical support). Such large active communities help to further develop the CMS as well as providing answers to any questions users may have. However, you should remember that community-based support is by no means guaranteed – in most cases, there is no real ‘support line’ that can be contacted asking why your site is down.
Paid professional support is an option that should be pursued in most cases, particularly with larger sites. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to choose a proprietary CMS as many companies (including Totally) generate revenue from open source software by offering a comprehensive paid support service.
For commercial proprietary CMS solutions, support if often built into the licensing arrangement, however it is important to understand the extent of this support and what limitations are placed on the licensing arrangement (as there will be some).
10. Future & Scalability
It is important to select a CMS that will work for you not just right now, but in the future as well. A CMS should have the ability to scale with your organisation as you grow and change over time. After spending all this time researching the CMS that is perfect for your organisation, you don't really want to have to do it again in 12 months time because it is limiting your ability to expand your web presence.
Conclusion
The main conclusion from all of this is that choosing a CMS is far from an easy decision and requires a great deal of thought, planning and future consideration.
Whether open source or propritary, you should evaluate each CMS purely on its own merits. Does it do what you need? Does it fit within your budget? Can it be properly and satisfactorily supported? Can it grow and adapt as your organisation grows and adapts?
Finding a CMS that closely aligns with your needs is the best way of getting value for money!
Source: Totally Communications
