The top four Content Management Systems
This article was written by one of our amazing contributors! Content may include promotional links.
Your choice of CMS can mean make or break for your website
Not so very long ago, website production required a team of dedicated designers and programmers working for weeks producing fully bespoke designs. Now, in 2020, there is a wealth of online technologies that make the process of getting your site online considerably easier.
Whether you decide to go it alone or engage the services of a professional design agency, one of the most considerable factors you’ll have when starting a website is choosing which Content Management System (CMS) to use. Even top design firms use established CMS to power their productions – but having an idea which best suits your requirements can help you decide which company to partner with or whether to take the DIY approach.
What is a CMS?
In a nutshell, a Content Management System allows non-technical people to make updates to website content without having to understand underlying code or programming. A well-designed CMS allows unskilled users to add, edit, or delete the full range of website content – from complete pages to text and individual images.
All CMS are powered via a backend, password-protected login area to prevent access by unauthorized users. Also, most modern CMS comes with a choice of pre-made designs, styles, and structures – greatly simplifying and accelerating the production process. Understanding the different types of CMS can help you choose the right one for your website’s needs.
The influence of CMS on SEO
Your choice of CMS will also have a significant bearing on your website’s Search Engine Optimization – also known as SEO.
SEO essentially refers to how easy it is for search engines to find and reference your website. It’s the driving factor that determines which page links are displayed first when you search for information on sites like Google – so it’s crucially important in helping people find your site.
Regardless of whether you choose to build a site yourself or use an agency, you should consider using a reputable firm like PWD who provide SEO in Perth WA. Having a high search engine ranking will have a considerable bearing on how much traffic your site gets – after all when did you last find content online without using a search engine? It’s worth remembering, not all CMS are well-equipped for aiding in SEO.
WordPress
WordPress has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a purely blogging platform in 2003 and is now the world’s most popular and widely-used CMS by far. WordPress powers more than 27 million websites and accounts for 54% of the total market share.
There are advantages to using the WordPress CMS, not least of which is the fact it offers a vast array of predesigned, industry-specific templates (also known as ‘themes’). No matter the type of site you’re hoping to produce, you can pretty much guarantee, WordPress already has a theme ready for download.
Also, the CMS features a multitude of plug-ins – small snippets of code that add extra features to the base install and which can significantly extend the functionality of your site. WordPress also has an easy-to-use backend admin area – and online support is readily available – making it hard to beat when it comes to site production. It is also highly SEO-friendly/mobile-ready, and web hosting can be provided on the wordpress.com service or through a third-party developer/hosting solution.
Wix
The primary difference between Wix and WordPress is Wix is a website builder – whereas WordPress is more a fully-featured Content Management System. Each has its advantages, and the Wix platform can prove the ideal choice for complete newbies who just want to jump right in and get started as quickly as possible.
Longer-term; however, you may find Wix somewhat limited in terms of add-on functionality – meaning, as your site grows, you’ll likely need to enlist the help of a designer or programmer to add extra features.
Wix is relatively SEO-friendly, mobile-ready, and provides proprietary bundled hosting solutions. It accounts for around 7% of the total CMS market.
Squarespace
Squarespace is similar to Wix in that it is another drag-and-drop, website builder platform aimed at entry-level users. Web hosting and support come bundled with the service meaning users can get started populating their site almost immediately.
Squarespace’s most significant advantage is also its biggest limitation. The service comes bundled with many attractive, predesigned themes – however, should you want to extend beyond the functionality of these templates, you’ll need to pull in the help of a third-party developer.
Similar to Wix, Squarespace is SEO-friendly, mobile-ready, and comes with bundled hosting solutions. It currently has around a 4% share of the CMS market.
Joomla!
In terms of dedicated CMS platforms, Joomla! sits in second place behind WordPress – though its share of the total market is only 3.45%. This low percentage is mostly down to the fact Joomla! is harder to set up – and significantly trickier to use.
Nonetheless – if you have the skills – Joomla! can be a good choice as a CMS. However, bear in mind, it is most definitely not recommended for complete beginners. Joomla! is SEO-friendly and mobile-ready. Your choice of development company will typically provide hosting – or you can find a third-party provider.