What Is A Content Management System?

what is a content management system cms

In this day and age, you can find everything online, from how-to videos to daily blogs. Technology is always changing, and more and more websites continuously pop up. Up-to-date information, SEO and social media platforms are becoming essential to content creation online. Understanding content management systems and how to use them for your benefit is now more crucial than ever to building and managing a website and its content. 

Defining Content Management Systems 

A content management system is a software application or group of programs that are used to generate and manage content online. Businesses use these systems for enterprise content management, a set of processes for organizing and delivering critical information to employees, customers and other stakeholders. 

CMSs can also help with web content management, the management of digital information on a website through creating and maintaining content. 

Some experts also define a CMS as a Graphic User Interface that makes using a website's database more user-friendly. Popular CMS options include Wordpress, Wix, Grid and Drupal. Each CMS allows the website admin to have different levels of control over how their website and databases look. 

CMSs are popular because they allow the user to manipulate database information, design a website and create files without having to understand coding. CMSs offer organizations a range of benefits that include improving productivity, reducing costs as well as increasing the amount of time employees have for things other than editing, updating and publishing content to different places. 

There are various content management systems that brands and employers can use to streamline their content creation strategies. It's essential for your organization to find the right content management system. 

Different CMSs offer different features. The most basic functions include indexing, search, format management, revision control, publishing and marketing. These features are explained below. 

1. Intuitive Indexing 

Intuitive indexing is a feature of CMS that allows search and retrieval and easy access of search functions. Users can search content by different attributes, like publication dates, title or author. 

2. Format Management 

Format management allows you to turn paper documents and electronic documents into PDF and HTML files and make them available on your website. 

3. Revision Features 

We have all experienced that moment when you're reading a published piece and notice a spelling or grammar error, even after we swore we read it multiple times before. The revision feature allows you to update and edit content even after publication. It also tracks all of the changes you make to your documents. 

4. Easy Publishing 

Publishing tools allow individuals to use a template or different templates to use or modify content. The templates can be pre-approved by the organization, so all the user needs to do is plug in their content, and it's formatted correctly for the website. 

5. Marketing Tools 

CMSs offers tools to provide one-to-one marketing for customers. One-to-one marketing is a customer relationship management strategy that emphasizes the importance of personalized interactions between the company or brand and the customer. 

A CMS helps with one-to- one marketing, by letting you tailor your website, content and advertising to a user's specific characteristics To understand your users, the CMS gathers information on things like their page sequence pattern and history. For example, if the software may obtain information that a user used a search engine to look up the new iPhone, the advertising feature can then find and advertise banners to feature the new iPhone. 

Change Your CMS With the Times 

While CMSs offer a straightforward solution for website management, the way people consume content is changing. For example, more users now view content on mobile devices. If a company focuses only on desktop, they may be missing out on a significant portion of their potential customers. A modern-day CMS should help you deliver your content across multiple platforms and devices. 

User-friendliness is a major reason why WordPress and other similar CMS programs are so popular. It does not take a web developer to set up a WordPress account and create a website. Many businesses also prefer this approach because hiring a web developer can prove more expensive than paying for WordPress every month. 

This ease of use, however, sometimes means that the features available are limited. With many CMSs, you have to use their templates and project designs. You're tied to one language and one way of creating all of your content. Some CMSs only be optimized for desktop viewing so content may not show up well on mobile devices. 

Some developers say that when you get away from traditional CMSs, you have the opportunity to change your development, workflow and have more content creation options. With customized CMS solutions, users can create dynamic projects that change over time. 

Prepare For The Future 

The changing technological world is forcing content creators to think about distributing their content through multiple platforms and devices. While simple and recently emerging websites will work well with traditional CMS platforms like WordPress and SharePoint, for others, it may be time to shift to something new. 

This must be done with precision and expertise. Learn more about how to migrate sharepoint 2010 to office 365 and SharePoint migration services.

While it may be more comfortable in the short-run to use a template and a pre-made website, in the long run, it may be worthwhile to spend the extra time and money to break free of the traditional building blocks. If possible, you may want to hire a programmer or advance your knowledge of web development and content management. 

Keep Up With Your Content Management System

Building a customer-centric business solution can help your brand to come into its own and give users a more customized, more creative and overall improved experience. 

Nathan Sykes is a techie, blogger and beer drinker. To read more blog posts by Nathan, check out his top tech and marketing blog, Finding an Outlet.


I hope you enjoyed this article about the ins and outs of content management system and the benefits of content marketing.

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